CONTROL OF ALT- DO NOT DELETE

CONTROL OF ALT- DO NOT DELETE: Yesterday’s “alternative reality” regarding “lap dancer” Monica Alves’ conviction and incarceration for the murder of Kimberly Washington Cohen elicited a few emails ranging in response from “ah, I knew it all the time” all the way to “you’re nuts- and irresponsible to boot Parx”.

But the one from KPD Blue author Anthony Sommer- who covered the trial from start to finish as the then Honolulu Star Bulletin Kaua`i Bureau Chief- needs to be put on the record.

Tony wrote:

As you know, you passed this information on to me about a month ago and, while I'm very dubious, anything is possible (if not probable) on Kauai and if the claim is true it would make a good article or addition to the book.

I covered the murder trial of Monica Alves and Mitch Peralto from start to finish.

Never once did she claim she was in police custody at the time of the abduction or at the time of Kimberly Washington's subsequent (she was alive when they put her in the car, according to the witnesses) death by suffocation.

That would have been the perfect alibi and easy to prove because the KPD does keep records (getting to see them is another matter).

But it never was raised.

She, of course, had a right to refuse to testify (and she didn't) but her attorney could have called police officers who arrested her and released her and produced records of her arrest and release.

In fact, the prosecutor has a duty to provide the defense attorney that information even if it isn't requested. I've known the prosecutor in that case for about 25 years (he used to practice in Phoenix before he moved to Kauai) and he is a very ethical fellow. He certainly knew he was required to turn over any evidence that would help the defense.

Never happened. The issue of Alves being in custody at the time simply was not raised.

Nor has it been raised on appeal (seems like a good basis for an "ineffective assistance of counsel" argument if it is true).

I gave you permission to pass along my email address to whoever Rob is. Even if he doesn't have it, I live in Phoenix (as is noted in the book) and I have a listed phone number (always have had).

If Rob can come up with some records (booking slips are public record and KPD actually produces them on request) or the statements or even names of KPD officers who arrested her, there may be something worth looking into here.

But, if not, I don't give any credibility to an unsubstantiated claim from an anonymous source.

The normal ebb and flow of the political tides on Kauai are bizarre enough without having to play "What if?"

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Honolulu Advertiser government correspondent Derrick DePledge had an interesting take today on the “announcement”- or lack threrof- that OIP Director Paul Tsukiyama has left his post.

But Derrick had more to say about the New World Order and Tsukiyama’s resignation.

He wrote:

Not only do we have local bloggers who hate the Mainstream Media, now national bloggers, who hate the Mainstream Media even more deeply, are branching out into our territory.

The Post & Email, a Connecticut-based Web site which describes itself as “a new media initiative of American patriots,” was apparently the first to report that Paul Tsukiyama has left as director of the state Office of Information Practices.

Really? We couldn’t help but comment on that saying:

Actually in a roundabout way Mike Levine of The Garden Island first reported it last week by mentioning the "acting director "Kathy Takase" in an article about our infamous ES-177. I've been putting off reporting on it myself being busy with another more local topic this week.

And I'm not anti MSM- just extremely critical of the lazy lack of enterprise journalism and "he said she said" reporting without good followup,,, present company excluded of course Derrick

Tsukiyama’s departure could very well have something to do with the Hawai`i Supreme court decision regarding the case of County of Kaua`i vs. OIP where the county sued the OIP over an order to release minutes of an executive session a few years back.

The OIP claimed that the regulatory scheme set out by the legislature- and stated in the legislative committee report on the UIPA- says that the OIP has final say over release of records specifically to avoid having agencies suing each other all the time.

The 5th circuit found that the releasable parts were "irretrievably intertwined" with the attorney client privileged part and therefore ruled against OIP and the ICA and SC agreed without much comment.

This leaves the OIP even more of a “toothless tiger” than ever- their “opinions” on record requests under the UIPA (HRS 92F) as well as sunshine law (HRS 92 Sect 1) issues are now subject to suits by the involved agencies in circuit court and, according to the Levine article, Takase said the OIP will therefore not issue any more formal opinions and presumably serve only an advisory role in the future.

Tsukiyama fought hard through staff attorney Jennifer Z. Brooks to protect our sunshine and open records laws and would have led what is now a useless entity if he stayed on. I wouldn’t head an agency like that either.

Only the legislature can change this but I don’t see them addressing that what with all those important issues like denying civil rights and slashing social services and education budgets while making sure tax credits and other corporate welfare programs remain in place.

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And finally Joan Conrow attended the planning commission meeting Tuesday where they inexplicably refused to enforce the permit condition that requires that the burial council approve a burial plan in able for Joe Brescia’s to build his already built Naue monstrosity and has good write-ups in both her blog and an article in The Hawaii Independent.

