Hawaii’s has not had a “Con Con” for 30 years since 1978, but powerful forces are already trying to kill the chance by lobbying and advertising fiercely against it.

Rep. Della Au Bellati, D-Makiki, supporter of the Con Con, says opponents are using “fear mongering” to scare voters into opposing the chance to debate the most important issues facing our state.

Attorney General Mark Bennett, another supporter, says an estimated $350,000 of $500,000 raised to advertise in Hawaii’s local media against the Con Con is coming from outside Hawaii, specifically the National Education Association. He questions why the mainland unions are involved in a local debate.

Proponents haven’t raised nearly a fraction of the cash. Jim Fulton, spokesperson for the city prosecutor’s office, formed his own non-candidate committee to advocate for the con con. However the funds their committee has collected are dwarfed by the Con Con opponents’ income primarily from public unions. They hope to raise money from the community to get their message out. Currently they are advertising on KSSK radio, while opponents are filling the television and radio airwaves in opposition.

Barbara Wong, state campaign spending director, says Hawaii law allows groups and individuals on either side to donate an unlimited amount of money because it is going to a ballot issue non-candidate committee.

Opponents Say Cost, Removal of Rights, a Fear

The main arguments against from opponents, including Democrat Senators Colleen Hanabusa and Gary Hooser, Hawaiian groups like the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs and public unions, are the cost of holding a Con Con and the potential “erosion” of rights for native Hawaiians, and “erosion” of rights for union members, specifically collective bargaining rights.

Earthjustice Attorney Isaac Moriwake, in an advertisement for Con Con opponents, says Hawaii has environmental policies he believes could be jeopardized with a Con Con.

In terms of cost, KGMB Television, during its Con Con debate last week, noted that while it may cost up to $20 million to run a Con Con, the state taxpayers expend $30 million a day to run Hawaii’s government and $30 million a year just to run the Hawaii State Legislature and its supporting agencies.

There are ways to easily cut back on the Con Con expenses, Bennett says, including holding the meetings at a public, rather than a private, facility.

Sen. Sam Slom, R-Hawaii Kai, agrees. “While the costs of a Con Con have ranged from an estimated $2 million to over $40 million (if the taxpayers pay for all candidate campaigns, hand out top salaries and benefits and sequester the Convention in a luxury location, which should not be done), a more accurate estimate is around $10 million-$12 million. A bargain for an opportunity to save taxpayers millions more in fiscal changes alone (balanced budget, expenditure ceilings, unicameral legislature or once every two year sessions, etc.) and to tune up a document that does need certain fundamental improvements for safety, health, education.”

In terms of maintaining “rights,” Bellati counters critics’ contention that a Con Con would take away rights of various groups. She notes every Constitutional Convention held in Hawaii including the ones in 1950, 1968 and 1978, has provided more rights for various groups, and has not taken rights away. In addition, any changes to the constitution would have to be approved by the majority of voters in the state.

Both sides will agree there is a great deal at stake, including the kind of public education system the vast majority of Hawaii’s children attend.

Education Con Con

Hawaii is the only state in the nation with a centralized public school system.

Con Con opponents, including the local and national teachers’ unions, want the school system to remain centralized, because the union leaders have unprecedented control over their members and the Legislature.

However, parents in every one of Hawaii’s four counties testified at the Legislature that they want more say in how their schools are run and believe a decentralized system would provide that. They also want to see their children's test scores improve, something parent involvement could help with. On the neighbor islands, parents oppose an Oahu-central office and board giving them little or no say in how their schools are managed, even right down to what goes on their calendar and how money is spent.

Charter schools administrators also want equitable funding, something they don’t have under the current Hawaii law and lawmakers have failed to reconcile.

Bellati said all these issues are debated outside the Legislature at what could very well be an “Education Con Con.”

Ed Case, Hawaii Congressman from 2002 to 2007, agrees with Bellati and has actively promoted the benefits of a Con Con. "If we're ready to vote for change for our country, why not the same for Hawaii public education?"

Hawaii educates an estimated 180,000 students K-12 in Hawaii's 257 public schools, but enrollment is declining in the regular schools and increasing in the charter schools, he says.

"We spend almost $2.5 billion every year operating our public school system (not including facilities construction and maintenance). This is almost half of our total state operating budget. Our students are educated and our monies expended by a statewide school system mandated by our Hawaii Constitution. That system, the only statewide system in our country, is our Department of Education, administered by the superintendent of education, presently Patricia Hamamoto," Case explains.

