SOMEBODY FLUSHED AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

Well, well, well, apparently it's time to go out there and NOT vote for a bunch of crooks, know-it-alls and folks who care passionately about their showing in the next election.

The folks who have devoted themselves to making their neighborhood and the world around them a better place are no longer in office. And most aren't even running.


As to the ones who used to be there, when I ask about their plans each election cycle, they either give me one of those "hush uppa yo' face 'fore I hush it up fo' you" looks or have, against all odds, taken up the non-elective fight 27/7 after learning what I learned decades ago- elective office is no place for politics.

Or, in at least a couple of cases, because doing it killed them.

So let's start at the bottom since that's really the top when it comes to the really important day-to-day officeholders- the local ones.

There's really no one among the 14 running for KAUA`I COUNTY COUNCIL to vote "FOR." But those offices will be filled no matter what we do so at this point it's a matter of harm reduction.

The ones with the biggest potential for reducing harm are:


1) MASON K CHOCK- Mason is the only incumbent worth returning to office and should really be separated from others on this list. He's a reliable progressive vote and somehow manages to deal with the other council knuckleheads.


2) ADAM PROVERSI- Adam comes highly recommended as an environmental attorney (now with the county attorney's office) and a former organic farmer. On paper he's hard to beat. Don't include him in the "harm reduction" crew. He sounds a whole lot better than that. I've never met him but you couldn't ask for better credentials.


3) FELICIA COWDEN- Felicia hosts a public affairs radio program on community radio and ran for council in 2016. She'd be a hell of a lot better than any of the others and thinks and acts progressively. I am enthusiastic about the potential for seeing her round out a council majority along with


4) LUKE EVESLIN-- HAHAHA- PSYCH- FAKED YOU OUT. Yeah, after much consternation I'm gonna say "yes, you too Luke." And it isn't even that I've known him since he was in swaddling clothes and his dad for lo these 40 years. His failure to oppose the POISON FARMS in Waimea is still a big matzoh ball out there between us and I will do my best to figure out why Luke would support GM food since he's so pragmatic- or at least studied- in so many other areas. Perhaps I just need to show him the real dangers of eating genetically modified foods, "back-of-the-envelope" style. Other than that I'll vote for Luke enthusiastically and I promise I will do my best to change his mind on GMOs by the next election (or die trying). Anyway, I could get used to hearing him in the background every Wednesday. At least maybe he'd drown out Idiot Boy.

The next category is The Truly Horrific (vote for the plague before these candidates)- aka the DO NOT VOTE FOR council list, aka the KAUA`I LEAST WANTED list.

1) I suppose it would have to start with SHAYLENE LEI MAILE ISERI, (formerly SHAYLENE ISEI-CARVALHO), the person who has done so much to disgrace her name that she has gone to great lengths to disguise it on the ballot. If you don't remember "all of the horrible things she's done" (off to see the wizard?) search her name in the search box (just Shaylene is enough) on my "got windmills blog" http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/ . While I can't exactly accuse her of killing Tim Bynum because that would be libelous, I sure can think it.


2) ROSS KAGAWA, Mel Rapozo's Mini-me comes next but is really the worst. Ross is known by many simply as "Idiot Boy" because, among other things, it can be physically painful to listen to him think. He's famous of late for trying to explain why he (and others on the council) turned down a $100,000 grant to study what more we can do locally to fight climate change. The video is floating around Facebook. I can't even list all the stupid stuff he says and does.


3) ARTHUR BRUN is actually a Vice President of one of the west side chemical companies and was the one overseeing the place the day a national inspector just happened to be there on another matter when they caught them not using standard procedures to keep workers a safe time and distance from a super-poison being sprayed (yeah- I'm sooo sure it was only that one day). Workers had to go to the hospital. The company was originally fined millions.


4) ARRYL KANESHIRO is a chip off the old Grove Farm block and seems to be working for them in his council decision making.


5) KIPUKAI KUALII- There's a reason why his name doesn't seem to appear on any "who to vote for" lists. This article ( https://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/2012/09/separating-white-from-rice.html ) would be a wonderful place to start reading about both Kipukai and Shaylene. Don't forget to follow the links to read more about "Rice-Cooker-Gate"... If you're new enough here to have never heard about it there's no time like the present for education.


Oh- and there's that pesky Mayoral Race where Mel Rapozo is running against Derek Kawakami.

And one of them will be mayor in December (hand me my vomit bucket emoji- there must be one).

Rather than endorse/not endorse I am recommending people read the first three chapters of a book called "KPD Blue" by former Honolulu Star-Bulletin Kaua`i Bureau Chief Anthony "Tony" Sommer to find out more about former KPD Sgt. Mel Rapozo who was the only cop in uniform and on duty and in the fondling room at the station house the night the "Lap Dancer" made her infamous"personal appearance." (The juicy part is in the first three chapters).


You can order it from Amazon. Or let me know and I'll get you in touch with Tony and you can buy it directly from him (he makes more pennies that way). Or if you're cheap or in a hurry (even though Amazon delivers, like, yesterday) you can find Chapter by Chapter links to the book at the top of the "left rail" at my blog (which covers my decades of journalism, covering politics and government on Kaua`i. got windmills? is at http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/ Or try the library for "KPD Blue."


Voting starts Oct. 23 at the Kaua`i County Building Annex and you DO NOT- let me repeat DO NOT- need to be registered. The legislature passed a law this past May saying that you can register when you vote (no matter what you hear from anyone including the elections website itself). Election day is November 6.

Sometimes I feel like my life has been a political failure local, state and national wise. So if you are on the mainland and there's any chance people where you are might be electing a (play spooky "screech, screech, screech" music) Republican, as a LIFE LONG GREEN and former GREEN NATIONAL COMMITTEE DELEGATE, I'm asking you (and/or giving you permission) to PLEASE VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRAT- even one of those sucky ones. I've never asked people to do that before. It's that bad.

(PNN) ZUCKEBERG IS NEW "MYSTERY" OWNER OF LEPE`ULI

We now know who bought the Bowman's Lepe`uli property that include the ancient Alaloa and beach access trials- Mark Zuckerberg who owns Facebook, according to Pacific Business News.


According to testimony before the Kaua`i County Council the then-unknown buyer intended to withdraw the previously approved subdivision of the property where 80 "gentlemen farms" were planned. Testimony indicated that it could have been many more lots if it had been "CPRed." But just as important as scratching the subdivision it self, the development would have forced the county to take a difficult rocky beach access rather than the gently sloping existing ancient trail down to "Larson's" (Lepe`uli) beach.


And, it was said by the attorneys, the new owner said he would not develop it.


Previously after a "full court press" by the administration and the county attorney's office, the council was poised to approve that access for months but rather deferred action over and over due to objections from the public, especially from Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiians).


Councilmembers Tim Bynum and Gary Hooser were instrumental in delaying the action until the property was eventually sold, despite having been told there was nothing they could do to stop it by Deputy County Attorney Maunakea Trask.


If true, Zuckerberg has apparently given a true gift to the people of Kaua`i however for now the future of the Alaloa has yet to be determined.


UPDATE: Here's an article from Forbes on Mark Zuckerberg's Pila`a and Waipake purchase. It seems to have different information that the Pacific Business News article.

PNN News Analysis: NO LEGAL BASIS EXISTS FOR COUNCIL TO DECIDE "CHARTER AMENDMENT VS INITIATIVE" QUESTION; CONSIDERATION ITSELF OVERSTEPS AUTHORITY

News analysis by Andy Parx


(PNN) -- "Is it a cat or a dog," Kaua`i County Council Chair Jay Furfaro has infamously asked regarding the "Kaua`i Rising (KR)" charter amendment ballot petition- one which the county attorney claims is really an "initiative" disguised as a "charter amendment."


Well, legally the answer is essentially, it's none of their business.


The council will meet Wednesday to figure out whether to "receive" the petition so that the county clerk can verify and count the signatures for what KR says is a charter amendment. But Deputy Attorney Mona Clark issued an opinion at the last meeting claiming that "(t)he substance of the petition determines the required procedure."


That second sentence of her written opinion is actually a false premise. And, as is usual with any postulate, as the late great Johnny Carson used to say of his comedy pieces, "if you buy the premise you buy the bit."