Although we’re loathe to enter the fray in the comment column today we just had to say:

I’ve never seem the planning commission revoke a permit because the one of the conditions weren’t met, which is supposed to be what they are there for- to make and enforce conditions. Instead they extend or ignore them. Look at Coco Palms.

Remember the 30 years it took to get the Safeway bridge- and then the county “settled” so they could build their precious “coastal” bike path through the Safeway/Foodland parking lot and back across the busiest intersection on the island.

Where were all you “no bike path on he beach” protesters then? Maybe if you had woken up to what a sham the sleight-of-hand segmented EA process was when these other travesties were in their infancy instead of selfishly supporting and praising your dog path it might not have come to this- but I digress.

Brescia did not meet the condition that he get approval from the burial council, whatever the law is currently. flawed or not. That’s why Watanabe said “proceed at your own risk”. That’s why the petition was even able to be heard by the commission. The matter was entirely discretionary on the part of the commission and if they can’t enforce “reasonable” conditions- especially one as basic as burial council approval- then why have one. Ian and Imai could just rubber stamp them without the commission for all the enforcement they do.

If you wear the kings uniform you carry the king’s sword. Jimmy has discovered that. If they were really upset over the decision they were “forced” into they would fire Ian, which is their kuleana according to the charter. Instead they are King Bernard’s lackeys and do his bidding to keep the prestige of their appointments... truly a disgusting way to “serve”.

ALTERNATIVE REALITY

ALTERNATIVE REALITY: Monica Alves, the “lap dancer” we mentioned yesterday in providing a brief synopsis of the “concerted conspiratorial effort” to remove former Police Chief KC Lum was, as anyone who has read Chapter 3 of KPD Blue knows, later arrested and convicted of killing her niece Kimberly Washington Cohen.

The only version of “facts” that we’ve ever encountered are the official ones as author Anthony Sommer detailed in his Kaua`i best-selling book that we serialized here (see left rail) last year.

Until recently.

According to Sommer, after she was molested at the station house:

Alves sued the KPD and the county for sexual harassment and received a $250,000 settlement, a measure of how desperately Kauai County wanted (and still always wants) to avoid a potentially humiliating public civil trial.

Most of the money Alves was paid by Kauai County went up her nose and into her arms in the form of drug purchases.

The settlement contained a confidentiality agreement that was insisted on by Kauai County and that was totally illegal. Settlements paid by tax dollars are supposed to be public record.

But, there is much in Kauai County that is supposed to be public that Kauai County government keeps secret. And no one, certainly not the Hawaii news media, challenges Kauai County in court.

Shortly afterward, Alves and her husband Mitch Peralto were convicted of the brutal torture and murder of Alves’ niece, a KPD drug informant.

Four adults at the house where the victim was being held witnessed the couple beat, bind and gag Kimberly Washington Cohen, 23, and drive off with her in their car on July 11, 1997. The witnesses did nothing.

It was only later, when the owner returned home, that the police were called.

Apparently, Alves knew Washington Cohen was a confidential informant (although KPD records showed she never provided them any useful information) and believed she had tipped off the police. KPD vice officers had stopped Alves and searched her for drugs.

While beating Washington Cohen, Alves tried to seal her lips shut with fingernail glue, telling her, according to a witness, “You’re never going to be able to talk again.”

The four witnesses watched Alves and Peralto bind Washington Cohen’s arms, ankles and breasts, gag her mouth so tightly “her face was deformed,” duct-tape a blanket over her head and torso and drag her struggling into the back seat of their car and drive away.

The next day, police found the woman’s body in a shallow grave less than a mile from the house where she had been beaten. The cause of death was suffocation.

Alves, sobbing when she heard the guilty verdict, and Peralto were convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

If Monica Alves, from her prison cell, is aware of all the twisted turns KPD has taken ever since her arrest for lap dancing, she must be laughing at all of them.

That’s the official version. But last month on November 22 an unknown reader using the name “Rob” left a comment on Chapter 3 that, after careful consideration, we’ve decided to bring forth so our readers will see it.

It should be stressed that we have no idea if what (s)he says is true. As a matter of fact we have no reason to believe it is. However knowing Kaua`i and the state of the police department and judiciary- in terms of both things we’ve reported and things we cannot yet report because we’re still trying to sort out and confirm the “facts” in the allegations- it’s entirely within the realm of possibility and, all things considered, we equally have no reason to believe it’s false.

The three comments by “Rob” are followed by another anonymous comment from someone who calls him or herself “jake lee” and is addressed to “Rob”.

