Wednesday, October 31, 2007
A little campaign contribution goes a long way
Did the $2,000 the Advertiser says House Speaker Calvin Say received have any influence on his decisions with regard to the special session and the Superferry bill? I'm not saying that it did, mind you, just asking the unanswerable question.
A little money seems to go a long way in politics. Here's an example, from a Washington Times article:
JIM MCELHATTON, WASH TIMES - Lawmakers, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, have taken thousands in campaign cash from an embattled Nobel-prize winning scientist while earmarking federal money for his New York lab. Mrs. Clinton and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, also a New York Democrat, requested a $900,000 earmark in June for the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where James D. Watson served as chancellor before resigning last week after apologizing for comments that suggested that people descending from Africa aren't as intelligent as those from Europe.
Federal campaign filings show that Mr. Watson has donated more than $70,000 to candidates and their political causes, including a total of $3,000 to Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign on May 17 and June 25. Two days later, a Senate committee report showed that Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Schumer earmarked $900,000 for the lab.
That's an awesome return on investment. For only $3,000 to Hillary Clinton, or a total of $70,000 overall, Watson got $900,000 for his lab.
Has anyone calculated the ROI for the Superferry"s investment in Hawaii's politicians?
You would think that $2-3,000 wouldn't be such a big deal, but it seems to be enough to do the trick. Even in the presidential campaign, small sums seem to be highly effective. If all it took was $3,000 to buy Hillary, what could the Superferry expect for its $2,000 contribution?
Coincidence? Maybe.
Superferry bill passes house, goes to Gov
Yup, it's all over (... or is it??).
I'll just list the No votes, those that get Happy Whales. I gave an extra Happy Whale to Rep. Oshiro for asking questions. The interchange was controversial in the press, but I think it should be recognized. All I have to offer is Happy Whales, though.
Update: Extra Happy Whale awarded to Rep. Sonson, based on the questions he asked as reported in comments below. Thanks for the report!
Continue the conversation on Town Square tomorrow (Thursday) 5-6 pm
Today's vote at the Legislature should not be the last word. Please tune in to Town Square, hosted by Beth-Ann Kozlovich, tomorrow (Thursday) 5-6 pm on Hawaii Public Radio KIPO 89.3 FM or streaming from their website here. If there's a problem with one of the streams, try the other one, since servers might get overloaded with everyone tuning in.
Guests will be Sen. Gary Hooser, and journalists Joan Conrow (Kauai) and Hunter Bishop (Big Island).
I hope the discussion will be not so much on the Superferry (though that's unavoidable) but rather on the divisions between islands that the Superferry has dredged up. But it goes wherever it goes, depending on the callers and Beth-Ann.
Town Square is a great place to continue the conversation, so I hope that there will be calls from Neighbor Islands. The program has a large drive-time audience, so many people will be listening, especially folks who live on Oahu.
The call-in number is 1 877 941-3689 from Neighbor Islands or 941-3689 from Oahu. If the lines are busy, try again. Best not to wait till the end, then calls pile up and it's harder to get through.
As the ferry issue wraps up at the Legislature, don't forget to stay in touch with the blogs:
and all the others that will be buzzing with news and opinions you can't get from the daily papers.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
James Fallows vs. the reality of Chinese labor
I met James Fallows at a dinner in Honolulu some time ago. We sat together discussing some obscure common topic, ignoring the rest of the table. Fallows is capable of focusing his intellect very sharply on whatever has grabbed his interest for the moment.
On an NPR Fresh Air interview broadcast today I learned that he is living in China and writing about its manufacturing revolution. This is a must-listen, his explanation contains a lesson for this country, and also for Hawaii. In explaining how Chinese manufacturing works he is also, of course, letting us know why we are pretty much out of the businesses they are taking over.
He describes working conditions in Chinese plants very favorably, including living conditions in company dorms.
Fallow's glowing account is in sharp contrast to today's Democracy Now segment, Gap, Mattel, Speedo, Wal-Mart Products Linked to Child and Sweatshop Labor in China and India. This is also a must-listen, although there's a transcript you can skim as well. If you are reading this on Tuesday you can also catch the program at 10 p.m. tonight on Olelo channel 56.
I've been critical of Mattel's lax quality assurance that has brought lead-painted and other hazardous toys to our shores. The Democracy Now interview is far worse than I had read anywhere before. Check it out. It goes well beyond bad QA into absolute greed.
