GOING FOR THE GUSTO

GOING FOR THE GUSTO: To hear the talk from the churchies last May there was fire and brimstone a’comin’ at the polls for those legislators who voted to make gays and lesbians first class citizens– albeit with a “civil union” asterisk- when it comes to the rights bestowed in marriage.

But a look at the results of Saturday’s elections shows that not only was the bigot community’s empty threat to “remember those who voted yes to Bill 444 in election day” given way too much credence by the media, but also by the legislators themselves- most of whom, if you’ll remember, had conniption fits to keep from voting on the record until being forced to do so on the last day of the session.

But a few key races show that not only were some who voted “aye” not punished but those who voted “no” were.

Of course on Kaua`i one of those “no” votes, Roland Sagum, was not just ousted by an unknown, Dee Morikawa, but lost in a landslide. Morikawa won with 55.2% of the vote to Sagum’s 37.8% and another 7.0% left their vote blank, always an indication of dissatisfaction with the incumbent.

The funny thing there is that, in talking to westsiders over the past few days, we haven’t really been able to find any other reasons for Sagum’s dismissal other than that he just “did do anything”- that and, to some extent and for those who even knew about it, his recent representation of an unpopular projects by a North Shore developer before the planning commission.

Even though Sagum’s 16th district of the south and west sides of Kaua`i is known to be more conservative than the north and east sides the talk last May of the vote on 444 being a key to proponents’ votes was apparently indicative of the result.

Perhaps THE key race was between the openly gay introducer of HB 444, Representative Blake Oshiro and the leader of the religious homophobes, former Honolulu Councilpersons Gary Okino who specifically ran against Oshiro over the civil unions bill.

Oshiro similarly trounced Okino 53.3% to 42.0% with 10 0.2% blank.

Both statewide races also went the way of HB 444 proponents.

Former Congressperson Neil Abercrombie, who said he’s sign it in a minute, crushed Mufi Hannemann who, although he hemmed and hawed, was seen as opposing civil unions. The last minute push- or punch as it turned out- to get Republicans to crossover to the more “righteous” Mufi coming from the head of the Hawai`i Republican Party, nutso bible thumper and Kaua`i boy, Jonah Ka`auwai, is seen by many as cinching Hannemann’s rout.

Finally there was the lieutenant governor’s race where Brian Schatz, a civil rights proponent who said unequivocally that he supported 444, trounced the two biggest anti-civil rights members of the state senate, former Senators Bobby Bunda- who successfully blocked the bill in committee only to see it “ripped” to the floor- and Norman Sakamoto who made opposition to civil rights his signature issue.

Not only did Schatz win in what can be considered a landslide in a plurality vote with 34.8% of the vote to Bunda’s 19.2% and Sakamoto’s 18.5% but former Senator Gary Hooser- who made his support of the bill his top issue in ads- led the pack of also-rans pulling in 9.5% of the vote.

With the other candidates for lt. governor also supportive of civil unions, the anti civil rights voters accounted for only 37 .7% of the vote.

But let’s not forget that while “civil unions” was adopted by the progressive community as the fight du jour at last year’s legislative session it is still just another way to treat gays and lesbians as second-class citizens. And it may well be a moot issue as the “Prop 8” case recently decided in federal district court wends it’s way to the 9th Circuit appellate court where a decision upholding full same gender marriage would be binding on Hawai`i.

If we learned one thing this year it’s that these religion-addled bigots will see that any attempt to secure people’s right to love anyone they want is turned into some idiotic “sanctity of marriage” argument. Despite common wisdom of the past decade there are apparently few, if any, that are for civil unions but against same gender marriage.

The court’s decision may or may not come before next May but it’s time to decide whether to fight for full civil rights in this year’s legislature based on the results last Saturday and presumably in November where a landslide Abercrombie victory over religious nutcase Duke Aiona is likely.

That decision is, well, way above our paygrade. But those who are planning strategy for the ’11 legislative session would do well to take the legislative and election results to heart, stop pushing an incremental, fear-based agenda and reach for the brass ring.

