LIFERS: The expression "it's not what you know, it's who you know" goes double in small towns. But on Kaua`i it's exponentially so since government and private enterprise connections double back on themselves like a game of "Pong" with an infinite number of balls bouncing back on themselves when they reach the shoreline.
So when we read that former Prosecuting Attorney Mike Soong and Horner Bailbonds owner Darrell Horner got the contract to operate their new Jailhouse Pub & Grill at the old 19th hole of the county owned and run Wailua Golf Course- right across from the local pokey- it raised a few red flags as to how they got the contract and why they thought they could make it work when all others had gone broke... especially given that the county has been pouring taxpayer cash into the supposedly self-sustaining golf course, in large part because, according to Parks and Rec leaders and councilmembers, they're not getting what they should be out of the post-play-property.
But it didn't take long to find at least some of the answers to those questions when a local newspaper article revealed that:
After taking over the space, which needed a lot of work, Soong said inmates from the correctional center’s work furlough program came on three Saturdays and helped clean the place up.
“By the time they left, everything was sparkling,” Soong said at the pub on Monday.
The operators also are interested in hiring inmates with kitchen experience once they’ve been released.
Huh? It's been no secret and a thorn in the side of many a vocal taxpayer that apparently inmates have been forbidden from working as road crews or working on other county and state facilities.
But seemingly Soong and Horner know whose you-know-what to you-know-what to get free labor.
The question of how other entrepreneurs can get the same kind of deal from the hoosegow honcho Warden Neal Wagatsuma aside, is there anyone who doesn't think they traded on their criminal justice insider status to get to him loosen up the chains enough to help a couple of long time associates?
It would be nice to think that maybe the county might now be able to stop pouring millions a year into the golf course's "enterprise fund" and stop subsidizing a "nice to have", but don't "need to have" recreational facility which by law is supposed to pay for itself.
That assumes that somehow the new management will be a whole lot more successful than the old one. But trading on their insider status for free labor sounds a little to comfy... for anywhere but Kaua`i.
As they say, we ain't saying- we're just sayin'....
Showing posts with label County Corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label County Corruption. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
COME HELL OR HIGH BONG WATER
COME HELL OR HIGH BONG WATER: No one seems to know for sure what will happen this afternoon when the appointed time for Councilmember Mel Rapozo’s and County Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho’s anti-marijuana rally comes around.
But only two things seem certain at press time- a bunch of counter demonstrators will likely show up and so will Mel Rapozo.
The rest is a subject for the Babooze Comedy Hour starring the Keystone Cops.
The curtain opened with Act 1 this morning at 10:36 when the Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) issued the following fishy sounding press release.
Anti-drug rally cancelled
LĪHU'E – An anti-drug rally that was scheduled at 4 pm this afternoon in front of the Historic County Building has been cancelled due to the threat of flash flooding for Kaua`i County.
A flash watch is in effect for Kaua`i and Ni`ihau through tomorrow morning.
The rally was planned to raise awareness and inform the community of the pending marijuana legislation now being considered by the state Legislature.
It’s not clear if anyone bought that excuse after our article yesterday exposed the use of county resources to plan the rally and an order from Iseri that attendance was “mandatory” for her staff attorneys and, ahem, strongly encouraged for the rest of the staff... with a suggestion that they “rearrange” their “schedule” to attend.
But in Act 2, at 12:23 p.m.- less than couple of hours after the first release- it disappeared from the county’s press release page, replaced with the following release, this one from the office of County Attorney Al Castillo:
Update on anti-drug rally
LĪHU'E – County officials said this morning that they received a complaint from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) regarding the anti-drug rally that was scheduled at 4 pm this afternoon in front of the Historic County Building.
“We are in receipt of the ACLU complaint and my office is reviewing it,” said County Attorney Alfred Castillo.
The rally was cancelled due to the complaint and for safety concerns due to the threat of flash flooding for Kaua`i County.
A flash watch is in effect for Kaua`i and Ni`ihau through tomorrow morning.
The rally was planned to raise awareness and inform the community of the pending marijuana legislation now being considered by the state Legislature.
Oh to be a fly on the wall to witness all that went into that release.
