who bankrolls Senator kawamoto?
Op-Ed Essay
March 24, 2000
Why We Need Public
Campaign Funding
As the
Presidential campaign is showing, voters around the country want to clean up
the huge amounts of large special interest "contributions" flooding
into political campaigns. This year our
own State House, by a vote of 49-1, endorsed an innovative test program in the
2002 Honolulu City Council Elections.
Candidates who can show community support by getting small contributions
from one percent (approximately 500) of the voters in their district, and take
no private contributions, would get up to $55,000 in campaign funds. The test
would require no new appropriations.
The money would come from the Hawaii Election Campaign Fund, which
consists of over $4.9 million in tax money previously checked off voluntarily
by taxpayers.
The House passed the bill. The
bill also was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee. A majority of all senators have signed a
statement of support for hearing the bill.
We should not be suprised, however, that Senator Cal Kawamoto — who
chairs the Transportation and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee — went out of the normal jurisdictional
channels to grab control of this serious reform bill and kill it.
According to Campaign Spending Commission records, Kawamoto received
the largest amount of contributions of any senator — $277,005 — for the
1995-1998 election period. A
preliminary look at the list of large contributors showed that Kawamoto
received over $60,000 from the construction industry, airlines, maritime
businesses, and labor union associated with these industries.
Senator Kawamoto serves as the Chairman of the Transportation and
Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, which passes on bills appropriating
hundreds of millions of dollars to build roads, airports, terminal facilities,
docks, etc. and regulates these transportation-related industries.
Senator Kawamoto's largest contributors — who gave him amounts ranging
from $5,000 to $2,500 — include Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 675/UA, Mark
Development, HI Operating Engineers/IUOE, Koga Engineering & Construction,
Iron Workers Local 625, Grace Pacific Corp, Electricians Inc, and the HI
Laborers Pac.
The National Institute on Money in State Politics further
analyzed Hawai`i's Campaign Spending Commission records and
tallied all contributions larger than $100. They found that Kawamoto
received $44,875 from the construction industry, $19,690 from real estate
people, $34,316 from construction & labor unions, and $19,450 from people
associated with the transportation industry.
Kawamoto received a total of $109,565 from groups with direct interests
in construction-related legislation that passes through his TIA Committee.
Kawamoto's funds were so lush that he was able to spend $161,884 on
campaigning before the election year even began. His huge war chest scared off any serious challengers for his
seat in the 1998 election. He ran
unopposed in the Democratic primary, and in the general election his only
opponent was a token Libertarian (who raised only $1,636).
Senator Kawamoto's records show he spent $58,780 in 1995, $$59,899 in
1996, $44,939 in 1997, and $43,175 in 1998 on campaign-related expenses.
His cash on hand after the `98 election was $109,482, the highest
surplus among all senators.
It is rather odd that Kawamoto's Transportation and Intergovernmental
Affairs Committee heard the bill. The
TIA committee is charged with dealing with "programs relating to air,
water, and surface transportation; civil defense; military and veteran's
affairs; county, federal, and foreign relations; and matters of concern to the
counties."
But the laws regulating elections are exclusively under the
jurisdiction of the state. The only thing County Clerks do is administer voter
registration and run elections locally, sending ballots to the State's Office
of Elections on O`ahu for processing.
In fact, the Judiciary Committee is explicitly charged with reviewing
legislation related to "campaign spending and elections"
according to the Senate's rules.
And when I examined all the bills heard by Kawamoto's TIA Committee
this session, exactly zero of the other 150+ bills and resolutions
listed on the Hearing Notices dealt with campaign spending or elections.
Here is a man who raised and spent three-times more than did the
average senator in the 1995-98 election cycle. (Median = $54,070) Is Kawamoto's killing of campaign financing
reform really based on deep philosophical questions, or adminstrative
difficulties? Or does not his
self-righteous rhetoric and backroom manipulation of the political process
illustrate why so many of our citizens are so cynical about politicians?
Public financing would give voters more change-oriented candidates to
vote for. Community leaders with no
ties to big money special interests, but with several hundred supporters within
their neighborhoods, could have a realistic chance to win office. Imagine —
elected official wouldn't have to kowtow to the insurance guys, the
lawyers, the oil companies, the tobacco companies, the construction industry,
the unions, or anyone except the voters in their communities.
The innovative Council Pilot campaign reform bill can be saved. HB 1879, passed by the House, is now
crossing over to the Senate. Phone
Senate President Norman Mizuguchi (586-6870) to tell him to put HB 1879 on the
floor for an open vote. Otherwise the
powerful insiders win again.
ATTACHMENT: List of Kawamoto's Top
Contributors.