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Jewish World Review
Feb. 22, 2011
/ 18 Adar I, 5771
In Hawaii, a dispiriting glimpse of one-party rule
By
Byron York
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
HONOLULU -- In Hawaii, there are 25 members of the state Senate. Twenty-four are Democrats. And then there is Sam Slom.
Slom, the lone Senate Republican in the state of President Obama's birth, has represented East Honolulu since 1996. He hasn't always been the only GOP senator; in the last session, there were two. But Republicans fared poorly at the polls in November, and Slom was left alone.
Which means that Democratic bills to increase state spending, to impose new regulations and mandates, and to create new government departments are often passed on votes of 24-1. "I represent a point of view that would not be represented," the conservative Slom says, "even if it's just one voice."
There are 15 committees in the Senate. Most Democrats serve on three or four. But to make things bipartisan, Slom -- you may call him Mr. Minority Leader -- has to serve on all 15. That means he spends his days racing from one committee meeting to the next, making sure that there's at least one question from a conservative point of view.
Slom's job is to challenge the majority's priorities. Like many states, Hawaii is in a fiscal mess. Yet Senate Democrats have spent extraordinary amounts of time on social issues -- most recently, fast-tracking a civil-unions bill -- and on addressing questions like whether dogs can be kept on tethers. "The bill specified the kind of material, size, thickness and length the tether can be," Slom says.
Meanwhile, Slom complains, "We're supposed to be doing the budget, we have a major shortfall of $800 million to $1.5 billion, we have underfunded employees' retirement and healthcare systems, and we haven't done anything in terms of providing new jobs or investment or capital improvement."
Senate sessions can resemble a big, happy family with one troublesome uncle. At one recent meeting, Democrats pushed through an emergency-spending measure with no objections -- until Slom stood up. "What we're doing again is raiding our rainy-day fund when we should be cutting our expenditures," he told fellow lawmakers.
Slom also pointed out that his staff found an error in the bill. It called for spending $1 million, but the fine print accounted for only $965,000. Democrats huddled and then pronounced Slom correct. But they decided to go forward anyway.
"Do we have unanimous consent?" asked the presiding senator, Democrat Donna Kim, turning the page to move on to the next matter.
"Oops, sorry," Kim said, noticing Slom's raised hand. "Senator Slom. We have one 'No.'?"
Before heading to vote, Slom meets with his staff in the Minority Caucus Room, which is the same size as the majority's. "Some of my colleagues would have had me in a tent out on the lawn," Slom says.
A man so badly outnumbered has to have a sense of humor. On the Senate floor, standing beneath an enormous nautilus-shell chandelier, Slom motions the majority leader, Democratic Sen. Brickwood Galuteria, to stop by. "This man didn't want me to sleep out on the lawn in a tent," Slom says.
Galuteria laughs and pays Slom a compliment. "Twenty-four to one, when Sam Slom is the one -- it's about even," he says.
It's collegial, but of course when it comes to voting, it's not at all even. Most of the time, Slom loses 24-1.
Slom, 68, is originally from Allentown, Pa., and has been in Hawaii since he moved here to attend college in 1960. He seems to know everyone. For example, he was for many years an economist at the Bank of Hawaii, where he worked closely with Madelyn Dunham, Barack Obama's grandmother. He also met the future president when Obama was a teenager.
Slom has also known Hawaii's new Democratic governor, Neil Abercrombie, from the days Slom represented the conservative Young Americans for Freedom at Vietnam War demonstrations and Abercrombie was with the leftist Students for a Democratic Society.
Like a lot of Hawaii pols, Slom was mystified by Abercrombie's short-lived effort to make public Obama's original, long-form birth certificate, which the president has never given permission to release. The birther issue had been waning in recent months, but Abercrombie's announcement reignited it. "I think it was part ego," Slom says of Abercrombie's motive, "and it might have been part anger that this (birther) thing was still going on. It was dying down, so to bring it up was inappropriate."
And anyway, amid a budget crisis, Abercrombie and Democrats in the Hawaii Senate have more important things to do -- like drain the state's emergency funds and regulate dog leashes. By votes of 24-1.
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Previously:
02/21/11 Obama team uses slippery words to tout budget
02/15/11 Myth and memory: The battle over Reagan's legacy
02/07/11 Invoking Reagan, Palin says ‘this is a time for choosing again’
01/31/11 With each passing year, Reagan grows larger in the American political imagination
01/24/11 House GOP begins long drive to dismantle Obamacare
01/17/11 GOP gears up again to strip NPR of federal funds
01/10/11 To House GOP, illegal immigration is a jobs issue
01/03/11 Obamacare mess is legacy of Dems' moment of power
12/27/10 Smiling Dems will soon cry ‘Washington is broken’
12/20/10 Dems are earmark junkies but GOP goes straight
12/13/10 Needed: A ‘more presidential’ Palin
12/06/10 With Dems in a funk, Obama charts a new course
11/29/10 Obama's poll numbers point to his defeat in 2012
11/22/10 Holder ignored risks of civilian terror trials
11/16/10 Dems love facts and science --- except when they don't
11/08/10 Obama, new GOP lawmakers are on collision course
11/01/10 New GOP star on track to defeat Dem legend Russ Feingold
10/26/10 If Dems lose, Obama will blame everyone but himself
10/19/10 Profligate Congress should read its own bills
10/13/10 Why Big Labor couldn't match Glenn Beck's rally
10/11/10 Trash-talking Democrat faces defeat in Florida
10/05/10 A GOP unknown in striking distance of Barney Frank
09/28/10 Administration inflates green-jobs numbers
09/20/10 In Delaware, GOP should target Dems, not O'Donnell
09/14/10 GOP Insiders Wary of Landslide Predictions
08/31/10 For Obamacare supporters, judgment day approaches
08/23/10 Obama has himself to blame for Muslim problem
08/17/10 Cut spending without cutting services? Start here
08/17/10 For Michelle Obama, extravagance dents popularity
08/09/10 Obama's zealous civil rights enforcer gets busy
08/02/10 A battle between Left and Right --- inside the GOP
07/26/10 GOP spoiling for fight over Berwick appointment
07/20/10 How long will the public tolerate Afghan war?
