 Welcome viewers to ThinkTechHawaii.com. The show is The Will of the People and I am your host, Martha E. Randolph. I first want to thank my friend and colleague Ian Ross for hosting this show for a couple of shows because I was absent getting a brand new knee. I would show it to you but I can't lift my leg that high. But today I'm happy to make a comeback with my guest former congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa who was so informative when she was here the last time she appeared on this show that I was determined to bring her back because this woman is a source of great information and I'm thrilled that she was willing to join us today. Thank you Colleen and welcome. Thank you Martha. Okay now I'm not going with the whole introduction because if they don't know who you are by now go read the website. Let's start with probably the first question most people would ask which is now that it is post-Congresswoman time what are you doing back here? You ran for governor it you were not offered the option to run and now you're here I believe you have a legal background so what are you doing now to prepare things for your future wherever it's going to go? Well you know I've been very fortunate in that I have always been able to go back and practice law and I've been doing a lot of that. And I've been doing I represent the legislature for example they're in a litigation now so I am their lawyer I've also done some free work for places like the Bar Association because they need someone who understands these esoteric points on certain things and so I've been keeping busy and having a good time which is the most important part of it. I personally was wondering how you felt now that you were a Congresswoman in a Congress that was so overwhelmingly right wing and then you decide to leave and run for governor here and when we talked about it you talked about your ability to do more for the people of Hawaii by being in a place where you actually knew people who could help but now we have a Congress where the House is dominated by Democrats which would put the party you are part of way ahead and maybe have put you at the head of a number of interesting committees and organizations. How do you feel do you still think that that decision was in the best interest of what you can contribute to the country and to Hawaii? Oh yes and I think you know but it always comes down to the voters and how the voters feel so I may feel that that's putting myself out was the best thing for the people but the people do decide and I can live with it because it is the people's decision. The Congress I've made some great relationships and as you know before I returned home I was part of the Nancy Pelosi's leadership team so many of my colleagues and friends are there and I still hear from them all the time and I still keep in contact with them all the time and you know being in the majority has different kinds of challenges because the majority if you look at the majority you have generational issues now you have philosophical issues and with the overlay of the presidential election you have a whole bunch of different things that they are working their way through. So whether you're in the majority or you're in the minority a politician has to adjust to that which they have to deal with and you will see lack of a better description like growing pains even with the Democrats now remember now this Democrat majority is still 22 less than when Nancy Pelosi first became Speaker. So it's not I mean it's a nice number but it's still not as many as she had in 2006. It's true and also I believe the number of those newly elected Democrats are part of a more idealistic and what people refer to as left wing but I don't think they really understand these terms they use anymore but more socially aware and wanting things to be better for the majority of the people sort of anti-industrial complex yeah. So we have a bunch of newbies who are enthusiastic and a little aggressive but which whose idealism hasn't been there in a while and that reminds me of the topic we ended on the last time we were talking we were talking about the way in which money is collected by the DCCC which I'll ask you to explain to people and how a tithe is assessed of sorts on people according to how much money they can earn but how that money which is then invested in campaigns of other Democratic candidates is basically not decided on by the people who want to run and you yourself were someone who ran without their support and how is this going to affect the newcomers who may be unawinningly making enemies within the party but at the same time whom we need for their new blood. Well you know one of the I guess the labels that they have come up now is Democrat Socialists right and that's the explaining some of the philosophy that's going on but yes we have what we call dues and I've been checking up on what the dues are so it's tiered it's usually tiered by the committees it's tiered by how many years you're in Congress and it's also tiered by whether you have a leadership position and how high ranked you are in terms of a committee structure. So right now because the Democrats are in control the Democrats will have chairs and they will have chairs of subcommittees the value of that is the ability to set an agenda and so many of my friends are chairs but some of us were I was and when you're in the minority you call the ranking members I was always a ranking member in the two of the Congresses out of the three that I was in so you get assessed. What you will find though when you are in the majority as they are now is that a lot of people are more than willing to pay that assessment because they know now that the assessments will be used to either keep Democrats in office or to build more Democrats in the majority when you're in the minority and you see the minority position dwindling some people were very resistant to that but now I hear instead that people are paying their dues and their dues are not minimal I think a minimal dues now may be around two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Wow. Yep two hundred and fifty thousand for the cycle. Just for the cycle and this doesn't even include finding a place to live. I understand that many new Congress people are sleeping in their offices because there's no place to go and if they do find a place to go it's too expensive anyway. Well you can't use campaign funds for a place to live anyway so you have to take it out of your your pay and Congress people earn about