Fall1997 Home   Newsletters

Spring 1998

Summer 1998

President's Message (Jean Aoki)
State Council to be Held on Kauai
Making Democracy Work: Hawaii Clean Elections Activities (Toni Worst)
Legislative Action
Electronic Notification of Batterer's Release (Suzanne Meisenzahl)
In Memoriam: Mary George
State Board Actions
LWV-Hawaii Proposed Budget 1998-1999
Local League News - Hawaii County
Local League News - Honolulu
Local League News - Kauai
Kido Selected as Rotary Ambassador to Germany
Bylaws
Coalition Update
Judicial Council Seeking Panelists
Job Opportunities Available (Marian Wilkins)
Thanks
Meet Your Board
Legislative Hearing Notices Available on Internet

President's Message

I want to begin this column by thanking all of you who have responded to our solicitation for donations to support our programs for this year. I want also to acknowledge the assistance given me by Luree Hays and Ruth Brantley in composing the letter and preparing the letters for mailing.

The past half-year has been an incredibly busy and difficult time with so many issues and administrative tasks demanding our attention. We will be busy at the legislature for the next few months, and after that comes the preparation for the November elections with an active voter service program and an aggressive advocacy program designed to defeat a couple of ballot issues. In June, some of us will be in San Diego for the national league convention.

League's legislative program is discussed in some detail in another part of this bulletin, but I do want to comment on the Hawaii Clean Elections (HI.CLEAN) Bill, S.B. 2399. League is very much involved in the coalition. Toni Worst, state league's vice-president, is president of the coalition, and Honolulu President Grace Furukawa serves as vice-president.

The goal of the coalition is to substitute public funding of election campaigns in place of the private funding currently practiced with all its negative impact on elections and government. It is time we restored control of our elections to the people. The elections determine the people to whom we delegate the responsibility and the power to shape public policy. Because of the money poured into the campaigns by special interests, the elections and the public policies set by our elected officials are perceived to be influenced too much by special interests. If government officials are to act in the public inter est, and only in the public interest, it is time we citizens took back control of the elections by funding the election campaigns ourselves.

Detractors will call this welfare for the politicians. This is utter nonsense. Elections are a government --meaning public -- process. It is in the public's interest to keep the process under our control so that will not lose control of our government.

On another matter, several bills propose to put the question on whether to hold a Con Con or not on the ballot in the November '98 General Election. Some of you may wonder at our silence on this matter, but League will not take a position on this; we have not looked into the matter of whether the misunderstanding over the voter requirement really did affect the outcome of the last vote or not. We have no justification for taking a position one way or the other. We would prefer not to have to launch another campaign against approving a Con Con, but we are prepared to do so if it becomes necessary. At that time we are counting on the active support of as many of our members as possible.

Jean Aoki

Fall1997 Home   Newsletters Summer 1998