DON’T VOTE FOR TOKIOKA, SAGUM OR KOUCHI FOR STATE LEGISLATURE OR INOUYE FOR US SENATE

DON’T VOTE FOR TOKIOKA, SAGUM OR KOUCHI FOR STATE LEGISLATURE OR INOUYE FOR US SENATE

(PNN) -- Jimmy Tokioka (State House 15th), Roland Sagum (State House 16th), Ron Kouchi (State Senate 7th) and Daniel Inouye (US Senate) are some of the most objectionable reprehensible people on the Kaua`i ballot and we urge voters to vote for their opponents in the Democratic Primary September 18.

While their opponents- Rhoda Libre (House 14th) Dee Morikawa (House 15th) John Sydney Yamane (Senate 7th) and Andy Woerner (US Senate)- are unknown quantities and we can’t really say they would support the issues we hold dear or be great legislators but they certainly cannot be or do any worse.

Tokioka- a former Republican councilmember who opportunistically switched parties when he ran for the legislature- is a racist philanderer who has been a thorn in the side of the controlled growth, progressive community for more than a decade. Among his other offenses at the legislature was his obstinate opposition to civil rights during the civil unions debacle.

Sagum is a developer who also opposed civil unions and recently even represented the owner of infamous north shore mansion “farm dwelling” before the planning commissions.

Kouchi has had a long history on the council, leading the land-rape efforts during the 90’s- before acknowledging his shameful actions, claiming he had “reformed” when he ran for mayor- then moving on to represent the latest developer of the old Westin property in a huge zoning giveaway disguised as a gift of un-developable coastal land to the county.

Inouye, the old war monger, needs no introduction to those who have opposed his single handed militaristic buildup in Hawai`i for many decades. He’s been a mainstay in the theft of Hawaiian lands for generations and a key cog in the genocide. Twenty years ago he led the Democratic effort in the senate to ignore Ronald Reagan’s Iran contra involvement.

Libre, Morikawa, Yamane and Woerner have given us a choice. Let’s take advantage of it.

LET THE GOOD GUY WIN EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE

LET THE GOOD GUY WIN EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE: The “last minute” maneuver in the state house to pass the civil-unions bill- HB 444- was still quite a shock to the system despite the fact that we’d heard that a massive push was underway by civil rights activists in Honolulu including some pretty intense one-on-one lobbying of house members by those with access.

Process geeks like us can check out Derrick DePledge’s blow by blow live twittering to find out how it came down.

It was aided by, if there’s such a thing within a legislative body, a grassroots effort by a handful of house members that greased the skids on promoting access and putting their own time and effort into convincing their colleagues to force the vote.

Next time you see Mina Morita give her a hug.

But what strikes us is the brilliant political move of the activist in letting the sleeping dog lie as the session wore suckering the bigots and religious zealots into complacency and do their work under the radar.

Now for the next six months we’re going to hear the big lie that’s becoming the popular rallying cry for many of the wing-nuts and, well, nut-case groups in general... that they are some kind of overwhelming majority even when their ranks are far outnumbered.

Whether it’s the same 18% (in a NY Times poll) of the populace that makes up the tea partiers- the same percentage that supported the war criminals by the end of the last administration- who bafflingly maintain they speak for the majority or the dog ladies on Kaua`i who claim “everybody” wants to engage their dirty smelly mutts when they go down to the ocean (and designed a push survey to prove it) it’s the latest in bogus lobbying through lies.

If you don’t have the majority on your side, just say you do over and over and get the press to report that you said it in their “he said she said” coverage.

Which is why we’ve got to make sure that if the homophobic lobby is going to try to make the November election about this we’ve gotta make sure we turn out and both support those who supported civil rights and replace those who didn’t- or keep those new candidates who don’t on the outside.

Here on Kaua`i the no votes came from the always bigoted Jimmy Tokioka and his west side cohort Roland Sagum. We can only hope good candidates will come forward to challenge them.

But assuming a Lingle veto- meaning we’d have to start from scratch in 2011- we’re going to need someone to sign the bill next year and that leaves only Neil Abercrombie.

