A state of the State’s scorecard

Each year, the sitting President of the U.S gives a State of the Union address, a typically partisan, biased, and political speech about the administrations accomplishments and vision and various and sundry blah blahs.

In Hawaii, the Governor gives a State of the State address, which, though local, is pretty much filled with the same political pablum, though on a local scale, and with less interest from the local media than the national media applies to the President’s address.

The problem with such addresses is the same as the problems with political campaign promises. There’s no score card. There’s no way to compare actual accomplishments of a politician with their promises and plans because no one remembers the details. No one keeps score.
Isn’t that what reporters and television cameras are for? They manage exactly that kind of comparison on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, so why can’t Joe Moore do the same thing on KHON?

Other than politicians or bureaucrats, who among Hawaii’s voters would not want to see a scorecard each year that compares promises and plans to actual delivery?

Even local television stations could get in on the act. Guy Hagi gives the five day weather forecast for Hawaii but never compares his forecasts for the past five days with the actual weather for the past five days. The better meteorologist would have the better score.

“Guy Hagi. Accurate weather forecasts for Hawaii 68-percent of the time.” I like it.

Tracking politicians is a somewhat different process. They’re so tricky. They lie about the future and they lie about the past. They lie about what they said they said and what their opponents said they said they said. No scorecard is complete without a good scorekeeper.

Should Hawaii’s citizens let politicians keep their own score, as golfers do? Or, should some independent authority be established to certify each promise, track the results, and present the scorecard each year? Remove the burden from the Governor and give it to someone like Frank De Lima.

Frank could give the official ‘state of the State’s scorecard‘ in a song which could also be played on all the local radio stations for two weeks each January. The lyrics could be printed in all the local newspapers for all to see. Everyone would have an opportunity to see how politicians and bureaucrats performed during the year. Good scores would be praised and their holders re-elected and re-appointed. Those with bad scores would be mocked, vilified, and eventually replaced.

Keeping score. What a unique idea.