The Legislature’s last-minute passage of Senate Bill 2785, creating the regulatory framework for an undersea electric cable between the islands, illustrated a capricious process that denies citizens a fair shake on bills that fundamentally affect their lives.
It has inspired a video by Molokai activist Kanohowailuku Helm and filmmaker PF Bentley giving voice to the frustration.
The bill was a priority of Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Senate Energy Chairman Mike Gabbard to pave the way for a statewide power grid. It grew out of the Big Wind project that proposed to deliver Molokai and Lanai wind power to Oahu.
Opponents thought they beat the measure when House and Senate differences were so great that conference negotiations to resolve them were abandoned.
But two days before adjournment, Gabbard unexpectedly asked senators to accept the House version, and it was a done deal before opponents could react.
This isn’t a comment on the substance of the bill, a complex matter that cuts to the heart of how we relate to one another in our island state. It’s just to say that these complexities are exactly why highly charged bills like the undersea cable should be enacted with transparency rather than parliamentary gamesmanship.
In the 31⁄2-minute video (on YouTube as "The IAM Voter’s Guide"), Helm describes how only 10 of 25 senators cast clean "aye" votes for SB 2785.
Democratic Sens. Clayton Hee and Suzanne Chun-Oakland voted against, joined by sole Republican Sen. Sam Slom.
Ten Democrats voted yes "with reservations," meaning they had serious concerns, and two of the 12 straight yes votes gave floor speeches highlighting the bill’s flaws.
"They didn’t like the bill but they voted yes anyway," Helm said. "The problem behind this terrible bill is monopoly power — not just the HECO electric monopoly, but the Hawaii Democratic Party.
"Too many of today’s Democrats seem more focused on their job security than on their job. Too many see the cable project as one big luau pig to be carved up and distributed to the loyal."
With the Republican opposition hopelessly outnumbered, Helm suggested offering Hawaii voters "an independent, commonsense party, a voice for small-‘d’ Democrats."
Unlikely, unless somebody with money and an organization gets behind it. In the meantime, Democrats work to tighten their political monopoly.
The party used an obscure rule to discourage independent Democrat Laura H. Thielen from running for the state Senate, and some are pushing to end Hawaii’s open elections that let anybody vote in the Democratic primary in favor of a closed system that would give only declared Democrats a vote.
If these succeed, party bosses would control who could run and vote, and Helm’s dream of "getting government back to solving problems instead of creating them" would be more distant than ever.
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Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.