But it's hard- make that impossible- to find any justification for that premise in the actual words in the county charter, the overriding document that governs the county like a state or federal constitution.


What difference does it make? Well the charter calls for 5% of the number of voters in the last election to sign a charter amendment petition while an "initiative" requires 20%.


Two court decisions regarding the two past Kaua`i citizen-petition charter amendments have struck them down saying, at least in the case of the first one, that it had elements of an "initiative," defined as a ballot measure which creates an ordinance or a "law," something otherwise passed by the council.


But, in the more-than-a-decade since the original ruling the county has failed to act to clarify the plain words in the charter regarding the process for certifying charter amendment petition.


In those two petitions the "cat or dog" question never came up until they were already enacted by the electorate with the council in both cases simply doing what the charter requires of them- be the body with which the petition is filed before the county clerk processes it.


The charter simply says of charter amendment petitions that as long as a few technical requirements are met:


"Upon filing of such petition with the council, the county clerk shall examine it to see whether it contains a sufficient number of valid signatures of registered voters."

That's it. No ifs, ands or buts. The council has no part in the process but to receive the filing. And the clerks role is simply to determine sufficiency of form and if there are enough valid signatures.

An initiative has a completely different process that includes giving the county attorney the power to essentially make changes to the petition whereas with a charter amendment the county attorney can only suggest changes.

The reality is that nowhere- not in the charter, not in any ordinance and not in any rule- is there any provision that gives the Kaua`i County Council any legal authority whatsoever to reject- or even consider rejecting- any citizen-initiated charter amendment petition for any reason.

And certainly nowhere does it say, as the county attorney did in her opinion, that


"The County can refuse to process a petition for a Charter amendment based on noncompliance with the Charter. The substance of the petition determines the required procedure. If a petition for an ordinance is labeled a charter amendment, it still remains an initiative and must comply with the procedures for an initiative. Both the County Council and the County Clerk have authority to refuse to process an initiative as a charter amendment."


While the opinion is allegedly based on the Hawai`i Supreme Court ruling a decade ago as to what distinguishes a charter provision from an initiative- in a case where essentially the county sued the county (yes indeedy, you read that right- the county attorney sued the mayor)- nowhere does the ruling instruct the county on what to do or how to do it or give the council or the clerk the power to reject a citizen petition based on which kind of animal they think it is.


That part came solely from the mind and pen of Clark.


While the county council and the charter review commission have discussed what to do about this potential "constitutional crisis" as presented by the rulings they have essentially sat on their duffs and the law remains the same as it was before the two petitions went to the ballot.


That means that the law is very clear- the only thing that separates an initiative from a charter amendment is what the petitioners call it.


And in this case that is a charter amendment, not an initiative.


And we may be mistaken but we don't believe there have been any court rulings saying if the county doesn't like the law they can ignore it and do as they please. The U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1803 in Marbury v Madison that we are "a government of laws and not of men"... and certainly not of autonomous Kaua`i County Councilmembers or their attorneys.


The Hawai`i Supreme Court in fact is also very clear as to what to do in interpreting laws. According to Awakuni v. Awana (2007), before getting into any interpretive gymnastics you must look at "the language of the statute itself," saying:


"First, the fundamental starting point for statutory interpretation is the language of the statute itself. Second, where the statutory language is plain and unambiguous, our sole duty is to give effect to its plain and obvious meaning." (emphasis added)


As we said, the law is plain- "upon filing of such petition with the council, the county clerk shall examine it to see whether it contains a sufficient number of valid signatures..." It doesn't say "oh, but the council can reject it if they feel like it or if their attorney comes up with some convoluted reason to do so." And it certainly doesn't allow their clerk- yes, a clerk- to do so either.


At the July 9 council meeting when a tie vote caused the matter to come up as the Special Order of the Day at the very beginning of this Wednesday’s (July 23) meeting, Councilmember Tim Bynum detailed it well.


After Councilmember Gary Hooser pointed out that the process has always been to receive the petition and pass it on to the clerk and to do otherwise this time would be at best unfair, at worst unlawful, Bynum detailed the history of the past decade plus.


That included revealing his own emails from a few years back predicatively pointing out the potential for the current "crisis" and the existence of a resultant still-secret county attorney opinion issued on the heels of the second successful charter amendment petition and subsequent court ruling.


The emails demonstrate how the county had every opportunity to introduce and pass it's own charter amendment clarifying things and instead sat and figuratively twiddled their thumbs.


And of course the charter review commission has been debating this year whether to "equalize" the two by either lowering the number of signatures for an initiative or raising the number for a charter amendment. But they couldn't agree on which to do and neither will appear on the ballot this November.


Not only that but the very charter section cited above was altered in a technical amendment in the 2012 election without addressing the "cat or a dog" question.


At the last council meeting Councilmember JoAnn Yukimura went on at length with lawyerly questioning of Clark with an eye toward how the council could go about rejecting the KR petition but never questioning whether they had that power based on the law to begin with.


She eventually cast a "silent" vote which, according to council rules, goes "with the motion" meaning it is essentially a yes vote. That left the seven member body in a 3-3 tie with the excused absence of Councilmember Mel Rapozo.


He is seen a sure "no" vote this week due to his presumed opposition to the substance of the petition regarding further regulation of the chemical "biotech" industry's pesticide/GMO (genetically modified organism) experiments on the island in the wake of the passage of Ordinance 960 (Bill 2491) last year.


The problematic "no" votes were those of Councilmember Mason Chock and Chair Furfaro who were swayed by the complexities presented by Clark and Yukimura, feeling that Clark's opinion was some kind of edict based on a court ruling rather than just an "opinion" and so leaving the question of process and following the law obscured.


It was easy to see why. For one thing no one had any time to read much less analyze the opinion because it was handed out only minutes before the meeting.


Few but the introducers and their attorneys would disagree that the past two charter amendment petitions were submitted as such because of the four-fold number of signatures required for an initiative. And with both being struck down by the courts KR's effort is no doubt destined to end up in court too no matter what anyone does on Wednesday.


If the council rejects it, KR will no doubt sue. And if the council accepts it the county will no doubt go to court for a declaratory ruling or wait for passage and then get a definitive ruling on it from the courts. If they don't you can be sure the chemical cartel will.


The simplest thing to do would be to accept the petition and "count the votes- er, signatures" as councilmembers kept saying during the last meeting, apparently having the 2000 presidential election in Florida on the brain after Bynum mistakenly said it in passing.


Then the county can go to court for a "quick" declaratory ruling. It would not only be the most efficient but the most economical path.


But mostly it would follow the plain words of the Kaua`i County Charter.


Many if not most in movement to regulate the use of pesticides and GMOs on Kaua`i have been, shall we say, less than enthused at the petition effort. The document extraordinarily long, contradictory, at times impossibly and bafflingly confusing and probably illegal for many more reasons than the "cat or dog" question. And it was foisted on the community by a rich north shore developer, Joan Porter, and organized by the brusk, always incommunicado leader of KR, Michael Shooltz, and prepared by a mainland attorney who had apparently had little or no idea what Hawai`i and Kaua`i law says.


It usurped much of the energy that could have been used to pass the real "next step" if they had simply consulted with the grassroots members of the community that rallied to pass Bill 2491. Most think KR's idea of having a Department of the Environment is a good one- one that Maui has already adopted.


But instead they not only ignored the concerns of those on Kaua`i with a little political savvy but refused all help and in fact would not even return emails containing suggestions- including suggestions that would have corrected technical errors on the petition that led to the rejection of the first round of signatures and caused KR to have to go out and collect them over again from scratch.


As a matter of fact KR's link to the the new "purple petition" containing supposedly new text is broken and doesn't work.


Going into the July 9 meeting we were among those who had had it up to here with the effort and were willing to listen and even agreed with those who argued that the courts had said that, since substance determined whether a measure is a charter amendment or an initiative, the county council should reject it if it "smelled like an initiative." And after much testimony, first from Clark and then from Shooltz, Potter and their mainland attorney, we were ready to declare the substance of the measure to be a "cat."