a hundred and seventy four thousand dollars a year which is a nice salary but what happens is that they are also doing two households whatever especially especially the ones who have young families and and maybe a spouse who doesn't work but takes care of the the young babies as they're growing up those they have a real difficult time and that's why you see you see them with quote unquote sleeping in their offices and and for people who are of course homeless and living on the street it seems like well how can talking they possibly say that's not enough money but for a lot of them it they feel that it's not sufficient for them to literally maintain two two two homes however way back when I first got elected in 2010 the Tea Partyites were of the opinion that they did not want to appear like they were part of the Washington infrastructure so they purposely stayed in their offices so that they would take off right at the end of the week and go home and have no presence that by the way has been a source of criticism by a lot of people who feel that the reason why Washington is so divisive is because of the fact that you no longer have the same PTA meetings to go to you no longer watch your kids in the Pop Warner football or baseball you don't have that off our kind of collegiality and and that's one view the other view is we don't want it anyway so you know it's it's how do you get to that point bipartisanism being able to reach across the aisle a lot of that has taken on a different meaning than what it used to have yeah and some people feel that you know well Republicans are quote-unquote too far to the right so we don't want to have anything to do with them but some of them feel that we're too far to the left and they don't want to have anything to do with Democrats but the truth of the matter is there's got to be some way for this in the interest of the country that people can get together and agree on fundamental issues and the problem is until you start to talk you're not going to be able to do that this is true there's also seems to be a radical difference between what the actual majority of people in the United States want in some cases and what they come up against through their politicians is what the people with the high paid lobbyists want gun control leaps to mind and we just had that incident in New Zealand right and I remember a similar incident in Australia caused the Australian government to immediately buy back guns and putting controls and they're a nice colonial society they want people want their guns to hunt somehow they managed it without depriving people of their right to bear arms New Zealand's reaction is immediate many countries do that and here in the United States in spite of repeated incidents and repeated calls by an overwhelmingly majority of human beings and voters in this country it doesn't matter Democrat majority Republican majority they always seem to go back to the idea that the Second Amendment means you should have all the weapons you want regardless of what kind with minimal controls or regulation I don't think it's true that that they all feel that way it's like for example Hawaii's laws on gun control we are not the most strict in the nation however we are also the place that has the least number of deaths as a result of of arms but when you look at who has the strictest gun laws they also have a high number of deaths caused by guns and that's Chicago huh people don't realize that Chicago has the toughest laws so for example we have heard arguments both on the floor and in caucuses where people say you know you you're overlooking places like Chicago's like it's almost like you know we don't matter anymore because the the tension for example went to Parkland remember when Florida those those kids marched on the Capitol they did all and some some believe it's because Parkland was a more affluent community so they could actually afford to come to Washington and March I thought actually Shady hook would have made the difference and that was when you you had the deaths of the young kids it didn't it didn't and the question is why it isn't that Democrats didn't propose it it's just that by that time we didn't have the majority so you couldn't get it even on the agenda right the question now is to watch with the Democrats who have the majority where and how will they proceed and I believe you will see gun control legislation actually making its way to the floor probably passing to the Senate and we'll have to see what the Senate does okay well let's stop there for a moment we have a break coming up so this is Martha Randolph the will of the people is the name of the store of where am I ah it's a show it's a web pod there we go see when you get a new knee it affects your brain but I'll explain that to you and then when we come back for the second half of the show with Colleen Hanabusa thank you hello hi my boo hi my name is Emmy or Tega Anderson inviting you to join us every Tuesday here on Pinoy Power Hawaii with Think Tech Hawaii we come to your home at 12 noon every Tuesday we invite you to listen watch for our mission of empowerment we aim to enrich and lighten educate entertain and we hope to empower again what I mean Salamat Po Mabuhay and Aloha Aloha I'm Wendy Lowe and I'm coming to you every other Tuesday at 2 o'clock live from Think Tech Hawaii and on our show we talk about taking your health back and what does that mean it means mind body and soul anything you can do that makes your body healthier and happier is what we're going to be talking about whether it's spiritual health mental health fascia health beautiful smile health whatever it means let's take healthy back Aloha show is the will of the people and I'm happy to have Colleen Hanabusa back with me for a second appearance and we are having a great discussion about government which is something she has been a part of for quite some time locally and nationally we were talking when we went to break about the gun regulations which we other nations seem to put through right away and how we haven't but I also wanted to discuss some of the recent events that have shown that there seems to still be a disconnect within the National Democratic Party and I've discovered recently within the local Democratic Party now Hawaii situation is different from the nation because we don't really have a competing party within the Democratic Party we have different camps that's right but they all call themselves Democrats and then they all go about doing pretty much what they want regardless