Isle Democrats are
slammed on wiretap lawState Attorney General Mark
Bennett hopes to revive
a measure
State Attorney General Mark Bennett lashed out yesterday at House and Senate Democrats for letting a wiretap measure that was passed by both houses "quietly die" in conference committee.
With two working days left in the current legislative session, Bennett and 13 Republican lawmakers held a news conference yesterday morning in the Capitol Rotunda to slam Democrats for killing legislative initiatives they claim would give law enforcement the tools needed to fight the crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," epidemic.
"How can we fight crime with one hand tied behind our back?" said Bennett.
At the same time the Republicans blamed Democrats for not being tough on the ice problem, they called for "bipartisan efforts" to revive a wiretap law and other measures that would give law enforcement more tools to prosecute drug dealers.
"There is still time to resurrect this bill through a bipartisan effort," said Bennett, adding: "It's not too late for wiretaps. We have until Thursday to get it done."
Bennett said the wiretap law passed the Senate and House but "was killed in conference committee by the House (Democratic) leadership."
House speaker Calvin Say (D, St. Louis-Wilhelmina Rise) said yesterday afternoon: "Just to blame the House is really uncalled for. It takes both sides. They could have agreed to the House version."
House Majority Floor leader Marilyn Lee (D, Mililani-Mililani Mauka) said she did not know what happened to the bill in conference committee, but that the bill "wasn't controversial. I think the House Judiciary Committee felt it was important and passed it to the Senate."
On Friday the partisan fight over ice legislation took a turn when Democratic legislators overrode Gov. Linda Lingle's veto of a drug-abuse bill. Republican lawmakers called the bill "fake reform" that directed money too much "towards treatment instead of punishment."
House Bill 2003 provides $14.7 million to expand drug treatment, prevention programs and Drug Court.
Bennett and other state law enforcement officials such as city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle have long argued that Hawaii needs a wiretap law on par with federal wiretap laws and those that exist in most states.
Bennett and Carlisle say Hawaii's wiretap law is useless because it requires an "adversarial hearing" to be held to approve a wiretap, during which an attorney is appointed to represent the rights of the target of the wiretap. They have said that by the time such hearings unfold, the target often hears about the wiretap, and undercover officers can be put at risk.
Bennett said "electronic surveillance would only be used for severe, difficult and complicated cases."
He said, "If we have information on a major ice conspiracy and know people are running it using electronic communication, electronic surveillance lets us get places we can't get with undercover" officers.
The other reason Hawaii law enforcement has long wanted state wiretap laws to be on the same legal footing as federal ones is so evidence gathered in federal wiretaps can be used in state trials. Carlisle has often said that while some drug dealers could be prosecuted under state laws better than federal ones, prosecutors are not allowed to use evidence collected with federal wiretaps.
Carlisle told reporters he felt he was fighting ice with "both hands tied and my feet in a bucket of cement."
