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Civil Beat’s 2022 candidate Q&As have proven very popular with both candidates and readers. It’s clear from our traffic data that they are being well consumed in advance of the Aug. 13 primary, likely helping voters make their decisions.

Because of all the political corruption cases of late — from the Kealoha saga that began several years ago but continues and on through the Cullen-English bribery cases just this spring — Civil Beat editors gave particular attention to questions about ethics reform and open governance. That’s why we asked about lobbying, the Sunshine and open records laws, fundraising, transparency and accountability.

The answers range broadly, but some patterns emerge — including a disappointing trend from incumbent legislators who largely declined to be specific about what the Legislature should do.

Instead, many responses were similar to House Speaker Scott Saiki, who said in his questionnaire, “Following the legislative corruption indictments, I asked the House to create to assess and recommend improvements to our ethics laws.”

Saiki concluded the Q&A section on reform with this sentence: “The House has asked the Foley Commission to assess these topics and I am awaiting its final recommendations.”

Saiki deserves credit for forming the commission, and for completing the Q&A — something Senate President Ron Kouchi skipped entirely.

But it feels like a dodge, one that a number of other lawmakers also took.

Sen. Gil Keith-Agaran, for example: “I will take a look at what the House commission suggests and any recommendations from my own community.”

What I had hoped to see more of was comment on findings and recommendations the commission , as its final report is not due until Dec. 1 — well after the general election. Among them are proposals to expand conflict of interest provisions, to require disclosure of people or groups requesting bills “by request,” and increased penalties and investigative tools for law enforcement agencies to specifically address fraud and public corruption.

It is the winners of the legislative races, after all, who will decide what to do with the commission’s report — if they do anything at all.

Many legislators also singled out for praise the passage of banning fundraisers during session.

“It passed the Legislature, because I believe no fundraisers should be held while we are voting on bills,” said Rep. John Mizuno.

The problem with SB 555 is that it does not actually ban receiving funds during session — the very same time frame in which special interests are trying to influence the outcome of legislation.

That said, I give Sen. Karl Rhoads props for at least offering a rationale for the practice:

Point taken. But as my colleague Blaze Lovell pointed out recently, Leg office holders accepted half-a-million dollars worth of campaign cash during the 2022 session even as there were calls to end the practice.

As well, the big donations made by the likes of federal contractor Martin Kao, local businessman Dennis Mitsunaga and others have rightly become fodder in the 2022 elections. And former Rep. Ty Cullen and former state Sen. J. Kalani English weren’t run-of-the-mill legislators but, respectively, the vice chair of the House Finance Committee and the Senate majority leader.

It’s why I find this comment from legislative candidate Gary Gill so spot on: “Kalani English and Ty Cullen taking bribes really angers me. This violation of the public trust does tremendous damage to our democracy especially in these times of public cynicism.”

Gill, a former Honolulu City Council member, says he still believes that “the overwhelming majority” of elected officials “are honestly pursuing the public interest as best they can.”

I certainly hope so, but I am becoming much more cynical these days. And that it might be more widespread comes to mind when I read a comment like this one from House candidate Nick Nikhilananda: “It was my state senator, whom I have known for 30 years, who plead guilty to taking a bribe; thus it hits quite close to home. It is my sense that there are others and other action which rises to the level bordering on corruption.”

Paying And Playing

Hawaii’s entrenched pay-to-play culture was most recently on display at a June fundraiser hosted by an energy lobbyist that brought in tens of thousands of dollars for two Hawaii lawmakers who were responsible for passing legislation important to the lobbyist.

Speaking of those two senators, I did appreciate this comment from Glenn Wakai: “If the public really wants money out of politics, let’s go down the road of publicly financed elections. That way everyone, incumbent and challengers will have the same amount of fuel at the starting line. Will the public then gripe about their taxes being used to elect someone they don’t like?”

The other senator, Donovan Dela Cruz, rightly noted that the Leg added new positions within the Department of the Attorney General to enforce government corruption and white-collar crime, and that legislators go through regular ethics training “to not violate ethics laws and rules.”

But he also declined to say whether he’d open the conference committee period — the same period in which Dela Cruz managed to ram through that same energy bill with little public awareness.

“The Legislature has many measures in place to ensure transparency and accessibility,” he wrote. “All informational briefings, committee hearings, conference committees and floor sessions provide options for in-person attendance or virtual participation.”

On that last point — virtual participation — many lawmakers explained that it was Covid-19 that led the Legislature to place all hearings online.

“I love that technology has allowed virtual testimony, which makes testifying easier for seniors, working people and those on the neighbor islands,” wrote Rep. Scot Matayoshi.

I do too, but I wish it had not taken a pandemic to make it happen. And what remains firmly behind closed doors are private meetings between legislators. That’s because the Leg exempted itself from the Sunshine Law.

On the plus side, many legislators and their challengers appear receptive to lobbying reforms such as much greater financial and gift disclosures, something that is also on the commission’s radar.

Compliments to Rep. Angus McKelvey, too, who wrote, “We need to get out of the square building and look at having committees conduct hearings and decision-making on actual bills at different public locations around Hawaii so we can better connect people to the essential workings of the Legislature during the session.”

And I welcomed the occasionally very frank comments from some folks, like this one from state Sen. Laura Acasio — even though I personally don’t favor term limits:

Hmm. I just might be persuaded to change my mind on term limits.