SB1141 SD2 was referred to the House Finance Committee on Friday, its last stop on the way through the legislature’s committee process.

If the bill eventually passes, giving the members of the Sand Island Business Association (SIBA) the right to purchase the properties they now lease from the state, it will be another political victory for a well-connected group of businesses.

The real problem, though, is that there seems to be absolutely no public purpose behind the bill. SIBA seems to recognize as much in it’s testimony in favor of SB1141.

SIBA understands and acknowledges it has a 55-year lease with DLNR. However, it is not umcommon for a tenant to ask its landlord to purchase the landlord’s fee interest. What is unique is that the fee in question is owned by the State of Hawaii. Consequently, legislative action is necessary.

At least they don’t beat around the bush. The bill is in their interest. Meanwhile, they really make no claim that it is in the public interest. And it’s the public, through the state, that owns the land.

Around the time that SIBA successfully lobbied to get control of the industrial park on Sand Island, the group contributed over $500,000 to a number of political campaigns, as described in the news clipping link to in yesterday’s entry.

I haven’t had time to look for that kind of campaign activity in more recent years, and it may be that the Campaign Spending Commission’s crackdown on disguised contributions, reimbursements, and bundling have really put an end to that kind of giving.

But that doesn’t mean SIBA and its leaders are without political resources.

The leadership of SIBA has been very stable. All of its officers have been on the board of directors since the master lease was issued to the group in 1992.

SIBA’s president, Clyde Kaneshiro, is Hawaii’s king of garbage. His network of interlinked businesses dominate the commercial trash hauling business statewide.

Kaneshiro has had his share of unflattering public attention. Back in 2004, I reviewed a bit of this history.

And don’t forget this tidbit. When House Speaker Calvin Say was the honored guest last year at a fundraiser for the OIA Athletic Foundation, the lead sponsors were Kaneshiro’s Honolulu Disposal Service and Stanford Carr Development. The event featured a 106-page book printed on glossy paper that featured Say’s life in photos and text. I wrote a bit about the fundraiser at the time.

Kaneshiro has been quite generous with political contributions in the past few years. Federal Election Commission records show he contributed $8,800 to Rep. Mazie Hirono in 2006 and 2007. He also contributed $4,000 to Senate President Colleen Hanabusa’s unsuccessful Congressional bids, another $2,000 in 2006 to Sen. Clayton Hee’s Congressional Campaign, and $1,000 to the Hawaii Democratic Party.

SIBA vice-president, roofing company exec Ritchie Mudd, contributed $10,500 to the Hawaii Republican Party between March 2006 and September 2008, along with $2,000 to Neil Abercrombie’s Congressional campaign. He also contributed $1,000 to Rep. Cynthia Thielen’s unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign in 2006, and $500 to City Councilman Charles Djou last year.

Mudd’s wife also gave to the Republican Party of Hawaii, adding $3,645 in 2002-2003.

Longtime SIBA director Nick Teves Jr. donated $1,000 to the Hawaii Democratic Party in 2006, and $10,000 to the Democratic National Committee back in 2000.

Another of SIBA’s founders and a director from the beginning, contractor Walter Arakaki, contributed $1,000 to Ed Case’s 2006 Senate run and $1,000 to the Republican Party in 2004.

None of these are the kinds of contributions that can buy legislation, but they are useful as indicators of political influence and obligation, perhaps friendships.

Last year, Arakaki was convicted for being part of a long running fraud at Honolulu airport. From the mid-1990s through 2002, several airport employees illegally cut airport jobs into smaller parts to avoid state procurement laws, then inflated the prices paid so that they could get kickbacks.

Arakaki’s name also came up in the State’s investigation of the former Bishop Estate’s campaign activities a decade ago. According to the testimony of one small contractor, Arakaki worked on projects for Bishop Estate, then asked his subcontractors to donate to particular candidates.

According to the transcript, the witness described how he felt when Arakaki came to request that he write checks to politicians:

TP (attorney) Okay. Have you ever felt pressured to make the donation or feel like you wouldn’t get work from the general or something if you didn’t?

HS (the contractor-witness) Well, I can’t lie about it–I guess, indirectly. Because if you ask me for something, right, If I don’t give–Chee, what a chicken guy, right. You would think that way. That’s the out $1,000 you figure you get a job you’re going to make little profit.

The candidates mentioned by this witness, some going back to the early 1990s? State Senator Milton Holt, Gov. Ben Cayetano, Rep. Marshall Ige, and the future House Speaker, Calvin Say.