Again- the allegations contained in the comments below are fully unconfirmed and are the allegations of - for all intents and purposes- an anonymous reader and should not be taken as fact, only as an allegation that might be another version of Alves’ saga.

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Rob said...

Since I have gotten to know Monica Alves personally by meeting her in prison, I have become thouroghly (sic) convinced by her testimony and the huge amount of Police evidence that she is and was totally inocent (sic) of the murder of Kimberly.

That the police had the larger hand in the matter and that witnesses were bribed and/or threatend (sic) by the Kauai police for their testimonies.

Monica was in police custody before, during and after the murder occured (sic).

Police informants were in the house at the time of Monica's confrontation with Kimberly. They did nothing.

Monica had already left the house before Kimberly was abducted

Did the Police set the whole murder up to retaliate against Monica for winning her lawsuit against them for raping her?

Why were witnesses rewarded with money and a Harley Davidson motorcycle for their testimonies?
Rob
November 22, 2009 9:16 AM

Rob said...
Monica said to the Police when she was arrested "Why don't you arrest her too? She's the one who started the fight!" Monica did not know that Kimberly was abducted! or even missing when the police arrested Monica at her hotel. The car was taken in for evidence and thouroughly (sic) searched only to find absolutely no evidence of Kimberly's being in that car. Who was set up by whom?

November 22, 2009 9:59 AM

Rob said...
Coroners reports show timeline to coincide with Monica's incarceration time. It also show no evidence of glue substances as witnesses claim. Who set up Whom? Witnesses recieved (sic) rewards.
November 22, 2009 10:02 AM

jake lee said...
Hey Rob, i have known monica since 2000, and i know that she's locked up in pikeville ky. because i have been there. i also know that she is in for murder and kidnapping, originally without parole, and now with the courts blessing, with the chance of parole. the bottom line is, she wont get parole for at least 30 years from the time of incarceration, which means 2028! let her go my friend, let her go.

December 9, 2009 12:31 AM

A “CONCERTED CONSPIRATORIAL EFFORT”?

A “CONCERTED CONSPIRATORIAL EFFORT”?: A few years back the Kaua`i County Council finally discovered the best way to manipulate the dialogue before the cameras during what some of them call “the show” by taking required testimony on agenda items before and only before their discussions and then, if it’s embarrassing, finding a way to deflect it- often by answering a different question or addressing a different topic than the testimony raised.

Never was that more in evidence than at the last council meeting when the subject of former Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) Chief KC Lum’s lawsuit against the county was addressed.

Council watchdog Glen Mickens had the temerity to state that the persecution and dismissal of Lum was a “concerted conspiratorial effort” which, as the local newspaper’s Michael Levine reported, was met with vehement denials by two of the Minotaur’s gate keepers, Councilmembers Darryl Kaneshiro and Jay Furfaro, and the bone-gnasher himself Chair Kaipo Asing.

But what those who read the article or watched the cablecast of the meeting might have missed was the slight of hand on the council’s part in addressing, not the agenda item detailing an appropriation to fight the Lum lawsuit- which was struck down again in federal court at the 9th circuit level days before, apparently unbeknownst to the council at the time- but the separate somewhat related case of ES-177 which was “won” by the county weeks ago in Hawai`i Supreme Court.

The smoke and mirrors, hocus-pocus was because the charge of there having been a “concerted conspiratorial effort” to get rid of Lum would be difficult if not impossible to deny by anyone who really followed the saga from start to finish.

The first thing about the 9th Circuit decision that should be noted is that they did not rule that there was no conspiracy to get rid of Lum in general, just that it wasn’t race based.

As reported in another article- this one on the 9th Circuit decision itself- the court specifically said:

Lum and attorney Clayton Ikei failed to show former county Finance Department Director Michael Tresler acted with conspiracy based on racial bias when Tresler canceled Lum’s employment agreement (emphasis added)

The second important thing was that the decision was based on the “fact” that former Police Commission Chair Michael Ching showed bias in the hiring of Lum, based on a Board of Ethics (BOE) case that was enforced by the county council after a BOE “trial” of Ching which was held behind closed doors at Ching's behest.

It should be noted that fellow Police Commissioner Carol Furtado was brought up on the same charges of favoritism but chose a public hearing of her case resulting in an acquittal, most observers believe, because it was held in the open.

But looking at the whole sad story it would have been truly absurd for the council to claim that there was no concerted conspiratorial effort in Lum’s firing.

Let’s remember how it happened concerning at least two pertinent events.

The whole business started when former Councilperson and former KPD Officer Mel Rapozo came onto the council along with now Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho, both of whom held a grudge against Lum for events in their past.

