Senator Slom – Special Funds Examination & The Lone Ranger

From Senate Minority Blog June 4, 2013

Senator Sam Slom has been quoted in two recent articles today, one dealing with his status of being the only Republican Senator in the 25-member Hawaii State Senate, and the other dealing with an examination of State Special Funds.

In the Lone Ranger article where Bloomberg’s Greg Giroux writes in his article “State Super Minorities Lead to ‘Lone Ranger’ Movie Trip“,  Senator Slom is quoted:

“I got a lot of condolence calls and sympathy cards that said, ’Oh no, you poor thing, you’re going to be all alone, and I’m saying to myself, ’Yippee!’”

The article points to Senator Slom’s opposition to “bad legislation” , the time he is allowed to speak on the Senate floor and how some of his bills are co-opted by the majority party.

Senator Slom is the first State Legislator to be in a “Super Minority” of one anywhere in the U.S. since 1990 in the State of West Virginia according to an NCSL source referred to in the Blomberg article.

On another note, the Associated Press ran a story on the Hawaii State House of Representatives intention to look into the many special funds created for various state departments and agencies before the start of the 2014 session. State Rep. Sylvia Luke, chair of the House Finance committee stated that the more than $5.7 billion in special funds authorized for the 2014-15 biennium “need more attention and oversight.”

Senator Slom has voted against the creation of new special funds since first taking office in 1997. He stated, “he’s glad to hear the House is formally investigating the accounts, following a trend of increasing scrutiny in the last few years in both chambers. It is a poor budgeting method. It hides a lot of money from taxpayers.”

Read the AP Article: Hawaii lawmakers to examine $5.7B special funds

Photo: Senator Slom is “The Lone Ranger” and only Republican in the Hawaii State Senate who has since 1997 voted against all new special funds.