Public’s trust Joe Palau is disgusted with politicians making promises each election year and then not keeping them once they get into public office.
in politics tumbles
People surveyed say Lingle is
the candidate who can restore trustBy Crystal Kua
ckua@starbulletin.com
"There's no trust," Palau, of Liliha, said as he waited for a bus. "It's mostly a lot of bull."
Palau's trust in government reflects the feeling of nearly three-quarters of those surveyed in a recent poll.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin/KITV 4 News poll showed 70 percent of those surveyed believe that the public's trust in government in the past few years has been spiraling down.
Of those who believe that public trust has decreased, nearly half say that Republican gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle would be the most effective in restoring that trust. Of the Democratic candidates, about 19 percent said Mazie Hirono would be most effective, 15 percent picked Ed Case and 7 percent chose Andy Anderson.
"I think (the public) is very wary. I may not go as far as to say that they don't trust them, but I think they are very wary, very concerned," said Kelly Snavely, a 29-year-old nurse.
"With all the recent exposure of corruption -- not only in the government, but in the large companies that we've put our trust in -- it's very difficult to feel that people with that much power will use it wisely," said Snavely, who was on her way into the state Health Department.
Within the last year alone:
>> Former City Council members Rene Mansho and Andy Mirikitani and former state Sen. Marshall Ige were sent to jail for different reasons.
>> An investigative grand jury is expected to convene to look into political contributions from city contractors to Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris' 2000 re-election campaign.
>> Police arrested Harris aide Mike Amii for allegedly doing campaign work on city time. Amii has denied the allegations.
"People are obviously concerned about ethics and public trust, and I think rightly so. I think in every election, integrity and character of the candidates should be looked at by the voters," Democratic Party Chairwoman Lorraine Akiba said.
The public mistrust is aimed at all levels of government.
"The county is hopelessly corrupt," said Henry Curtis, executive director of Life of the Land, an environmental watchdog organization. "I mean, they have two people (from the City Council) who are in prison. There should be at least one more who should be forced off the Council. Variances are given, it appears, based on who you know and what contractor you hire, what consultant you hire rather than the merits of the issue."
The poll was taken among 601 likely voters who were randomly selected and interviewed by telephone Aug. 21-28 by Market Trends Pacific Inc. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The question about which candidate would be most effective at putting public trust back in government was asked of 418 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.
Hawaii Republican Party Chairman Micah Kane said he was not surprised at the 70 percent poll figure after talking to people while going door to door on the campaign trail.
"With all of these indictments and convictions that have happened with the party in rule, until we get a two-party system, we'll not rid our state of the corruption that exists. It's really the only cure," Kane said.
Kane said the poll shows that Democrats first need to acknowledge that they have corruption before they can fix it.
Akiba said Democrats are not to blame for the public's mistrust, and Republicans should practice what they preach.
"I think this is a concern with respect to what is happening not only at the local level, but at the national level with respect to corporate corruption, national Republican involvement in that," she said.
Akiba pointed to two things -- the Democratic challenge to the state House candidacy of Republican James Hardway, an employee of Linda Lingle's gubernatorial campaign, and the former Maui mayor's use of county stationery for political purposes in 1998 -- as evidence of the local Republican Party's lack of ethics. The Maui Board of Ethics dismissed the Democratic Party's complaint against Lingle.
Kane responded that Democrats "play dirty politics, you know, and they try and intimidate. They don't want competition, and the easiest way to eliminate competition is to try and intimidate someone out of a race."
How can trust be restored?
"It's really critical in this election that we get ethics into place because regardless of whether a legislator is for you or against you, you want to know that you have a level playing field," Curtis said. "You don't want to find out that the other side is slipping money in their back pockets and making deals in back rooms."
Tonight: KITV 4 News examines how important trust in government is to voters. Upcoming Star-Bulletin/KITV 4 polls
Tomorrow: The Star-Bulletin asks about your take on the state economy and your pocketbook.
Tomorrow night: KITV 4 News analyzes the issues that you believe pose the greatest threat to Hawaii's future.
Thursday: The Star-Bulletin looks at what issues pose the greatest threat to Hawaii's future.