But Bynum's and Hooser's comments made us see that the real "process" in question is whether a group of citizens followed the rules and, just as importantly, based their efforts on past actions by the county. They and they alone are the ones who, according to the charter, have the right to say "it's a dog."


And we say "woof."


We don't expect Councilmembers Ross Kagawa or Mel Rapozo to vote yes to receiving the petition, counting the signatures and allowing the petition to go to the November ballot. But we expect more nuanced thinking from Chock and, we can only hope, Furfaro... and maybe even a recognition on the part of Yukimura that the legal basis for the a council determination is nowhere to be found in the plain words and meaning of the law.


If you would like to respectfully give your mana`o and urge Councilmembers Chock, Furfaro and Yukimura to allow the counting of the signatures as a charter amendment you can email them at mchock@kauai.gov , JFurfaro@kauai.gov and jyukimura@kauai.gov respectively. You can also testify on the measure by emailing counciltestimony@kauai.gov .


The meeting begins at 8:45 a.m. this Wednesday July 23 and will be streamed live on-line at the county's webcast site.

MAYOR'S POLITICAL ADVISOR TOKIOKA CAUGHT EXCHANGING TEXTS, DISCUSSING STRATEGY, WITH NAKAMURA, YUKIMURA, DURING FINAL 2491 MEETING; COUNTY MANAGER-TO-BE SEEN COMMUNICATING WITH MAYOR THROUGH GO-BETWEEN PRIOR TO "FINAL" VOTE

MAYOR'S POLITICAL ADVISOR TOKIOKA CAUGHT EXCHANGING TEXTS, DISCUSSING STRATEGY, WITH NAKAMURA, YUKIMURA, DURING FINAL 2491 MEETING;
COUNTY MANAGER-TO-BE SEEN COMMUNICATING WITH MAYOR THROUGH GO-BETWEEN PRIOR TO "FINAL" VOTE


It was just before 3 a.m., about 45 minutes before Bill 2491 was passed by the Kaua`i County Council last Oct. 16, when then-Councilmember, and soon-to-be top deputy to Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr, Nadine Nakamura, told the assembled that she was going to move to defer the bill based on considerations of her future job rather than her then-current one.


But if the bill's introducer Councilmember Gary Hooser was, as he said "flabbergasted" at what co-introducer Tim Bynum called Nakamura's "highly inappropriate and unethical" intentions, their heads might have spun around a few times with steam emanating from their ears if they had known that Nakamura had been discussing strategy with and taking directions from Carvalho's chief political adviser, Beth Tokioka, with whom Nakamura had been texting all day on the 15th and into the night.


According to Jennifer Ruggles, who was attending the meeting on behalf of "Pesticide Action Network," one of the many members of the "Pass the Bill Coalition," she was sitting behind Tokioka and began to notice something out of the ordinary was taking place.


Ruggles told PNN in an email that she noticed Nakamura and Councilmember JoAnn Yukimura seemed to keep looking in her direction.


"At first it seemed like they were looking at me but then I realized they were constantly making eye contact with Beth. All three of them had their phones in their hands. I could see Beth's phone clearly with Nadine Nakamura's name in big letters at the top and I could see they were texting back and forth. They did this through out the entire meeting. Beth copied and pasted messages received from Nadine and JoAnn and pasted them into a group message with (then County Manager) Gary Heu and Mayor Carvalho. Sometimes she explained to Gary and Bernard what was happening in the meeting."


Ruggles said she jotted down snippets of the conversation as Tokioka and Nakamura discussed, among other things, strategy, how other councilmembers indicated to Nakamura they would vote and what Nakamura had discussed with other councilmembers regarding the mayor's deferral request. Tokioka also exchanged texts with Yukimura pushing her to ask the mayor, as he was testifying before the council, about a potential veto.


"I felt concerned because it didn't seem ethical that the person who works most closely with the mayor, who after his presentation revealed the administration's agenda in opposition to the bill, should be lobbying JoAnn Yukimura and conspiring for a deferral with Nadine Nakamura during a public hearing," Ruggles said.


"The lobbying was especially inappropriate because it was happening during public testimony. Beth initiated these conversations disregarding the many people who had slept overnight to have their voice heard."


The texts made plain that Tokioka was directing Nakamura as to the political machinations that might lead to a deferral of the scheduled final vote on the bill- communications which might well be seen as a quid pro quo and a violation of the county's Code of Ethics in offering her vote to defer in exchange for appointment to the position which Nakamura would take 16 days hence.


"Defer and delay" had been the way proponents of the bill characterized the tactics used by opponents of the bill as it wound its way through a first reading, a public hearing, multiple committee meetings and scores of hours of testimony. A deferral of the scheduled final vote was seen by most to be the potential "death" of the bill.


The revelation of the texts also make apparent that the mayor had already decided that if it wasn't deferred he would veto the bill with Tokioka telling Yukimura to make sure that if she asked the mayor about a possible veto that she put it in the context of a deferral as an alternative.


The bill- which was eventually vetoed by the mayor and is up for an override vote at a special council meeting this Thursday Nov. 14 at 9 a.m.- would require detailed disclosure of the use of "Restricted Use Pesticides (RUP)" and the associated "Genetically Modified Organisms" (GMO) by the five chemical companies at their west Kaua`i experimental facilities where they claim to be "seed corn farmers."


The chemical spraying is alleged to take place 240 days a year with multiple RUPs used each spraying day, on fields adjacent to homes, schools, hospitals, waterways and roads according to disclosures made in a federal court lawsuit against one company, DuPont-Pioneer, on behalf of Waimea residents.


The bill also calls for buffer zones as well as a study of the use of RUPs and GMOs which contain genetic pesticides designed to withstand the poisons used to kill surrounding weeds.


Dozens of Kaua`i physicians have said that they have noticed a spike in illnesses such as skin lesions, respiratory problems and certain rare birth defects which, they say, requires further study.


RUPs are more dangerous than unrestricted pesticides- a term inclusive of herbicides- that can be purchased over-the-counter at any hardware store or garden shop. RUPs require a permit to purchase and use.


According to the real-time captions of the meeting (the minutes are not yet available), shortly before 3 a.m. at the meeting which had begun at 10 a.m. the previous day, the sleep deprived Nakamura told the council of her fidelity to her future employer, the mayor, as opposed to her then-current job representing her constituents as a councilmember, saying:


You know, earlier, and I'm proposing this, just because I know that in a few weeks I'm going to have to be involved in implementing this law. And I believe based on the transient vacation rental experience, that if we do not pay attention to how we enforce the laws that this body creates, we run into a lot of problems. Just in the number of contested case hearings (in enforcing out the law) that is a result of not good implementation, the number of appeals that our county attorneys have to deal with, the hearings for renewals, cease and desist orders all because we did not pay attention to the implementation of a law.


So the mayor asked for time to establish and clarify roles and responsibilities to develop a memorandum of agreement, a cooperative agreement and I just feel that we should -- this is not a political ploy as people have made it out to be. The killing of this bill or standing down to bullies, this is about really taking a close look and developing relationships with the state entities, who we have to work with to implement this law and unfortunately, that is something that I need to consider. So I'm just putting that on the table.

Hooser responded to Nakamura's statement saying that he was:

"flabbergasted to put it mildly after getting here to 10 to 3:00 A.M. And looking through the amendments and having the vice-chair lead the efforts on the amendments and then to hear support for the mayor's deferral after we had such extended discussion earlier. Yeah, flabbergasted, disappointed, you know? It is no question and this is not to put to anybody's personal intent, but a motion to defer in my opinion is a motion to kill the bill.

And again, it's not to intent, if the audience could please bear with me, this is my opinion. I think if we defer this bill, given the circumstances of a change on the council, it will be deferred again. If we wait to the department of Ag, it will be deferred again. And we have come so far and this community has come so far. They have been here for three days, some of these people, okay? 36 hours. Counting on us to do what is our responsibility. We have talked about it for months. The genesis of this bill is about a year. We have crafted amendments which significantly weaken the bill. and we continue to weaken the bill, catering to the industry and I have accepted that.

As disappointed as I am, I have accepted that because the core of what we need to do, the right to know is still intact. And we cannot count on the state to do this. We cannot count on the mayor to do this. We cannot count on Russell Kokubun to do this and it's up to us. So I am hopeful that we will not have the votes to sustain or to carry a vote to defer and I think that would be just an affront is to put it mildly to our community and to the work that we have done on this issue. And that is it. Thank you.


