{"id":18774,"date":"2023-07-01T23:49:38","date_gmt":"2023-07-02T09:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=18774"},"modified":"2023-07-01T23:49:40","modified_gmt":"2023-07-02T09:49:40","slug":"hawaii-voters-are-the-key-to-stopping-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2023\/07\/01\/hawaii-voters-are-the-key-to-stopping-corruption\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawaii Voters Are The Key To Stopping Corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by Keli\u2018i Akina

<\/em>If Hawaii voters care about stopping corruption, they must change the culture that allows it. And that change begins at the ballot box.

That\u2019s the opinion of Judge Dan Foley, longtime civil rights lawyer and head of Hawaii\u2019s Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct. The Commission was charged by the Legislature with the task of examining government ethics, campaign spending and lobbying. The goal was to help root out the corruption that has damaged public trust in state and county government.

In service of that goal, the Commission produced a 396-page final report that included 28 legislative recommendations. Twenty were passed by the Legislature this year, which Foley calls, \u201ca remarkable success.\u201d

During an interview on \u201cHawaii Together\u201d<\/a> on ThinkTech Hawaii, Foley and I discussed the victories and disappointments from the Legislature\u2019s treatment of ethics issues this year. Foley was optimistic about having so many of the Commission\u2019s recommendations adopted by the Legislature, adding: \u201cThis is the first regular session, and there\u2019s another one coming up. \u2026 We\u2019re at halftime. \u2026 We had a good first half \u2014 20 of 28 ain\u2019t bad.”

One of his disappointments was the failure of an important transparency measure that would have capped fees for open records requests. Public access to government records is a critical deterrent to corruption, but the current fee structure allows some agencies to discourage requesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now,\u201d said Foley, \u201caccess to public records depends on how much money you have. People with money can buy their way in; people without money cannot.\u201d

The short legislative sessions and the chaos created by the conference committee system also frustrate transparency. Foley pointed to the last-minute passage of the state budget as \u201cthe poster child on how not to do things, and that should not be repeated.\u201d

\u201cYou can extend a session,\u201d he added. \u201cYou can come up with your draft budget earlier and not wait until the last minute. People should not be voting on measures they haven\u2019t read.”

Foley told me he is optimistic that the Commission\u2019s work will help improve government ethics in Hawaii. But he acknowledged that there will always be some people who try to push the limits of what is legal. That\u2019s why he believes that voters are the real key to stopping corruption in our state.

\u201cUltimately, it comes down to the voter,” he said. “People complain about the Legislature. They\u2019ll say the presiding officer is a dictator, or the chair of the Ways and Means or Finance committees is a dictator. [But] everybody in the Legislature has one vote. If people are unsatisfied with the presiding officers, it\u2019s because the majority of that body allows it. Same with the chair, or same with measures. And the voters put them in and keep them in every two years.”

Cynicism about politicians and pronouncements about the futility of stopping corruption only feed into the problem. To stop corruption means changing the culture that turns a blind eye to it or accepts it as an inevitable feature of government. That\u2019s why it\u2019s up to us to make a change.

Foley agrees. His message for voters is simple: \u201cLet\u2019s get engaged, as bad as it is. \u2026 Just because [our government has] been, let\u2019s say, a little less than honest and transparent in the past, doesn\u2019t mean it can\u2019t be honest and transparent in the future \u2026 You roll up your sleeves, you get to work, you be positive, you don\u2019t give up, and you can accomplish a lot of things.\u201d

Keli\u2018i Akina<\/strong> is president and CEO of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Keli\u2018i Akina If Hawaii voters care about stopping corruption, they must change the 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