Ban fundraising during session

One of the chief complaints about campaign finance is that the need to fundraise cuts into the time for work that lawmakers are elected to do: the people’s business. The people complain about that, and the politicians themselves do, too.

Where that becomes a real problem is when legislators are passing around the campaign-fund hat with one hand while signing — or holding back — key bills with the other. It doesn’t take the most cynical voter to wonder whether there might be a connection between donations and decisions when both happen at the same time.

Hawaii lags behind many other states in regulating campaign activities during a legislative session. The time for making a course correction — prohibiting campaign fundraising during the 60-day lawmaking session — is long overdue.

Fundraising while the Legislature is convened is nothing new. Some members take advantage of the fact that many potential donors would be nearby, a logistical plus, during session.

But it’s a growing concern. And there have been enough high-profile examples of powerbrokers conducting fundraisers, while their focus should be on the job at hand, to tip the scales for change.

Blurring the lines between political donations and public policy-making is troubling and should be avoided. It’s the appearance of pay-to-play influence that matters, and it diminishes the voters’ trust that elected officials put the public interest above politics. Powerful politicians asking for donations during a crucial legislative time is consequential and cynical.

The larger point here is the need for standards to be raised, officially and legally. The House and Senate can, and should, ban campaign fundraising during session in language added to their rules of conduct.

There’s still time this session to do that and send a positive, immediate message to their constituents. At a minimum, the incoming Legislature, including members to be elected in the fall, should do that next session.

But the job won’t be done until there is a statute that’s put on the books for good. Other states are miles ahead in drawing clear lines between public service and politics. About 30 states take various approaches to restricting campaign activities; Alaska, just to name one, has a law stating that a “legislative employee may not, during session, solicit or accept a contribution for a campaign for state or municipal office, excluding the 90 days immediately preceding the election for that office.”

In Hawaii, the only law restricting campaigning during terms of office applies to the state Ethics Commission and staff.

Still, there has been a nudge in the right direction. Senate Bill 813, introduced last year by Sens. Russell Ruderman, Les Ihara, Will Espero and Gil Riviere, would prohibit contributions or loans to legislators or their campaign committees during session.

It didn’t get a hearing, but at least the idea has been raised.

Some critics say such a law would be pointless because savvy politicians can always navigate around legal barriers.

But at least lawmakers could be held accountable to formal standards on the books. Hawaii voters have the right to demand public servants who put the public first.