But if Hooser wasn't direct enough, Bynum made no bones about how he felt about Nakamura's shirking of her responsibilities as a council member in favor of her boss-to-be's request for deferral. After asking her if she intended to move and vote for a deferral and getting an answer of "yes," Bynum said:

I don't even know how to respond to that, but I have to respond from my heart. It's no secret that I'm a huge supporter of Nadine Nakamura. I have made positive statements about her leadership and her work many times. I'm disappointed she is not going to be here on the council to provide that leadership, but I honor the decision that she made to work for the mayor. But until you resign, you represent the people of Kaua`i. And for you to say that you have to consider that next week you are going to work for the mayor and have to implement this is highly inappropriate and unethical.

As soon as you resign from this body, then you need to do the mayor's bidding. But until then, you already voted for this bill, Nadine and stated your intention as a councilmember. That is all I have to say.

The mayor had said in earlier testimony that day that he was asking for the deferral so that the state could have time to work out a deal for "voluntary," and broad "aggregate" disclosures by the chemical companies sometime in the undetermined future. That would presumably be done via the HRS Chapter 91 Administrative Rules process which can sometimes take years especially if there's opposition which of course is expected from the chemical companies.

That proposal had been ridiculed by bill proponents after Governor Neil Abercrombie proposed it at the behest of state legislators from Kaua`i in what many saw as an attempt to derail the bill which, on the other hand, requires that the public to be notified of the specific day, time, type and location of each spraying of chemicals.

Abercrombie took $34,400 in campaign money from the biotech industry in the last election cycle.

Carvalho, who recently took $4000 himself, eventually vetoed the bill on the last possible day to do so, October 31st- the day before Nakamura took office as his new "County Manager," the mayor's second in command.


This ensured that the override session would take place after Nakamura left the council leaving it with only six members and little margin for error after the 6-1 vote to pass the bill.


Had the mayor vetoed the bill the day after it passed it would have left plenty of time for Nakamura, who eventually voted for the bill that night, to vote on the override which specifically requires five votes according to the county charter. It was presumed that Nakamura would have voted to override the veto despite her intention to defer it on the 15th especially since she had been one of the two authors of the amendments that so severely changed the bill, including substituting the self-styled, facilitated-roundtable, group of stakeholders type of study that wound up in the bill in the stead of the a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that was proposed in the original bill.


But in his veto message Carvalho barely cited the "voluntary disclosure" state proposal and rather, based his veto on a county attorney's (CA) opinion essentially taken from opinions written by the lawyers for the chemical companies, Marjery Bronster and Paul Alston.


Most points in the CA's opinion were refuted in a letter to the mayor and council signed by dozens of local attorneys. No private attorneys not associated with the chemical companies that we could find have said they agree with the CA's opinion while slews of lawyers across the island and country have roundly rejected it.


As to Thursday's override meeting of a six-member council most political observers think that there are at lest four votes to override the veto but the fifth of the six that voted "aye" (Nakamura being the sixth in the 6-1 vote), Councilmember Ross Kagawa, has said he hasn't made up his mind as to whether he will vote to override the veto.


A meeting is scheduled for Friday to pick a seventh councilmember after the council rejected a request from Hooser and Bynum last week that a seventh member be named by the council before the override meeting.


The first irony in all of this, one that Bynum and Hooser intimated at, is that most of the midnight-hours at the Oct. 15-16 meeting had been spent proposing and passing amendments that were written, researched and insisted upon by Nakamura. She and Yukimura had worked together throughout the process since discussion with one other councilmember is permitted under the state's Sunshine Law.


Although virtually every one of the bill's supporters acknowledged that these amendment "watered down" the bill, almost all of the bills proponents still support the bill as a "step in the right direction."


Those amendments were personally rammed onto the bill by Yukimura who, during an uncharacteristic, often contentious and anger-tinged, hours-long "tour-de-force," managed to foist them on the other three "yes-vote" councilmembers because without her and Nakamura's "yes" votes the bill would have only had the three votes- Hooser's, Bynum's and Furfaro's.


Kagawa, based on prior statements and actions, was at the time not expected to support the bill but, apparently at the last minute, he decided to vote against deferral and for the bill. The other Councilmember, Mel Rapozo, voted against the bill as he had indicated he probably would ever since the bill was introduced.


Kagawa and Rapozo were the ones who approached the Kaua`i legislative contingent to ask them to ask the governor for the "voluntary disclosure" measure.


The second irony is that much of the content of the Nakamura/Yukimura amendments was cited by Carvalho in his veto message as being the very provisions that were "legally deficient" and the reasons for his override.


In essence, Nakamura had set up the bill for veto by crafting and introducing the measures that her future boss would use as a reason to veto the bill.


PNN plans on filing an open record UIPA request for Tokioka's texts.


Thursday's meeting is expected to be a long one with public testimony by both the bill's proponents and the chemical company employees and their families and friends taking one more day off to be there and speak. Although each is actually permitted by law to speak for a total of six minutes Chair Furfaro has limited testimony to three minutes throughout the process.


Councilmembers have said that if the mayor's veto is not overridden they will introduce the bill again once a seventh member is appointed. Members of the community have also begun organizing a ballot initiative on the matter.


The county will be live streaming the meeting (at http://kauai.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1211) and we will be live blogging and providing commentary and discussion on Facebook starting at 9 a.m.

FOR SALE: SLINGS, ARROWS AND OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE

FOR SALE: SLINGS, ARROWS AND OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE: Governor Neil Abercrombie's little attempt at humor in calling for the chemical companies to "temporarily" release some vague information about pesticide use on a "voluntary" basis via some unknown rules (or laws or Kingly decrees) to be promulgated at some undetermined point in the unforeseeable future, has Kaua`i doubled over- although it's unclear whether it's with laughter or pain.


But it did do one thing- it exposed how all four Kaua`i legislators have sold their political souls to their corporate overlords rather than represent the views of the 90% of their constituents who support something a little more specific... like Bill 2491 which is headed for another Kaua`i County Council committee meeting on Friday at 9 a.m.


But who expected anything else? According to research by Babes Against Biotech's Nomi Carmona, Abercrombie has taken $34,400 from the chemical companies and their lobbyists ($58,200 if you include wives and kids of lobbyists), Rep. Jimmy Tokioka comes in at a cool $9,650 , Sen. Ron Kouchi has pocketed $6,050 for his campaign coffers, Rep. Derek Kawakami got $2,000 and rookie Rep. Dee Morikawa received $700.


But the good news is that all no one seems to be naive enough to think that the "proposal" will have any effect on Friday's meeting. But you can expect bill opponents, Councilmembers Ross Kagawa and Mel Rapozo to beat their chests and kick up some gorilla dust, waving around Abercrombie's gambit a few times before they all get down to business.


When we last left our merry band of lawgivers some thought they observed a deathbed conversion from Ross Kagawa whose last minute political pivot found him actually endorsing an "environmental study"- the third part of the bill which also calls for buffer zones and real disclosure of pesticide use, including the specific types used at specific times on specific days at specific locations as opposed to the "aggregate" total amounts Governor Abercrombie called for- something that is pretty much required by the state now.


But what we really saw was a different type of conversion, that of a sow's ear into a silk purse after Kagawa and Rapozo realized that Councilpersons JoAnn Yukimura and Nadine Nakamura were going to support the buffers and disclosure parts.


That left the "study" as their only handle to get a grip on the bill in order to kill it. And therein lies the rub because something smells rotten in the state of Lihu`e and it ain't bubble gum masking agent.


Hawai`i state law HRS 343, also known as the Hawai`i Environmental Protection Act (HEPA), is the state's version of the National EPA (NEPA) with each describing their respective Environmental Assessment (EA)/Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) processes.


And that's the third part of what the bill calls for- a moratorium on new open-air testing of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and associated Restricted Use Pesticides (RUPs). pending the county's performance of an EIS.


Because in fact that's what the facilities out in Waimea actually are- not "farms" but testing grounds for open air chemical experiments with people as the collateral guinea pigs. And despite the obvious need for environmental study one has never been conducted.


