IF this were a normal off-election summer, your proper response to more political speculation would be a lazy dismissal. This summer, however, don't be fooled. This is a key week for politicians both in office and not yet elected. This is a key week
for Hawaii politiciansFirst up is the critical federal case regarding Hawaii's aborted constitutional convention.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra is mulling over an argument to restore the convention, which was killed when the state Supreme Court astounded observers by declaring that not enough citizens voted for it.
Although more people voted for a constitutional convention than against it, the Supreme Court opted to count blank ballots as "no" votes. That spiked the convention.
Conservative Christian activists have seized on the convention as a new platform for a host of proposed changes, including yet another same-sex-marriage auto-da-fe.
That's not what is important. Key your eye on the political ball. Every constitutional convention ushers in a new political crowd. The 1968 bunch quickly filled up the Legislature. The 1978 edition brought in John Waihee, most of the leaders in the Legislature, plus Mayor Jeremy Harris.
Union leader Gary Rodrigues thinks the Con Con isn't a good idea. He figures that because delegates do their job and then are out of office, they really aren't accountable to the public like legislators, who depend on power brokers like Rodrigues to help them win re-election.
Novel as that idea is, it also isn't the politically important part of another Con Con. Instead, watch the debate on how much power public employee unions should have in Hawaii. That and new faces make a Con Con vital.
The other change in local politics this summer is happening at the Campaign Spending Commission, which is forging ahead with plans to put campaign contributors names up on the Internet.
Also available will be complete information about major candidates' expenses.
Previously the commission collected the information on paper and somewhat haphazardly entered some of it into computers.
But when the new Campaign Spending Commission executive director, Robert Watada, took over, the commission started to join the 21st century and post data on the Internet.
That means that anyone can check out a candidate, even the candidate's opponents. That again encourages debate and competition among candidates and we all benefit.
Watada and crew have gotten so many requests for information on the new system that they are giving a seminar in Illinois later this month.
Already representatives from 10 states are expected to attend.
AND Forbes magazine earlier this month singled out Hawaii as a leader in using the Internet to distribute campaign spending information.
The company that is doing it for Hawaii, SDR Technologies, also put Washington state, Oklahoma, Missouri and even the Federal Elections Commission on the Internet map.
This week the Campaign Spending Commission also was handed a new set of tools from the Legislature that will block much of the funny money loans that politicians get and never repay.
No more. The loans will be regulated and must be paid back within a year.
All those changes make for some substance and significance out of the usual summer doldrums.