Small business owners
have voting power, too

Economic predictions are so predictable. It's an almost perfect mirror of contemporary life in Hawaii: A well-publicized, high-powered task force of big business and organized union interests reached a rapid and predictable consensus - more government funding, tax breaks for employee-executives and another round of price hikes for outsiders.

An equally well-publicized force of 400, convened from the ranks of the general public, reached even faster answers but couldn't reach a consensus.

Meanwhile, the governor's other task force, the small business task force (on regulatory relief) changed its name and has hardly been heard from since. Little wonder that small businesses are doing so badly. As a group, they're almost politically silent.

Fortunately, since a small-business owner has the same voting power as a business or union executive, at next year's elections we will see if small-business people matter after all.

Michael Colgan

Clinton's kind words
about veterans ring false

As a veteran of 26 years in the U.S. Navy, I found this past Veterans Day to be filled with irony. The president was on TV praising the sacrifices of veterans in defense of American ideals.

But wasn't this the same president who was an admitted draft dodger?

I found it absolutely incredible that our commander-in-chief dared to show his face on a day when genuine heroes were being honored.

This tells us a lot about his brass and insensitivity. He obviously has no respect for veterans, or he would have been one.

Robert R. Kessler
Commander, USN, Retired

Readers praise and
pan banker's comments

Johnson deserves applause
for his leadership, guts

I personally applaud Bank of Hawaii Chairman Larry Johnson for committing to the Governor's Economic Revitalization Plan by committing his management's PAC to supporting those legislators who support the plan.

Certainly, each one of us selects people we want to support because they support our point of view. It's the nature of a democracy that we make our voice heard through every legal channel possible.

Johnson stands firmly for economic reform. He knows that we can no longer wait; it's time to move forward to improve this economy. It's reassuring that we have business leaders like him willing to point the way.

Jim Romig

Democracy shouldn't
come with price tag

Thomas Paine said, "A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom."

Take, for example, those rushing to excuse Larry Johnson's offer of money to politicians for votes, with rationalizations along the lines of "that's how hard-ball politics works" and "everyone does it, so it must be OK."

Implicit in their defensiveness is the acceptance of America's increasingly unfair system of privately financed election campaigns. These campaigns disenfranchise ordinary citizens who cannot afford to make large campaign donations, while encouraging elected representatives to put ahead the private interests of their contributors before the needs and concerns of their constituents - and ahead of public interest.

How about standing up for a fundamental principle of our democratic process: a representative government? Money should not be the medium of democracy.

John Proud

Citizens' groups talking
out of two sides of mouths

Isn't it ironic that Larry Johnson is now being criticized for speaking up about financial support for only those candidates who endorse the proposals submitted recently by the Economic Revitalization Task Force?

It was barely a year ago that many of the same groups that now criticize Johnson for overtly expressing the governmental goals of the Bank of Hawaii were then criticizing "big business" for "playing it both ways" in giving financial support to a broad spectrum of candidates in an effort to "play it safe."

You can't win in this town.

I personally find it refreshing and hardly "dreadful" as stated by the League of Women Voters that someone is finally standing up to make a difference.

As a reminder to those critical groups, it's called free speech and it is the foundation of a healthy government and economy that we so desperately need.

Fenton Oishi

CEO's statement shows
campaign reform is needed

Bank of Hawaii CEO Larry Johnson has let the fat cat out of the bag by illuminating, with unusual candor, exactly how our campaign finance system really operates: tit for tat, quid pro quo, something for something, cash for votes.

Equally startling was the governor's follow-up comment that Johnson didn't do anything wrong or unusual.

Why do we have campaigns? Because a healthy democracy requires an informed electorate. Campaigns are a public function. The voting public needs public information about the public issue positions held by candidate for public office.

Providing qualified candidates with a set, competitive amount of money from a public fund will free legislators from the endless money chase, giving them more time (and the freedom from contributor pressure) to serve the public interest.

In return for the funds, which would include additional matching funds if a privately financed opponent tried to outspend them, candidates should forgo all private money and agree to strict spending limits and shorter campaigns, thereby reducing campaign costs and leveling the electoral field.

Toni Worst
Vice President
League of WomenVoters
of Hawaii

Johnson's son defends
his father's integrity

When I read the headline and your Nov. 8 front-page "story" about Bank of Hawaii Chairman Larry Johnson and the quoted "bribery," my emotions evolved from shock to hurt to anger. To place such a story where you did and give it such a misleading headline does poor service to a man who has given so much to this community because he deeply cares about its future.

Anyone who knows or knows of Johnson understands that his statement was legal, ethical and an honest expression of the passion he feels for the need for economic change to move this state forward.

I and many others find your coverage on that slow news day to be a despicable attempt to stir the pot and sell some papers by latching on to a non-issue.

So take your cheap shots at people who stand up to make a difference, but don't write any more editorials about the lack of private-sector leadership.

You may choose to use lesser terms in writing about Larry Johnson, but I am lucky enough to call him my father. You can be sure that I, too, will only be supporting candidates who support economic reform.

Mark L. Johnson

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Bishop Estate Archive

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