|
On Politics Richard Borreca |
Bill signings have
new flair at the CapitolWhen Gov. Linda Lingle began sending out invitations for citizens, legislators and bureaucrats to attend ceremonies to witness her signing legislative bills into law, the Capitol protocol police immediately went to Condition Orange.
Everything at the Capitol has a protocol and a political spin. Not a trash can is emptied or a throat cleared without someone measuring the political signs: Who benefits, who gets favored and who gets left out.
Suddenly, Democrats who run the House and Senate discovered that they would get no special passes into the Capitol's Executive Chamber ceremonies. Equally unsettling was finding out that they would be joined by something rarely seen in previous administrations on the top floor -- Republicans.
Counting political importance by who attends a bill-signing is not limited to Hawaii pols. Even on a national level political signals are sent by how a chief executive signs a bill. A flashy ceremony with lots of pens to pass out carries more weight then a press release with no personal handshake.
When President Bush felt he had to sign the campaign spending reform bill last year, it was downplayed.
"To hold a giant South Lawn ceremony would not have the air of consistency, so the president conducted the signing in a ceremony that was befitting for his beliefs on the bill in its totality," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
Political nuance, however, is lost on Hawaii Republicans, who are just happy to see the welcome sign turned on.
"I have been to more bill signings in the last six weeks than I have in the last six years," Rep. David Pendleton, (R, Maunawili-Kaneohe) said.
Lenny Klompus, Lingle's senior assistant for communications, orchestrates the bill- signings. He shows almost single-minded determination to make every gubernatorial appearance a special event.
For Klompus, there can never be too many "Kodak moments." The former big-time sports promoter is finding out "government is doing significant things that affect people's lives."
To that end, he has made bill-signings a moveable feast of photo-ops. For the first time, the governor has signed bills on the neighbor isles and in parks.
Democrats, meanwhile, are privately grousing that while Lingle may be wielding the pen that changes a bill into a law, the legislation is the result of work, debates and compromises by the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate.
"I guess it is a new style on the fifth floor," says Alex Santiago, Democratic Party chairman and former legislator.
He reports that Democrats have complained that even though they worked on a bill they are not invited to the signing. Klompus says that the person who introduced the bill and the heads of the major committees that handled it are invited as a matter of course.
Santiago figures that while the flash bulbs go off for Lingle, Democrats still get respect from those who know legislation is not a one-person show. Meanwhile, that PR train roaring through the Executive Chamber is still accelerating.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Richard Borreca writes on politics every Sunday in the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached at 525-8630 or by e-mail at rborreca@starbulletin.com.