Rapozo had been in the room during the infamous “lap dancer” molestation incident and Lum was the lieutenant on duty that night. When Officer Darla Abbatiello- who later sued and won a suit for harassment against the department and county- burst into Lum’s office and told him what was happening down the hall, Lum had no choice but to report the incident- something Rapozo and others to this day claim resulted in the firing of the “three good officer” who molested the “lap dancer” and the resignation of Rapozo who, supposedly, “just” stood by watching and laughing.

Iseri’s grudge came from a party she was hosting at Lydgate Park pavilion where the level of noise and boisterousness was such that a complaint was filed and Lum was the responding officer. A drunken Iseri, then a deputy prosecutor, confronted Lum when he came a second time to tell her to break it up and she always held a grudge based on the incident according to multiple sources.

Then came ES-177 and, according to an OIP letter to County Clerk Peter Nakamura during the back and forth about releasing the minutes, Rapozo went off on the whole department, especially Lum, detailing what he saw as injustices.

Rapozo obviously thought no one would ever know what he said since no executive session minutes had ever been released by the council- a fact still true today. Since it would have been embarrassing to the newly elected Rapozo had the minutes been released Chair Asing took the opportunity to try to corral the “maverick” Rapozo and hang the ES content over his head, assuring compliance with Asing's wishes and machinations over the next two council terms whenever Rapozo’s enthusiasm got in the way or “rocked the boat” as Asing is fond of saying.

It was in fact Asing who filed the charges with the BOE against Lum, at first on council letterhead and then, when he realized the whole council had never approved such a charge and that it would have indeed been an ethics violation to use his office to file the complaint against Ching, he said he made a “mistake” and said he was filing as a private citizen.

But the real heart of the conspiracy occurred at the mayor-appointed, council-confirmed BOE. The Ching case was heard by a retired Maui judge in secret and the secret report was given to the BOE. But while the report the BOE released to the council seemed to indicate that Ching had indeed used his position to secure a special privilege for Lum that wasn’t what the full report indicated.

Citizen activist Richard Stauber came before the council during the council’s session held to approve the BOE report and had a copy of the full report in which the judge essentially said that nothing untoward had happened and actually exonerated Ching although he did allow the county attorney’s office to write up the summery judgment which is what the council considered without officially seeing the whole report.

Saying a “little bird dropped (the full document) in my widow” Stauber tried to present it to the council as part of his testimony. But the council, perhaps fully aware of the content and not wanting the full report to become part of the public record, actually not only refused to accept the document and but when Stauber placed it on their table they instructed staff to physically give it back to Stauber.

Though the document was presented to the then council-beat reporter for the local newspaper Lester Chang- whose writing skills bordered on incompetence and who was widely known for his kow-towing to Asing and his penchant for trying to please the council- he refused to report on or even mention the additional data making sure that the general public never heard about the full report.

Finally a reluctant Mayor Bryan Baptiste, who originally really wanted the whole thing to just go away but later came to see which way the wind was blowing, joined the conspiracy apparently instructing Finance Director Michael Tressler- who was reward with a cushy. do-nothing vice-presidency at a big local land owner Grove Farm- to terminate Lum’s contract, resulting in Lum’s retirement because if he had allow himself to be “fired” as chief it could have resulted in him losing his seniority and thus pension.

Many other little oddities occurred during the time, mostly related to Police Commissioner Leon Gonsalves’ “hop sing” letter.

That bled over into the Lum persecution which also involved supporters of current Police Chief Darryl Perry including his brother, prominent attorney Warren Perry, and the leadership of the police union SHOPPO along with others in the administration who had begun to understand that their support of Lum might lead to consequences such as when another officer was disciplined for circulating a petition supporting Lum.

Soon the silence in support of Lum was deafening and no one was left to say boo when he was canned.

We certainly haven’t covered all the elements of the conspiracy here. To find out more details, if you’ve never read former Honolulu Star Bulletin Kaua`i Bureau Chief Anthony Sommer’s book KPD Blue (see left rail) it’s about time you did. And if any of the names or terms seem unfamiliar you can cut and paste them into the search box at the top of the page to see our past coverage.

What’s perhaps most galling about last Wednesday’s council “show” was the little conspiracy in the room and the way councilmembers browbeat and intimidated Mickens because, although he sat through the whole debacle along with Sommer and PNN, he might not always be as quick with his wits and as ready for confrontation as we might be had we been there and been given the opportunity to say what we’ve said here.

So pick on someone your own size Kaipo, Jay and Darryl. Anytime, any place we’d be not just glad but elated to debate any or all of you on the topic of the “concerted conspiratorial effort”. No?- well your silence is deafening, especially given your treatment of other who may be less articulate when they appear before you and your avoidance of people who can verbally hold their own.

