When the going gets tough, the tough get going: Rep. Gregg Takayama opened up Friday’s House session with an invocation that wasn’t exactly the usual prayer. It was more of a locker room half-time pep talk.

Friday was what the Legislature calls “first decking,” the day that bills die if they have not been passed out of all the committees they have been referred to. Hundreds of bills met their untimely demise last week.

And in fact, a lot of the bills you worked really hard on are officially dead, Takayama told his colleagues.

But don’t fret, little ones.

“My message today, especially to our freshman members, is to remember that out of the ashes of failure can spring the seeds of success,” he said and went on to list a bunch of hugely successful people who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

And while The Blog was not convinced he was talking pineapples to pineapples here, we appreciate the point and the anecdotes. Which included, according to Takayama:

• Oprah Winfrey, fired from her first TV job as a news reporter in Baltimore.
• Stephen Spielberg, rejected from USC film school three times.
• Thomas Alva Edison, told by his teachers he was too stupid to learn anything.
• Walt Disney, fired from his first job as a newspaper cartoonist because he didn’t have any good ideas.
• Albert Einstein, thought to be mentally handicapped as a child.
• Elvis Presley, told he had no future in music and fired after his first gig.

“Remember the old saying,” Takayama concluded, “that the secret of life is to fall seven times and to get up eight.”

If you too want to be inspired you can watch his happily short speech here.

And for even more words of wisdom from one of our favorite lawmakers, come to the Civil Beat Civil Cafe on Wednesday at noon at the State Capitol where Takayama, Rep. Diamond Garcia and Sen. Chris Lee will be giving a mid-session update.

Worse and worser: Here’s a Sunshine Blog perennial favorite: The state Office of Information Practices has gotten even worse at resolving public records appeals.

Yep, that’s right, folks. OIP director Cheryl Park and her staff are now taking an average of 872 days to decide an appeal on a denial of public record. That’s up from an average of 795 days last year and 418 days in 2021 (which was probably low due to the fact that the public records law had been suspended during the pandemic so no one could ask for public records anyway, let alone get a denial.)

Those numbers are all according to the Public First Law Center where Brian Black and his colleagues have been reporting on OIP’s decision-making prowess since 2017. You can pore over the data yourselves here.

A couple quick highlights that caught The Blog’s eye:

• The oldest appeal sitting on Park’s desk was filed Aug. 12, 2020 which, according to the law center, means it’s been there 3.36 years.
• OIP cranks out about 50 decisions a year, a number that has held steady even as the average time it takes the agency to reach a decision continues to climb.
• Park has been the agency’s director since 2011 when she was appointed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie after he’d fired Cathy Takase for telling him he needed to reveal his nominees for the state Supreme Court.
• Park herself has too often been on the side of government secrecy as OIP director, most recently wanting to raise the price the public must pay to access records.

Deadline, schmedline: Good news, Blog fans. There is still time to apply to be a member of the Hawaii State Ethics Commission. The Judicial Council, which does the nominating while the governor does the hiring, has extended the deadline to apply until March 22.

The position is voluntary. The commission will reimburse travel if you live on a neighbor island.

Rules include that you need to be a U.S. citizen and resident of Hawaii and you can’t hold another public office or work on a political campaign. Maybe that’s why it is taking longer to find a suitable candidate this election year?

Submit your application here. Send a resume and three letters of recommendation (attesting to the applicant’s character and integrity) postmarked by Friday, March 22 to: Judicial Council, Hawaii Supreme Court, 417 S. King Street, Second Floor, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813-2902.