But Yukimura doesn't want to use the EA/EIS process calling it a "consultants' retirement plan"- a phrase many of her base supporters became familiar with in speaking to her in the weeks leading up to the last committee meeting on September 9.


Instead she and Nakamura- aficionados of the 1990's Steven Covey "Seven Habits of Highly Manipulative A-holes" (or something like that) series of high priced books and seminars- have suggested their own version of an "environmental study" and plan on introducing amendments to effectuate that version at Friday's meeting.


Apparently the thinking must be that if Kaua`i can take on the feds and state for failing to protect the health and safety of its citizens, we can also rewrite environmental law with our own version of the EA/EIS process.


The "Adler Process," as some call it locally- named after UH Professor and long-time professional "facilitator" Peter Adler- has been dubbed by many as the "Kumbaya Roundtable" where all the "stakeholders," including those who have no intention of negotiating anything, get "a seat at the table" so they can presumably come away with a "win-win" (put that in double quotes)... either that or they sit at the table for years if necessary until they either drown in butcher paper (you had to be there), drop dead of old age or they find at least one thing they can agree on- which is usually not to meet any more.


It can be endless and pointless and allows anyone who wants to obstruct any resolution to be the big winner while the rest walk away scratching their heads asking "what just happened?".


Instead of being a consultant’s retirement plan it's a facilitator's career plan.


Oh- did we mention that Nakamura's is professional "facilitator?"


Anyway that explains what Ross and Mel were up to when they suddenly "supported the bill." By the time Nakamura and Yukimura had finished describing their amendments that would turn the EIS into a "facilitated roundtable," two things were painfully apparent to Ross and Mel.


The first was that Nakamura and Yukimura had earlier indicated that were going to support disclosures and buffer zones, if not in the precise form in which they appear on the bill now, then at least close enough for government work. And that would make four votes assuming they and the bill's introducers Gary Hooser and Tim Bynum can find wording that all four of them like- which seems likely.


But Bynum and Hooser are not about to accept the never-ending, shaggy-dog-story of the facilitated "Barney approach" (I love you, you love me...) with Bynum saying that if they didn't call it an EA/EIS but stuck to the precepts described in HRS 343, he- and presumably Hooser- might be okay with that.


Which left Kagawa and Rapozo an opening to if not kill, then severely gut what they can by supporting JoAnn's and Nadine's "make-kissy-face-with-your-opponent" plan, thereby leaving their corporate masters- and, they hoped, the naive public- all singing Kumbaya... and with four votes for the interminable study, one-third of a loaf being better than no loaf at all.


Will JoAnn and Nadine risk their political futures by refusing to okay an EIS or EIS-based study? Will Ross and Mel heads spin around three or four more times during the day until somebody (probably us) throws-up? Will Tim and Gary be able to convince JoAnn and Nadine that this is one of those once in a political lifetime deals where doing the right thing actually lines up with it being political advantageous? And will Council Chair Jay Furfaro feel jilted and neglected by all this lack of attention and sell his vote for flowers and candy?


Tune in Friday at 9 a.m. for another episode of "What Dreams May Come."

AROUND THE TURN AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME

AROUND THE TURN AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME: It's crunch time for Bill 2491 as a series of events this week lead up to the big Kaua`i County Council committee meeting on Tuesday September 9, including the ManaMarch and Rally on Sunday Sept 8 when thousands are expected to gather at Vidhina Stadium in Lihu`e at 11:30 a.m. and and noon march up Rice St to the County Building where music and fun are promised.

But before that on Thursday Sept 5 the council will be holding a executive session meeting on the bill that would require disclosure of restricted pesticide use, buffer zones around schools and homes and a moratorium on new experimental Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) tests pending an environmental assessment.

Closed door meeting or not, organizers are urging people to make a showing in their red shirts to show support for the bill. Even though public testimony will be taken (by law), since most everything that can be said to the council has been said, it would seem counterproductive to make it into a repetitive public yak-fest.

So what is The State Of The Bill this week? And what are both the white hats (Gary Hooser and Tim Bynum) and the black hats (Mel Rapozo and Ross Kagawa) planning?

Near as we can tell despite the fact that the chemical/biotech/just-plain-simple-farmers' massive million dollar PR campaign has put bullet after bullet into their own feet with counter-intuitive shmaltz and "did he really say that" common-sense-defying, expert blathering, there are still at least 17 people left on the island, with the exception of employees and vendors, who actually oppose the intent of the bill.

But for the other 60,742 of us the important numbers are 2-2-3: two yes votes, two no votes and three "how am I going to get through this without killing my political career and/or legacy" votes.

On the 9th it's expected that the noes, Mel and Ross, will put up a fight on a few fronts to give cover to councilmembers Nadine Nakamura and Jay Furfaro to vote to kill the bill entirely and JoAnn Yukimura to water it down with amendments that could allow it to pass but make it all but totally ineffective.

On the legal front all indications are that neither the County Attorney nor Attorney General is going to say there is any type of state law "preempting" the county's state constitutional right to regulate the health and environmental safety of it's citizens. There is no question of preemption at the federal level as even the chemical companies' lawyers have agreed, there being strong US Supreme Court rulings saying that the county has those rights.

It is expected that some other big gun attorneys will show up to support the legality of the bill and it's looking like there's not much the "other five" will have on this front.

Then there are the "medical" issues... for lack of a better term.

JoAnn Yukimura has been making a lot of noise at a pitch only a lawyer can hear, trying to look for the definitive link to an actual proven medical epidemic of pesticide-related disease. This of course is NOT what is required as medical review, unlike law, is a very long meticulous process where "proof" of harm is concerned. But all that is needed legally here is the strong POTENTIAL for harm.

And there's no one but those Roundup-guzzling salesmen denying a pervasive potential for harm.

First there's the American Council on Pediatrics strong disdain of child exposure to any pesticides and the growing undeniable exposure of Waimea children at their schools and residences and other areas exposed to the wind drift. There's the sheer number of days and types of restricted use pesticides (RUPs), which are used in open air experiments 240 days a year, with each day having the potential for use of multiple RUPs. And there's the testimony of apparently all the pediatricians and almost every doctor and other health care provider on the island, all warning of the harm they are actually seeing.

To pooh-pooh this as being "only anecdotal" and not real potential harm is to misunderstand the nature of medical inquiry. It's painfully obvious why there are no "25-year studies" and as a matter of fact a law that requires disclosure is the first step in setting up these studies.

That kind of study is something that our state Department of Agriculture (DOA) seems to be working as hard as they can to prevent, ignoring and even misrepresenting the incidents of poisonings and looking more and more like shills for "Big Chemical" than the state level protector of the health of the people.

Wanna see something really scarey? One of our researches who has seen the DOA's inspection logs says that they made only 175 total inspections of all pesticide users in Kauai county over the past two year period. Of these inspections they have redacted 45% as "ongoing investigations" of "open cases" where violations could supposedly lead to enforcement actions- although enforcement of regulations in government circles is usually more a case of "seeking compliance" instead... sometimes years after the violation.

In these ongoing cases all the information is blank so no one in the public has any idea what the violation even is (or was). Of the unredacted inspections there were only 29 during a two year period that were done on the operations of the four agrochemical companies or 3.625 inspections per company per year... about one every hundred days. And they tell them when they are coming.

Don't forget about those 240 spraying days a year, according to information revealed though the current federal court lawsuit against Pioneer filed by 100 west-side people who say they've been harmed by the chemical companies pesticide practices.

Additionally, the Kaua`i DOA representative said in an open council session that it takes up to 3 years to resolve and close a case. They also said they don't even publicly notify the community when violations occur but only when they are resolved and then only if a member of the public requests the information.

And just ask anyone who has ever requested information from a state agency how easy that is. And that's for agencies that don't have anything they want to hide.

Which brings us to what will probably prove to be bill supporters' biggest challenge next week- one people need to be fully aware of and fight like hell to stop it from happening.

Ross and Mel are determined to find a way to stop this bill- all of it. Killing it entirely most likely won't happen although remember what we said about JoAnn (Nadine too in past posts) and amendments. The disclosure and buffer zones look strong unless someone wants to throw away their political career or, in Jay's case, legacy.