The interview begins, referring to the Barbie Pet Doctor set:
And it was made in a factory called Xin Yi by young women forced to work fourteen-and-a-half hours a day, six days a week, at a minimum. Sometimes they work until midnight, sixteen-and-a-half-hour shifts. They’re at the factory eighty-seven hours a week, paid fifty-three cents an hour as their wage and then cheated of their overtime wage.
More:
The workers can be fired if they’re inattentive at work. They can be fired if they’re seen speaking to each other during working hours. They can be fired if they don’t reach their production goal. The workers tell us they’re sweating all day; the factory is incredibly hot. They have to sit on hard wooden benches with no backs. They say after a few hours -- they’re prohibited from standing up; after a few hours, their legs go numb, their arms hurt, their backs hurt. They have no right. The supervisors will yell and scream at them to go faster. You’re not allowed to answer back or even look at the supervisor, or you’ll be fired. Their housed in primitive dormitories. It’s a sweatshop of enormous abuse. The workers are cheated of about two days’ wages every single week.
Hearing the two programs in the same day was a trip.
I don't see any cure for this unless people really get together and boycott Mattel products. Will this happen? I doubt it, but in my humble opinion, it's what that company deserves. It would also help protect children in the future by making an example of this company that cheats workers on one end and poisons children on the other.
By the way, ingesting lead lowers IQ. It ruins lives.
Superferry expenses analyzed
Henry Curtis continues his careful monitoring. Reproduced with permission:
Aloha,
Yesterdays House hearing went from 1:30 - 10:33 with no breaks
There were 19 speakers
The first community speaker was invited to speak after 9 pm
Factoid: Under questioning from Rep Marcus Oshiro, the Sf people stated that they were expending $650,000/week ($150,000 debt payments; $500,000 operational expenses). After laying off most employees their operating expenditures went from $500,000 to $300,000, but then up to $400,000-450,000/week if you included their legal costs.
$100,000-$150,000/week for legal costs.
Henry
--
Henry Curtis, Executive Director, Life of the Land, 76 N. King Street, Suite 203, Honolulu, HI 96817. phone: 808-533-3454. cell: 808-927-0709. Web Site: http://www.lifeofthelandhawaii.org/ email:henry.lifeoftheland@gmail.com
Monday, October 29, 2007
Lingle vs. Legislature
I need to send you over to Poinography for an analysis of this afternoon's House session which included testimony by the Governor. And some dramatic moments, it seems. Darn, I missed a good fight.
Why? Because I couldn't get in.
I went back to the Capitol this afternoon intending to give testimony in support of an appointee and to maybe attend the House hearing. But I couldn't find a parking space. There were probably two dozen or more empty spaces in the Capitol garage with stanchions bearing signs saying "Assigned Parking" or with paper bags over the meters. The Dept. of Health lot across the street was full, with several cars lurking in the hope of snagging any space that might open up. In frustration, I just left.
Parking at the Capitol is controlled by DAGS, I understand. Who controls DAGS, the Legislature or the Governor? Could this be an insidious plot to limit public participation? Sheesh, to even have a thought like that... The lege might do something about this sad situation. I'm sure I'm not the only one to complain about the sequestering of parking spaces.
Anyway, stick with the blogs for news and opinion that doesn't get into the newspapers.
Has the Superferry dredged up deep divisions between Oahu and the rest of the state?
Tune in to Hawaii Public Radio's Town Square program this Thursday, Nov. 1, 5-6 p.m. for a lively discussion. Not on the Superferry, but on what the controversy has revealed.
The special session will be over by then, but the damage may linger for quite some time. Or have these divisions, these differing values and points of view always existed, and it just took something like this to bring them to the fore? Is it just water that divides this island state?
The host of Town Square is Beth-Ann Kozlovich. Guests will be Sen. Gary Hooser and journalists Joan Conrow (Kauai) and Hunter Bishop (Big Island).
The program is a call-in program so it would be a great opportunity for Neighbor Islanders to let Oahuans know a thing or two. And vice versa, of course.
Thursday 5-6 p.m. on KIPO, 89.3FM. Or if the wave doesn't penetrate to where you live, Hawaii Public Radio streams on the Internet from here. The call-in numbers are 941-3689 from Oahu or 1 877 941-3689 from elsewhere.
Monday's Senate vote on Superferry
Today's vote is recorded here. The Advertiser is emulating the blogs by posting votes on-line here.