We feel that Lum made a mistake in trying to make the whole case about racial/ethnic discrimination rather than a general wrongful termination. We also feel like his attorney Clayton Ikei didn’t serve him well in the various courts. Since it’s doubtful Lum has the money to continue the fight it seems that the county’s victory at the three-judge-panel level of the federal 9th Circuit will stand.

To claim there was no conspiracy in general to reverse the hiring of Lum- who would have been approved by the commission even without Ching's vote- unfortunately serves as a lesson to those who might enter the Minotaur’s labyrinth- have your wits about you and sword drawn even when the dark is as dark as can be, lest you serve as grist for the bonemill.

GOING ROGUER

GOING ROGUER: Although we are pretty obsessive about keeping up with local and statewide news reports- not as much for the content but for what kind of pabulum we’re being fed- we do miss things.

But we’re pretty sure that the 2010 plans of Linda “Stepford Wife” Lingle isn’t among them.

She’s been rumored to be movin' on up to the east side of the country in the event the Democrats continue to screw up their unscrew-up-able 2008 mandate to end the war and reverse the constitution shredding and her Republicans take over once again. It would be understandable if she skips town taut suite in ’10 considering what all but the most knee-jerk of partisan GOPers know to be a corruption-plagued comically inept administration-by-press-conference.

But there are those who think she will yet challenge Sen. Dan Inouye who’s up for rubber-stamping next November or even try to fill the seat Congressperson Neil Abercrombie is vacating to run for her term-limited office.

That’s why it’s strange that apparently no one in the horse-race obsessed corporate press seemed to notice a Lingle-penned column that ran in our local Kauai paper this weekend.

After a few paragraphs of self promotional blather Lingle writes quite unequivocally “I want the people of Hawai`i to know that I will not be seeking another elected office in 2010”.

Now it’s understandable in that when 99% of readers saw the headline “Continuing the Journey” and the byline in the newspaper or read the “tease” on-line saying “(f)or the past seven years, it has been my honor and privilege to serve as Governor of our great State of Hawai`i”, they rolled their eyes and went on to the next story.

No one wants to read the usual kind of self congratulatory crap, revisionist history or politically-tone-deaf proposals that she is famous for- probably not even the local editors who took a “plop it in the newshole” approach to the copy.

It’s a well-worn political PR tactic to go to the smallest 'burb in the constituency for a “soft” announcement of somewhat embarrassing news and the expected “well she couldn’t win a race for dogcatcher these days” response could well have motivated Lingle to keep the news a bit spongy.

Unless we missed it in the Honolulu papers expect to see her announcement that she’s going fully lame-duck to permeate the MSM pretty soon.

Either way, the news we won’t have Ding-A-Lingle to kick around anymore can’t come a moment too soon.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

R-E-S-P-E-C-T: The “old boys club” on Kaua`i is certainly not the province of a single gender anymore. The phrase is merely an anachronistic remnant of he days when only boys would and could be boys.

Today, regardless of gender, any jerkwad who has the self-initiative to step forward and “wrestle with the pigs” for a few years- developing a reputation for being willing to do and say just about anything to defend the privilege of the higher-ups by deflecting and absorbing the not-so-outrageous slings and arrows of public outrage at their future cronies' corruption- can live the dream of a becoming a “made man”- or woman... a mid-level “untouchable” as activist Ray Chuan used to call them.

But that doesn’t mean that they or their benefactors don’t still live in the dark ages when it comes to the on-the-job treatment of women- especially those that don’t respect the system that protects the protected and spits out dissidence.

A year ago this week we reported on the lawsuit of “Kaua`i Bus” driver Kathleen M. Ah Quin who has sued the Kaua`i Transpiration Agency- specifically, Executive on Transportation Janine Rapozo- for what appears to be a pervasive hostile atmosphere toward women at the agency.

As we wrote at the time:

Just as appalling as the actual discrimination is the fact the lawsuit was filed only because a year went by after Ah Quin’s filing of Hawai`i Civil Rights Commission (HCRC) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints without any attempt by the county to respond or even attempt to investigate the charges.

Then in April we reported on the case of former long time Deputy County Attorney Margaret (Hanson) Sueoka who has filed an EEOC complaint that has so far has resulted in the county attorney’s securing of $50,000 from the council to defend the charge. Her case remains under seal with the county apparently having responded to the EEOC case, unlike when Ah Quin’s case was ignored.

But the county still apparently hasn’t learned to respond to EEOC cases before they become lawsuits- where the specific details are publicly made available- and they apparently still haven’t learned much about responding to on-the-job sexual harassment claims or doing anything to stop them before they begin... much less disciplining the harassers.