Most know that Duke Aiona is generally one of the worst religion-addled ass-wipes around. But fewer know that the corrupt Mayor of Honolulu Mufi Hannemann opposes civil unions too.

Candidates aside our most daunting task will be to make sure that the other big lie- that civil unions are somehow related to same gender marriage- is put to rest by November... and that includes whenever some well meaning pea-brains like Jerry Burris conflates them as he did in today’s Honolulu Advertiser... just as columnist Dave Shapiro did as we mentioned last week.

Whatever Ms. Ding-a-Lingle decides to do we’ve go our work cut out for us on this one.

POND SCUM VS. TOXIC SLIME

POND SCUM VS. TOXIC SLIME: The state house’s disgraceful action in denying civil unions was made more unpalatable by the repugnant voice vote that tried to hide their positions.

But while most just accepted the bamboozle of many of the assorted scumbags, one reporter, Adrienne LaFrance of Honolulu Weekly (thanks to Larry Geller for the heads-up) took it upon herself to find out who voted which way by a simple method – she asked them.

Of course North Shore Representative Mina Morita had the strongest statement of all as to why she opposed the vote to indefinitely postpone action saying:

“I voiced my ‘no’ to the motion… To say that I am disappointed and ashamed on what happened on the House floor would be an understatement.”

That was obviously a truncated version a post on her new blog which said:

The vote on House Bill 444 has been postponed indefinitely. To say that I am disappointed and ashamed on what happened on the House floor would be an understatement. I believe the public, whether one was for or against civil union, deserved a definitive closure on this issue. I have been clear where I stand on this issue. I support civil unions. The posturing on this bill, by not correcting a defective date and all the procedural maneuvering, has been shameful. We were not leaders today.

As to the other two Kaua`i reps, well known bigoted racist Jimmy “Can’t keep his pants on” Tokioka was at least straightforward in his assholedom saying simply

“I voted yes.”

But of course we knew he would based on his opposition last year.

For the worst in mealy mouth bullsh-t responses we’ve gotta give the prize to West Side Rep. Roland Sagum. After voting against the original bill last year he had the nerve to say:

“People in the gallery wanted a roll call but it went down as a voice vote. It wasn’t because we are trying to hide anything… I don’t want to tell you, though. I’m trying to honor the process.”

Can we please do something about ditching these two embarrassments next November? Somebody... please... if you live in one of those two districts run for the state house. These guys have had a free pass long enough.

CANIS CANNABINOID CAPO

CANIS CANNABINOID CAPO: On January 30 this year we titled our post 2009: THE YEAR OF CANNABIS REFORM and detailed eight bills the legislature was considering that would, if enacted, end the insane way our state treats cannabis, especially our medical marijuana program.

But of course our Contadina legislature was too busy dodging votes on civil rights for gays and lesbians, secretly trying to raise campaign contribution limits and blocking pilot public financing of elections programs that they failed to get those eight great tomatoes out of that little bitty committee can.

The good news is that on Wednesday the legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto of a bill that “(e)stablishes a task force to examine issues relating to medical cannabis patients and current medical cannabis laws”- no thanks to Kaua`i Representatives Roland Sagum and Jimmy Tokioka who were among nine reps that refused to vote to override the veto.

The bad news is that it deals only medical marijuana, not our draconian and idiotic prohibitionist marijuana laws that cost us millions by incarcerating non-violent recreational pot smokers and are responsible for the violence and killing by organized crime outfits that proliferate due solely to the illegality.

More good news is that the task force- which, like the administration of our medical marijuana program is, unfortunately, administratively tied to the Department of Public Safety- provides for seats for many medical marijuana advocacy groups and individuals including:

- The Drug Policy Forum of Hawai`i which describes itself as the “ leading organization dedicated to safe, responsible, and effective drug policies” in Hawai`i. Their Drug Policy Action Group was instrumental in getting the task force law passed.

- The Honolulu Chapter of Americans for Safe Access whose web site says they are “the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research”.

- The West O`ahu Hope For A Cure Foundation, an AIDS advocacy group.