A lot was said during floor testimony. Sen. Sam Slom, in addition to repeating mantras such as the Superferry will be good for farmers (while farmers have testified it's too expensive to use), dropped this line with respect to ferry protestors:
These people look like they're just off the boat themselves.
I was so taken with his bigotry that it took me a couple of seconds to get the pen and paper out of my pocket to write it down, but I think I have it almost right. Olelo cameras should have captured his exact words.
Slom is ever the showman and exhibited two piles of paper. The smaller was, he explained, the email he had received opposing the Superferry bill, and the very much larger pile was from supporters. Gee, I should have sent him my email in opposition. I didn't, and I imagine others didn't either, because fat chance he would vote no. Why waste a perfectly good email. He didn't indicate how many emails came from Superferry employees, far more inclined to send Mr. Small Business their email than others.
The piles of email and testimony that have appeared during this special session probably account for a couple of trees at least. Can't these folks learn to use a computer? Think of all the space in the landfill that testimony will take when the special session is over. Of course, given the short time, it's unlikely that they've even read it. Slom's exhibit implies that he might at least "weigh" the testimony, but even if it were the other way around, I doubt he'd change his vote. [aside: you'd think he would have some sympathy for endangered species. Republicans are now down to four out of 25 in the Senate.]
Sen. Trimble gave some figures showing that the "super" ferry isn't very large. This supported later testimony that the bill, while written to exempt a single corporation, implements a farce by claiming to be generally applicable to "a large capacity ferry vessel company" instead of just this one. Interesting if the Superferry wouldn't be covered by this bill because it doesn't measure up. Wouldn't that be a hoot.
[I find Sen. Trimble to be an incisive and critical thinker and often agree with his positions (on other matters, not this one). He would make an excellent Democrat in my view. Maybe Sen. Gabbard could let him know how much better it is on the Dem side and encourage him to make a similar move.]
The tally
In a previous post I mentioned receiving emails pointing out that it's necessary to vote WR ("with reservations") in order to be appointed to a conference committee. This is true, but there is no rule. I subsequently learned that it's rare, but someone can be appointed to a conference committee even if they vote no.
I'll continue to note WR but those who vote Yes with or without reservations clearly want to see this bill advance, and so they earn the Dead Whale award for harpooning the court's decision, and those who voted "no" earn the Happy Whale Award.
In this round of voting, Sen. Roz Baker moves into the light for having voted No this morning. She gets a Happy Whale.
Sen. William Espero keeps his extra Harpooned Whale for having appeared on the Advertiser's list of those who accepted campaign contributions related to the Superferry and now voting for the bill.
Sen. Shan Tsutsui earned his extra Happy Whale for having appeared on the Advertiser's list and yet he voted against the bill.
I decided to give Sen. English and Sen. Hooser their extra Happy Whale for their forceful floor speeches, and of course for understanding and supporting their constituents views. They deserve plenty more than just the one extra. And yeah, why not give Sen. Slom an extra Dead Whale. If one is really killed I hope it can be delivered to him at his Hawaii Kai home in person.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Will climate change increase population pressure on Hawaii?
From Brad Blog, on the drought and the California fires:
"It's like Armageddon," Jill Michaels said, after watching her home burn to the ground in the Harris fire. In the early hours of the worst fire in California history, the Michaels family received no evacuation warning and found exit routes blocked, forcing them to turn back to their home in Potrero. Now, the Michaels are among half a million evacuees who have fled four raging wildfires, the worst fire disaster in California history. Worse even than the 2003 Cedar fire, which until now held that shameful record.
San Diego County now has more refugees than New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. While reported loss of life thus far remains low, hundreds of thousands of acres have been scorched and countless people will soon return home--only to find themselves homeless.
At some point, people will notice that the forests are not burning in Hawaii. They'll pack up and relocate here, possibly in large numbers once the word gets out that it's still nice to live here even as California burns and struggles to find new sources of water.
Global warming is about climate change. At some point, with bugs eating the trees and the trees burning and disappearing, California won’t have to worry about “drought” any longer. They’ll have “desert.” People don’t talk about drought in the Sahara because the climate is perpetual drought. For much of the country, it looks like that’s where we’re headed.
Hawaii may escape this desertification. We know what to expect in terms of a rise in sea level, but not much has appeared in comparison on how Hawaii will be affected in terms of climate, fresh water, and so forth.
