RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, in the realm of politics, situations often arise where moral and ethical conduct may be construed in many different shades of gray because the nature of rules and regulations leave room for varying interpretation; and

WHEREAS, Governor Linda Lingle and her administration have pushed the envelope of these blurry lines of ethical parameters in order to use State resources for her own political agenda; and

WHEREAS, in October 2003, Governor Lingle formed an advisory group called Citizens Achieving Reform in Education (CARE) to push her education initiatives; and

WHEREAS, on December 31, 2003, CARE registered federally and locally as a private non-profit corporation; and

WHEREAS, a week later, CARE applied to the Internal Revenue Service for a tax-exempt status as a social welfare organization; and

WHEREAS, despite registering as a private, non-governmental entity, CARE continued to maintain extremely close ties with the Lingle administration; and

WHEREAS, according to a Honolulu Star-Bulletin article entitled "Lingle's group may be breaking ethics laws," dated April 11, 2004, reporter Rob Perez wrote that CARE raised $80,000 while using state resources; and

WHEREAS, the article continued:

and

WHEREAS, in response to Mr. Perez's findings, Dan Mollway, Executive Director of the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, stated that generally, the State's ethics laws prohibit state resources from being used for private organizations; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Mollway stated:

and

WHEREAS, while keeping direct ties with the Governor's office, CARE raised money to push the Administration's education initiatives; and

WHEREAS, according to that same article, Mr. Perez reported that CARE spent at least $13,000 for radio commercials that urged constituents to put pressure on their legislators to support the Administration's bills; and

WHEREAS, the Governor's blatant use of state resources to promote and lobby her initiatives has led to complaints filed with the State Ethics Commission; and

WHEREAS, despite this, it would appear that her activities continue to raise questions as to whether they are above ethical reproach; and

WHEREAS, in an article entitled "Lingle radio ads challenged", which appeared in the Honolulu-Star Bulletin on April 3, 2005, reporter Richard Borrecca wrote that Governor Lingle was drawing criticism not for what she was saying in a new round of radio address, but because stations were broadcasting them as public-service announcements; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Borrecca continued:

and

WHEREAS, the Legislature asserts that these radio spots do not serve a public purpose, and amount to nothing more than political campaigning; and

WHEREAS, while the Legislature acknowledges that public-service announcements that are beneficial to the public are a legitimate use of state money, using state resources for campaigning and personal political purposes is improper, unethical, and possibly criminal; and

WHEREAS, the Governor's public-service announcements were used to serve only the Administration's and not the people's best interests; and

WHEREAS, the Governor's questionable practice of using public funds for self-promotion and self-aggrandizement has led to the introduction of House Bill No. 3234, which if enacted would prohibit public officials from appearing in public-service announcements; and

WHEREAS, on February 1, 2006, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor issued a press release stating that:

and

WHEREAS, similar issues involving the Bush Administration's media spending have been the basis for the introduction of similar legislation at the Federal level; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to these concerns, H.R. 373 was introduced by Representatives Delauro, Waxman, Miller, McDermott, and Slaughter on January 26, 2005, to prohibit the unauthorized expenditure of funds for publicity or propaganda purposes; and

WHEREAS, according to SECTION 2 of the bill, investigations in 2004 and 2005 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that appropriated funds had been used in more than one Federal agency to fund "covert propaganda" that was "misleading as to source"; and

WHEREAS, these investigations uncovered more than $1.6 billion in public relations and media spending by the Bush Administration over the last two and a half years; and

WHEREAS, to conduct its study, GAO surveyed seven federal departments (the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Interior, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Veterans Affairs), and obtained information on their contracts with public relations firms, advertising agencies, media organizations, and individual members of the media during 2003, 2004, and the first two quarters of 2005; and

WHEREAS, the GAO found that:

and

WHEREAS, the GAO's findings led to the passage of Federal legislation to ensure that advertising and public relations campaigns paid with Federal appropriations are unbiased and factual, and do not contain a political message or covert propaganda; and

WHEREAS, in light of the Governor's public relations activities in Hawaii, the Legislature believes that similar legislation in our State is warranted; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the Senate concurring, that the Governor is urged to cease the unethical use of public-service announcements for her own political campaigning purposes; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to perform a comprehensive audit of the Lingle Administration's use of public funds for public service-announcements, and submit a report to the Legislature at least twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007 which shall include, but not be limited to lists of correspondence, contracts and subcontracts, including information on:

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State Procurement Office, in conjunction with the Attorney General, is requested investigate whether state procurement laws may have been violated through the issuance of contracts for public relations-type activities since January 1, 2002, and submit a report of the findings to the Legislature at least twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State Ethics Commission is requested to investigate whether any of the Governor's media and public relations spending have violated State ethics laws, and submit a report to the Legislature at least twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Auditor, the Administrator of the State Procurement Office, the Attorney General, and the Executive Director of the State Ethics Commission.

Report Title:

PSAs