But Act 3 was on it’s way and at 1 p.m. a “Breaking News” update appeared at the local newspaper’s web site from new cops and court reporter Jessica Musicar with a headline of “Rapozo: Anti-drug rally still a go”
Musicar wrote:
Is it canceled or isn't it?
Whether an anti-drug rally will be held at 4 p.m. remains unclear, as the county and a member of its council have indicated conflicting answers.
Kaua`i County Council member Mel Rapozo, who said he originally scheduled the rally, plans to show up at the historic County Building with other participants, regardless of the county's notice of cancellation. The rally was intended to raise awareness and inform the community about pending marijuana legislation under consideration by the state Legislature.
This morning, however, the county canceled the rally, citing a weather warning. It later noted this afternoon in a press release that the cancellation is also tied to a complaint from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Rapozo said he is upset that the county was hiding behind the weather.
"To use the weather as an excuse is unacceptable," Rapozo said. "The reason for the cancellation wasn't the weather. It was the ACLU's concerns."
Although the county has not specified the nature of the complaint, stating only that County Attorney Alfred Castillo is reviewing it, Rapozo said the organization took issue with the county using public resources to host the rally.
Acting as a citizen of the county, rather than a councilman, Rapozo added he will be at the rally with church and youth groups...
We can see it now. Since county employees and any solicited attendees- like the island’s pastors and their minions who Rapozo urged to attend- most likely had heard about the “official” cancellation and the counter demonstrators- especially those who read the local newspaper on-line where, in the comments column, the protest was originally organized- probably either haven’t heard or heard Rapozo will be there, we expect to see Mel facing down a group of pissed off citizens.
.
But in all seriousness canceling the anti-pot-party after a complaint from the ACLU cannot be allowed to be where this ends. We urge a full investigation by at least the attorney general’s office if not the FBI- since of course KPD and the prosecutor are the alleged “perps”- as well as ethics complaints against Chief Darryl Perry whose underlings organized the KPD’s involvement, Councilmember Rapozo and, especially, Prosecuting Attorney Iseri... all of whom are or should be well aware of the laws.
It’s high time to take a page from the prosecutor’s playbook and make an example of those involved so that this type of thing never happens again.
But only two things seem certain at press time- a bunch of counter demonstrators will likely show up and so will Mel Rapozo.
The rest is a subject for the Babooze Comedy Hour starring the Keystone Cops.
The curtain opened with Act 1 this morning at 10:36 when the Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) issued the following fishy sounding press release.
Anti-drug rally cancelled
LĪHU'E – An anti-drug rally that was scheduled at 4 pm this afternoon in front of the Historic County Building has been cancelled due to the threat of flash flooding for Kaua`i County.
A flash watch is in effect for Kaua`i and Ni`ihau through tomorrow morning.
The rally was planned to raise awareness and inform the community of the pending marijuana legislation now being considered by the state Legislature.
It’s not clear if anyone bought that excuse after our article yesterday exposed the use of county resources to plan the rally and an order from Iseri that attendance was “mandatory” for her staff attorneys and, ahem, strongly encouraged for the rest of the staff... with a suggestion that they “rearrange” their “schedule” to attend.
But in Act 2, at 12:23 p.m.- less than couple of hours after the first release- it disappeared from the county’s press release page, replaced with the following release, this one from the office of County Attorney Al Castillo:
Update on anti-drug rally
LĪHU'E – County officials said this morning that they received a complaint from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) regarding the anti-drug rally that was scheduled at 4 pm this afternoon in front of the Historic County Building.
“We are in receipt of the ACLU complaint and my office is reviewing it,” said County Attorney Alfred Castillo.
The rally was cancelled due to the complaint and for safety concerns due to the threat of flash flooding for Kaua`i County.
A flash watch is in effect for Kaua`i and Ni`ihau through tomorrow morning.
The rally was planned to raise awareness and inform the community of the pending marijuana legislation now being considered by the state Legislature.
Oh to be a fly on the wall to witness all that went into that release.
But Act 3 was on it’s way and at 1 p.m. a “Breaking News” update appeared at the local newspaper’s web site from new cops and court reporter Jessica Musicar with a headline of “Rapozo: Anti-drug rally still a go”
Musicar wrote:
Is it canceled or isn't it?
Whether an anti-drug rally will be held at 4 p.m. remains unclear, as the county and a member of its council have indicated conflicting answers.
