HGEA to meet with
Anderson and Hirono

The candidates asked for the
special meeting with some members

---

By Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.com

Next week, the Hawaii Government Employees Association will hold a special stop-work meeting for some members to meet with gubernatorial candidates D.G. "Andy" Anderson and Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono.

Public worker unions are allowed four stop-work meetings a year, but union officials say members will take "duty-free, unpaid lunch-hour time" for the candidates' meeting next week. The meeting also will give union members a chance to meet with new state administration officials.

The meeting will be for the HGEA's managerial and confidential employees chapter. Randy Kusaka, HGEA spokesman, said Anderson and Hirono had asked for a special meeting with the union.

Because the HGEA is the largest public worker union in the state and maintains a strong interest in state and county political races, the union is one of the most politically influential in the state.

Last week, all four major candidates -- Democrats Hirono, Anderson and Rep. Ed Case (D, Manoa), along with Republican Linda Lingle -- met with the HGEA's state political action committee. HGEA chapters on the other islands and Oahu are also holding meetings with some of the candidates.

Four years ago, the HGEA's parent union American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees held its national convention in Honolulu, and the HGEA sponsored a stop-work meeting with an estimated 1,000 state employees listening to speeches by Gov. Ben Cayetano and the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the state Capitol. Republicans criticized it as a thinly veiled Cayetano campaign rally, supported by the state.

After the rally, the state Ethics Commission investigated, but Dan Mollway, executive director, said Hawaii's laws regulating union stop-work meetings are unclear, and it was impossible to say if a gathering to hear a campaign pitch by selected politicians did not fall under the category of allowable "education and information."

"Because the terms are vague, and if someone does not allow certain things to be done, it could result in a lawsuit," Mollway said.

The Ethics Commission has introduced legislation every year to clarify the law, but Mollway said it has been rejected by the Legislature.

"Still, this gets into the question of whether or not this is a campaign contribution and should the union be reimbursing the state for the time," Mollway said.

Davis Yogi, state human resources director, told the union that it "wasn't a good idea during work time."

A spokesman for Lingle's campaign said the Republican candidate for governor is looking forward to meeting with HGEA members on Maui and the Big Island.

"As long as there is a chance for her to share her opinions with HGEA members, we think it is great," said Bob Awana, Lingle campaign manager.

Case noted that he was at the HGEA interview last week.

"I am willing to go to any meeting to which I am invited," Case said.

He added that he had not received an invitation to the stop-work meeting next week.