With two former state legislators now out of prison after serving terms for bribery, House Speaker Scott Saiki is on a campaign to beef up the public image of Hawaii state legislators.

Saiki, who’s also facing a challenge in his reelection campaign from former state school board member Kim Coco Iwamoto, expects that all incumbents have more to prove this election year.

The obvious example is because of the arrest and jailing of former state Sen. Kalani English and state Rep. Ty Cullen after their conviction for accepting money and favors in exchange for legislative action. It made voters suspicious of everyone holding office in the Legislature.

“Since becoming Speaker in 2017, I have taken action to clean up and advance government reform,” Saiki said in an interview.

After the arrest and conviction of the two legislative leaders, Saiki appointed a commission looking for ways to clean up ethics. Included in the proposals were several ways to reform standards of conduct.

“The Legislature adopted 20 of the commission’s recommendations that year. This was probably the first time that a commission like this had been formed,” Saiki said.

Former state House Republican leader Cynthia Thielen is one of the members of the state ethics commission and she sees the need for change in the state Legislature.

“The Legislature needs to pass the bill to prohibit campaign contributions from owners and officers of companies doing business with the state. If they are serious about reform, this will be at the top of their list,” Thielen said in an interview.

Thielen had 30 years experience in the Legislature so, although she was a Republican in a lopsided Democratic state, she knows what needs to change. Simply put, it is the money in politics.

“Stop the donations; stop the participation and thus stop the pay to play,” Thielen said.

Saiki’s commission has scheduled its first report at the end of this month. It is expected to recommend opening up government and allowing the public in on more of the state government and legislative decisions.

“We take it seriously, we have work to do to improve ethics in government,” Saiki said.

Good intentions aside, members of the public need to pay attention to people who can get rich from public service.

Saiki traces public suspicion back to the decades old scandals around Bishop Estate. It has often been that legislators could dream about political success not in bills passed and public protection increased, but in terms of money collected. A vow of poverty need not accompany a campaign kick-off, but as Saiki noted, “Democrats in the Legislature did not step in to clean up the Bishop Estate problem and prevent it from recurring.”

For Saiki to now say the state Legislature has cleaned up its act isn’t enough. Instead, as Thielen urges, now is the time for those in power to complete — not just talk about — government reform.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.