Honolulu Weekly, April 30, 2003 'Honolulu Diary'

A quiet ending The Hawai'i chapter of Common Cause, the public interest watchdog group, has been quietly decertified by its national organization after more than 25 years as one of the islands' most consistent voices for openness and integrity in government. The Hawai'i chapter was officially closed on Feb. 29, 2001, but the action was not publicly announced and at least some members of the local Common Cause board said they were unaware of it until late last year. The group's demise also went unnoticed by Honolulu's news media, and reporters continued to attribute quotes to local Common Cause representatives through 2002, long after they lost the legal authority to speak for the organization. The cutoff came after a decade of declining fundraising and administrative problems, according to Ed Davis, Common Cause vice president for state and field operations. "CC/HI had a deficit of more than $6,500 and a 10-year history of deficits and lack of accountability on financial and other matters, including entering into litigation without the approval of the national board, failure to send in timecards and expense records, and general lack of communication about their activities," Davis explained this week. Despite the decertification and cutoff of funds, the local group's part-time executive director, Larry Meacham, continued to represent the group without pay until he finally stepped down late last year. Although intended to keep the organization afloat while seeking to reestablish national recognition, the unauthorized actions undermined already strained relations with the parent organization. Meacham could not be reached for comment. Hawai'i was one of the first states to form a local chapter of Common Cause in the mid-1970s and once boasted as many as 2,000 members statewide. The group played a key role in passage of Hawai'i's so-called Sunshine Law in 1975 and the adoption of the first campaign contribution limits a few years later. The national organization now has 200,000 members with about 860 in Hawai'i. "It's a sad situation," said Margery Bronster, former state attorney general and now a member of the Common Cause national board of directors. "This is not at all a comment about what the local chapter has accomplished," Bronster said. "Although Common Cause was always excited about work being done in Hawai'i, there were inadequate resources and a lack of local support to continue." Paul "Doc" Berry, the group's last recognized state chair, said former board members are considering several options, including a renewed push for recertification as a Common Cause chapter as well as the possibility of forming a new independent organization. "It's a work in progress," Berry said. —Ian Lind [Editor's note: Lind was executive director of Common Cause/Hawai'i from 1983-'87.]