Testimony by Henry Curtis, Life of the Land
Public Lands Development Corporation
Proposed Hawai`i Administrative Rules
Wednesday, August 29, 2012 – 6:00 p.m.
Aloha PLDC Commissioners,

Life of the Land’s mission is to preserve and protect the life of the land through sound energy and land use policies and to promote open government through research, education, advocacy and, when necessary, litigation. What did the Wall Street meltdown teach us? It taught us that the massive concentration of money and power without any public oversight or regulation leads to disaster.

Closer to home, what did Act 221 teach us? That throwing money at a problem without any controls simply wasted taxpayers money. We gave tax breaks for job creation, but hid the names of the companies receiving the tax breaks. Companies received taxpayer subsidies without having to show they actually created jobs. Traditionally businesses created jobs and governments regulated them. The move to Public Private Partnerships can be more efficient but can lead away from proper oversight and regulation to a system of collusion. In its extreme, large corporations are in bed with and become the government. This is known as fascism.

Some people view democracy as time-wasting, messy and inefficient. Allowing the public to be aware of, and to weigh in on public policy, simply delays action. It is better to hide things from the public and to take action.

Hawai`i has seen the results of moving quickly without public involvement and without consideration of the side effects. How do you think we got the mongoose and the coqui frog?

In Hawai`i, legislators and commissioners on power regulatory boards (LUC, BLNR, PLDC, Water Commission, PUC) have to file annual financial disclosure statements. Thus the public could be aware of conflicts of interest and cozy unhealthy relationships. The public may view filings by Legislators. But unfortunately, it is a crime for the public to review the public disclosure filings made by commissioners of powerful state boards and commissions. Life of the Land has sought to overturn this policy over the last few Legislative sessions, but to no avail.

There is a national and local problem of the fox guarding the chicken house, of an unregulated revolving door policy whereby corporations lend their people for short periods of time to entities that oversee their companies.

HEI lends employees to the legislature, to the PUC, to the university and to the military for a period of 6 months to a year. This lending practice is hidden from the public who doesn’t need to know that they, as ratepayers, they are financing entanglements between regulators, regulatees, policy makers and university educators.

Sunshine is the best disinfectant. Transparency and accountability lead to better decisions and wiser use of taxpayer money. Removing these safeguards lead to manipulation, unprecedented accumulation of power, corruption, and an unhealthy secrecy.

Democracy is under threat. The widening gap between the rich and poor, the loss of the middle class, the displacement of peoples, the loss of public awareness and involvement in key decision making processes, are all symptoms of an unhealthy and destructive move away from democracy.

When last year a State legislator asked in a public hearing: “What is the public benefit of democracy?” you know we have a problem.

The effort to increase the power and control by the 1% at the expense of the public must be stopped. There is nothing inherently wrong with being wealthy. But there is a problem when the money and power is used in covert operations against the people.

As PLDC Commissioners you have a choice. You can enact rules that show that you are part of our democratic society or you can enact rules that set yourself apart from us. That is your choice. You can choose between public disclosure or cozy hidden relationships and mushroom policies designed to keep us in the dark. You can be part of an open, accountable system or part of a system where decisions are made behind closed doors, by fiat, executive orders and eminent domain. Please do the right thing.

Mahalo,
Henry Curtis
Executive Director