The only way to stop it is to kick it upstairs.

We were discussing this with a long time observer and political operative on Kaua`i and, not surprisingly, we saw our own thoughts reflected in the email: It read:

-----

What needs debunking is the laughable notion that "the state or federal government will take care of this for us if only we put pressure on them." It's the old "I'm going to write a letter and we can all sign it" strategy...just plain stupid.

"This is not our job and we will demand that the governor, the state legislature and the EPA and congress (in between voting to go to war)... make them do their jobs."

I can see it now. Kouchi and Tokioka will agree to "draft a Bill". The DOH and the DOA will agree to "look into updating the rules" and maybe the governor will even "establish a task force"...and see, there...it is all handled and several council members will say "whew...it is all handled...look what we did mom...plus we will write that letter... and we will all sign it...demanding that they do something...and then we'll get really tough... we will schedule a follow up meeting to make sure it happens."

As you and I know...nothing will happen except the process will drag for another 2 or 3 years...the industry hacks and attorneys will do their thing at the legislature during the long drawn out rule making process...and at the end of the day there will be bupkis, nada, nothing.

Plus...a quick scan of the campaign spending reports shows several of our legislative people are clearly taking piles of money from the biotech and gmo industries. And...the Chair of the Senate Ag committee (where any legislation will have to pass through) has also taken plenty...including donations from pharmaceutical companies (now why would a pharm company give to an Ag Chair?). I only skimmed very quickly the reports and found the obvious direct contributions and have not yet googled individuals or looked at the lobbyists numbers to see who the lobbyist who was giving money had as clients. I can't imagine what that will show...

------

All snark aside you get the picture. This little dance is a tried and true way for these snakes to slither out of dealing with political grenades once they've failed to table them with 14 "Star Chamber" executive sessions where they come out and say "We can't tell you what it is but there's a very good reason we're killing this."

To put a fresh spin on an old canard: "We could tell you why but then we wouldn't be able to kill you"

This is really what we have to prevent. Mel is a master of this kind of "it's someone else's fault/responsibility" fake outrage. When you're watching him do it remember what you're watching.

This is going to be a week when everyone needs to play the part they've taken and play it like their life depends on it. It just might.

-----------

Other events this week include:

Tuesday September 3 from 5-8 p.m. An informational meeting/"fun event" for south-side people at Po'ipu large pavilion. Nurses and friends of Kauai will answer questions based on new information from the American Pediatric Association about pesticides.

Wednesday September 4 at 5 p.m. Sign making and planning for Sunday's March and Rally- pot luck; dance with DJ at Lydgate Big Pavilion.

PROGRAM, GET YER PROGRAM

PROGRAM, GET YER PROGRAM: What would a game be without a rundown of the players, the games they're currently playing and what kind of pitch will work on each- and for that matter who not to even bother to pitch to.

Here's the third inning morning line for those betting on passage of Bill 2491 (regarding pesticides and GMOs)... with the prospects for each of the Crudville 7.

Of course Gary Hooser and Tim Bynum are the people's champions. Follow their lead. It's that easy.

Mel Rapozo is with Ross Kagawa and both are in the pockets of the biotexters- don't be fooled by anything either might say or do. The two of them are trying to kill the bill, currently by keeping it in committee where they may have the votes to do so permanently, waiting for a legal opinions that will never come.

Don't let Mel trick you into thinking he is genuinely doing anything but trying to kill the bill. Don't forget- he and Ross both didn't care how much it's going to cost to defend Mel's palsy-walsy Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho and both he and Ross said so just a couple of weeks ago. Mel is a snakey-wakey and may slither into some other corner next week but for now he's coiled to delay the bill in committee forever. Don't misunderestimate Mel. Ross would be helpless without him.

Gary and Tim need to get the bill out of committee to the floor of the full council (where the vote count will be tied at 2) and work amendments and votes there. One big problem in committee is that Gary is the chair and cannot make a motion or a second- including to offer an amendment- so even presuming he has a motion or a second from JoAnn Yukimura, unless Nadine Nakamura goes along with what he wants he cannot even get it considered in committee. (Tim is not on the committee; nor is Council Chair Jay Furfaro).

As far as JoAnn goes, she will most likely support most of the bill especially on the pesticide "right-to-know" section. But she could also allow some not-so-great amendments and may even allow Mel and Ross to bamboozle her with the legally non-existent "preemption" crap in order to find the equally non-existent "win-win."

Nadine is not as much of a "no" as her vote to defer last Monday might make you think- she just wants it all to go away and will probably go with the majority on anything, including amendments. She is known for trying "compromise away" the meat of a measure but probably feels powerless to do that on this one. She apparently only voted to defer because that was going to be the outcome anyway- don't forget, technically Gary voted for the deferral too.

Jay may be genuinely on the fence. He is a lifelong corporate man but likes to see himself as a Hawaiian defender of the environment. In terms of his legacy he sees a lot of it as being his grandchildren and a protector of the `aina... that kind of thing. Don't forget he is retiring and probably understands that no matter what he does this will be his legacy- whether he likes it or not he will be remembered for what he does on this bill. He can be convinced but will not like "doing the work" on the council floor (as opposed to in committee). He can be lobbied hard on a "do what's right for your grandchildren" basis.

JoAnn will probably vote for the bill but what amendments she will ask for is anyone's guess. She may even fall for Mel's and Ross' can't-afford-a-lawsuit drivel. She needs to be reminded who her friends are (in politispeak who her base is) but she is always doing her Steve Covey "win-win/keep the end in mind" stuff so if you speak that language, speak to her.

Don't forget- it essential to get this bill amended and out of committee ASAP to get to the real action. And for all you handicappers worried about what you know they they don't know (as opposed to what they know that you don't) remember- it's not like they don't all know this already.

CORNFUSED?

CORNFUSED?

(The following quick political appraisal for bill supporters was posted yesterday evening on Facebook)

So what the heck happened at the end (see the 9:58:00 mark) of today's Kaua`i County Council Committee meeting on Bill 2491 related to pesticides and GMOs?

Well for those who didn't get what they saw it was a semi blood bath. JoAnn Yukimura left early so Mel Rapozo and Ross Kagawa were able to get the bill deferred for a full month in order to try to kill it. Nadine Nakamura was no help either.

Essentially Ross and Mel- yes, Mel is definitely not ...a friend of the bill or its purpose (although he may protest he hasn't made up his mind)- are hoping the attorney general will come up with some BS reason why the law is preempted by either the state or feds, either stated or implied even though it's obviously not (which Mel knows damn well but he will play politics to the end) since the Pioneer attorneys couldn't cite any example while the Earth Justice lawyer cited case after case showing no preemption (meaning the county is able to enact the law regulating pesticides and GMOs).

Ross and Mel (and maybe Nadine) are trying to kill the bill through infinite deferral. Gary Hooser (here's his far more staid "first draft of history") tried to fend them off but didn't have even a second vote or anyone to make a motion for a two week deferral because JoAnn left early and Tim Bynum and Jay Furfaro are not on the committee. And as I said Nadine is scared for her political life and you couldn't pry her lips apart with a crow up until she went with the four week deferral vote (i.e. she voted to defer for four weeks).

While a committee cannot kill a bill outright, they can defer it forever. Gary, as chair, said (to paraphrase) "okay then I want everyone to come with all your amendments and be ready to vote on Sept 9." Good luck.

It's really up to Nadine at this point- it's time to lobby the you-know-what out of her.

This means we will not be able to keep getting and giving factual testimony and keep the ball rolling as it was this afternoon when the real science became apparent during the science and medical questioning of Dr Evslin and Dr Valenzuela of UH (sp?) as well as Kyle Smith (the attorney for the Waimea lawsuit) who is an expert on these restricted use pesticides) and others.

And because they lost the legal round in the morning so badly they are hoping they can get through to the AG to provide a trump card- he will no doubt try his damnedest to make sure the governor doesn't blow his contributions from Monsanto et. al. in '14.

And who knows what the county attorney will do- any honest appraisal will find no preemption either stated or implied either state or federal. And will find SCOTUS on our side (something even Pioneer's lawyers couldn't counter that).

