Environment pushback may push some right out of office

The Republicans are channeling Teddy Roosevelt and the Democrats are high on Gordon Gekko.

As the state Legislature ends, a strange new time in Hawaii politics opens with many dissatisfied at the outcome of the session.

Those favoring more development in Hawaii and those fearing that the state’s multiple regulations and land use laws are making the state noncompetitive, are clearly upset with the failure to pass exemptions to transit-oriented development and state construction projects.

House Speaker Calvin Say said it served as an "educational experience" for the public and sees it as "laying the foundation" for more pro-development bills next year.

Those representing the environment were not pleased either, but they did have an interesting ally: the state GOP.

"In keeping with the legacy of Republican president and staunch environmentalist Theodore Roosevelt, Republicans in the state House successfully led the way in opposing a series of bills that would have resulted in lasting damage to our environment," said Rep. Gene Ward, House GOP leader.

Well, when you have eight out of 51 House members, you really aren’t leading much of anything, but the Hawaii GOP has found an interesting niche and can see that being green has political benefits.

For the Democrats, the Legislature’s approach to the environmental exemptions cooked up a caldron of discontent.

"The state convention is going to be a hotbed of insurrection," one party activist predicted about the May 25-27 state convention.

Although the Democrats pulled back almost all the environmental exemption bills, they did so at the last minute. Still, there is a lingering feeling that Democrats in the Legislature are looking to get around environmental laws in order to push unrestricted development.

"Clearly these measures generated strong feelings among supporters of the environment, and it is reasonable to expect the issue will be raised and possibly play a role in some races where the district constituency is particularly sensitive to the issue," says Gary Hooser, the former chairman of the party’s environmental caucus.

Hooser, who is now director of the state Office of Environmental Quality Control, had opposed several of the measures.

Today he predicts that the lawmakers will reconsider their pro-development bills.

"My guess is that advocates of the measures underestimated the backlash and will be hesitant to go down the same path in the future," Hooser said.

Still, the pro-environment forces are looking to make changes.

For instance, Donna Wong, long-time executive director of Hawaii’s Thousand Friends, reports that the exemption bills sparked a new interest in preserving Hawaii’s environment.

"More than any recent session, people statewide have gotten involved through actual testimony, and hundreds, if not thousands, of emails and calls were generated on these bill — yet their voices seemed to be ignored.

"My guess is that people will be targeting specific legislators to either confront them in person or find people to run against them," Wong said.

By the end of the session, it was easy to see the opposition growing. One bill, SB 2341, allows bed and breakfast operations on farm land in Maui County. The idea is patterned after Napa Valley B&Bs, but there was concern that, as Wong said, "the consequences of this bill won’t be known or felt for years, way after many of the legislators are long gone."

Twenty-one House members voted against the bill, which passed and was sent to Gov. Neil Abercrombie.

"It is interesting that most of the time the only people voting no on the exemption bills were Republicans," said Wong.

The Sierra Club did praise the leadership of Senate Democrats, especially Senate President Shan Tsutsui and Sen. Les Ihara, for blocking the exemption bills.

"We’ve seen a tremendous resurgence of public involvement in the legislative process, perhaps because of the aggressive attacks on basic environmental laws," said Robert Harris, director of the Hawaii chapter of the Sierra Club.

So far the dissent was gently framed by the Sierra Club’s Harris, who predicted that it and other organizations will "spend this election year ensuring the political discussion is more positive next year."

This could be the start of a "toss the bums out" election year.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.