of the platform of the party as is determined at the state conventions I don't mean regardless I mean in many cases they simply say we don't agree with that we're not going to follow that rule what do you think the party can do because we have an election coming up a national one and I am concerned that with this what do we have 35 candidates for president which has never happened to my knowledge now they are going to pare down but let's talk about what the process is because I think most people don't realize that some of these candidates who are running are running to get their issues on the platform to show that they have enough support that their issue with it or without them should be part of the party's agenda and then they will drop out because they won't really have enough numbers or they will lend their support to a candidate they feel who follow through so let's tell people a little bit about that process because I don't think many people in the country have ever confronted such a concept and we don't want Donald Trump to win because the Democrats lost because they offered too many options you know that's an interesting point that you raise because the way Hawaii determines who they will support for the presidential candidate is is a basically a caucus and a preference poll presidential preference poll what many people who vote and the primary elections in Hawaii and they've usually it's for us it's determined usually in the primary because it's a it's a democratically controlled state what they don't realize is that you don't have that choice when it comes to president that we are a caucus state and in fact I was talking to some people who are very active in trying to reform our presidential preference poll and they were saying that the the DNC the Democratic National Committee is of the opinion that caucus state should somehow find government get government to to actually run it but government won't pay for a preference poll so what that leaves it to be is is okay how does the party do it the party has done absolutely a horrendous job terrible job in the last two major elections that we had yes Hillary Obama and of course Sanders Hillary those who are terrible you had you didn't have enough ballots I mean I stood the Obama election and in 2008 resulted with I think about 38,000 people who showed up to vote they're not all necessarily registered Democrat because you can register that day so people were supposed to register then cast a ballot what happened is it got to be so messy people didn't have ballots so they take a piece of paper from like your tablet split it up it's okay right who you want to put it in a box I mean I know I I saw you saw the most recent in fact that's how it became involved in the party in 2016 and the chaos was extraordinary and less so in my area than in some others where right but that that's what it was nothing compared to 2008 we had 5,000 less people I think wow trying to do it but that's the way so now they're trying to do something about it how do you do something about it you need money you need if you're going to create something like a absentee ballot situation you need an independent entity to do it you need people to to be registered because you know should you be a Democrat to participate you should at least register you can register to vote now for regular elections on the day so shouldn't there be a process like that which they would have to incorporate how then do you staff it and who pays for it all who pays for the paper and so forth so you know it's a it's those are the challenges and what I would like people to understand more than anything else is that it is you have to declare to be a Democrat whether it's that day or before that to vote in the presidential preference poll and it is a preference poll because what happens is that determines the number of delegates each of these candidates have when they go to Washington I mean we're not watching wherever the convention is right and then they cast that the delegates vote it's like a convention vote so they that's what people have to realize it's not like your vote counts as as a as it would in a election it's it's your votes adds up it becomes a percentage and the pro rata share and that determines the delegates who go to the convention and then depending on how that shakes up then whoever it is that you're committed to as a candidate will then determine if you will cast your vote for that person or you would be released an example is in 2008 I did Hillary Clinton so I was the representative so we got to Denver for that election it a question became okay the Clinton delegates were then released and so we went back and we said you can vote for you we can cast all these votes for Barack Obama right and so that Hawaii's numbers would look really good for Barack Obama but you couldn't force anybody and I still remember this one gentleman and greatest respect for him and I don't think he'd mind if I gave you his name Richard Porte Richard Porte said I am not going to change my vote because he said I have waited all my life to cast a vote for a woman for president and I'm gonna cast that vote and for a woman and he said and this is probably the last convention I'm gonna attend I had such great respect for him yeah because he stood by his principles yeah and the rest of us went and said okay well I'll vote for Barack Obama not there was anything that we had against Barack Obama or he had against it was that he waited all his life to vote for a woman and this was really the last convention he went to and he cast his vote so for to tell people who don't understand you just said that we have a priority poll and a preference poll excuse me and that a certain percentage are committed to represent the candidate that a certain percentage of people voted for but that once they actually get to the convention don't they have to represent the person that they supposedly are representing they're not just themselves it's not their opinion it shouldn't be they have been elected or to say all these people voted for Bernie and so regardless of what I feel at least on the first ballot I'm gonna vote for Bernie Sanders because that's what I was asked to do you could or and and I don't I did not go to that that the 2016 convention but it's up to the can what you are is you go to the state convention first and at the state convention you run as a Bernie delegate or a Hillary Clinton delegate and then you go to the national convention and assuming you can you have the resources to