These cases and others over the years however pale in comparison to the case of Kristan C. Hirakawa who, in a lawsuit filed in US District Court, alleges that even though she had won her 2001 EEOC case against the county while working for, surprise-surprise the Kaua`i Police Department (KPD), when the county, as required by the settlement, “reassigned” her to the Liquor Commission, she was further harassed at her new job.

The original filing had apparently never seen the light of reporting because EEOC complaints are considered confidential under federal law and are therefore exempt from the state’s sunshine and open records laws. The EEOC does however issue “Right to Sue” letters giving “permission” for a suit to arise from the complaint if the defendant doesn’t “settle” during the EEOC phase as it appears happened in Hirakawa’s current case.

According to the lawsuit filed through her attorneys, former state Attorney General Margery S. Bronster and local attorney Daniel G. Hempey:

(p)reviously, in approximately 2001, Plaintiff was employed as a dispatcher for the Kauai Police Department when she was sexually harassed by a co-worker. Plaintiff filed a Charge of Discrimination with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). As a result of the previous case, Plaintiff suffered serious physiological injury due to the sexual harassment, improper response to her legitimate complaint and loss of privacy that was inflicted on her while working in the Kauai Police Department. The matter settled without admitting fault.

Defendant County of Kauai agreed to identify and assist Plaintiff with obtaining another County job as a result of settlement negotiations in the previous case. Ultimately, Plaintiff obtained employment at the Kauai County Liquor Commission.

But that didn’t stop her new supervisor, Dexter Shimatsu, from continuing the typical cycle of sexual harassment followed by retaliation for whistle-blowing or the county’s, not just indifference but, apparently active aiding and abetting of Shimatsu’s actions

According to the suit,

(Hirakawa’s) situation within the Kauai County Liquor Commission remained relentless as the discrimination and harassment increased to the point of disabling her with severe emotional distress. Per doctor's orders, she has stopped working as a result, and remains unable to work in her County job due to the Defendant's failure and/or refusal to properly address the discrimination, harassment and retaliation she has suffered in the workplace.

We could characterize or pick and edit only the highlights of the sordid details but, with no space limitation and the fact that the allegations in the suit paint such a good portrait of Shimatsu and the county’s specific alleged actions- including the county attorney’s office’s alleged failure to investigate the EEOC claim and their decisions to rather fight it without any inquiry- we will print the pertinent section of the “Predicate Facts” contained in the suit.

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Predicate Facts 9-36

The County of Kauai, obviously aware of Plaintiffs previous case and emotional condition, placed her in a workplace with a known sexual harasser as a co-worker and a supervisor with no prior training in sexual harassment law. On information and belief, the County of Kauai has consistently failed to meet its legal obligations to identify and prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

Upon relocation to the Kauai County Liquor Commission, Plaintiff was immediately subject to offensive conduct on the basis of her sex. Her supervisor, Dexter Shimatsu, made sarcastic comments about sexual harassment to Plaintiff, often alluding to her history of having made a sexual harassment complaint. Shimatsu complained to Plaintiff that he had to order all of the posters [of scantily clad women] removed from the workplace because the "County made me hire you."'

During the course of her employment Plaintiff was often the subject of ridicule, sexual innuendo, sexual emails and insults from her supervisor. Shimatsu called her holistic medical practitioner a "witch doctor", and wrote an email to her saying: Use your common sense...I think you'll stay healthy...Oh yeah, and sleep with your clothes on. You could catch a cold, the flu and get pregnant without your clothes on...all bad ailments.

Shimatsu's demeaning conduct continued. After Plaintiff entered her baby into a contest (which she did not win), Shimatsu left a newspaper clipping of the winning baby in her mail bin where all her co-workers could see it. Above the picture of the winning mother and baby Shimatsu wrote a note saying: I really think the baby won because the mother was cute. With that in mind, you really need to do something about yourself...so your baby can win. Your baby did her part by being cute... it's now up to you.

In May 2007, Shimatsu called Plaintiff into his office to tell her he heard from someone that her boyfriend was getting deployed to the Middle East. He stated, "You should buy your boyfriend a lot of condoms because there are a lot of prostitutes where he'll be stationed." He followed up in an email saying he doesn't think there are really prostitutes there.

At work the sexual harassment was incessant. Shimatsu continued degrading Plaintiff calling her such names as "tonta," meaning slow, dumb or stupid, and "shibai." Shimatsu made insolent comments about Plaintiff when she made a mistake but did not treat her co-workers rudely.

When she requested vacation time to care for her four month-old baby, Shimatsu responded in a memo stating: Your request for Vac/ Ct...was approved after much discussion...Lady, you give me a headache... always asking for special treatment as a female. I kind of feel its sexual harassment and should look into it. I think that's the only way I'm going to get rid of this nasty headache...what you think?

