Commentary from Senator Sakamoto

April 26, 2007

Voting With Reservations

In his April 15 column, Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporter Richard Borreca made fun of Hawaii legislators who vote "Yes with Reservations."  In doing so, Mr. Borreca was doing a disservice to the public by oversimplifying the legislative process.  Voting "Yes with Reservations" (WR) is a common practice in the Legislature and is used by members of both parties.  Many bills are works in progress and legislators often vote WR as a way of keeping the door open for further discussion on how to improve the bill.  In the case of gubernatorial appointments, WR allows a senator to indicate his or her concerns about the nominee without demanding a perfect candidate.  For example, some thirteen senators voted WR to confirm Lillian Koller because of concerns about her management style.  In his April 19 article "Senate sorts appointees," Mr. Borreca oversimplified the picture by writing that the Senate "unanimously confirmed Lillian Koller as Human Services director."  The Honolulu Advertiser in its Capitol Notebook blog "Koller confirmed (WR)" gave a more nuanced picture noting that 13 senators voted for Koller with reservations. 

The black vs. white approach to voting – while easier to follow and understand – is more adversarial and would stifle the Legislature's ability to improve upon bills and express concern.  In the long run, the quality of law making would go down and the public would suffer.  The Hawaii public is smart enough to understand that.