Their generosity and good intentions, however are also motivated by the worry that a firm hand shake, a bevy of sign holders and the willingness to get their name on every Little League uniform in the district might not be enough to win re-election.
Not this year, not when their major accomplishment is passing a budget that halves welfare payments to the mentally ill, not when they refuse to change the cozy rules that fatten their pensions, not when schools and libraries are stiffed.
Legislators realize they need to be back in business, but no one can agree how to do it.
Here's the problem:
Twice this summer, House and Senate members have tossed out proposals to change no-fault auto insurance.
The plans, however, have failed to meet approval in the Senate.
Like a rock showing the first signs of splitting in two, the Senate has developed fractures and fault lines.
One group of senators, including Rosalyn Baker, Avery Chumbley, Carol Fukunaga, Rey Graulty, David Ige, Les Ihara, Matt Matsunaga, Brian Taniguchi and possibly several others, wants to change directions in the Senate.
While they report no specific problem with Norman Mizuguchi as Senate president, they also have no compelling reason to support him, if he doesn't offer change.
Other senators who already enjoy the power of major committee assignments see Mizuguchi's Senate presidency as a way to keep their own clout.
The keystone is control of the Consumer Protection Committee, now headed by Milton Holt.
Holt has not been able to forge a compromise position with the state House, so no-fault auto insurance reform has been stalled. Other Senate members are willing to move, but Holt appears to be a roadblock.
To add another impediment, legislators say Gov. Ben Cayetano doesn't want to deal with Holt. Cayetano, however, hasn't shown enough interest in the Senate to actually work toward changing the line-up.
Both the governor and reformists in the House and Senate are looking at repealing a tax credit designed to benefit locally based insurance firms. Out-of-state firms have sued and there is already $27 million in escrow in the case.
CHANGING the law is worth about $49 million to the state. Cayetano reportedly wants the money for state projects, while House and Senate members want to restore general assistance welfare payments.
To set the legislative world right, however, might just be too complicated and dangerous a feat to attempt just before an election.
The reasoning goes like this: The Senate won't move unless the major committees give up their leaders; the leadership won't change without replacing the Senate president; no one is going to change the leadership until after the elections in November.
So the legislators sit, half saying they want to return this summer, others satisfied with just holding on and nobody saying the Hawaii Legislature is a place from which leaders arise.