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Peters’ kin takes
temp job at Capitol

ANOTHER Peters is in the house. This time, family ties and not necessarily political fire have led Shane Peters of the Peters-Hagino family to work at the state Capitol.

The Capitol is the old stomping ground of his stepfather, former Rep. David Hagino, and uncles former Sen. Gerald Hagino and ex-House Speaker Henry Peters, who have 50 years of state lawmaking among them.

The 26-year-old Peters, who says he's "big on the arts," is on a yearlong hiatus between undergraduate and graduate school in New York. Any chance of politics in his future? "No, absolutely not -- quite the opposite," says Peters, a new staffer at the Public Access Room. He wants to pursue industrial design.

Peters says his dad is practicing labor law. He doesn't know what Uncle Gerald is up to, but of his other uncle, an ousted trustee of the Bishop Estate, he adds, "My Uncle Henry, I'm sure you're abreast of what he's done."

COMMON CAUSE PROTESTS:

The citizen's action group, Common Cause, is protesting a policy started by Sen. David Matsuura to limit testimony to only one minute for people who want to speak before his Health and Human Services committee.

Saying one minute is not enough, Larry Meacham, Common Cause spokesman, said it was "tantamount to not allowing public input at all."

Matsuura's committee notice also said that people who sent in written testimony would be recognized and "may be asked to respond to questions," but were asked not to read their testimony to the committee.

Matsuura (D, Hilo) said the directions were put into the testimony directions at the beginning of the session when the committee was hearing bills on medical privacy that had witnesses coming from across the state to speak.

"But we haven't been following the rule, and we haven't limited testimony. We never denied anyone who wanted to testify," Matsuura said. He volunteered to remove the hearing condition but said he hasn't directly gotten any complaints about the notices or hearings.

WINNERS

Les Ihara: The senator gets some attention after a two-year campaign to get committee hearings broadcast on the Web. The Committee on Economic Development and Technology moves a proposal to allow commissions and boards to hold meetings with "interactive multimedia."

Nobu Yonamine: The representative's actions after his arrest for drunken driving, including his subsequent decision to resign from the Legislature at the end of this session, are drawing praise from constituents, who are asking him to stay on the job.

Charter schools: They win when the Senate Education Committee kills a bill that would have stopped funding for all charter schools.

LOSERS

Lovebirds: Republican Rep. Charles Djou, hoping to encourage marriages, suggests lowering the fee for a marriage license from $50 to $25. Democrats, however, were not cooing or wooing, and rejected Djou's bill.

Sen. Robert Bunda and Rep. Calvin Say: They take the brunt of U.S. District Judge David Ezra's scolding about obeying the federal consent decree on paying for special education students. Bunda and Say, as legislative leaders, have been arguing that the Felix decree costs haven't been justified, but Ezra is saying pay up or else.

House GOP: Promises to force Democrats to make politically defining votes on controversial issues, but the Democrats turn the tables and have the bills recommitted.

This feature by Richard Borreca runs Mondays throughout the legislative session.

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