Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
IN AND AROUND THE CAPITOL
Bill would finance
campaigns for some City
Council candidatesSenate defers Pai's PUC nomination
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Grandparents push for extended rights
Star-BulletinCity Council members have mixed views on a bill in the state Legislature that would allow candidates for Council to receive nearly all the financing for their campaign from the government.
Originally dubbed the "clean elections
pilot program bill," candidates for City Council in 2002 would be eligible to apply for up to $55,000 in public funds during an election cycle.
To get that funding, candidates must meet these conditions:
They need to collect $10 from at least 1 percent of the registered voters in their districts, about 500 voters. That money would go into the state election campaign fund.
Two-term limits bar all nine of the current Council members from running again in 2002 but many have an opinion on the reform proposal endorsed by the League of Women Voters, Common Cause Hawaii and other clean election advocates but opposed by the Campaign Spending Commission.
Councilman Duke Bainum, the only sitting Council member to provide testimony to the Legislature on the issue, said he backs the bill because existing rules tend to favor those with independent wealth or are influenced by special interests.
Bainum said, however, that the maximum amounts proposed for financing -- $35,000 for a first election and $20,000 for a runoff -- may not be enough.
A single mass-mailing in the community might alone cost more than $50,000, he said.
"You have to have it high enough to win a campaign," he said. If enough candidates agree to abide by the rules, he said, peer pressure would dissuade other candidates from using traditional campaign financing.
Councilman John Henry Felix said Council races are now so expensive that talented would-be candidates are being scared off. "The cost of campaigns are becoming more prohibitive to people of modest means," Felix said.
Councilwoman Rene Mansho said she thinks allowing campaigns to be financed by the government is a good plan and "do-able" but not the ultimate campaign reform measure. "It's a partial attempt to level the playing field," she said. A more effective measure would be to control candidate spending, she said.
Some Council members are unhappy with the measure, however.
Councilman Steve Holmes said current laws already allow candidates to receive matching funds for their campaigns. Holmes himself received about $18,500 in the last election after taking in a required number of contributions of $100 or less.
Holmes said "there's no way" he could meet the threshold of getting 500 people in his district to contribute $10, or even $5 as originally proposed, for the state campaign fund.
"You've got to be reasonable," Holmes said, noting that he does not take money from special interest groups and limits contributions from others to $250.
Councilman Mufi Hannemann said he is reluctant to support a plan that calls for using government dollars for campaign financing at the expense of more pressing needs.
"I don't think that should be a priority when you look at all the other things that need funding," Hannemann said.
Campaign reform can be better achieved through spending limits or restrictions on the amount and types of contributions, he said.
Senate defers Pai's PUC nomination
By Ben DiPietro
Associated PressThe nomination of Greg Pai to a six-year term on the state Public Utilities Commission was deferred yesterday by the Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.
Pai, a former economist and planner, has served on the commission since 1998 but wasn't approved by the Senate until last year for a term that expires June 30.
If approved, he would serve on the commission through June 2006. No date was set for when the committee would again hear the nomination.
Committee Co-Chairman Sen. Brian Kanno (D, Ewa Beach-Makakilo-Waipahu) was one of three senators to vote against Pai's nomination last year.
All but one of the people submitting testimony on the nomination supported retaining Pai on the commission. They included state officials, PUC staffers and members of Korean organizations. Pai also submitted testimony.
"I have already served for 2 years on the commission," Pai said. "This has given me valuable experience in understanding the workings of the telecommunications and electric utility industries, as well as the operations of the commission."
Kapolei resident Jane Ross, however, said Pai was unresponsive to area residents during hearings about the future of the airport at the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station.
Gov. Ben Cayetano first nominated Pai to the commission in 1996, but the nomination was withdrawn because of Senate opposition over his lack of utilities experience, among other issues. He then was appointed on an interim basis, but resigned after senators complained.
The governor then appointed Pai after the 1998 legislative session, and that interim appointment won approval last year.
Grandparents push for extended rights
By Richard Borreca
Star-Bulletin
Tutus have always taken care of their grandchildren -- it used to be called the hanai system, says Jackie Chong, with the Windward Family and Community Education Center.
Today, however, Chong is asking the state Legislature to give grandparents more tools to help both their children and their grandchildren.
"There are a lot of people whose kids aren't around -- the parents are into drugs or in jail," she said.
Social service agencies and a group of grandparents called Na Tutu are asking the Legislature to allow a caregiver such as a grandparent to give medical and educational consent for the child.
If grandparents want to take a child to the doctor, they need the parent's permission before the doctor will treat the child. And when the child is old enough to attend school, parents must sign the forms to enroll the child.
But if parents are not available or in a responsible position, grandparents have no alternative but to assume legal custody of the child, if they want to help.
A bill has already cleared the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, allowing grandparents to help the grandchildren without getting legal custody of the children.
The committee noted that court proceedings are often expensive and time-consuming when what is needed is to get the child in school or to a doctor.
"These people do not want to get into the legal system for guardianship or adoption," Carole Mulford, with the Windward center, said.
Another grandmother, Julia Duarte, who is taking care of four children, said the grandparents don't want to cause a confrontation or testify in court.
"You have to vilify your own child in court and that will make it impossible to ever put the family back together," Duarte said.
The compromise is to set up a legal framework that would allow grandparents to help, but not take over all the responsibility, Chong said.
"Many times grandparents don't want to say, 'I have a druggie or a drunk for a daughter,'" Chong said.
Similar legislation exists in nine states, including Texas and California.
Hawaii's bill is now before the Judiciary Committee, which is expected to make a decision Friday.
You can track bills, hearings and other Legislature action via: Get involved
Neighbor islanders, call toll-free and enter ext. 70478 after the number:
Big Island, 974-4000; Maui,
984-2400; Kauai, 274-3141;
Molokai and Lanai, 468-4644.
Legislature Directory
Hawaii Revised Statutes
Legislature Bills
