Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 1, 1 October 1980 — BOARD OF TRUSTEES ELECTION OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS [ARTICLE]

BOARD OF TRUSTEES ELECTION OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS

by Martin O. Wilson There are many brilliant definitions of government that are available. For this article a definition is borrowed from Robert A. Dahl and Charles E. Lindblom who wrote: "Governments (are) . . . organizations that have sufficient monopoly of control to enforce orderly settlment of disputes with other organizations in the area . . . whoever controls government usually has the 'last word' on a question; whoever controls government ean enforce decisions on other organizations in the area." Robert A. Dahl .'and Charles E. Lindblom, Politics, Economics and Welfare (New York: Harper & Brothers. 1953) p. 42. How governments are organized to use their power and to what ends is an area of historical interest, present eoneem, and future planning. August 15, 1959, when Hawaii became the 50th state, we started to operate under a State Constitution adopted by the vote of the people on November 7, 1959. What happened during the Constitutional Convention of 1 950 is still of great importance. At times when one deals with govemment, the feeling is often translated that the people of Hawaii and the govemment of the State of Hawaii are two separate entities, often with government having the upper hand that one cannot reason with. This is definitely not the case. Whatever the govemment of the State of Hawaii is or is not is because somewhere down the line, a majority of the people decided it should be so. Likewise, whatevergovemment will be in the future will be decided by a majority of the people. Like the other49 states, our constitution is republican in form and in conformity with the Constitution of the United States and the principles of the Declaration of Independence. In form and structure Hawaii's constitution follows the federal constitution. The institutions of govemment are the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The legislative institution creates the policy or law, the executive is responsible for the execution of those laws and the judicial branch interpret the laws when conflicting opinions arise as to the meaning of certain laws.

Often it is poined out to us that at the federal and state level of govemment we have three separate and equal branches of govemment. On the surface this may be the case, but with a little examination we discover that historically and at the present other things hold tme. During the early years of the United States the executive institution was by far the strongest of the three. George Washington who commanded the army that defeated the British became the first president of the country. As president he was commander-in-chief of the armed forces, chief executive, chief legislature, in charge of foreign and domestic policy, national hero, and head of his political party. It was not until the Judiciary Act of 1789, whieh prepared the way for judicial review did the Supreme Court of the United States assume an instrumental role. Especially when the court's first task was to vindicate the fully nahonal authority of the federal government against encroaching claims of state sovereignty. The historic case being Marbury v. Madison in whieh it was decided that the court is competent to pass on federal no less than on state laws and to mle unconstitutional any of the former that in its opinion contravened the federal constitution. As we ean see it took the Supreme Court a number of years to establish itself as an instmmental part of our system of govemment with the legislative and executive institutions. A second point that needs to be addressed is the idea of govemment being three "separate branches" or three "separate powers." Government at both the federal and state level is made of separate institutions "sharing power." "I am part of the legislative process," President Eisenhower often said in 1 959 as a reminder of his veto power. The govemor in his veto message to the Legislature when there is a disagreement over policy is also reminding the legislators that he is a part of the legislative process. The state legislature, the dispenser of authority and funds, is no less a part of the administrative process. First, no matter how good the public purpose may be, without the statutory authority and funding, the executive is caught between a rock and a hard plaee. Second, every existing operating agency somehow

involves the executive, but operating agencies owe their existence only in some part to the executive and least of all to other operating agencies. Eaeh agency has a separate statutory base; eaeh has its statutes to administer, eaeh deals with a different set of committees at the state capitol. Eaeh has its own peculiar set of clients, friends, and enemies outside the formal govemment. The State Constitution requires thegovemorto". . . be responsibleforthe faithful execution of the laws ..." and to ". . . nominate and, with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint all officers for whose election or appointment provision is not provided for by this constitution or by law." Furthermore, 7 the governor is responsible for central budgeting and has a degree of personnel control. It is through this legal and procedural setup that all state departments and the University of Hawaii are responsible to the governor. However, all agencies are "also" responsible to the legislature, to their clients, to their staff and to themselves. In short. they have five masters. Only after all of those do they owe any loyalty to eaeh other. HistoricalIy, since statehood, the executive institution has dominated the direction of this state. The records of the 1 950 and 1 968 constitutional conventions reveal that those responsible for shaping the executive article were eommitted to the proposition of concentration of executive power. Its advantages may be summed up in the statement that in concentrating executive power, it fixes responsibility for the eflficient conduct of governmental affairs and enables the electorate to judge the merits of the adminstration. (Hawaii Constitutional Convention, 1950, Proceedings, Vol. 1, Standing Committee Report No. 67 p. 215.) Public oflficials at the level of department heads are not only administrators but also policy makers and should be directly and personally responsible to the governor. (Hawaii Constitutional Convention, 1968. Proceedings, Vol. 1, Journal and Documents, p. 321.) The 1978 Constitutional Convention reduces executive power in some areas butoverall the executive will eonhnue to play a central role. ,