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Capitol View
SOME years you go for the championship, some years you rebuild and some years, you just hang on. Stumbling into another
legislative sessionLawmakers gather today in a session filled with more uncertainty than they have had in years. Much of their uneasiness is of their own making.
Sen. Bob Nakata, for instance, bemoans the Senate's inability to set priorities.
If nearly every senator is a prince or at least a committee co-chairman, the list of important stuff grows from a manageable handful to more than half a hundred.
And while the House and Senate both promise action on one of the state's most controversial, uniquely Hawaiian and ultimately trivial issues, regulating the popping of firecrackers, the real show remains underground.
Acting one way or the other will give the appearance of action, but the political benefit is not as clear. Say you lead a successful fight to ban all fireworks. Who will remember it in November? Or say you steadfastly uphold the island tradition of backyard pyrotechnic spectaculars. Who will care enough to keep you in office?
Promising to act on fireworks, however, is a symptom that the legislature has bigger problems and isn't ready to address them.
"I tell you, it is the economy, the economy, the economy," former house speaker Joe Souki says.
A businessman with a neighbor island social service background, Souki easily sees that the state's desire to improve public education while resisting the temptation to raise taxes and also give public workers a raise just doesn't compute.
And there are no easy solutions to download.
That's just one of the dilemmas the legislature has to muddle through this year.
If you ever felt inclined to show a little sympathy for the men and women in the legislature this is a good year to hold that thought, because while the state's problems are increasing, there are few clues about how to proceed.
Remember the "Blair Witch Project"? Well, the three lost kids have a lot in common with this session of the Legislature.
Something is out there. They don't really know what it is and when it finds them, the result won't be good.
THE problem of increasing educational services and perhaps giving public workers more money butts right up against the problem tossed at the Legislature by Gov. Ben Cayetano, who has lost what little patience he had in the effort to reform state government.
For five years, the Cayetano administration has tried to change the culture of state government. He has laid off workers, frozen budgets, hectored administrators and even bought ads to plead his case for more efficient government.
As his final term as governor dwindles down, Cayetano sees the reforms more along the lines of take it or leave it. Legislators, however, who would like to see this new century include their own re-election, are more diplomatic.
The problem of accommodating the public worker unions' worries about job security and preserving benefits and the governor's desire to make government more efficient will make this a tense session.
Finally, the sheltering Democratic Party just isn't what it used to be.
In other words, printing a big "D" on your brochures won't carry much weight this year, with a newly renewed Republican Party and a much more independent-minded voter base.
In fact, figuring out what will work is not at all clear and that is this Legislature's biggest worry.
Legislature Directory
Hawaii Revised Statutes
Legislature BillsRichard Borreca reports on Hawaii's politics every Wednesday.
He can be reached by e-mail at rborreca@pixi.com