Campaign-reform hopes grow
By Lynda Arakawa and Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
After several failed attempts, lawmakers are taking another shot at campaign finance reform legislation aimed at cleaning up a political system tarnished by a string of scandals.
Measures that take two different tacks at redefining electioneering in Hawai'i are still on the table.
One would overhaul the existing campaign spending law to reduce the influence of powerful special interests on politicians and break the potential ties between contributions and government contracts.
The other bill would establish a second public financing program for state House candidates designed to level the playing field and eliminate contributions from special interest groups.
It's still unclear whether these bills will pass, given that lawmakers have struggled with the issue for years. But the spate of politicians and contributors running into legal trouble the past few years may put more pressure on legislators to deal with the matter.
"In my mind, this is the defining issue from the public's perspective," said House Majority Whip Brian Schatz, D-25th (Makiki, Tantalus). "It's a measure of whether or not we want to deliver substantive change.
"I think we have a reasonable shot at it. But passing campaign finance reform is always an uphill battle."
The House and Senate will begin negotiations on a campaign finance reform measure, using Senate Bill 459, which was carried over from last session, as the vehicle.
Rep. Blake Oshiro, D-33rd (Halawa, 'Aiea, Pearlridge), said House leaders want to use their version of that bill as a starting point for discussion that would also incorporate portions of Senate Bill 3030, a bill that made it through the Senate this year but has been held in the House Judiciary Committee. The two bills are similar on many of the key points, he said.
The provisions that will be on the table include severely curtailing contributions from government contractors, as well as banning direct political donations from corporations and labor unions.
Another provision would allow politicians to use campaign money to make community donations only within 90 days after the general election.
Schatz said the House's priority is to break the link between campaign contributions and construction-related government contracts. The House position would bar contributions from those who have government contracts worth more than $25,000 while the Senate position does not have a threshold.
Both sides agree that a contractor should not make campaign contributions during the life of the contract and up to two years after all work is done. The Senate version additionally bars a contractor from being hired if a campaign donation was made up to one year prior to the notice of the contract's availability, while the House is silent on pre-contract donations.
Schatz said he doesn't expect the proposal to ban direct corporate and union contributions will survive because of concerns that such a restriction may give one political party an advantage over another. Other provisions also appear to be secondary.
"I think our approach is going to be rather than pile on a number of things that can be argued about until everyone's blue in the face, we want to find the one area of common ground which is that contractor provision and work from there," Schatz said.
University of Hawai'i political science professor Neal Milner said passing campaign finance reform is typically difficult because "in some ways, the reform is against the interests of the people who are already in office."
But it's hard to publicly object to eliminating contributions from government contractors, he said.
The state Campaign Spending Commission has issued dozens of fines totaling nearly $1 million during the past two years for illegal contributions made by local contractors. Some have also been slapped with criminal charges surrounding illegal political contributions.
Bob Watada, executive director of the state Campaign Spending Commission, strongly endorses the idea to ban direct contributions from corporations, labor unions and government contractors. He noted that contractors have asked for such a law to eliminate a culture in which they feel obligated to make contributions to get government jobs.
"The corporations are huge black holes," Watada said. "You don't know where the money's coming from. ... So what this does is it brings a great deal more transparency to where money comes from."
Watada and other supporters of campaign spending reform say the chances of pushing out legislation is stronger this year because Sen. Cal Kawamoto, D-18th (Waipahu, Crestview, Pearl City), has agreed not to participate in decision-making on bills involving the topic.
Campaign financing reform advocates have, for years, considered Kawamoto to be a key obstacle in the way of any meaningful changes to electioneering laws.
Watada does not support a measure that establishes a second public financing program for state House candidates. Senate Bill 3104 has passed the Senate and must move out of the House by Thursday to have a chance at becoming law this year.
The bill has been championed by the Hawai'i Clean Elections Coalition, the League of Women Voters of Hawai'i and the Hawai'i Coalition for Good Government. It proposes that up to three candidates in each House race can receive state money to campaign if they agree to abide by stringent contribution and spending limits.
"We want to get all of the private funding out of the campaign equation because there's always this perception of undue influence," Grace Furukawa, president of the Hawai'i Clean Elections Coalition, said. Additionally, public financing programs for political candidates would encourage more people to run for office.
Watada said he doesn't see the sense in creating a second public financing program when candidates are already taking advantage of the existing program.
"Most people don't want to run," Watada said." And just because you have public funds is not going to make it any better."
He said the proposed program could cost as much as $14 million with each candidate receiving up to $90,000.
The bill proposes that financing come from the Hawai'i Election Campaign Fund, which has about $5 million and pays for the commission's operations, investigations and the current public financing program.
Oshiro said while the changes to existing law proposed in the omnibus bill are necessary, the public financing measure is "the more core way" of dealing with campaign abuses.
He also said he doubts, given the stringent eligibility requirements for obtaining public funding, that there would be enough eligible candidates to deplete the fund.
Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com. Or reach either at 525-8070.
