by Gary Hooser
Two state legislators have already gone to jail for corruption.
According to media reports, others remain under investigation. Big money decides who wins elections and who loses. The “pay to play” environment at the Capitol is alive and well.
The arrogance is mind-boggling.
But let’s stick with – “Just the facts, ma’am.”
As that’s the only way to write about the ugly and politically corrupt death of HB371.
Below are those facts from the public record at http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov.
If passed into law, HB371 would have extended the ban on campaign contributions from government contractors to include company officers and family members.
It was described by good government advocates as a critically important measure needed to fight corruption.
But HB371 was not passed into law.
It was, instead, killed behind closed doors by Senate President Ron Kouchi, House Speaker Nadine Nakamura, Senate Ways and Means (WAM) Chair Donovan Dela Cruz, and House Finance Chair Kyle Yamashita.
These four Democrats are the most influential legislators in state government.
They held no public meetings to discuss the reasons behind their decision-making.
They made their decisions in private; they discussed these decisions with the Conference Committee in private; and the Conference Committee then announced those decisions to the public.
These are facts — not speculation, not opinion, and not hyperbole.
According to the Campaign Spending Commission, it’s common for government contractors to circumvent the existing campaign contribution ban by having people connected to the contractor make the contribution.
Civil Beat called HB371, “arguably the biggest reform measure of the session.” The bill sailed through the House and Senate with unanimous votes of support – both in committee and on the floor.
Ninety-nine percent of the testimony was in support. Only one person testified in opposition, citing “freedom of speech” concerns.
Not one Senator or Representative ever voted in opposition.
The first indication of a “problem” occurred on April 22, just before the naming of “conferees” to the House Conference Committee.
That’s when House Speaker Nakamura “re-referred” the now amended bill, HB371SD1, to House Finance.
This move ensured that House Finance would have a Conference Committee vote, even though the measure had no direct budget impact, and the Finance Committee would hold no hearings.
The Conference Committee is responsible for “working out the differences” between the Senate and House versions of the bill.
When they met on April 22, House Judiciary Chair David Tarnas announced “leadership was now involved,” the measure would likely thus be “weakened,” and the Committee must await direction from “leadership” (House Speaker Nakamura).
At this same meeting, Senate Judiciary Chair Senator Karl Rhoads acknowledged he’d received similar information from Senate Leadership — Senate President Kouchi.
On Friday, April 25, the Conference Committee reconvened. The two chairs announced “leadership” had proposed significant amendments that weakened the bill, and they’d been unable to receive “release” from Finance or WAM.
Therefore, the bill would be deferred and is now dead.
HB371 did not require any funding whatsoever, nor did the subsequent amended version HB371SD1.
Yet both Representative Yamashita (Chair of Finance) and Senator Dela Cruz (Chair of WAM) refused to “release” the bill.
As of this writing, neither has yet made any on-the-record statements as to their reasoning.
Likewise, neither Senate President Kouchi nor House Speaker Nakamura has issued any public statements about the rationale for their last-minute opposition.
HB371SD1 was killed in the dark, and nobody’s talking.
The discussion, deliberation, and decision-making were done in secret, behind closed doors, and only announced publicly after it was a done deal.
Hawai’i Democrats must do better.
How can we push back effectively against the abuse of power occurring in Washington D.C., when here at home, at that big square building on Beretania Street, the same thing is going on?
GARY HOOSER is a former Hawaiʻi State Senator and Majority Leader.
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