Kaua`i County Council member Mel Rapozo, who said he originally scheduled the rally, plans to show up at the historic County Building with other participants, regardless of the county's notice of cancellation. The rally was intended to raise awareness and inform the community about pending marijuana legislation under consideration by the state Legislature.
This morning, however, the county canceled the rally, citing a weather warning. It later noted this afternoon in a press release that the cancellation is also tied to a complaint from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Rapozo said he is upset that the county was hiding behind the weather.
"To use the weather as an excuse is unacceptable," Rapozo said. "The reason for the cancellation wasn't the weather. It was the ACLU's concerns."
Although the county has not specified the nature of the complaint, stating only that County Attorney Alfred Castillo is reviewing it, Rapozo said the organization took issue with the county using public resources to host the rally.
Acting as a citizen of the county, rather than a councilman, Rapozo added he will be at the rally with church and youth groups...
We can see it now. Since county employees and any solicited attendees- like the island’s pastors and their minions who Rapozo urged to attend- most likely had heard about the “official” cancellation and the counter demonstrators- especially those who read the local newspaper on-line where, in the comments column, the protest was originally organized- probably either haven’t heard or heard Rapozo will be there, we expect to see Mel facing down a group of pissed off citizens.
.
But in all seriousness canceling the anti-pot-party after a complaint from the ACLU cannot be allowed to be where this ends. We urge a full investigation by at least the attorney general’s office if not the FBI- since of course KPD and the prosecutor are the alleged “perps”- as well as ethics complaints against Chief Darryl Perry whose underlings organized the KPD’s involvement, Councilmember Rapozo and, especially, Prosecuting Attorney Iseri... all of whom are or should be well aware of the laws.
It’s high time to take a page from the prosecutor’s playbook and make an example of those involved so that this type of thing never happens again.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
AN OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE
AN OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE: Today’s idiotic rally against marijuana took a well deserved bashing today from new and surprisingly enough competent cops and courts reporter at the local newspaper, Jessica Musicar, with an especially poignant “kicker” saying “Expert calls county press release ‘fear-mongering’” above a headline of “Kaua`i officials to rally against pot legislation.”
Joining her expert in questioning the sanity of the organizers was a letter (last one) in today’s Honolulu paper from Pamela G. Lichty, President of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii and, more surprisingly, the usually vapid local paper’s Greek Chorus which was joined by many new names and nearly unanimous- with 66 out of 67 comments and counting at press time (*see some below)- in condemning not just the reason for the rally but the propriety of government officials conducting the rally and other related issues.
We’re not sure whether it will materialize but many of the commenters promised to go down to the rally to mock and ridicule the participants.
Though the Musicar’s article claims that “the demonstration is being led by the Kaua`i Police Department, County of Kaua`i Anti-Drug Program, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, among others” PNN has learned that, unsurprisingly, the “reefer madness” rally is the brain child (and we use that term loosely of course) of none other than Councilperson Mel Rapozo and his joined-at-the-hip, equally-craven doppelganger, Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho.
Seems that the idea for the rally got started when the babooze-meister himself sent a letter to as many pastors and religious leaders on the island as he could find asking them to rouse up their rabble to oppose the scourge of marijuana.
But, we’ve learned, not only are they urging government workers to attend but Iseri has notified the salaried attorneys in her office that attendance at the rally is “mandatory.” And, told the rest of the staff that they should “rearrange your schedule” to attend or if they couldn’t, to go after work, intimating that they were being offered time off to attend on the taxpayer’s dime.
These are the same staff that Iseri begged- and got- extra pay for recently in order to take care of a so-called “backlog of cases” that built up during the county furloughs, as we reported last week.
We’re not sure how many others in county government have been offered a similar “deal” but we wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the answer is every single one of them.
It’s outrageous enough that that the Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) and Prosecutor Iseri are, instead of simply enforcing the law, trying to tell the legislature what laws to enact. It’s even more outrageous that they would use the club of employment to force their underlings to support them, even if the employee disagreed with the “war on drugs,”- especially for as innocuous a drug as marijuana, especially compared to other drugs- as a misguided effort whose mid-20th Century mindset has run its course (according to the U.S. Justice Department).