But if they can't get to the county attorney (CA), Mel will try to say it's too expensive for Kaua`i to pay to defend ourselves against Big Biotech. In other words we can't pass laws when deep pockets threaten to sue us back to the stone age over them... something he has said the opposite about when it comes to money to keep defending his pal disgraced former Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri Carvalho... as did Ross, even more vehemently...

So we have to wait until September 9 and keep the momentum going while they spend another bazillion dollars on cable ads calling themselves poor seed farmers and continuing to extort and provide lying talking points to their poor employees who are caught in the middle.

Well, at least I hope they get hefty raises after testifying....

Don't forget- the only ones who are saying "the community is being torn apart" are those opposed to the bill. And the only ones against the bill are employees or their relatives or paid the shills like that UC Riverside guy today who managed to slither out of a question about funding, about which he said (under his breath) he "only" got a few private research projects a year (presumably industry funded) although his department doesn't take biotech money.

The rest of us are unified like never before by the lies and threats from the chemical companies.

Imua

A SMELL BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD STINK TO HIGH HEAVEN

A SMELL BY ANY OTHER NAME WOULD STINK TO HIGH HEAVEN: Talk about your love-hate affair. Tourism, the numero uno cash cow in Hawai`i and Kaua`i, gets the love but it's also the industry we all love to hate. That's evidenced by our preoccupation with "diversifying"- maybe even finding something to supplant it- that has gone on ever since King Sugar, having slipped to #2, finally went belly up.

But now, in a "the kind is dead; long live the king" twist worthy of a Shakespearean tragedy, the current #2 has been slowly poisoning King Tourism and everyone seems to know it but the King and the minions of the King's biggest rival: the innocuous sounding "seed corn industry."

"Aw shucks folks- we're just farmers," the rival says. And who could be against agricultural diversification?

Well, just maybe the peasants, who are finally figuring out that they're getting poisoned too because the strategy to take over the throne is to simply poison the town's well.

The townsfolk have discovered that the kindly corn-farmers like Pioneer are actually part and parcel of legacy chemical companies like Dow and BASF.

They've started to notice how uncle, who works for these companies, is coughing up pieces of lung and they've seen those nightly helicopter-generated, bubble-gum-smelling showers that have turned out to actually be highly toxic pesticides with an illegal bubble-gum masking agent.

Now, despite millions spent by chemical giants like Monsanto to spread disinformation using fact-masking-agents so we won't smell the lies, 64 people have, shockingly enough, filed suit against Pioneer.

Not only that but the townspeople of Kaua`i have introduced a bill (#2491) before the county council and will be descending on the second largest auditorium on the island (the KCC Performing Arts Center) for a public hearing on July 31 (at 1:30 p.m.) just to obtain the right to know just what the heck kind of poisons they're spraying on us.

So how did we get here- where it's up to Kaua`i to protect itself from outsiders coming in and spraying toxic chemicals and refusing to say exactly what they are spraying?

The fact is that the feds and the state, bought and paid for by the chemical giants, have failed to protect the people. That's practically irrefutable making the politicians' cries of "regulation is the realm of the feds and the state" sound like the complete lunatic fantasy that it is.

One courageous Kaua`i County Councilmember, Gary Hooser, first spent a year or so trying to get information from the "biotech" industry- all to no avail- then introduced the bill to force kindly Farmer "Pioneer" Brown and his brother Syngenta Jones to tell us what kind of "restricted use" and "experimental" pesticides are being atomized and nebulized, often in the middle of residential neighborhoods.

The bill would create 500 foot buffer zones especially around schools- because the use of these poisons is banned by law from anywhere it's likely to be in contact with children- and other places where people generally congregate as well as institute a temporary moratorium on the propagation of all new outdoor experimental genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the associated experimental restricted-use pesticides until an environmental impact statement is completed.

But you'd think that the bill, focused on disclosure, was somehow a death knell for the "seed farmers" to hear what they are telling their employees, in a disinformation campaign that would make the NSA blush.

And speaking of politicians, believe it or not, despite the overwhelming outcry from parents, teachers, and just about everyone who doesn't depend on the biotech industry for their daily contaminated bread, there is doubt as to whether the bill will pass.

So far Hooser has only one declared ally- Councilmember Tim Bynum who co-introduced the bill- and one opponent, a long-time member-in-good-standing of what's know locally as the GOBAGs (good old boys and girls) Club, Ross Kagawa.

The rest are waiting to see which way the toxic wind is blowing and whether the biotexters smelly breeze is stronger than the oratorical winds of practically the entire electorate.

And why might that be?

While the money from the biotech industry dribbles pretty regularly into many of their campaign coffers the main players here are those who control those visitor industry bucks. And thus far people in the Kaua`i and Hawai`i visitors' industry are tightly balanced on the fence putting passage of the bill seriously in question, coming up on that public hearing.

The tenuousness of passage has of late become glaringly obvious to many vote-counting, long-time government observers. As local news-blogger, journalist and pundit Joan Conrow wrote recently

I'm hearing Councilman Gary Hooser currently does not have the votes to pass Bill 2491, the ordinance that deals with restricted pesticide use disclosure, buffer zones and an EIS for the GMO crops. Only Councilman Bynum is solidly on board. So no doubt the rhetoric will ramp up as both sides seek to convince the other five.

Well she isn't the only one. As if it weren’t obvious from watching the first meeting- where the bill unanimously passed the first of two required "readings" (as bills usually do no matter what the final vote turns out to be)- the word around town is that the third and fourth votes may well come down to the leanings of Council Chair Jay Furfaro whose life-long career in the visitor industry makes his nod dependent on how people like Sue Kanoho, head of the Kaua`i Visitors' Bureau (KVB), sees it.

And she ain't sayin' nuttin'.

The remaining three- JoAnn Yukimura, Nadine Nakamura and Mel Rapozo are eyeballing the 2014 election where the first two will no doubt be vying for council chair when Furfaro retires (as he has announced he will do) with Rapozo ogling the mayor's seat. They need, if not an endorsement from Furfaro, at least his good will.

Well that all got us to thinking- always a dangerous proposition.

The bio-tech industry has been calling everyone on the island this week as part of their mis-disinformation campaign, conducting "push polls," setting up secret, supporters-only, town hall meetings and taking fast talking no-means-yes-and-yes-means-no "surveys"

The rest of the time they spend threatening their workers with losing their jobs if forced to answer the question "what in the the heck are you spraying anyway."

They even have their own social media campaign- where asking the wrong question will quickly lose you your posting privileges- telling us how some of them are ready to drink a teaspoon of glycophosate- the active chemical in the household herbicide "Round-up" which will probably not kill you the same way prolonged daily exposure will.

It kind of reminds you of one of those NY City advertising campaigns where the guy says "if you ain't satisfied, I'll eat a bug."

They don't say how diluted that teaspoon of poison might be (we've got dollars for donuts it isn't undiluted, full strength) nor do they offer to drink any of the really toxic "restricted" pesticides they are spraying 80% of the time according to the attorneys who are suing Pioneer at the behest of those 64 members of the Waimea community where Pioneer's local headquarters is located.

Those attorneys have obtained information that many- including Hooser who unsuccessfully tried to use his elected position to pry it loose- have failed to get, by using "discovery" in federal court where depositions are being conducted as we write.

The video of their July presentation at Waimea Canyon School- where some of those restricted-use pesticides that are illegal to use around children were discovered- is a real eye-opener even for those of us who thought we knew how dangerous the situation is.

It's apparent we need help. So it's heartening to many that recently an article in the Huffington Post by Marin County environmental writer Maggie Sergio went viral across the mainland after she heard about the bill and visited Kaua`i to find out more. Another piece by local PhD candidate in politics and economics in food and agriculture Andrea Brower has been gaining publication in journals across the island and country.

So we though that what what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander and what we need is a good advertising campaign to reach the tourists that are flocking to Kaua`i with the truth about what those red dust clouds that they drive though on the west side contain.

We wrote up our idea for such an "ad." And since our graphics skills are non-existent we posted a solicitation on the GMO Free-Kauai Facebook page looking for someone with artistic skills who might be able to work with the idea.

