Posted on: Wednesday, February 4, 2004

EDITORIAL
Senators court trouble in attacking Watada

Senators are just doing their job, of course, when they call for an audit of any of the various public agencies.

The wording of a proposed request for an audit of the state Campaign Spending Commission, however, suggests that something less than another benign audit is afoot.

We're confident the commission, led by its director, Robert Watada, will withstand an audit that honestly seeks to confirm that it's doing its job.

The proposed Senate resolution, however, wants the auditor to determine "whether the commission or any of its staff engage in activity that could be considered to be a form of 'bounty hunting.' "

This language suggests that the senators already have a strong idea of what they hope the audit will say.

It also suggests that they aren't bold enough to make such a charge outright, but don't mind casting it in the form of an innuendo.

There's a context for this resolution: It comes on the heels of bills introduced last month by Sen. Cal Kawamoto that would allow the Senate to fire Watada without cause and to appoint members of the commission.

The bills, as we said last week, are an outrageous attempt by Kawamoto to remove lawmakers from independent oversight of their campaign finance practices.

The new resolution suggests that the move to muzzle the commission is not the brainchild of Kawamoto alone. Besides Kawamoto, the resolution is sponsored by Senate President Robert Bunda, Senate Vice President Donna Mercado Kim, Majority Leader Colleen Hanabusa, Majority Caucus Leader Shan Tsutsui, Sen. Melodie Aduja and Sen. Norman Sakamoto.

We agree with Grace Furukawa, president of the Hawaii Clean Elections Coalition, who said the resolution "looks more to the public like harassment by at least one senator under investigation rather than a sincere attempt to determine how monies are spent or if biases occur."

Lord Acton said that power corrupts, and some senators appear to feel that whatever their behavior, they are beyond reach.

But voters are not blind to misuse of power. We'd suggest that senators with short memories review the result of the hatchet job they did on Margery Bronster when they refused to confirm her reappointment as attorney general.

Several of the senators who voted against Bronster were resoundingly defeated at their next election.

If the public concludes that the current senators are more concerned with protecting their own political viability than they are with the public good, be ready for another round of rejection.