- The American Civil Liberties Union

- One medical cannabis advocate who is a patient that uses cannabis in a medically authorized or recommended manner to be appointed by the governor

- A physician who authorizes or recommends the use of medical cannabis that is nominated from a list jointly submitted by the senate president and speaker of the house of representatives to be appointed by the governor;

- A Hawaii-licensed physician who specializes in pain control and has issued a medical cannabis recommendation that is nominated from a list jointly submitted by the senate president and speaker of the house of representatives to be appointed by the governor;

-One registered caregiver to be appointed by the governor;

The five areas they will examine are also promising. They are charged to:

(1) Examine current state statutes, state administrative rules, and all county policies and procedures relating to the medical marijuana program;

(2) Examine all issues and obstacles that qualifying patients have encountered with the medical marijuana program;

(3) Examine all issue and obstacles that state and county law enforcement agencies have encountered with the medical marijuana program;

(4) Compare and contrast Hawaii's medical marijuana program with all other state medical marijuana programs; and

(5) Address other issues and perform any other function necessary as the task force deems appropriate, relating to the medical marijuana program.

They will have help on #4 with the provision that “(no) later than August 30, 2009, the legislative reference bureau shall complete and submit to the task force a report on the policies and procedures for access, distribution, security, and other relevant issues related to the medical use of cannabis for all the states that currently have a medical cannabis program”

The final report is due no less than 20 days before the 2010 legislative session.

One of the main goals of reformers, as we mentioned above, is to remove administration of the medical marijuana program from the Department of Public Safety- the department that administers the prison system- and get it into the Department of Health where programs in every other state with medical marijuana laws have their programs.

Right now our system is what local attorney Daniel Hempey called an unconstitutional violation of the medical privacy rights of patients while appearing yesterday on Joan Conrow’s and Jimmy Trujillo’s KKCR-FM radio program on cannabis reform.

The current set up is that local law enforcement maintain lists of people who qualify rather than having the Department of Health maintain the list and having police check with them if need be. That led to the actual release of the list to the press last year as we detailed last July.

Another must is a system for growing, procuring and distributing marijuana to patients. Other states such as California have actual stores where qualified patients can obtain their medicine.

Although in the past the federal government has harassed the distribution centers the new administration has eliminated those raids as part of ending the “war on drugs”. That makes moot one of the prime arguments used by local law enforcement in opposing such a distribution system.

Another thing people here on Kaua`i at least can do is work to defeat both Tokioka and Sagum in the next election. We hope there will be viable candidates to challenge them on this and many other issues, not the least of which is their opposition to the civil unions bill. We’ll be detailing their support for other regressive and oppressive right-wing nut measures as the 2010 election approaches.

For those on other islands the others who voted against the override were: Awana, Ching, Finnegan, Har, Ito, Manahan, and Yamane.

The non medical marijuana bills from the last session such as those for decriminalization and lowest enforcement priority are detailed in our “Year of Cannabis Reform” piece linked at the top of this article.

In an age when serious discussion is in the air on the mainland that may lead to complete legalization as a way to raise revenues through taxation it’s almost comical to see attitudes from local police departments and prosecutors opposing reform of our laws.

You would think they, like other law enforcement professionals across the nation, would wake up to the fact that it is the illegality itself that is lethal not the drug itself which has never directly caused a death.

(Parenthetically the current talk of legalization and taxation seems to be self-defeating. Presuming that any taxation scheme would include a ban on growing your own or trying to collect taxes on home grown, the whole idea of getting the criminality out of the mix would seemingly be defeated.)

Anyone seeking to assist in the task force effort can contact the Drug Policy Forum and anyone who thinks they might both qualify for and have the time to fill one of the patient, physician or caretaker positions can probably do the same or contact the appropriate appointing authority.

As it stands now we understand there aren't even any physicians on Kaua`i who will participate in the program because of the way it’s set up.

A program that is designed to alleviate pain and provide treatment for sick people has become laughable if not cruel and inhumane.

This is an opportunity we can’t afford to squander.