We described out concept this way:

It would say "Planning a trip to Kaua`i?" across the top of two frames, the first frame with a person in a bathing suit with the words "Don't Forget your Bathing Suit" across the bottom and the second frame with someone in a Haz-Mat suit saying "Or your Haz-Mat Suit." The second one also has a sign in the background behind the person in the Haz-Mat suit saying something like "Experimental GMO Pesticide Fields; Breath at your own Risk"... you get the idea.

And, bless their hearts two graphic artists took the concept and created "posters" that have been approaching the almighty "viral" status in the last day or so.

First artist Dom Acain took the ball and ran with it coming up with this:

Then artist Rob Cruz took the concept even further in trying to assure tourists understand what you need to pack for a trip to "paradise":

Feel free to share them on social media or email them to your mainland friends... as a matter of fact, "collect-'em-all." Or do your own... the more the merrier.

Although many among the local "leadership" of the anti-GMO movement on Kaua`i have been reluctant to move off their kid-glove treatment of the visitor industry in the past, it seems they too are beginning to see that we need the KVB and corporate tourism honchos as allies in the efforts to pass bill 2491.

We've tried honey but all the bees died anyway. So they might just need a tart little nudge to get them moving in the right direction.

It isn't as if those who work in tourism aren't behind the bill en masse. Union support has been strong and indeed many if not most of those fathers and mothers who testified at the introduction of the bill- and who will be showing up on the 31st- work in a visitor-industry related job.

That's why many people are up in arms at reports in social media that the "Hawai`i Crop Improvement Association" and other industry groups are pouring buckets of cash into those various disinformation and dirty tricks telephone campaigns on Kaua`i as almost anyone living on Kaua`i with a land line can attest.

It important to understand that unless the tourism industry puts pressure on the council- which will take pressure from tourists themselves- the bill could could be in big trouble.

It stands to reason that people are not going to vacation in a place where they will be driving through toxic clouds of dust and where it rains restricted experimental pesticides.

And they are bound to find out sooner or later. Even if it weren't just the right thing to do, informing visitors of the dangers while the bill is on the table is simply good customer research, showing everyone what is bound to happen when tourists do find out.

Imagine how they will react if they find out about the situation along with the information that we defeated a bill to protect them.

There are some who are naive and fail to grasp what we're up against. Many have never experienced a Kaua`i-style movement. They think that they can control activism when the fact is that on Kaua`i the successful campaigns are not "run" but accomplished through a "do your own thing," leaderless effort, built on the natural outrage... as the Superferry battle can attested to.

KVB is not going to support the bill unless they themselves feel the pressure. They are corporate people whose instinct is to support other corporate people. We're working against that instinct and the only thing that will reverse that attitude is cash- the cold hard cash that they will be losing if occupancy drops when people learn the truth about the so-called"seed industry."

The most important thing any of us can do at this point is to get the word out to the mainland that we are ground-zero for outdoor testing of horrific experiments that are sickening our children and threatening the health of those who visit our fair island.

True leadership knows when to lead and more importantly when to get the heck out of the way and let the people do their thing. Leadership is not what the infamous leader in the French Revolution had in mind when he said "you must tell me which way my people have gone so I can go lead them."

What's your thing? Don't wait for permission- just grab a peaceful pitchfork, go out and do it. Every bit helps.

For more information on a variety of GMO-Free matters, check out thee Stop Poisoning Paradise's web site at http://www.stoppoisoningparadise.org/

(PNN) HOOSER BILL PROPOSES GMO MORETORIUM AND PROHIBIT OPEN AIR TESTING OF EXPERIMENTAL PESTICIDES.

HOOSER BILL PROPOSES GMO MORETORIUM AND PROHIBIT OPEN AIR TESTING OF EXPERIMENTAL PESTICIDES.

(PNN) Kaua`i County Councilmembers Gary Hooser and Tim Bynum will introduce a bill next Wednesday calling for a temporary moratorium on the experimental use and commercial production of genetically modified organisms until such time as the County of Kaua‘i has conducted a complete Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the health, environmental, and other effects of the production, propagation, or development of genetically modified organisms within the County.

In addition Bill 2491 would prohibit the open air testing of experimental GMOs during the moratorium, calls for mandatory disclosure of pesticide and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and sets up pesticide buffer zones.

The bill will introduced at the Kaua`i County Council meeting next Wednesday June 26 sometime after 9 a.m. Public Testimony will be taken and may be presented at the beginning of the meeting and also when it comes up on the agenda later in the day. Those who testify at 9 a.m. will not be permitted to testify again later according to council rules.

The following are some excerpts from proposed Draft Bill (No. 2491), a bill for an ordinance to amend the Kaua'i county code 1987, as amended, by adding a new Article 22 to chapter 22, relating to pesticides and Genetically modified organisms. Further restrictions and definitions apply.

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The purpose of this Article is to establish provisions to inform the public, and protect the public from any direct, indirect, or cumulative negative impacts on the health and the natural environment of the people and place of the County of Kaua‘i, by governing the use of pesticides and genetically modified organisms, and the penalties associated with any violation of this Article, or the laws, rules, or any other requirement that may be authorized by this Article...

Sec. 22-22.4 Mandatory Disclosure of Pesticides, and Genetically Modified Organisms.

(a) It shall be mandatory for all commercial agricultural entities that annually purchase or use in excess of five (5) pounds or fifteen (15) gallons of restricted use pesticides, any amount of any experimental pesticides, or both, during any calendar year to disclose the use of all pesticides (restricted use, general use, and experimental) during that same calendar year....

Sec. 22-22.5 Pesticide Buffer Zones.

(a) Effective January 1, 2014 it shall be mandatory for all commercial agricultural entities that annually purchase or use in excess of five (5) pounds or fifteen (15) gallons of restricted use pesticides, any amount of any experimental pesticides, or both, during any calendar year to restrict the application of all pesticides (restricted use, general use, and experimental) in the (certain defined) areas...

Sec. 22-22.6 Prohibition of Open Air Testing of Experimental Pesticides.

(a) Effective January 1, 2014, it shall be unlawful to test or use any experimental pesticide, except for those fully contained within a laboratory, contained greenhouse, fermenter, or other contained structure...

Sec. 22-22.7 Moratorium.

(a) There shall be a temporary moratorium on the experimental use and commercial production of genetically modified organisms until such time as the County of Kaua‘i has conducted a complete Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the health, environmental, and other effects of the production, propagation, or development of genetically modified organisms within the County. The moratorium will further continue until the County has developed and put into place a permitting process sufficient to protect the residents and environment of the County of Kaua‘i from any significant effects that may be identified in the Environmental Impact Statement...

Sec. 22-22.8 Environmental Impact Statement; Administration.

(a) The County of Kaua‘i shall complete an Environmental Impact Statement in order to determine and evaluate significant effects of the production, propagation, or development of genetically modified organisms within the County of Kaua‘i, and the use of all pesticides (restricted use, general use, and experimental) associated with the production, propagation, or development of genetically modified organisms within the County of Kaua‘i...

Sec. 22-22.9 Permitting.

(a) The Department shall develop and implement a permitting process that shall apply to all commercial agricultural entities that intentionally or knowingly possess genetically modified organisms. The permitting process shall include, but not be limited to, provisions that facilitate the elimination or mitigation of significant effects identified in the Environmental Impact Statement referred to in Section 22-22.8 of this Article...

Sec. 22-22.10 Prohibition of Open Air Testing of Experimental Genetically Modified Organisms.

(a) Effective January 1, 2014 and continuing during the moratorium period, it shall be unlawful to test or use any experimental genetically modified organism, except for those fully contained within a laboratory, contained greenhouse, fermenter, or other contained structure...

Sec. 22-22.11 Penalties.

(a) Any person, firm, or corporation, whether as principal, agent, employee, or otherwise, violating or causing or permitting the violation of any of the provisions of this Article, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than one-thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or imprisoned not more than one (1) year, or both, for each offense. The continuance of any violation after conviction shall be deemed a new criminal offense for each day that the violation or violations continue.

(b) In addition to any penalty described in Subsection 22-22.11(a), any person, firm, or corporation, whether as principal, agent, employee, or otherwise, violating, causing, or permitting the violation of any of the provisions of this Article, shall be assessed a civil fine of $10,000-$25,000 per day, per violation.

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