"Our Constitution further provides that the DOE is directed by a Board of Education charged with formulating statewide education policy and appointing the superintendent. Under our Constitution, 13 BOE members are elected at-large from two districts -- 10 from the Island of Oahu and three from the Neighbor Islands -- to four-year staggered terms; this general election there are six members to be elected. Thus, unlike other state departments, neither DOE nor the superintendent nor BOE is directly accountable to our governor or Legislature."

Case questions whether this all adds up to the best we can do for our children. "Is it really just about money or is the structure itself the problem? Can we do better? I do not believe the status quo in Hawaii public education is or should be acceptable; we need change. I believe the problem is in large part a well-meant but ultimately flawed structure. I also do not believe the needed change can or will come from within the BOE or DOE as currently constituted or from our Legislature."

He argues that the upcoming election presents Hawaii with two opportunities for change. "The first is to convene a Constitutional Convention, where our elected delegates could at least consider constructive alternatives, such as a community-oriented school system, or revisions to the BOE structure, or the relationship between the BOE/DOE and state government, outside the ingrown and change-adverse culture of Hawaii public education today."

"The second is to elect agents of change to the BOE. The BOE incumbents care deeply about public education, but they have become vested in and dependent on a system resistant to change. We simply need new blood if we are to have any hope of change from within under the current system."

Law Enforcement, Budget, Taxes, Energy, Term Limits, Are Other Issues That Could Be Debated

Bennett, state attorney general since 2002, says there are several other issues that could be debated in a Con Con, including one close to his heart and his profession – law enforcement. All four county police chiefs and prosecutors are endorsing the Con Con.

Currently, the Hawaii constitution as interpreted prevents evidence that would be admissible in federal court and most other states from being introduced into Hawaii courts.

Overall, the Hawaii constitution has been interpreted so as to be more favorable to to those accused of and convicted of crimes that victims. A Con Con could level the playing field, Bennett says.

Bellati says the state should review its energy policies. Currently nuclear energy is essentially banned in Hawaii except on military bases, and while she doesn’t support nuclear energy, it could be discussed along with other options, she says.

One reason lawmakers may be opposed to a Con Con – they don’t have to pass a balanced budget, which can cause all kinds of economic havoc, spending watchdogs say.

They are also among the only elected officials in Hawaii without term limits and they’ve repeatedly refused to pass term limits for themselves.

State judges also don’t have term limits, and several of them have remained on the bench for decades without possibility of removal.

A Con Con could change this, proponents say, with the voters' approval.

Politics at Play

The Hawaii GOP party leadership has come out in favor of the Con Con, as has Republicans Lt. Gov. James Duke Aiona and Gov. Linda Lingle. Aiona formed his own task force to examine how much the con con would cost, allowing him to counter any outrageous estimates from opponents to try to dissuade the public from voting for it.

Democrats have been mixed on their support. Most prominent opponents include Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, Sen. Gary Hooser and House Majority Leader Kirk Caldwell.

The Democratic Central Committee did vote to oppose a Con Con at its summer convention.

Slom, who supports a Con Con in his Hawaii Reporter piece “Don't Be Conned Out of a Hawaii Con Con“ , says organizations that got special gains during 1978 are now afraid that the public may want to revisit aspects of those changes. “Opponents express fear at what the public might do. It is troubling that lawmakers who hail the wisdom of voters who vote for them, now fear the same voters' right to openly discuss other issues that affect the people.”

Bellati maintains that the central committee’s vote doesn’t represent the views of all Democrats.

Several Democrats who attempted to voice their support in favor of the con con at the central committee meeting were not allowed to speak, Bellati says, adding that several people, including teachers, Hawaiian leaders and other concerned citizens were prevented from sharing their supportive views.

Bellati says that the Con Con is like a check up for state government. “You wouldn’t go 30 years without a physical check up, would you? Well, that’s just what the state’s done,” she says, adding that as the world continues to change, it's time for Hawaii to have an examination and review of the state constitution and how well it is representing the people.

Bennett, who appeared with Bellati on Hawaii Reporter’s “News Behind the News” television show on Monday at 6 p.m. on Channel 54, maintains state government can always do better and a Con Con could further that goal.

Case says it is a mark of how much some fear even the discussion of change that the strongest opposition to a Con Con comes from the public education status quo, which is largely financing those TV ads. "That in and of itself illustrates the need," Case says.

FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

To see the television show with Bennett and Bellati, log onto http://www.hawaiireporter.com (home page) and see the television section.

Also for more debate on the con con and review of all the issues, log onto http://www.hawaiiconcon.org , a site developed in part by Peter Kay and Ryan Ozawa.

Reach Hawaii Reporter editor Malia Zimmerman at mailto:malia@hawaiiireporter.com

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