The news media regularly asks the most powerful leaders in the Hawaiʻi Senate about matters of obvious public concern.

Are some of the income tax cuts approved in 2024 now imperiled, as the governor has indicated?

No comment.

Should the Legislature investigate that suspicious $35,000 contribution to an unidentified lawmaker, which came to light during a federal bribery investigation? After all, the recipient of that money might still be serving in the Legislature.

No comment.

Why were popular government reform measures targeting Hawaiʻi’s pay-to-play political culture killed at the last possible moment last session after being overwhelmingly approved by their colleagues?

No comment.

In fact, when it comes to most media inquiries, Senate President Ron Kouchi and Ways and Means Chair Donovan Dela Cruz typically have no comment.

Last week, they had no comment when I asked them why they never have any comment.

It’s all enough to raise an overarching question: Who do these guys work for?

Don’t ask them.

The Culture Of The Senate

Kouchi and Dela Cruz are both widely acknowledged to be good at what they do. The Senate president is known for his ability to bring dissenting parties together and build consensus, the money chair for his command of budgetary issues.

They also are respected by colleagues — or feared (or both) — for doing what it takes to maintain order in the Senate, including cajoling, horse-trading and strong-arming.

Along with whoever is chair of the House Finance Committee, Dela Cruz wields absolute power over many measures during the conference committee period in a session’s waning days.

“Donovan Dela Cruz owns the Senate,” Minority Leader Brenton Awa said in his opening day speech last session.

The Republican is usually the only outspoken critic of leadership within the Senate’s ranks, but even he admits to being impressed with Dela Cruz and Kouchi.

“If I had to rank a top five of the brightest and most strategic lawmakers in the Senate, those two are at the top of the list,” Awa said.

He doesn’t even fault them for steering clear of the news media, even though he formerly worked as a TV journalist and said he doesn’t adhere to the same strategy.

“There are people who know how to communicate with media,” Awa said. “There are people who don’t know how to communicate with media. And then of the ones who know, they also know that there’s only so much time in a day. And by talking to the media …  they look at it that when that report comes out, there’s going to be more fires to put out, which takes more time away from doing what we need to do.”

The Senate has always played things closer to the vest than the House, longtime legislative observers say. With their lengthier terms in office and less turnover, senators don’t crave as much public attention as representatives.

“I wouldn’t discount the institutional, cultural aspect of it,” said Colin Moore, a University of Hawaiʻi political scientist.

“In the Senate, there’s just less public dissent, period,” Moore said. “You just don’t hear the kind of on-the-record or even off-the-record grumbling as much from senators. And I think that is not just from leadership. It’s just the sense from the Senate that, at least within the Democratic caucus, ‘We make these decisions, and we all hang together and it doesn’t really help to explain, justify, many decisions publicly.’”

Some of those senators may also appreciate that they can score political points by voting for government reform measures secure in the knowledge that their leaders will find a way to quietly kill the bills later.

“Sometimes leadership can be the bad guy, even though they are operating with the full consent of the body,” Moore said.

‘That Is Lack Of Leadership’

Camron Hurt appreciates the less-polished but also less-predictable approach of the House of Representatives. It can be messy, but it beats the Senate’s wall of silence any day, said the state director of Common Cause Hawaiʻi.

House Speaker Nadine Nakamura at least responded publicly as signatures were being collected on a petition demanding that the Legislature investigate who secretly accepted a $35,000 gift in the ongoing scandal stemming from the bribery case.

True, Nakamura muddied the waters by simultaneously seeking consideration of a state investigation and asking federal prosecutors if such an investigation would hinder their ongoing work. It seemed like an invitation to the feds to try to squelch any state probe.

Meanwhile, Senate leaders said nothing.

“I would love for that to start being the focus of the conversation, because we don’t know that the person who took that money came from the House,” Hurt said “In fact, there’s good reason to believe that that person has some ties to the Senate.”

“So while the speaker’s initial response left much to be desired, she responded, she changed course, and she’s working with it,” he said. “I haven’t heard the Senate president express any type of concern about this, and that is lack of leadership.”

Nakamura also presided over a spirited floor debate over House rules at the start of the last session, and when it ended with widespread disappointment among representatives about the work of the Finance Committee chair, she replaced him post-adjournment.

“The Senate leadership seems to be MIA on many issues that deeply concern this state, while the House steps into the fire,” Hurt said. “Sometimes steps into it really badly, but they will engage. They will get in the ring with us and tussle.

“The Senate is nowhere to be found. And I find that to be extremely disheartening.”

Prospects For Reform Are Nothing To Shout About

Where does the silence of the Senate leave Hawaiʻi when it comes to much-needed government reforms?

Moore is not optimistic.

“I’m pretty skeptical that public campaign financing has much of a chance,” he said.

What about going after pay-to-play by restricting political contributions of people connected to government contractors and grantees?

“I think the majority of the Senate doesn’t want it,” Moore said.

That bill was pushed last session by one of the senators who does regularly talk to the news media, Judiciary Chair Karl Rhoads.

It passed both chambers unanimously, but was killed by the money chairs with, you guessed it, no explanation.

Rhoads would like to try again, but the work gets exhausting.

“Because of the way it also fell apart at the end last year, I just don’t really have any idea of what the prospects are, but yes, I’m interested,” he said.

Noting that legislative leaders watered the bill down considerably before extinguishing it outright, he added, “If it’s too weak, then I probably just don’t care.”

That’s discouraging to hear from a senator who has long pushed for reforms that keep getting thwarted at the last minute.

Even harder to hear was Rhoad’s recent announcement that he won’t be seeking reelection next year.

“You’ve got to know when it’s time to go, and it’s time for me to go,” he said.

Can you blame him?

It’s about to get even quieter on the Senate side of the State Capitol.