Hawaii Legislature gets low marks for handling of corruption

The state Legislature gets an abysmally low rating for policing internal corruption in a poll of registered Hawaii voters who also overwhelmingly support lawmaker term limits and more funding for regulatory commissions focused on ethics and campaign spending.

Only 8% of respondents in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s latest Hawaii Poll said the Legislature has done enough to monitor and police its members.

More people surveyed, 11% of the total, weren’t sure. And 81% said enough hasn’t been done.

The question, which was asked July 12-17 of 800 registered voters statewide, noted the guilty pleas to corruption charges in February from two former Hawaii lawmakers, J. Kalani English and Ty J.K. Cullen.

English, who was in the Senate for 22 years, and Cullen, who was in the House 13 years, were accused by federal law enforcement of taking bribes in connection with action on legislation. English was recently sentenced to 40 months in federal prison, fined $100,000 and ordered to forfeit $13,305 in bribes excluding $5,000 he previously turned over. Cullen awaits sentencing.

Alexei Guren, an information technology director in the banking industry on Oahu, is among those who believe the Legislature needs to monitor its members better. Guren also was among the 77% of poll respondents who support instituting term limits for lawmakers similar to the eight-year limit for governor.

“Being a part of government is a service,” he said. “It’s not intended to be a career per se.”

Guren said term limits would help reduce the likelihood of lawmakers doing things to build their power and keep themselves in office instead of working only for the public good.

Bill Coke, a taxi driver in Honolulu who also took the survey, offered a sardonic rationale for supporting term limits for Hawaii lawmakers.

“If they can’t enrich themselves beyond their wildest dreams within eight years, then they are too stupid to be there,” he said. “I’m very cynical about it.”

Among all poll respondents, 19% said they oppose term limits, and 4% were undecided.

Divided by political party, 25% of Democrats who answered the survey oppose term limits for Hawaii lawmakers where nearly all members are Democrats. That compared with 1% of Republicans and 21% of independent voters.

A third question in the survey related to public corruption was whether respondents support or oppose increased funding for the State Ethics Commission and Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission to provide greater scrutiny of elected officials and candidates.

Most respondents — 75% — support more such funding. Another 18% oppose it and 7% were undecided.

Guren and Cook both support such increased funding, though Cook is skeptical whether more funding would reduce abuse and corruption among politicians. “I don’t know how effective they are,” Cook said of the two commissions.

Of 450 poll respondents who said they were primary voters, 10% of Democrats and 7% of Republicans said public corruption was the single most important issue to them in consideration of their vote.

Earlier this year a state House panel convened to improve state governance in response to the English and Cullen indictments recommended that lawmakers pass 14 pending bills having to do with local government reform. The Legislature passed about half of those bills in May, and the others failed.

The Commission to Increase Standards of Conduct has moved to a second phase of work that includes holding public meetings that began in June. One meeting is scheduled for today.

A June 15 meeting focused on several topics that included term limits.

“Term limits have been debated for centuries,” Jessica Jones Caparrell, director of government affairs for the national organization League of Women Voters, told the commission.

Fifteen states, including California and Florida, have lawmaker term limits ranging from eight to 12 years, according to Ballotpedia. The digital encyclopedia of American politics and elections also said six states previously had such term limits that were scrapped either by courts or lawmakers.

Caparrell noted that some arguments against term limits are that they run counter to a more democratic determination of term length by voters and reduce the effectiveness of a legislative body by inhibiting growth of expertise among members and long-term efforts sometimes needed to pass laws.

Since 1991 the League has opposed term limits for members of Congress in part because such limits could reduce accountability and performance of Congress as a balance to the power of the presidency, Caparrell told the commission.

Caparrell said alternatives aimed at inhibiting corruption among elected officials include campaign finance reform, fair redistricting and combating voter suppression.

“Term limits are just one policy used to fight the idea that there’s widespread distrust of government officials, but citizens can demand the implementation of better policy alternatives to ensure trust in our elected officials, trust in our government and accountability of all parties involved,” she said at the meeting.

In 2021 two bills proposing term limits for lawmakers were introduced in the state Legislature and remained pending in this year’s legislative session that ended in May.

The measures, House Bill 123 and Senate Bill 1301, proposed amending the state Constitution to limit terms for lawmakers to 16 years beginning on or after the 2024 general election. The bills failed to receive even a hearing.

Daniel R. Foley, a retired state appellate judge chairing the commission, said at the mid-June meeting that term limits have merit and warrant further discussion among other measures.

The seven-member commission, which includes representatives of the Ethics Commission, the Campaign Spending Commission and the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, is working to deliver a final report with recommendations to the Legislature by the end of this year.