Kanno also worked with lawmakers this session on Senate and House resolutions that would have required Norwegian to explain the procedures it follows when employees are accused of sexual harassment, specifically whether the employee accused has the opportunity to respond. The same resolutions, which never advanced, also would have directed the state Department of Taxation to assess whether the cruise line should have to pay the state's hotel room tax, describing cruise ships as "floating hotels."

Kanno also recommended the man, Leon Rouse, for a job as an office manager for Rida Cabanilla after she was elected to the state House in November.

In the case of Norwegian, Kanno said he would have intervened for any worker who asked for his help, and he denied that the resolutions were intended to intimidate the cruise line.

"I am labor chair, so our job is to have responsibility for our labor laws," he said.

But Norwegian officials and lobbyists clearly saw a connection and raised the issue in a private meeting with Senate leaders, where Norwegian expressed concern that the resolutions were punitive.

Robert Kritzman, executive vice president at Norwegian, said he could see no other reason for lawmakers to link the cruise line's sexual harassment policies with whether it should pay hotel room taxes. "I think the whole thing was very surprising," he said.

Some of Kanno's colleagues in the Senate were also surprised by the resolutions, and talk has increased at the state Capitol over the past few days, after KITV 4 News aired a report about the situation last Friday.

"I've never really seen something like that in the past," said Senate vice president Donna Mercado Kim, D-14th (Halawa, Moanalua, Kamehameha Heights).

Political activist

Kritzman said he could not comment on individual employment matters at Norwegian but Rouse confirmed he was fired last June from his job as a cabin steward over accusations of sexual harassment during his 90-day probation with the cruise line. He was let go in California after what he described as anonymous allegations against him and had to return on his own to Hawai'i.

Rouse would not discuss how he was able to obtain help from Kanno and other lawmakers.

Rouse was a political activist in Wisconsin in the early 1980s, pushing for a state law that prohibited discrimination against gays in employment and housing. He later moved to Hawai'i and was among the activists behind the state's law banning job discrimination based on sexual orientation, which was signed by then-Gov. John Waihee in 1991.

"He likes politics. He always has," said William Woods, the executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Education and Advocacy Foundation. "He likes that political community and the way it works."

Last year, Rouse worked on Cabanilla's campaign for state House District 42 and, after Cabanilla was elected, she hired Rouse as her office manager. Cabanilla said through a House spokeswoman that Kanno recommended Rouse for the job but that it was ultimately her decision to hire him.

Cabanilla, in a written statement, said she was aware that Rouse was fired by Norwegian and said she was concerned about what she had heard about the cruise line's labor policies. She said she introduced the House version of the resolution after hearing of problems about Norwegian and as a courtesy to Kanno and state Sen. Carol Fukunaga, D-11th (Makiki, Pawa'a), the chairwoman of the Senate Media, Arts, Science & Technology Committee, who sponsored the Senate resolution.

"Even though this resolution will not be heard, my intent was to be helpful and should not be seen as a threat to NCL," Cabanilla said.

Power signatures

The letter to Norwegian that asked for travel expenses and restitution for Rouse was signed by Kanno and seven committee chairmen or chairwomen, among the most powerful people at the state Legislature. Some of the lawmakers who signed the letter or the resolution said they did so because of their relationship with Kanno.

State Rep. Roy Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Palisades), the chairman of the House Education Committee, said he knew of Rouse but signed the letter mostly because he has known Kanno for years.

"I thought that this seems reasonable enough for the cruise line to look into," Takumi said.

Kanno declined to release a copy of the letter to The Advertiser, citing Rouse's privacy, and asked the state Office of Information Practices whether it may be withheld from the public. The office ruled on Wednesday that the letter is a public record and must be disclosed, but Kanno said through a Senate attorney yesterday that he wanted more time to decide. KITV 4 News obtained a copy of the letter for its report, and several people described the contents of the letter to the Advertiser.

Not unusual

Asked earlier in the week why he went to such trouble to help Rouse, Kanno replied: "I don't think it's a lot of trouble."

Lawmakers often sign resolutions based on courtesy or friendship, without reading every line or endorsing every idea, knowing that these have to go through the legislative process before being enacted.

State Sen. Russell Kokubun, D-2nd (S. Hilo, Puna, Ka'u), the chairman of the Senate Water, Land and Agriculture Committee, who signed the Senate resolution on Norwegian, said lawmakers might be more careful about reading resolutions in the future.

"That's a precaution I'm going to take now," he said.