Former State Senator Gary Hooser put a spotlight yesterday on the Hawaii House Democratic PAC, a noncandidate committee formed to support the present House leadership of House Speaker Scott Saiki. Hooser has a wealth of political experience, and it’s interesting to see his take on such matters.
The primary purpose of the PAC is apparently to channel funds to elected officials or candidates in Saiki’s power block, since the campaign law restricts candidates’ ability to do this directly. The PAC has not been overly active. This year, it made just five contributions of $2,000 each, two reported as late contributions.
You really can’t make this stuff up. A Political Action Committee established to support “House Leadership,” is being managed by Emmanuel Zibakalam who is a lobbyist for the largest GMO companies and pesticide manufacturers on the planet. For added value, Mr. Zibakalam is also involved in a “pro-rail” group that appears to be masquerading as a grass-roots community-based organization.
It goes without saying that both groups have a significant financial stake in the decisions made by Speaker Saiki and House Leadership.
Hooser goes on to detail the interests represented by Mr. Zibakalam and his lobbying firm.
When Calvin Say was speaker, he had his own leadership PAC, Citizens for Responsive Government, which goes back to about 2008. This PAC spent all of its remaining funds this year and now has a bank balance of zero.
In any case, Hooser’s blog post is worth a read.
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So a representative of special interests formed a PAC to support candidates those interests presumably support, but hasn’t actually provided much to support them. Is there something to see here?
Meanwhile, Hooser is actively campaigning for an insurgent candidate while denouncing House leadership, and heads a nonprofit group that presumes to groom and guide, and perhaps influence if not control, those with whom he is ideologically aligned. Ho hum.
I think of Gary Hooser every month when I pay my Hawaii general excise tax because he didn’t pay his for five years while voting to increase the rate. It’s an old story but an indelible one filed next to George Ariyoshi trying to sneak items through customs and Donna Kim trying to penalize the UH for not accepting her son into law school when, wait for it, he hadn’t even applied.
Actually this is an old and incorrect story. I was not in public office when my business fell behind in its GET payments. And while the taxes were paid late, we did pay them and eventually built the business into a profitable enterprise. This was all well before I held public office.
Strange but true, Democrats in Hawaii are Republicans in Drag!
That makes former Governor Lingle a straight Democrat?
Meals and contributions from lobbyists=Recipe for bad laws. The murky, secretive world of lobbyists isnt in the public interest. Lobbyists get ins while the public gets form letters.
Remember lobbyist Bob Toyofuku shamelessly trying to cut the law protecting our lifeguards so they could be sued personally! Or developer lobbyist David Arakawa not registering for 7 years until he was caught. Or lobbyists wining and dining our council to give us the rail fiasco.
These guys are not for the public. Past lobbyists were even embedded in legislators offices! Time to throw them out.
Mr. Hooser makes an interesting point. Though indeed he was delinquent on taxes owed and did eventually pay them, one would argue that such a person should not be in elected office due to his own fiscal irresponsibility. Odd too that he would feel the need to respond here and be somewhat proud in doing so.
Tele Moka – And why would I not want to respond to correct the misinformation contained in the initial comment? And yes, I am proud of my ultimate track record in business. I started from scratch and owned and operated several small businesses prior to running for public office. All were successful though all struggled in the early years. Wondering why you don’t use your real name when commenting?
Much respect to Gary Hooser!
Much respect to Gary Hooser and his efforts.