It’s 6 a.m., and the State Ethics Commission web site is down for the second day in a row. Perhaps it’s been down continuously, I don’t know. But it makes it impossible to check their lists of registered lobbyists or their records of what various interest groups are paying in attempts to promote their particular interests at the legislature.

Let me point to a small instance of why it’s important.

Civil Beat’s Chad Blair and John Temple have published the legislative report given over the weekend by John Radcliffe to the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly’s Faculty Forum, which included the faculty union board, staff, guests, and faculty representatives from around the UH system. It is also available on the public part of the UHPA web site.

Radcliffe is former longtime associate executive director of the union and one of the state’s preeminent lobbyists.

John presents a dire and pessimistic view of the islands’ economy. The social safety net is “toast,” state government has been reduced to “a shabby Potemkin Village,” the “great god ‘Washington'” is broke, and gambling offers “the only money making idea out there.”

John is an astute observer and analyst, a funny and skilled communicator, and an effective professional lobbyist, not just for the union but for dozens of other organizations and interests.

And that’s the problem. It’s hard to take his assessments at face value when, in the end, it’s the bill he is being paid to promote on behalf of one or more gaming companies that magically becomes, in his telling, “the only money making idea” that counts.

It’s a shame, because I agree with John’s assessment that we don’t have a good reason to be one of the only two states without legalized gambling.

I was on the board of a condominium on the edge of Waikiki when an illegal casino opened in a penthouse apartment, complete with two rival gangs of thugs competing to provide “security.” Law enforcement couldn’t do anything without evidence, and the security guys made sure no one got in the door who wasn’t a gambler.

It took months before that operation was finally raided and shut down. So it moved down the street, then moved again to a building directly across the street, and I don’t know where it is now.

It taught me something lesson very clearly. We have lots of illegal gambling now. We have a population that enjoys gambling, whether in Las Vegas or elsewhere. It’s as culturally embedded among some as firecrackers, and we’re wasting lots of money for the cops to chase it. There’s no good reason to criminalize those who like to gamble. So lets make it legal, control it through zoning codes, and get some government revenues from it.

John’s right on another point. It isn’t that there aren’t possible solutions, it’s really that there isn’t any political stomach for the obvious solutions.

Here’s one. Raise income taxes back to there they were in 1998.

This from an entry here back in 2009:

According to a 2002 study prepared for the 2001-2003 Tax Review Commission:

In 1998 the Legislature expanded the individual income tax brackets and reduced tax rates for the 1999, 2000, and 2001 tax years. They also repealed the food income tax credit and created a low-income refundable tax credit. The Tax Department estimated that these changes would result in revenue losses of $72 million in FY99, with losses increasing to $234 million by FY03. Those projected losses will continue to have an impact on state revenues throughout the decade. [emphasis added]

Anyway, despite my qualms about the ethics of John’s position as lobbyist for often conflicting or potentially conflicting interests, his provocative comments are certainly a good starting point for debate.

By the way, it’s 8:18 a.m. and the State Ethics Commission web site is back in operation. Unfortunately, their list of registered lobbyists, organizations represented by registered lobbyists, and lobbyist registration statements available online have not been updated for the current session.