Colleen Hanabusa Her recent positions have put her at odds with organized labor

Waianae senator puts her
weight behind government reform

Each year, the Star-Bulletin recognizes 10 people who made a difference over the past 12 months. Whether deserving of honor or controversy, the criterion is that they made a profound impact on Hawaii. Here is the sixth notable individual.

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By Christine Donnelly
cdonnelly@starbulletin.com

In a state Legislature praised this year for tackling government reform, Senate Vice President Colleen Hanabusa stood out as a savvy, well-organized player who could take the political heat and steer controversial bills to approval.

The Waianae Democrat was key to getting a bill passed -- it squeaked by 13-12 in the Senate -- that puts public workers into one state-managed health fund system. Supporters say it will save the state hundreds of millions of dollars in the next decade, but organized labor hated the measure and lobbied heavily to kill it.

Another bill, also approved, allows the state and counties to privatize government jobs, restores the right to strike by public workers and does away with mandatory arbitration.

Hanabusa, 50, also had the high-profile job as co-chairwoman of the Joint Senate-House Investigative Committee looking into the state's compliance with the federal consent decree that mandates improved educational services for disabled students.

Public hearings this year revealed evidence of possible fraud associated with the spiraling costs of meeting the decree, as well as that then-state Superintendent Paul LeMahieu had a personal relationship with a subcontractor who got DOE business.

LeMahieu resigned, later criticizing the committee as more interested in political mud-slinging than improved education.

Insiders consider Hanabusa among the smartest members of the Legislature, with political potential well beyond it. Raised in Waianae (her district also includes Maile and Makaha), Hanabusa holds bachelor's, master's and a law degree from the University of Hawaii.

Besides being Senate vice president, Hanabusa is vice chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee and a member of the Hawaiian Affairs, Judiciary, Labor and Agriculture committees. Divorced, with no children, she was first elected in 1998 and faces re-election in 2002.

Only then will Hanabusa know how past votes will affect her political future. Union leaders have vowed revenge against those who voted for the government reform bills, and Hanabusa also was criticized by some for using her vote to help oust Attorney General Margery Bronster in 1999.