THIS is the week in which the Legislature will decide much of the outcome of the 1998 elections. In the few days left before the Legislature's scheduled April 29 adjournment, the assembled lawmakers will define their own grasp on reality. Legislators grope
toward session’s endAlready they are showing a fairly shaky grip. After promising to get down to business in January, they show up in April on the golf course, ready for a few minutes of relaxation at the annual House-Senate golf tournament. Although a bunch of legislators bailed out at the last minute because the golf game "wouldn't look good," it was still an amazing approach to business.
Somewhere there must be a business plan that calls for a company to shut down and host itself to a golf game after being in operation for less than 60 days. Such a company probably is not going to be around to host a second match.
The Legislature, however, is a funny sort of business. When customers stop coming, you don't lose market share or just make less money -- you lose everything. It is either success or bankruptcy.
To help you judge how the men and women in charge are doing, here is a reminder of what kind of competition they were up against last year.
Many of the ideas debated in last year's election make for the beginings of a good campaign next year.
Let's look at what some of last year's losers were saying, to see what may be next year's Round Two.
For starters, Iris Catalani, who ran unsuccessfully against the controversial chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Terrance Tom, last year described the disgruntled nature of her district.
"My community is alienated from and frustrated by our political process. We need immediate action to better our public schools, create economic opportunities...we owe it to consumers and small businesses to pass automobile, health and workers' compensation insurance reform," she wrote.
A young attorney, Bill Hoshijo, also ran unsuccessfully for the state House, but he detected not alienation, but fed-up voters.
"For the taxes we pay, we deserve to have our basic needs met, to have funding for education, public safety and emergency services," he said last year.
Crime and cheaper car insurance were the two big issues of last year's campaign. Legislators promised to work on both.
But now with less than two weeks left before the session ends, the Legislature is no closer to reducing some of the highest auto insurance rates in the nation.
The ever increasingly obscure dance on same-sex marriage appears to be dominating legislative thinking, as politicians fret that they will be targeted next year by same-sex marriage opponents.
IGNORED, watered down, or simply rejected are moves to stop the special retirement benefits for legislators, along with efforts to plug the campaign spending loopholes, allowing politicians to bring in thousands of dollars without reporting it, and preserve the public's right to know what its government is doing.
While specific issues have yet to move, the big issues of crime, education and the economy are still being debated.
Meanwhile, those who see an alienated public and those who sense a public not getting what it deserves from government are going to run, and that should make this Legislature very nervous.