Hawaii is a nationwide leader in addressing climate change. The Global Warming Solutions Act establishes a state policy to lower Hawaii's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. At the same time, we lag badly at present in our use of alternative forms of energy. We also watch the rain cascade off the rooftops in Manoa while residents pay the high cost of flushing their toilets and doing laundry with drinking water.
Are we planning for the effects of climate change? The governor convenes disaster preparedness meetings in secret, so we don’t know what they are talking about. Is it limited to Red Cross shelters for those unforeseen but sudden emergencies, or are they also planning for chronic emergencies? Global warming will become a chronic emergency.
At some point, with some other governor, we’ll probably have to convene meetings about what we should do to face the coming crises. One change to watch for is a rapid population increase as other parts of the country become less habitable.
Will we start thinking of how to restrict in-migration and overdevelopment of housing tracts, how to accelerate the use of alternative forms of energy, how to increase planting of crops likely to survive climate change, and how to make use of rainfall to flush our toilets? How will we provide for the energy, resource and housing demands of a rapidly growing population?
Although it benefits all of us to start talking and doing something early, one thing this state has shown little aptitude for is planning.
Whether or not we plan, chances are, ready or not, the people will come.
House for Sale
Representatives re Superferry
Reproduced with permission. Email from Henry Curtis:
Aloha
Factoid: The Superferry employed 36 people on Maui of which 2 were full-time with health benefits and 34 were part-time without health benefits. (Source: Representative Meme questioning Pro-Superferry Former Head of Maui Superferry Operations)
In 2005 the Kauai, Maui & the Big Island County Councils expressed concern with only one dissent.
The Neighbor Island Representatives are more split. (Based on 3-5 votes per Representative)
KAUAI
Unconditional Support for Superferry
Sagum (Niihau, Lehua, Koloa, Waimea)
Opposes all bills or Favor Bill with Restrictions
Morita (Hanalei, Anahola, Kealia, Kapaa, Waipouli), Tokioka (Lihue, Koloa)
MAUI
Unconditional Support for Superferry
Nakasone (Kahului, Wailuku, Puunene, Spreckelsville, Paia), Souki (Wailuku, Waihee, Waiehu, Puuohala, Waikapu), Yamashita (Pukalani, Makawao, Olinda, Pulehu, Kula, Ulupalakua)
Opposes all bills or Favor Bill with Restrictions
Bertram (Makena, Wailea, Kihei), Carroll (Kahoolawe, Molokini, Lanai, Molokai, Keanae, Wailua, Nahiku, Hana), McKelvey (Lahaina, Kaanapali, Kapalua, Maalaea, Kihei),
HAWAII
Unconditional Support for Superferry
Evans (North Kona, South Kohala), Herkes (Puna, Ka'u, South Kona, North Kona), Tsuji (South Hilo, Panaewa, Puna, Keaau, Kurtistown)
Opposes all bills or Favor Bill with Restrictions
Green (North Kona, Keauhou, Kailua-Kona, Honokohau), Hanohano (Puna, Pahoa, Hawaiian Acres, Kalapana), Takamine (North Kohala, South Kohala, Hamakua, North Hilo, South Hilo),
Excused: Chang (South Hilo, Waiakea Kai, Kaumana, Keaukaha);
OAHU
Unconditional Support for Superferry:
Awana (Honokai Hale, Nanakuli, Lualualei, Maile), Brower (Waikiki, Ala Moana); Caldwell (Manoa, Manoa Valley, University); Chong (Maunawili, Olomana, Enchanted Lake, Kaneohe), Finnegan (Lower Pearlridge, Aiea, Halawa, Hickam, Pearl Harbor, Moanalua Gardens), Har (Royal Kunia, Makakilo, Kapolei, Kalaeloa), Ito (Heeia, Haiku Valley, Kapunahala, Kaneohe), Karamatsu (Waipahu, Village Park, Waikele), Lee (Mililani, Mililani Mauka), Magaoay (Kaena Point, Schofield, Mokuleia, Waialua, Haleiwa, Waimea, Pupukea, Sunset, Kahuku), Manahan (Sand Island, Mokauea, Kalihi Kai, Kapalama), Meyer (Laie, Hauula, Punaluu, Kahana, Kaaawa, Waikane, Kahaluu, Ahuimanu, Kaneohe), Mizuno (Kamehameha Heights, Kalihi Valley, Fort Shafter), Nishimoto (Kaimuki, Kapahulu, Waikiki, Ala Wai, Diamond Head), Oshiro (Aiea, Halawa Valley, Halawa Heights, Aiea Heights), Pine (Ewa Beach, Iroquois Point, Puuloa), Rhoads (Palama, Downtown, Chinatown, Sheridan), Say (St. Louis Heights, Palolo Valley, Maunalani Heights, Wilhelmina Rise, Kaimuki), Thielen (Kailua, Kaneohe Bay), Ward (Kalama Valley, Queen's Gate, Hawaii Kai)