Plaintiff noted that other employees were not subject to insolent comments when asking for time off.

On another occasion, Shimatsu emailed to Plaintiff a photo of an attractive female dressed only in a tiny, diamond studded bikini. Shimatsu typed "You Wish" on the email before sending the email to Plaintiff from his work computer.

Plaintiff was unable to be in such a virulent environment where working meant being in constant dialogue with the perpetrator. She took leave on a disability claim. She sought medical help and counseling because of the harassment and discrimination at the Kauai County Liquor Commission. Under direction of Plaintiffs medical providers, she was not allowed to resume working while the harasser remained there or until the situation had been corrected.

In June of 2007, Plaintiff reported the sexual harassment to the County and sought disability leave from work.

The County did not pay on Plaintiffs disabilities claim and did not separate her from Shimatsu.

The County has failed to properly respond to or address the alleged sexual harassment complaint raised by Plaintiff.

The County broke its own County policy on sexual harassment as promised to Plaintiff and other County employees in a number of respects. First, the County promises that complaints of sexual harassment will be investigated within two weeks time. No timely investigation was done in Plaintiff's case. Secondly, County policy promises that the findings and results of an investigation into a complaint of sexual harassment will be made available to the complainant. The results of any investigation into sexual harassment have still not been made available to Plaintiff. And thirdly, County policy promises that corrective action will be taken when a County employee suffers from sexual harassment. On information and belief, no such corrective action has been taken.

Upon information and belief, the County's policy on sexual harassment in the workplace was intended to comply with applicable law.

Furthermore, the County ignored State and Federal law regarding the matter being pursued. The County instead protected the accused, her supervisor Shimatsu, offering no remedial action to Plaintiff and failing to conduct even a basic investigation for several months.

In many cases, County policy directs employees to report allegations of sexual harassment to the Office of the County Attorney to ensure, among other things, that the County acts in compliance with State and Federal law. However, in this case, the Office of the County Attorney chose to arbitrarily dispute Plaintiff's claim without adequate investigation and contrary to State and Federal law.

Upon information and belief, the County used a woman with no prior training or experience in sexual harassment investigations to perform the investigation of Plaintiffs complaint of sexual harassment.

A few months later, Plaintiff, through counsel, asked the Office of the County Attorney if she could have the results of its investigation(s) in Plaintiff's report of sexual harassment. The request was made pursuant to Haw. Rev. Stat. Ch. 92F et seq. (The Hawaii Public Records Act), but the Office of the County Attorney failed and/or refused to provide the results of the investigation to Plaintiff's attorney.

In August 2007, the County contacted Plaintiff and informed her that an interview was forthcoming, but it wasn't until September 14, 2007 when Ann Wooten, the chosen investigator, interviewed Plaintiff.

On information and belief, the County never asked Shimatsu if the Plaintiffs allegations against him were true.

The investigation was only performed after Plaintiff's disability pay had expired. The County left Plaintiff, a single mother of two, in a precarious financial position because of the delay in investigating her complaint and the lack of corrective action taken.

Plaintiff remains unable to resume working in direct contact with the same supervisor. Her accumulated losses approximate $50,000.00 even after mitigating wages lost by securing lower-paying employment. Her new position pays significantly less than her employment with the County.

The aforesaid events have changed the course of Plaintiff's life and career.

Plaintiff has complied with the administrative procedural requirements for maintaining a civil action for discrimination on the basis of sex and for retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. Plaintiff filed the aforesaid charges with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions, and the EEOC has made a determination of cause to believe that the alleged sexual harassment occurred.

On November 13, 2008 the EEOC found that "The Commission's investigation determined that there is reasonable cause to believe that Charging Party was subjected to sexual harassment because of her sex, female."

Thereafter the EEOC issued a "Right to Sue" letter and Plaintiff, and timely filed this action with 90 days of issuance of her Right to Sue letter, issued on March 3, 2009.

At all relevant times herein, the acts of the County were undertaken within the course and scope of Plaintiff's employment.

DAT’S ONE DEAD PUPPY

DAT’S ONE DEAD PUPPY: Once upon a time a man named Kevin took over operations of a public cesspool after the previous overseer had done too good a job of keeping the stink away from our noses. The new guy quickly named himself King of the Dung Heap and decided that, with no experience, he would start digging around, flailing way at the pipes with a dull pickaxe and digging a deeper hole in his own warped image, leaving a messy open sewage pit- know as the current state of the state elections bureau.

So the resignation (thanks to Larry Geller for the apparent only posting of the letter) of Chief Elections Officer Kevin “King” Cronin comes with no element of sorrow- only a sense of dismay and disgust at the prospect of cleaning up his mess.

