Matter of trust between gov, legislators does matter

While the state Legislature is moving toward a historic special session to consider legalizing gay marriage, early this year legislative leaders and Gov. Neil Abercrombie nearly had an agreement to wait until 2014 to act.

That is an important issue for two reasons: First, the timing is critical to both supporters and opponents; second, legislators are saying privately that Abercrombie’s ability to keep his word is being questioned.

There is a strong push to move the same-sex marriage bill through the Legislature as soon as possible, but opponents claim that a special session would rush the matter.

With the lines of support fairly well established, much of the debate has not been on the merits, but on the timing of the issue.

Opponents say holding regular hearings, handling the bill as you would other pieces of legislation, opens the issue to more public discussion.

Supporters say the new law is needed now because if a gay couple want various federal benefits, they will be eligible only if legally wed.

According to legislators in the House and Senate, who asked to speak about the issue anonymously, Abercrombie met with Senate President Donna Mercado Kim and House Speaker Joe Souki on Aug. 27, the day before Abercrombie was to address a Martin Luther King Jr. rally.

Legislators said while Abercrombie initially wanted a special session, lawmakers proposed having the Senate introduce the gay marriage bill that Abercrombie was working with as the first piece of legislation in 2014.

Senators said the bill had the votes to pass the Senate and the bill had a slim majority in the House. The three leaders, according to legislators, then shook hands on the deal. Kim and Souki then told their respective Democratic caucuses that the special session was off.

But the next morning, Abercrombie announced that he was actually still considering the deal and wanted to hear from more people.

Souki and Kim were not available to speak on the record about the meeting and Abercrombie is saying there never was a deal.

"He never committed to such an agreement, nor shook hands over such an agreement," said Abercrombie’s communications director. "What was clearly expressed back then to the Senate president and House speaker was that the governor would consider their proposals, but would need to discuss everything with his staff, including Deputy Chief of Staff Blake Oshiro, who was out of the country at that time.

"The next day, the Senate president and the speaker were informed of the governor’s decision to continue to work with legislators toward a special session."

This was not the first time legislators had met with Abercrombie and came away thinking they had a deal, only to hear Abercrombie deny it.

During the 2011 session, Abercrombie had breakfast with senators, who said the governor told them he would not object to raising the general excise tax.

Later, Abercrombie announced that he would go with a House plan to balance the budget and dropped the idea of raising taxes. During his campaign, Abercrombie promised not to raise the GET.

At the time, Sen. David Ige, Ways and Means chairman, said they only moved the tax bill because of Abercrombie’s concurrence.

"Clearly in the beginning part of the session, he (Abercrombie) said he was open to it. He said whatever the Legislature decided to do, he would end up supporting it.

"That was clearly where he started; that is why we explored it and held hearings on the GET," said Ige back in 2011.

Today, Ige is running for governor against Abercrombie in the Democratic primary — and members of the House and Senate are saying relations with Abercrombie have not improved.

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