Campbell to lobby for Native Hawaiians

Ben Nighthorse Campbell is coming out of retirement to represent Native Hawaiians on behalf of the law firm Patton Boggs according to the Honolulu Advertiser.

Patton Boggs has been lobbying to pass the Akaka Bill which would grant Native Hawaiians the same rights that Native Americans and Native Alaskans have, including the right to form their own governmental entities.

"The measure," says the Advertiser "which has stalled in Congress for a number of years, would create a process allowing for the establishment of a Hawaiian government entity that could be recognized by the federal government."

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has paid Patton Boggs $2 million to lobby on behalf of the bill, according to the Honolulu paper.

The bill could become and election year issue because it is still under debate in the Senate, preventing a vote on the measure. A motion to end a GOP filibuster on the Akaka bill and bring it to a vote fell just 4 votes short in June of 2006. Since then the Democrats have picked up a few vacant seats.

Campbell has been retained to lobby Republican Senate colleagues on behalf of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in favor of the bill.    

But likely the debate will drag into next year.  

"If the debate over the Akaka bill were to drag into next year," says the Advertiser "the dynamics of the discussion would change immensely with the changing landscape of Washington. Not only would there be a new Congress, there would be a new president. Democrat Barack Obama supports the bill, and Republican John McCain opposes it."