Our coverage of the, to be chartable, “foibles” of this arrogant boob has been extensive from the first inking of screw-ups to come with his having “forgot” to file to vote upon appointment, through his arrogant assent to royal “I am the state” status with his “because I said so” rulings in the Kirk Caldwell fiasco at the filing deadline- as we beat to death here, here, here, here, here and here- followed by our two takes on his “reckless disregard (for) procurement laws” in choosing to issue a long term contract for an expensive. inferior set of voting machines, which led to our still exclusive report regarding his part in a race discrimination suit in his only previous job semi-related to elections which occurred during his tenure in Wisconsin.

But perhaps the most annoying and ultimately arrogant thing in his resignation letter is this statement, as reported extensively by some media outlets without mention of his screw ups – most notably on the “that’s-what-passes-for-News-Now” conglomeration of TV stations- was how “smoothly” the 2008 elections ran.

Seems no one remembers the absurdly confusing changes and the unneeded “check box”
for party selection in the primary that more than likely led to unnecessarily voided votes and an unusual (see second entry)- and later found to be manipulated- number of spoiled ballots and overvotes.

Then of course there was Cronin’s “rules are for suckers” debacle as we examined a few times and, although there are finally new, or we should say some, administrative rules up for approval- after Cronin was forced to provide them when he lost yet another law suit resulting from his egotism and pomposity- it’s anyone’s guess if they will actually fix the underlying problems over the potential for neighbor island vote flipping and other issues resulting from his penchant for pulling rulings out his, uh, ear.

We were calling for Cronin’s resignation last August and now that it’s come a year and a half too late it’s particularly unsatisfying given the absolute mess he left and, the not just the lack of any shovel but, a concerted effort by the governor and legislature to deny use of any implement to dig our way toward conducting an election in less than a year.

We’ll probably have moments when we wish we still had the prince of prevarication to kick around but today isn’t one of them.

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We’ve got some real- and outside- world things to take care of tomorrow and Friday so we’ll dispense with our agoraphobic activities until Monday unless we get some 28 hour days.

WHERE DO THE HUSKIES GO?

WHERE DO THE HUSKIES GO?: When we first heard that former mayoral candidate Rolf Bieber was appointed to the Kaua`i Board of Ethics (BOE) and heard he was seeking to clean up this town a la Marshall Dillon our world-weary, seen-it-all, smart-ass response was a decidedly satirical “good luck Chuck”.

So it’s with more than a little surprise that today the local newspaper’s Mike Levine has reported that one of the worst offenders of the charter’s ban on board and commission volunteers appearing before the county government on behalf of private interests while serving on other boards of commissions, Lorna Nishimitsu, has joined one her associates, Jonathan Chun, in resigning her Board of Review position.

It comes on the heels of course of the BOE’s decision to advise former Charter Review Commissioner (CRC) Mattie Yoshioka that she was in violation of the charter, despite a previous opinion clearing Chun who also served on the CRC.

But Nishimitsu- who has cut her teeth defending some of the more scummy developers and landowners for old boy network charter member attorney Walton Hong’s firm before moving on to Graham’s more “respectable” jerkwad-representing law corporation- had an interesting parting shot directed at the weasels on the ethics board that are also themselves in violation but have yet to resign.

After the perfunctory resignation her letter goes on to say:

“On a final note, however, please consider the irony that some of the authors of the Advisory Opinion (who, like myself, have appeared before other boards, commissions, agencies or the Council on matters unrelated to their duties as board or commission members) apparently intend to continue to serve on the Board of Ethics.”

That would be Mark Hubbard. Lei Fuller and Judy Lenthall all of whose stories have been well documented in this space.

Well, better late than never although, as with Chun, it’s a little disconcerting that their “boss” Mike Belles is a former county attorney who, by his silence in allowing them to work on cases before the county council, has also apparently been complicit in allowing the whole back-scratching county system to develop and pervade.

It’s sounding hollower and hollower each time the crony-corralling Office of Boards and Commissions Administrator John Isobe repeats County Attorney Al Castillo’s handwringing over, as Levine reports, some purported “chilling effect, causing a mass exodus of county volunteers” if the charter were enforced.

Are they implying that the tens of thousands of Kaua`i denizens who are unconflicted aren't “board and commission material”– and that the few hundred well connected revolving door beneficiaries apparently are- simply because they lack a rubber stamp- or more often, can’t be paid off to do the mayor’s bidding with a favorable decision by a fellow beneficiary.

But looking beyond the mucky muck and his campaign supporters would take a mayor who appoints people based on what they know, not who they know, a concept that when suggested to most people causes a short silence before rip-roaring roll-on-the-floor laughter erupts.