Gathering Places
Gathering Places
It is remarkable how different events can show the same phenomenon; public officials sometimes choose the convenience of making closed and immediate decisions over the importance of getting wide public input. Doing it right and doing
it wrong in Hawaii politicsFor instance, Honolulu City Council members just decided to appoint Darryln Bunda to fill the seat of the recently departed Rene Mansho. They did this in private before allowing any public comment. We all know that the public hearings coming up are just window-dressing before Bunda's inevitable approval.
Bunda may be highly qualified. However, the Council should have taken a little extra time and trouble to publicly solicit nominations and then hold the hearings.
This would have broadened the pool of qualified potential appointees and been a small step toward restoring the Council's tattered reputation. No such luck.
Meanwhile, the state Legislature last week changed this year's rules for conference committees. Last year, the leadership approved rules that allowed any committee chairman in a conference committee to veto any bill.
This gave each chairman unprecedented power. Each one could stop a bill that had been approved repeatedly by several committees in both houses and passed three votes by all the members of both houses.
On Friday, members of the House and Senate agreed to allow a majority of committee members to overrule the chairman's veto, but in fact committee members almost never go against their chairmen.
Instead of putting the fate of all our laws in the hands of a few, all our elected representatives and senators should have an equal say in conference committee decisions, without extra-constitutional vetoes.
It might be a little less convenient and a little slower than just allowing a small group to have all the power, but it would result in having more views represented and getting better decisions.
Finally, there is one example from last week in which government acted for the public good. Recently, the state House leadership rightly refused to bypass its normal procedures to pass a Senate bill on union health plans.
They deserve praise for ensuring that all committees, members and the public have a full opportunity to consider and comment on all bills before they are passed.
All of these examples show the same temptation for public officials to expedite decisions by keeping them in a few hands. It does make things easier and quicker for them. But the fact is that we get better decisions if we get the broadest possible information by having the greatest possible input from legislators and the public.
It may be a little difficult, but government should not be run for the convenience of public officials. Instead, lawmakers should try to make the best possible decisions by getting the broadest, best information and including as many people as possible in decisions.
And we, the public, should support having all our government processes as broad and open as possible.
Larry Meacham is the spokesman for Common Cause Hawaii.