Hawaii legislature gets low marks for handling corruption

The state legislature gets a shockingly low score for oversight of internal corruption in a poll of registered Hawaii voters, who also overwhelmingly support legislature term limits and more funding for regulatory commissions focused on ethics and campaign spending.

Just 8% of respondents in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s most recent Hawaii poll said the Legislature had done enough to monitor and monitor its members.

More respondents, 11% of the total, were unsure. And 81% said not enough has been done.

The question, posed July 12-17 to 800 registered voters statewide, referenced guilty pleas to corruption allegations in February by two former Hawaiian lawmakers, J. Kalani English and Ty JK Cullen.

English, who served 22 years in the Senate, and Cullen, who served 13 years in the House of Representatives, have been accused by federal law enforcement of taking bribes related to legislative action. English was recently sentenced to 40 months in federal prison, fined $100,000 and ordered to withhold $13,305 in bribes, excluding $5,000 he had previously paid out. Cullen is awaiting sentencing.

Alexei Guren, director of information technology for Oahu’s banking industry, is among those who believe the Legislature needs to better monitor its members. Guren was also among 77% of poll respondents who support the introduction of term limits for legislators similar to the eight-year limit for governors.

“Being a part of government is a service,” he said. “It’s not intended as a career in itself.”

Guren said term limits would help make lawmakers less likely to do things to build their power and stay in office, rather than just working for the greater good.

Bill Coke, a Honolulu cab driver who also took part in the poll, offered a sardonic rationale for supporting term limits for Hawaii legislators.

“If you can’t grow beyond your wildest dreams within eight years, then you’re too stupid to be there,” he said. “I’m very cynical about that.”

Of all respondents, 19% said they opposed term limits and 4% were undecided.

Divided by political party, 25% of Democrats who took part in the poll oppose term limits for Hawaii legislators, where almost all members are Democrats. This compares to 1% of Republicans and 21% of independent voters.

A third question in the public corruption survey was whether respondents support or oppose increasing funding for the state Ethics Committee and the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission to scrutinize elected officials and candidates.

Most respondents – 75% – support more such funding. Another 18% disagree and 7% were undecided.

Guren and Cook both support such an increase in funding, although Cook is skeptical that more funding would reduce abuse and corruption among politicians. “I don’t know how effective they are,” Cook said of the two commissions.

Of 450 pollsters who reported being primary voters, 10% of Democrats and 7% of Republicans said public corruption was the most important issue for them given their vote.

In response to English and Cullen’s indictments, a State House panel earlier this year recommended that lawmakers pass 14 pending bills related to local government reform to improve governance. The legislature passed about half of these bills in May, and the others failed.

The Standards of Conduct Commission has moved into a second phase of work, which includes holding public meetings, which began in June. A meeting is scheduled for today.

A June 15 meeting focused on several issues, including term limits.

“Term limits have been discussed for centuries,” Jessica Jones Caparrell, director of government affairs for the national organization League of Women Voters, told the commission.

Fifteen states, including California and Florida, have statutory term limits of eight to 12 years, according to Ballotpedia. The digital encyclopedia of American politics and elections also said six states previously had such term limits, which were either abolished by courts or legislatures.

Caparrell pointed out that some arguments against term limits are that they run counter to a more democratic determination of term by voters and reduce the effectiveness of a legislature by reducing the growth of expertise among members and the long-term effort sometimes required to pass inhibit laws.

Since 1991, the league has opposed term limits on members of Congress in part because such limits could reduce congressional accountability and performance to balance the power of the presidency, Caparrell told the commission.

Caparrell said alternatives to preventing corruption among elected officials include reforming campaign finance, fair redistribution of constituencies and tackling voter suppression.

“Term limits are just a policy used to combat the idea that there is widespread distrust of government officials, but citizens can demand the implementation of better policy alternatives to build trust in our elected officials, trust in ours government and to ensure the accountability of all parties involved,” she said at the meeting.

In 2021, two bills proposing term limits for lawmakers were introduced to the state legislature and remain pending in that year’s legislative session, which ended in May.

The measures, House Bill 123 and Senate Bill 1301, proposed amending the state constitution to limit legislature terms to 16 years, beginning on or after the 2024 general election. The bills never even got a hearing.

Daniel R. Foley, a retired appeals judge who chairs the commission, told the mid-June meeting that term limits had their place and warranted further discussion, among other measures.

The seven-member commission, which includes representatives from the Ethics Committee, the Campaign Spending Commission and the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, is working to submit a final report with recommendations to the Legislature by the end of this year.