Ben Franklin appeared Tuesday before the state House Judiciary Committee.
Not the Founding Father himself, of course, but his likeness on a crisp $100 dollar bill that was placed on the hearing room table.
Rep. Karl Rhoads (D, Chinatown-Iwilei-Kalihi), the committee’s chairman, asked "Mr. Franklin" several questions about the motivation behind political spending to demonstrate that a $100 bill could not actually speak.
The moment of theater was for a state constitutional amendment that would ask voters whether to restrict freedom of speech so it does not apply to political spending to influence elections.
House Bill 1499 is Rhoads’ symbolic response to Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the landmark 2010 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court which held that corporations and labor unions can spend unlimited amounts of money on elections as long as the spending is not coordinated with political candidates.
Citizens United has become the focal point in a national debate over the influence of money in politics, but only Congress — or the Supreme Court — can reverse the ruling.
State Deputy Attorney General Deirdre Marie-Iha said the constitutional amendment, if placed on the ballot, could confuse and mislead the public. "This measure, I believe, would create the impression that it would be effective in overturning or addressing Citizens United — which, as you know, is quite unpopular — but it can have no such legal effect," she said.
The League of Women Voters of Hawaii and other good-government groups support the bill anyway, hoping state action might persuade Congress and the Supreme Court to revisit the issue.
The Hawaii Rifle Association and Hawaii Family Advocates asked lawmakers not to restrict political speech.
"Political speech is the most precious speech any of us can have, so please protect it," said James Hochberg, an attorney for Hawaii Family Advocates.
Rhoads, who had proposed a similar bill last session that he deferred, successfully moved the bill out of his committee Tuesday.
"I wouldn’t underestimate the importance of symbolism in politics," he said. "And I think that, if nothing else, it sends the message to the Supreme Court and to the rest of our nation that we think this is a bad decision and that the amounts of money that are starting to enter politics are going to have a very detrimental effect on the process."
"I’ll run into windmills with you," Rep. Della Au Belatti (D, Moiliili-Makiki-Tantalus) said.
But Rep. Sharon Har (D, Kapolei-Makakilo), who said she agreed with the intent behind the bill, said it would have no practical legal effect. She also said it was "audacious" that lawmakers would introduce any constitutional amendments when the Legislature refused to hear a constitutional amendment on gay marriage during a special session last fall.
