It’s common knowledge that some legislators use their title and position to help their friends and hurt their enemies (aka people who disagree with them). They kill legislation for personal and/or political reasons — regardless of the public policy impact. Committee chairs insert conditions into bills after the vote, without public review or even the knowledge of committee members. And of course it’s well known that chairs will often kill bills without giving a reason or any notice whatsoever.

These are the worst kept secrets that virtually everyone knows about — custodians, journalists, legislative staff and probably every state employee who’s ever set foot in a conference room.

These unethical breaches of public trust go unchecked because top leadership ignores, supports, or initiates these actions — AND because most individual legislators accept it as “just the way it is.”

This is the way it is, the way it’s always been, the way it’s going to be. So why not just play the long game, keep your head down, and support those in power?

Why risk losing your committee assignment, money for your district, and maybe some extra little title that leadership has bestowed upon you? Why rock the boat, as Randy Roth recently urged in an opinion column (“‘Going along to get along’ leads to government corruption,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, June 29)?

Why speak out against unethical behavior when you see it?

Why indeed?

Maybe because it’s the right thing to do. Maybe because if you raise your hand and object in caucus, on the floor, or in committee, others might follow.

Maybe because the real work of the people cannot be properly addressed until we address the toxic environment in that big square building.

And maybe if the bad actors knew that you and others were going to call out their bad actions publicly, that might stop them.

What if you, or two or three of you, seven or eight or a dozen of you had a closed-door meeting with leadership and let it be known that if things did not change for the better very soon, you would no longer remain silent? What if you took your concerns to the floor, and if needed, even held a news conference?

What’s the worst that could happen?

Do you really think legislative leadership would take away money from your district schools, highways or housing in retribution? Are they really that evil and unprincipled? That’s even more reason for you to tell the world.

Yes, they could take away your committee chairmanship. But don’t they control the outcome of your bills anyway? Leadership controls who sits on your committee, what bills are referred to your committee, who sits on the final conference committee, and ultimately whether your bills will pass or fail anyway.

The committee chair title certainly has a ring to it, but it’s a charade when the outcome is controlled by a handful of politically unethical bullies at the top.

Fortunately there were strong rumblings of discontent this past legislative session. On the final budget vote, eight House representatives voted “no.” Not only did they have the courage to vote no, they stated why loud and clear. Some further articulated (read, shredded) in local media the sneaky, backdoor, out-of-the- sunshine manner in which those budget decisions had been made.

And you know what? The public loved it. The average person on the street is so sick and tired of it all that they leap for joy when a politician actually stands up and calls out the bad guys, bad process and bad outcomes.

The message to the others sitting on the sidelines playing the so-called long game: Please step up. Now, more than ever, our community needs your independence and integrity.

Gary Hooser, a former state senator, is executive director of the Pono Hawaii Initiative.