Maui Mayor Richard Bissen is on the hot seat now. And rightly so

Community and labor groups say what they hope will be a weeklong rally at the Capitol Rotunda beginning Monday was made all the more urgent by the recent Civil Beat and New York Times story on the big money ties involving Hawaiʻi politicians, government contractors and other special interests.

The story by reporter Blaze Lovell and two others relied on exhaustive research into state contracts and campaign finance records going back years to document millions of dollars being donated to elected officials by people who are getting often lucrative contracts from the state. About a dozen lawmakers are themselves benefitting from the flow of state cash through the contracting process, the research documented.

The community and labor groups hope to hold legislators accountable to local working families, as a media advisory states. They say it will be a week of action that will culminate with a march and rally for International Workers’ Day on May 1.

The goal is to influence legislators as they try to finalize the last bills still alive at the Legislature, including ones concerning the protection of water rights, the regulation of vacation rentals, the providing of affordable child care, the creation of housing for Lahaina fire survivors and the enacting of tax credits for low-income workers and families.

The hui includes Unite Here Local 5, Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, Lahaina Strong, Clean Elections Hawaii, Kona 4 Palestine and Common Cause Hawaii, among numerous others.