Letter to Editor:  HSB

Kakaako high-rises:  Is Money Buying Votes?

 

Richard Borreca’s column “Conclusion nears for drama in Kakaako” (4/9/06) tells how  Ron Iwami, “a mild, soft-spoken local guy,” took up leading a grassroots movement to stop Alexander & Baldwin’s plan to build a high-rise and shopping complex on one of Honolulu’s last remaining Oceanside lands.   Iwami,  a fire captain and surfer, is walking the halls of the Capitol in an effort to get the Legislature to derail the plan.

 

What struck my eye was a rather sad comment made by  Iwami, about how difficult it is for average citizens to have much impact at the Capitol.  "When we started we had a lot of legislators showing support, but now when the bills count, some are getting cold feet."

 

Does the fact that Alexander and Baldwin has given $78,130 in  campaign “donations” to many Legislators and their parties in 2004 & 2005,  had any influence on the situation?  Or that Alexander and Baldwin’s ability to hire a vice president, and a former Legislator, to lobby for them for them full-time at the Capitol,  makes Ron Iwami’s part-time grassroots efforts look pretty feeble?

 

One more example of why Hawaii needs to adopt public funding of political campaigns.   For a complete list of A&B donations and lobbyists see www.VoterOwnedHawaii.org.