Opposes all bills or Favor Bill with Restrictions:
Belatti (Tantalus, Makiki, McCully), Berg (Hahaione, Kuliouou, Niu Valley, Hawaii Loa Ridge, Aina Haina, Wailupe), Ching (Nuuanu, Puunui, Liliha, Alewa Heights), Luke (Dowsett Highlands, Pacific Heights, Pauoa, Punchbowl), Marcus Oshiro (Wahiawa, Whitmore Village, Poamoho), Saiki (Moiliili, McCully, Kaimuki), Shimabukuro (Waianae, Makaha, Makua), Sonson (Pearl City, Waipahu), Wakai (Moanalua Valley, Moanalua, Salt Lake), Waters (Lanikai, Waimanalo), Yamane (Waipahu, Mililani),
Excused: Cabanilla (Waipahu, Honouliuli, West Loch, Ewa); Marumoto (Waialae Iki, Kalani Valley, Waialae Nui, Diamond Head, Kahala), Takai (Newtown, Waiau, Pearl City, Waimalu), Takumi (Pearl City, Momilani, Pacific Palisades, Manana)
Henry
--
Henry Curtis, Executive Director, Life of the Land, 76 N. King Street, Suite 203, Honolulu, HI 96817. phone: 808-533-3454. cell: 808-927-0709. Web Site: http://www.lifeofthelandhawaii.org/ email: henry.lifeoftheland@gmail.com
Friday, October 26, 2007
Failure to communicate at UH could mean disaster next time
Doug Carlson over at CHORE (Citizens Helping Officials Respond to Emergencies) follows Hawaii's disaster communications challenges and has been a strong and consistent voice for improvement and for an open planning process.
He's now pursuing the University of Hawaii on its failed reaction to yesterday's potential shooter incident. It seems UH relied on email to get the warning out. But how often do you check your email? There is much to question on why nothing better was in place for just the sort of contingency that occurred.
Doug is asking the right questions. You can visit his blog to learn and to get involved, particularly if you are a UH student, parent or relative.
Doug's query to a UH spokesperson begins:
Once the University is moved to issue an alert about a possible attack on the campus community, as you were yesterday, UH has an obligation to communicate what it knows as broadly, completely, efficiently and rapidly as possible. From the available evidence, UH didn’t do that.
Read the whole story to find out what UH did and didn't do.
Of course, at the back of my mind when I heard about the UH incident was the April 2007 attack at Virginia Tech. I read about that horrible massacre in the Washington DC papers while I was visiting there. Perhaps the best coverage appeared in the excellent weekly, Washington City Paper. Here's a snippet from one of their articles, a conversation with a woman in a Virginia bar immediately after the shootings:
She wants to know why the president didn’t cancel classes until 10 a.m., some three hours after the gunman killed two students on the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston Residence Hall. As everyone by now knows, the assailant then took his weapons—9-millimeter and .22-caliber handguns—to Norris Hall and killed 31, including himself.
That was a massive communication failure, resulting in possibly avoidable deaths. In order to prepare for a similar situation in Hawaii we should follow up on yesterday's incident carefully.
Check out Doug's blog, help avoid a Virginia Tech incident in Hawaii.
Who voted for or against the House Superferry bill
Following the form of the previous post, here's the tally from the Capitol website. I hope I haven't gotten anyone in the wrong column—if so, someone please let me know.
I indicated those who voted "Yes With Reservations" by WR, even if they voted "Yes" later on the House floor.
Rep. Morita gets an extra Happy Whale (she deserves many more!) for introducing her amendment and for her floor speeches.
I've also awarded a couple of extra Harpooned Whales: Reps. Calvin Say, Joseph Souki, Cynthia Thielen, and Dwight Takamine each get an extra Harpooned Whale for having appeared on the Advertiser's list of politicians who received Superferry-related campaign contributions and now voting for this bill.
Those who voted against it get the Happy Whales.
What will happen to the Superferry bills as the special session progresses
Reproducing another email from Henry Curtis, with permission. In this message, Henry explains what lies ahead at the Legislature with regard to the two Superferry bills now working their way through their respective houses.