The ultimate outrage is that Iseri has demanded some attend her stupid rally and used the bribery of time off- and/or the extortion of an implied threat that further employment might be jeopardized- to make sure they are marked present.
The lies about what goes on in California are abominable. The conflict of interest in supporting a big money ticket for the police and prosecutors- who not only receive grants for eradication and interdiction but get to keep the proceeds of their seizures for extra goodies that they can't ask the council for- is obscene.
The idea that they are using their position to try to stop a sane decriminalization policy toward general use and a saner still policy in providing a safe and legal means for patients who require medical marijuana is sickening.
But to do it all on the taxpayers’ dime is intolerable.
-------
*Here are a selection of the comments on the article in the local paper. All are “sic.”
hampstr: I lived in Venice, California, about 3 blocks from 2 medical marijuana clinics. There was never any violence or crime associated with either of the clinics. These claims are so ludicrous that I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. It's not 1964 anymore. It's 2011 and we all know that marijuana doesn't doesn't lead to riots in the streets.
Jinx138: I have a problem with people publicly opposing or supporting anything in uniform. This falsly sugestes that they are speeking for the whole organization when they are only speaking for themselves.
sebastaloha: You should sit outside the dispensary here in town...the patients are from all walks of life, all ages, all socio-economic classes. There are no bars on the windows, no hardcore security thugs, and no fear of ripoff or prosecution. Its right in town, amidst all other businesses....they are well respected, and the neighboring businesses have no problems with them either. The city council backs them, and is involved in forming the rules and regulations that they abide by. No using the medicine on or around the premises, and if you have it acceessible in your vehicle you can be ticketed for open-container just as alcohol. Educate ourselves and your children
stop the lies: The police and prosecuting attorney are marching against pot, it is quite simple, they are afraid to lose their job. If we the people decide to decriminalize pot, how can they justify what they do for a living.
Sensei: Since when do government officials organize protest rallies against the government? The Constitution gives that right to the PEOPLE. These selfish government employees are afraid of not showing enough convictions to merit their employment. Our prisons are filled with these minor drug users, costing us taxpayers millions of wasted money.
ltereader: This article reminds me of Reefer Madness. Are we seriously still in the 30s?.. Over the years I've seen pot work wonders with those in pain, or undergoing chemotherapy (no nausea), and even a senior with parkinson's. Smoking pot stopped the shaking long enough for him to regain some dignity and eat a meal on his own rather than being fed by others. Sadly, he was always paranoid about smoking it because of the laws. People like this should be entitled to smoke without worrying!
kekaha dave: disinformation aka. the "reefer madness" propaganda machine of kpd, with them discrediting the DARE program with outright lies to children regarding the use of cannabis, medical or not, is due to them being threatened by the loss of federal funding for green harvest which has been shoring up their inflated budget for years. helicopters do nothing to fight the devastating ice problem which is the paramount drug problem on kauai. it is reprehensible and pathetic that a state agency formed to uphold the law, steps outside the bounds of their job description and attempt political influence against necessary law referendums. it shows that they are biased in their job, fearful of loosing that job while uninterested in the needs of patients, to the point they need to demonstrate against pending law reform. the police are going down a slippery slope towards discrediting themselves for what they will demonstrate for is irrelevant to the reality of 8,000+ patients' needs. to protect and serve?
AiMoKea: (M)y sister-in-law was dying of cancer a few years back and the ONLY thing that gave her comfort was MJ. I SAW it work for her and have been pro-medical MJ ever since and also feel very strongly that those who spew the false propaganda against it are truly ignorant on the highest (pardon the pun) level.
Joining her expert in questioning the sanity of the organizers was a letter (last one) in today’s Honolulu paper from Pamela G. Lichty, President of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii and, more surprisingly, the usually vapid local paper’s Greek Chorus which was joined by many new names and nearly unanimous- with 66 out of 67 comments and counting at press time (*see some below)- in condemning not just the reason for the rally but the propriety of government officials conducting the rally and other related issues.
We’re not sure whether it will materialize but many of the commenters promised to go down to the rally to mock and ridicule the participants.
Though the Musicar’s article claims that “the demonstration is being led by the Kaua`i Police Department, County of Kaua`i Anti-Drug Program, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, among others” PNN has learned that, unsurprisingly, the “reefer madness” rally is the brain child (and we use that term loosely of course) of none other than Councilperson Mel Rapozo and his joined-at-the-hip, equally-craven doppelganger, Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho.
