Honolulu Weekly

1. What was your biggest accomplishment this session?
“Let’s see, for me, for good or bad, I worked on—most of the good government bills—ethics, public access, cell phone bills. I helped stop two bills that would have set us back quite a ways. One would have delayed the Big Island clean elections projects. There was a chance to delay it and, just, we helped in blocking that. The second was, there was an attempt to expand, greatly expand maybe increase the amount of corporate contributions. Right now there’s a virtual ban, but that’s up for review in appeals court. So those are two accomplishments. The accomplishment was preventing bills rather than passing them. In the areas of open government, good government, it’s mostly blocking bills. In this area at least.”

2. With which piece of 2009 legislation are you most proud to be affiliated and why?
“We pretty much kept our safety net. I’ve been focusing on senior issues. There wasn’t much money and all of that but the safety net is generally in tact. We were not able to get funding for senior centers but many of the other programs like Meals on Wheels and the other senior safety net issues remain. Most of that is generally in tact. There is money from the federal stiumulus that could be used if we find major holes in the safety net.”

4. Debating which issue turned out to be the biggest distraction from your priorities?
“My sense is that there is far too little debate. Far too little. Even on the civil unions, you know, most of the bills I worked on there was no debate or no discussion whatsoever.”

5. What’s one thing you wish voters better understood about you or the political process as a whole?
“I think, the political process is mostly shrouded in secrecy. Much of what’s important at the Legislature does not get done in public. There is far too little transparency and the citizens can request transparency but they’re not requesting it.”