DOGGIE DILLEMMA

DOGGIE DILLEMMA: The oxymoronic world of “Kaua`i ethics” took another only-on-Kaua`i turn today when in an otherwise unrelated article in the local paper it was revealed that, rather than abide by the law he broke Charter Commission head, attorney Jonathan Chun, plans to ask voters to change the law for him and others who abuse their positions with the county for personal gain, as we reported just yesterday.

As we reported last month Chun has apparently violated Charter provisions banning his appointment to the Charter Commission- where he was appointed Chair- because he represented the Board of Realtors before the County Council during the recent deliberations of the Vacation Rental legalization bill.

Now he apparently intends to use his ill-gotten position to try to get an “after-the-fact” approval of his currently illegal activities after the ethically-impaired members of the Board of Ethics refused to rule against him because apparently quite a few of them were in violation of the ethics provisions themselves

The Commission also reportedly plans to change another Charter provision banning secret executive sessions other than for “claims” another flouted law which the Council- who appointed Chun- and the rest of the Ethics board routinely break.

According to today’s article regarding hiring a lawyer to help prepare amendments to the charter for the November ballot, “(t)he commission is considering charter amendments that include revising an ethics provision and altering a section dealing with executive session rules”.

Voters approved a semi-permanent Charter Commission last election partially in hopes of trying to re-write the Charter and investigate whether a new form of county government might be beneficial to Kaua`i and if so what it might look like, due to a call for a “county manager” style of governance by many community activists.

But the current Commission has essentially closed the door on the public after getting a very late start on it’s work.

While the last Commission held a year-and-a-half of frequent and televised meetings with extensive public input, the work of this commission so far has been comprised by infrequent meetings done in the dark with no televised meetings and an on-again-off-again schedule of meetings that just began recently.


Update: KIUC spokesperson Anne Barnes has disappeared after giving assurances that KIUC had nothing to hide and would give us a breakdown of stipends, per diems and reimbursed expendatures received by each current electric Co-op board member. After saying last week we would receive 2007 numbers this week an email from her said they wound not be made available until they were filed with the IRS and audited later this year. But an immediate Monday request for 2006 numbers has not even been even acknowledged despite multiple emails and phone messages..

OUT DAMN SPOT: And for all you” don’t you ever have anything nice to say” people- Go see The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) at the KAPA Theater in Puhi for the play and the talent.. It’s even better if you’ve read the unabridged but not required.... and Cymberline only lasted a quarter of a second...