Advocacy group says
By Mike Yuen
Con Con needed, decries
‘fear campaign’
Star-BulletinHawaii voters should approve the convening of a constitutional convention so that issues such as term limits, judicial reform, including the election of some judges, and initiative, referendum and recall can be considered at the gathering, says an isle advocacy group.
The 40-member group, Let the People Decide, announced yesterday that it supports a constitutional assembly, just as Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris (D) and former U.S. Rep. Patricia Saiki (R) do. Harris and Saiki are leading a bipartisan effort for a convention.
If voters on Nov. 3 approve a convention to consider changes to the Hawaii Constitution -- the last such assembly was in 1978 -- it will be up to the Legislature to determine how delegates would be selected and when the gathering would be held. Any changes would still have to be passed by voters.
A spokeswoman for Let the People Decide, Ewa homemaker Betty Jean Anderson, said opponents of a Con Con are waging "a fear campaign," saying a convention would strip isle residents of civil rights. That's not true, she said.
Organizations such as Protect Our Constitution and the League of Women Voters, which are also urging a "no" vote on the ballot measure that could prohibit same-sex marriage, argue that a Con Con would be too costly -- about $12 million -- at a time when the state's budget is tight.
Jackie Young, Protect Our Constitution campaign director, noted that a leader of Let the People Decide is former state Rep. Cam Cavasso, who was among the religious conservatives who seized control of the Hawaii Republican Party in 1988 to push the presidential candidacy of Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson.
And now the Hawaii Christian Coalition wants to repeal abortion laws and get prayer in schools, Young asserted. "It's not based on fear," Young said about her group's campaign. "It is based on their own information."