07/12/10 NASA's Muslim outreach: Al Jazeera told first
07/02/10 Legal complaint against Gore is detailed, credible
06/28/10 Obama and Dems heading for electoral disaster
06/21/10 Who told Obama drilling is ‘absolutely safe’?
06/14/10 Billions for ‘green jobs,’ whatever they are
06/07/10 Sestak a no-go for any job. So what was the deal?
05/31/10 As economic worries worsen, White House puts on the glitz
05/25/10 GOP dilemma: Fight Kagan, or go along?
05/11/10 Enforcing nation's immigration laws would be a bargain
05/03/10 How Obama could lose Arizona immigration battle
04/27/10 What's behind the anti-Tea Party hate narrative?
04/20/10 As government expands, beware the post-office example
04/19/10 Who wins in 2010? Good luck reading tea leaves
04/12/10 GOP Obamacare strategy: Try repeal, then cut
04/05/10 Obamacare was mainly aimed at redistributing wealth
03/30/10 Message to Dems: People still don't like Obamacare
03/23/10 The coming consequences of Obamacare
03/16/10 Marco Rubio and the Republicans who love him
03/15/10 GOP hopes town halls take health care off table
03/08/10 Dems turn risky health vote into manhood contest
03/01/10 Why Obama defies the public on health care
02/22/10 South Carolina mulls 2012: Romney? Palin? Huck?
02/16/10 GOP winning war over Miranda rights for terrorists
02/09/10 Who are the 300 terrorists held in U.S. prisons?
02/02/10 Is Obama dissatisfied with being president?
01/19/10 The Republican dilemma: Good Michael or Bad Michael?
01/12/10 Now the lawmakers are figuring out what they didn't know
01/05/10 GOP deserves blame for Democratic excesses
12/29/09 Dems' dreams of a blue West begin to turn red
12/22/09 Why Dems push health care, even if it kills them
11/30/09 Dems' kamikaze mission: Health care by New Year's
11/23/09 Why it's a mistake to bring Gitmo prisoners here
11/16/09 Dems' slick fix: $210 billion of fiscal restraint
11/10/09 Obama can't be community organizer for the world
11/02/09 At key moment, Obama leaves health post unfilled
10/26/09 ‘Fierce urgency' for jobs, not health care’
10/12/09 Facts hurt Jennings in youth sex controversy
10/05/09 Amid terror threat, Dems chip away at Patriot Act
09/27/09 In Afghanistan, let U.S. troops be warriors
09/21/09 Under fire, Democrats abandon ACORN in drove
09/14/09 Dems stifle Republican health care plans
09/08/09 For Dems, a serious Charlie Rangel problem
09/07/09 Obama's speech: Wrong setting for a sales job
09/01/09 What happened to the antiwar movement?
08/24/09 Why Dems may jam through health care plan
08/17/09 GOP thinks the unthinkable: Victory in 2010
08/10/09 The empty words of a journalist turned flack
08/03/09 Probe finds new clues in AmeriCorps IG scandal
07/27/09 Obamacare haunted by unkept promises of stimulus
07/20/09 Why the GOP failed the Sotomayor test
07/13/09 What the GOPers will ask Sotomayor
06/29/09 Serious questions remain for Mark Sanford
06/22/09 How GOPers can crack the AmeriCorps scandal
06/16/09 Worried about Sotomayor? Consider Andre Davis
06/08/09 Can Mitch Daniels save the GOP?
06/01/09 When the Dems derailed a Latino nominee
05/26/09 Why the GOP will defeat Obama on healthcare
05/19/09 Rosy report can't hide stimulus problems
05/12/09 The Reagan legacy is the man himself
05/05/09 Sen. Specter, meet your new friends
04/27/09 Ted Olson: ‘Torture' probes will never end
04/20/09 Who's Laughing at the ‘Axis of Evil’ today?
04/14/09 Congress needs Google to track stimulus money
04/06/09 Beyond AIG: A bill to let Big Government set your salary
03/30/09 On Spending and the Deficit, McCain Was Right
03/24/09 It's Obama's crisis now
03/17/09: Geithner-Obama economics: A joke that's not funny
© 2009, NEA
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