Hawaii State Capitol Yearbook 2009
Cover
- Hawaii State Capitol Yearbook 2009
- Representative Isaac Choy
- Representative Henry J.C. Aquino
- Representative Lyla B. Berg
- Governor Linda Lingle
- Representative Cindy Evans
- Senator Les Ihara, Jr.
- Lt. Governor James R. “Duke” Aiona, Jr.
- Representative Gilbert Keith-Agaran
- Representative Joey Manahan
- Representative Chris Lee
- Representative Barbara C. Marumoto
- Representative Mark M. Nakashima
- Representative John M. Mizuno
- Representative Marcus R. Oshiro
- Senator Brian T. Taniguchi
- Senator J. Kalani English
- Representative Jessica Wooley
- Representative Gene Ward
- Senator Norman Sakamoto
- Representative Cynthia Thielen
- Senator Fred Hemmings
- Representative Karl Rhoads
- Senator Colleen Hanabusa
- Senator Josh Green
- Representative Roy M. Takumi
- Senator Will Espero
It all starts with a popularity contest. Maybe that’s why state politics can seem more like they’re taking place in a high school lunchroom than at the capitol building. There’s the cliquish mentality, the petty arguments, the backstabbing, the broken promises–these are the dynamics we in the newspaper business too often find ourselves reporting, but of course there’s more to the political process than what makes the evening news. Occasionally lawmakers even pass a bill or two.
For our 2009 political yearbook, Honolulu Weekly asked every Hawaii representative and senator–plus Gov. Linda Lingle–the same five questions, giving elected officials a chance to reflect on the session and tell it like it was–or some approximation thereof.
The most frequently expressed sentiment was a plea for more constituent involvement. Your legislators want to hear from you, they want you to rally at the Capitol, they want you to weigh in when it comes to crafting legislation–well, at least, the ones who took the time to write back to us do anyway. Here’s what they had to say.
We have made all of the responses available online. The link box to the right will take you to the lawmakers’ complete responses.
Get involved
Find contact information for all elected officials at [capitol.hawaii.go]v. The really impressive ones even list their cell phone numbers.
Factoid
House bills: 1,843 introduced; 115 passed.
Senate bills: 1,680 introduced; 136 passed.
Total: 3,523 bills introduced; 251 passed.
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