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Expectations low
for Legislature

Many voters believe the session
which opens on Jan. 17 won't
live up to their hopes

---

By Richard Borreca
Star-Bulletin

Just about half of Hawaii's citizens think the Legislature will not live up to expectations.

The glum assessment of the Legislature, scheduled to start its session Jan. 17, is part of a new statewide public opinion survey taken for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin by Market Trends Pacific Inc., a local polling and data research firm.

A total of 603 likely voters were interviewed by telephone Dec. 28-Jan. 8. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

COMING THIS WEEK Look for poll results on . . . Tomorrow: Pay for teachers and government workers Friday: Big issues faced by the Legislature. Saturday: How well do you like your leaders?

Hawaii's likely voters were also asked about gambling and civil service reform.

In brief, Hawaii is undecided about gambling, with about half supporting some form of gambling, while 40 percent would not approve it.

The poll also showed that the concept of civil service reform, an important element in Gov. Ben Cayetano's legislative package for the past year and a half, is not well understood.

But those who do understand it are solidly behind it and looking for legislative action.

When asked if they thought this year's Legislature would exceed their expectations, meet their expectations or not meet them, 48 percent said the Legislature would not measure up.

"I think the public has a good understanding of the Legislature," said Rep. Galen Fox, House Republican leader.

"We are not tackling the big problems, and this has been a repeated experience, Legislature after Legislature," Fox said.

The poll showed minimal expectations almost across the board. Young people, ages 18 to 35, were the most optimistic, as just 37 percent thought the Legislature would fail to meet expectations.

Republicans, as expected, were much more gloomy than Democrats, as 57 percent of the Republicans surveyed said they weren't expecting much, compared to 44 percent of the Democrats polled.

Union households were also especially glum, as 53 percent said they weren't expecting much from the Legislature.

Wanda Kakugawa, president of Market Trends Pacific, said she was surprised that only 2 percent of Hawaii's citizens thought the Legislature would exceed expectations. "It is clear they are not expecting a lot," Kakugawa said.

House Speaker Calvin Say countered, saying competing interest groups make it difficult for the Legislature to ever get a high rating.

"There are so many diverse interest groups, and they all want to be heard," he said. "But how do you please the environmentalists and the utilities, too?"

Say was more pleased with the public's marginal acceptance of gambling. The poll showed that 46 percent of the voters would approve of gambling in some instances, while an additional 13 percent would like any form of gambling.

"It shows there is a positive reflection," Say said. "The values of society are changing and they are realizing there are other ways of raising revenue if not raising taxes."

One of the most controversial items of last year's Legislature, civil service reform, was also queried. A two-part question was used to find out if voters first understood the issue of civil service reform and then how important they thought it was.

Only 11 percent said they understood it extremely well, with 23 percent saying they understood it fairly well, and 30 percent had a "general idea about civil service reform."

The issue is complicated and the details have eluded legislators, so it was understandable that a final one-third had no idea about civil service reform.

Of those who were up on it, 24 percent said it should be a high priority and more than 50 percent said it should be somewhat high priority.

Republican Fox said that showed progress as the public is starting to pay attention to the debate.

"It confirms that this is an issue that we have been talking about," Fox said.

Finally, the issue of public employee union influence appears to be waning. In 1998 and 1999, more than half of Hawaii's voters said the unions had too much influence, but the most recent survey shows only 40 percent thought the unions' influence was too much.