This special session in the Legislature was like the theme from the movie "Transformers" — more than meets the eye.

On June 25, Gov. Linda Lingle released her list of 33 potential vetoes. By the time she sent down the vetoed bills, she had reduced the list to 27. I believe this was a nonpartisan exercise exemplified by her request for public input. One of the bills removed from the veto list supported Hawai'i's public school teachers by extending the voluntary employees' beneficiary association trusts for an additional year.

Upon reviewing the explanations for the vetoes and realizing that the Legislature needed to do a better job with these bills, the House Republicans' goal was to prevent as many bad bills as possible from an override. The work of the House and Senate Republicans paid off, and 16 bills did not make it to the floor; in effect, sustaining the veto of the governor.

House Republicans made a difference during this special session. For example, from Day 1, I fought against a bill that would allow a person who had their driver's license revoked for life to get it back. This bill was touted as a compassionate measure, and those who voted against it were called heartless.

But a person only gets his or her license revoked for life after being caught for driving under the influence four times within a 10-year period. If it weren't for the threat of our eight Republicans combined with a handful of House Democrats who did not support this bill, the veto would have been overridden and the bill passed into law.

The governor and the Department of Transportation repeatedly warned the Legislature to not allocate money for projects using the state Highway Fund. The Legislature's previous raids of this fund, combined with the administration's effort to catch up on decades of maintenance and improvements, were ignored. Recent emergency repair work from floods and earthquakes has taken its toll on the fund. The governor requested $72 million be infused into the fund this session to meet the needs of current highway projects. This request was denied by the Legislature.

It was explained by the House Democrats that a variety of "mini" tax increases would put money back into the fund. However, the $1 surcharge on rental cars adds no new money in the highway account. Two of the vetoed bills, the pedestrian safety bill and the Maui traffic control center bill, take $3.4 million out of the Highway Fund, an account already short of money. With a federal match, the $3.4 million would become approximately $15 million. However, these bills jeopardize the match, and no one wins.

Then came the blame game.

To implement the governor's offer to work with the Legislature to amend several unconstitutional and/or fiscally irresponsible bills, House and Senate Republicans collaborated and offered amendments in our respective houses. The amendments were quickly voted down. The Senate blamed the House leadership for not wanting to pass out the amendments, and the House blamed the Senate for killing them. The irony is that passing the amendments would be the only way to keep the pedestrian safety money alive.

Gov. Lingle's veto decisions came with explanations that were logical and in the best interest of Hawai'i. With public feedback, she narrowed her list of vetoes from 33 to 27. The House Republicans working with House Democrats, along with help in the Senate, kept the Legislature from overriding 16 bills that Democrats touted early on that they would override.

What you may have witnessed from the outside looking in is that the override session was a partisan activity on both Republican and Democrat sides. The real story is that there was more "working together" with some Democrats than the actual votes reflected. The more I understand — but don't accept — why partisanship is prevalent in government, the more I realize why a strong two-party and balanced Legislature is important for the people of Hawai'i and that Republicans make a difference.

State House Minority Leader Lynn Finnegan, R-32nd (Lower Pearlridge, 'Aiea, Halawa) wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.