Henry also explains the Yes With Reservations (WR) vote. As a result of this and other comments I've received, I updated my earlier post to break out the WR votes from the Yes votes. I still think that voting "no" should be rewarded, so I've done so, over on that previous post.
Over to Henry:
Aloha,
The Senate Bill must pass the Senate and be sent to the House. Traditionally the second body ''gut and replaces'' the contents with their bill.
Similarly the House Bill must pass the House and be sent to the Senate where it will be changed into the Senate version.
One or both bills may pass the second body, at which point the first body can accept the changes, or send the bill to a joint House-Senate Conference Committee.
To serve on a conference committee a Legislator can not have voted against a bill. Thus those with concerns vote YES WITH RESERVATIONS so as to be able to serve on the conference committee.
The Senate Bill was amended to be Senate Bill 1 Senate Draft 1 (SB1 SD1). Three committees voted on SB1 SD1.
The votes were
YES (3): Senators Slom, Espero, Inouye
YES, With Reservations (7): Senators Taniguchi, Hee, Gabbard, Nishihara, Trimble, Menor, Ihara
NO (4): Senators Kokubun, English, Hooser, Tsutsui
This bill is in trouble. The dissent wanted a stronger bill with more provisions.
The House held an 11+ hour hearing with between 10- 22 Representatives present at any one time with no breaks for the public and where the first 6 hours were devoted to testimony and questions for governmental witnesses. They took almost half a day to hear just 36 witnesses, then the House then passed a bill without dissent (it appears that underneath the unity there is a boiling resistance)
House Testifiers:
Lingle: 6
Superferry: 6
Community Yes: 10
Community No: 13
Comments: 1
Total 36
Henry
--
Henry Curtis, Executive Director, Life of the Land, 76 N. King Street, Suite 203, Honolulu, HI 96817. phone: 808-533-3454. cell: 808-927-0709. Web Site: http://www.lifeofthelandhawaii.org/ email: henry.lifeoftheland@gmail.com
Blow off steam at Superferry's expense
David Shapiro has started a contest over on his Advertiser blog, Volcanic Ash.
Hawaii Superferry CEO John Garibaldi says his company has learned many lessons in the six years it has tried to get its interisland service going.
If that isn't a setup for another punchline-writing contest, I don't know what is. Let's do a list of the Top Ten lessons the Superferry has learned about doing business in Hawai'i.
The first submission is already very good: "You need to add the phrase 'world-class' to all descriptions of the boat." Yup, that would have convinced anyone in this state that it is a good thing and could have avoided lots of trouble.
Why didn't I think of something like this. Well, I didn't and he did. Sounds like a good way to blow off some steam on this otherwise sordid mess.
I enjoy Dave's flASHback each Friday. Check it out at the above link and maybe enter the contest to win a copy of his book (help him move them out of his basement).
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Who voted for or against the Senate Superferry bill
Here's an article on the Senate committee votes today on the Superferry bill in the Advertiser, Superferry bill passes key Senate vote.
The vote is recorded here. I made a convenient summary for you, putting all the "yes" votes together. "Yes with reservations" is a crock in my view in this situation.
Update: I've received emails (and please see the first comment on this post) pointing out that it's necessary to vote WR ("with reservations") in order to be appointed to a conference committee. This is true.
But this leads to a dilemma, unless legislators have a way to let us, the public, know that their final vote will be "no."
What to do? How about this. I've changed the table below to indicate the WR votes. But those who voted for the bill earn the Dead Whale award for harpooning the court's decision, and those who voted "no" earn the Happy Whale Award.
Hope this is a better approach.
Sen. William Espero gets an extra Harpooned Whale for having appeared on the Advertiser's list of those who accepted campaign contributions related to the Superferry and now voting for the bill.
Sen. Shan Tsutsui gets a special extra Happy Whale for having appeared on the Advertiser's list and yet voting against the bill. 'Way to go. Not that others, particularly Sen. Hooser, don't deserve any number of Happy Whales, but I would like to commemorate this very special vote.
| Yes: | Espero |  | No: | English |  | |
| Gabbard | WR | Hooser | | |||
| Hee | WR | Kokubun | | |||
| Ihara | WR | Tsutsui | | |||
| Inouye | | |||||
| Nishihara | WR | |||||
| Menor | WR | |||||
| Slom | | |||||
| Taniguchi | WR | |||||
| Trimble | WR |