Read the article here: https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/05/pay-to-play-politics-is-staring-us-in-the-face-what-are-we-going-to-do-about-it/

This editorial, “Pay-To-Play Politics Is Staring Us In The Face. What Are We Going To Do About It?” was written by Civil Beat’s The Sunshine Editorial Board, comprised of Patti Epler, Chad Blair, John Hill and Richard Wiens. It criticizes how Hawaii’s legislature has largely turned a blind eye to financial corruption within the legal system and allowed bribes to be given and received without consequence.

This piece meets the newsworthiness elements of impact, conflict, and proximity. The journalists employ a range of relevant, specific evidence. The article uses strong, specific examples to support its argument, and the journalists lead the piece with one of these examples: Dennis Mitsunaga’s case, where he made campaign donations to former Honolulu prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro to get a case started against a former employee, and Mitsunaga ended up getting off scot-free. The writers also employ facts and statistics detailing and proving the widespread occurrence of financial dishonesty in Hawaii’s government. The piece shifts its focus later on to address the reader, and the journalists wrap up the piece with a call to action to vote out the incumbents allowing and participating in unethical behavior, backed up with a line of reasoning: Juries and legislators won’t do anything about it. So “We’re going to have to do it ourselves.”