go and that's the other thing remember you gotta pay your own way yeah you go there and then you cast your vote but it's up to the candidate at that point because they then know what the results are as to whether they say we release you but it's up to you and it's up to oh so the candidate can actually say I know you were sent here to vote for me so but I am releasing you for the benefit of the party right to show so okay I understand so that's what happened with the Clinton delegates in 2008 they release the but that's my story about my friend Richard Porte who said no I I've waited all my life to vote for a woman I'm not going to come to another convention I got a vote for a woman right and he cast his vote so we had all the votes for Barack Obama except for one and and I have the greatest respect for him because he stood by Bernie and if others wanted to do it I would have I would have cast the votes and say you know for Hawaii we had X number for Barack Obama X number for for Hillary Clinton at that time Bernie Sanders you're right about the the position on the platform I represented the the Clinton campaign in 2016 in Orlando where we worked on the platform usually and this is what happened in 2008 the Hillary Clinton's position was you know what Barack Obama is the president he should have his platform going forward the Bernie Sanders people felt that they had important issues to do so they did they stood by their guns and you know what the Democratic platform incorporated what they felt so recently Bernie was when he announced that he was running for president he made an interesting comment he says I am now the mainstream Democrat because so much of what I believe in is in the platform he's absolutely true they were in the platform right because people supported it and do you think this is influencing the incredibly large number of people who are running because we've seen certain issues pop up that are being introduced and then jumped on by five or six different candidates who are saying we care about this issue free education free education Medicare for all which I think is problematic but still that's a big issue free education is a big issue there are oh remove the Electoral College which I think some people don't realize how much more difficult that would be because that would require changing constitution right but there might be some new rules added to the limitations of Electoral College who may be a member of that so that and how they have to conduct themselves maybe on a all 52 states basis as opposed to each state making its own rules but I would like to think that we would we were principled and that's what happened but Martha I gotta tell you I think a lot of this is a reaction to Donald Trump and it's the positions that people are taking as a relaxed reaction to Donald Trump Donald Trump is probably single-handedly we were going to have a campaign manager for us Democrats to get the our base kind of energized we should hire Donald Trump I think he's done an excellent job because people are so angry at what he is what he stands for and cannot believe that this is the America that we have all come to respect and love and somehow this this this person has single-handedly wiped it off the map yeah he has I do have some concerns because in Hawaii I have to wrap up slowly but we have a divide in our party here in Hawaii which is still based on the Bernie Sanders versus Hillary Clinton actions of 2016 we are now in 2019 we're moving to 2020 basically it is a hierarchical long-term Democratic activists in the party versus new comers who were activated by their enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders and the irony is the people who are longtime service will complain that nobody wants to do the work and we've been doing the work and so you know that's why we're here but they're not really willing to let the other people come in and do the work they are saying teach me I will do it there is an interesting conundrum here and I think it's affecting the Democratic Party of Hawaii and I think something similar may happen nationally and I was wondering what you think about that can the party stop dividing itself look at real issues and get the enthusiastic newcomers together with the old timers and have the old timers open up to their ideas but at the same time show them why certain things have to maybe be prolonged over a longer period of time to get them accomplished don't try to shove your great cake down the throat of the American people because they're not ready feed them in little bits until they're ready to open up why so I think I've watched I've watched recently people try to do exactly what you're saying but it is an individual basis it is how a person at so I have a friend and she's retired and she's getting together a bunch of young millennials who are and they're running as a slate to to run for I think in this particular case they're gonna look first at the Wahoo County and they're gonna they're gonna sit themselves up but they are working together and she's saying to me it's amazing to hear them what they have to say but they're not it's not a divide on quote-unquote Hillary and Bernie it is a divide more on generational divide but it is reaching out and it is and they've transcended the Bernie quote Hillary issue and it's more a matter of what is the future of this party what does it mean to be a Democrat what should there be something that defines you as a Democrat should it be fundamental rules and these are the things that they are looking at so it's gonna happen but Martha's gonna happen individually it's gonna be you reaching out to some young student or someone and saying hey come with me to the party and let's try and work this out which is really why the show came into being which is to reach out to people and say look this is how it works and if you want to do something about it here are some of the things you can do and here are the places you can go to get information on how to participate so I'm gonna wrap this one up of course I'm ready to go for the third session let's book another one but thank you Colleen as always you've been extremely informative if you do teach another class at UH please let me know I will announce it to everybody because I am signing up for that one ladies and gentlemen this is Martha Randolph the show has been the will of the people my guest was Colleen Hanabusa and I can't begin to give you a title for this show because we went everywhere thank you very much and I'll see you in two weeks