Saturday, October 5, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Friday, February 7, 2014
Clayton Hee: “We give notice we cut you at the knees”
By Andrew Walden @ 2:32 PM :: 8252 Views :: Agriculture, Hawaii State Government, Politicians

by Andrew Walden

Watch the Senate committee system falling apart.

On Tuesday, Senate Democrats finally found something even more deserving of their obsequience than a Committee Chair—anti-GMO lunatics. The result was an almost-unheard-of rejection of a committee chair's procedural move when the Senate Agriculture Committee voted 3-3 to reject committee Chair Clarence Nishihara’s motion to insert Right-to-Farm language into SB110 to clear procedural hurdles and keep the effort to protect agriculture alive.  Voting Yes were Nishihara, Slom and DelaCruz.  Voting No: English, L. Thielen, and Kouchi.  Wakai, presumed to support Nishihara, was absent. 

The effort is underway to throw out the Inouye-allied old-boys in favor of what the Washington Post has recently described as a "whiter progressive wing that is trying to become Hawaii’s new ruling class."  In case the racial undertones are not clear enough, in a blog post Wednesday, Progressive Democrat activist Larry Geller compares the Committee Chair system to a Japanese Shogunate.  The House dumped its committee chair system last year when Speaker Calvin Say was ousted by “dissidents” united behind the new Speaker Joe Souki.

From the video of Senate floor ‘announcements’ below, here are reactions to the vote from two leading advocates of the Committee Chair system and a response from Senate President Donna Mercado Kim:

"When I first got here 10 years ago, there were two things I was told: And one was keeping your word, and (the other was) the courtesy of letting the chair know if you decide you can't vote with him.  And those two I've always stayed with." – Sen Clarence Nishihara

"This is about the procedure, not the bill.  So if this chamber starts on its way of undercutting the chair's authority, so be it.  Let us give notice to each other at this time. We give notice we cut you at the knees -- procedurally. That's the argument before this chamber, not the merits of the discussion." – Sen Clayton Hee  

"At the end of the day, every member has the right to exercise their right to vote, whether it's procedural or whether it's on the merit of the bill." – Senate President Donna Mercado Kim

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii