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Bill to use public money
By Richard Borreca
for elections stalls
Star-BulletinA plan to use public money to fund some of the next round of City Council elections appears stuck in a Senate committee, where a majority of its members oppose it.
Groups from Advocates for Consumer Rights, Hawaii Clean Elections, and the American Civil Liberties Union confronted Sen. Cal Kawamoto at his state Capitol office yesterday demanding that he act on the measure.
Kawamoto refused, saying his Committee on Transportation and Intergovernmental Affairs heard and rejected a similar measure.
The bill would permit candidates for the City Council to get public funds for their campaign if they get a specific number of donations from community members. The bill is designed to remove the influence of large campaign donors and also to give challenger's a better chance against powerful politicians who have already raised a lot of money.
But Kawamoto says he is opposed to the bill because it "applies to special-interest groups."
He added that Bob Watada, executive director of the Campaign Spending Commission, has testified against the bill, saying it would be difficult to administer and enforce.
Supporters yesterday, however, argued with Kawamoto that he was defending his own special-interest groups. They pointed out that in the past four years Kawamoto has raised a quarter million dollars in campaign money.
"I was born in a working man's family, this is my only job now," he said. Kawamoto said he supports many legislative causes, including the military and public school education, which do not contribute to his campaigns.
Vicky Holt Takamine, with a native Hawaiian citizens' action group, complained that if Kawamoto didn't act, the bill, which has been planned and lobbied for two years, would be delayed another year.
Kawamoto, however, said he wouldn't bring the bill up for another hearing, because four senators, Lorraine Inouye, Jan Buen, Sam Slom and Robert Bunda, and he all voted not to pass the bill out of committee.
"I'm not going to embarrass the senators by having them hear it again," he said.
You can track bills, hearings and other Legislature action via: Get involved
The Legislative Reference Bureau's public access room, state Capitol, room 401. Open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Phone: 587-0478; fax, 587-0793; TTY, 538-9670.
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.
