We're asking for your immediate help in stopping a bill would dramatically increase corporate influence in Hawaii politics. The measure, HB 539 (HD1), removes the current $1000 aggregate limit on corporate giving to campaigns. The bill is up for vote this week! We can stop it. Representatives need to hear from you that this bill is simply not acceptable. With all of the recent attention on “clean” elections, ethics, and money in politics, HB 539 is a huge step in the wrong direction. 

Tell your legislators that we don’t want to be the first state to allow more, not less, corporate money into candidate’s coffers.

Please, take a minute and send an email to key representatives and tell them to vote NO on HB 539 on Thursday (sample language is below). You can click here to send an email to all House members. Then if you can spare some time, please make a phone call to your representative and senator (click here to find your representative’s contact info). Please email or call before this Thursday morning.

Sample E-mail:

What does campaign finance reform have to do with Hawaii’s environment?  Plenty!  When campaign contributions influence how elected leaders vote on environmental policy, the environment usually loses.  Many of the largest campaign contributors in Hawai`i have a significant impact on the environment, such as the utilities, oil companies, and developers.  That’s why I am opposed to HB 539, which would allow corporations to give an unlimited amount of money to Political Action Committees.

I don’t want to see Hawai`i become the first state to move backward, not forward, on the issue of corporate contributions.  That’s a step in the wrong direction.

To that end, I strongly encourage you to vote “no” on HB 539.

For more information on the donation limit issue, see the Star Bulletin Opinion Editorial (pasted below)

February 22, 2009:

For all the wrong reasons, the Legislature enacted a sensible law four years ago to limit corporate contributions to political candidates for state offices. For the same reasons, legislators now are poised to repeal the law. The limits should remain to curb corporate muscle in the political process.

The 2005 Democratic Legislature imposed limits of $2,000 - $1,000 during the primary and $1,000 in the general election - in contributions by individuals to a particular candidate. A candidate may receive no more than 20 percent of his or her campaign funds from out of state. The clear motive was to restrict donations to Republican Gov. Linda Lingle in the 2006 election.

The tactic failed, and now legislators want to circumvent the individual ceiling by allowing unlimited contributions to corporate political action committees. It essentially would create a system for a person to contribute to numerous PACs, from which the money could be funneled to the same candidate.

The legislation also would eliminate the restriction on mainland donations so candidates can fully tap those sources. In her dissent when the bill passed a House committee last week, Republican Rep. Cynthia Thielen said the change is intended to benefit Democratic U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie if he decides to run for governor and tap his significant mainland sources.

Rep. Della Au Belatti, a maverick Democrat, called such tomfoolery "a huge step backward" for Hawaii to join states with the most regressive policies. Rules in federal elections and laws in 21 states ban corporate political contributions altogether, and 14 other states limit such donations.

"Given the importance of money in political campaigns, the priority this bill would give to corporate influence undermines our democracy, a factor recognized by most other states," testified Barbara Pole, legislative chairwoman for the Hawaii chapter of the liberal Americans for Democratic Action.