Seems that the idea for the rally got started when the babooze-meister himself sent a letter to as many pastors and religious leaders on the island as he could find asking them to rouse up their rabble to oppose the scourge of marijuana.
But, we’ve learned, not only are they urging government workers to attend but Iseri has notified the salaried attorneys in her office that attendance at the rally is “mandatory.” And, told the rest of the staff that they should “rearrange your schedule” to attend or if they couldn’t, to go after work, intimating that they were being offered time off to attend on the taxpayer’s dime.
These are the same staff that Iseri begged- and got- extra pay for recently in order to take care of a so-called “backlog of cases” that built up during the county furloughs, as we reported last week.
We’re not sure how many others in county government have been offered a similar “deal” but we wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the answer is every single one of them.
It’s outrageous enough that that the Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) and Prosecutor Iseri are, instead of simply enforcing the law, trying to tell the legislature what laws to enact. It’s even more outrageous that they would use the club of employment to force their underlings to support them, even if the employee disagreed with the “war on drugs,”- especially for as innocuous a drug as marijuana, especially compared to other drugs- as a misguided effort whose mid-20th Century mindset has run its course (according to the U.S. Justice Department).
The ultimate outrage is that Iseri has demanded some attend her stupid rally and used the bribery of time off- and/or the extortion of an implied threat that further employment might be jeopardized- to make sure they are marked present.
The lies about what goes on in California are abominable. The conflict of interest in supporting a big money ticket for the police and prosecutors- who not only receive grants for eradication and interdiction but get to keep the proceeds of their seizures for extra goodies that they can't ask the council for- is obscene.
The idea that they are using their position to try to stop a sane decriminalization policy toward general use and a saner still policy in providing a safe and legal means for patients who require medical marijuana is sickening.
But to do it all on the taxpayers’ dime is intolerable.
-------
*Here are a selection of the comments on the article in the local paper. All are “sic.”
hampstr: I lived in Venice, California, about 3 blocks from 2 medical marijuana clinics. There was never any violence or crime associated with either of the clinics. These claims are so ludicrous that I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. It's not 1964 anymore. It's 2011 and we all know that marijuana doesn't doesn't lead to riots in the streets.
Jinx138: I have a problem with people publicly opposing or supporting anything in uniform. This falsly sugestes that they are speeking for the whole organization when they are only speaking for themselves.
sebastaloha: You should sit outside the dispensary here in town...the patients are from all walks of life, all ages, all socio-economic classes. There are no bars on the windows, no hardcore security thugs, and no fear of ripoff or prosecution. Its right in town, amidst all other businesses....they are well respected, and the neighboring businesses have no problems with them either. The city council backs them, and is involved in forming the rules and regulations that they abide by. No using the medicine on or around the premises, and if you have it acceessible in your vehicle you can be ticketed for open-container just as alcohol. Educate ourselves and your children
stop the lies: The police and prosecuting attorney are marching against pot, it is quite simple, they are afraid to lose their job. If we the people decide to decriminalize pot, how can they justify what they do for a living.
Sensei: Since when do government officials organize protest rallies against the government? The Constitution gives that right to the PEOPLE. These selfish government employees are afraid of not showing enough convictions to merit their employment. Our prisons are filled with these minor drug users, costing us taxpayers millions of wasted money.
ltereader: This article reminds me of Reefer Madness. Are we seriously still in the 30s?.. Over the years I've seen pot work wonders with those in pain, or undergoing chemotherapy (no nausea), and even a senior with parkinson's. Smoking pot stopped the shaking long enough for him to regain some dignity and eat a meal on his own rather than being fed by others. Sadly, he was always paranoid about smoking it because of the laws. People like this should be entitled to smoke without worrying!
kekaha dave: disinformation aka. the "reefer madness" propaganda machine of kpd, with them discrediting the DARE program with outright lies to children regarding the use of cannabis, medical or not, is due to them being threatened by the loss of federal funding for green harvest which has been shoring up their inflated budget for years. helicopters do nothing to fight the devastating ice problem which is the paramount drug problem on kauai. it is reprehensible and pathetic that a state agency formed to uphold the law, steps outside the bounds of their job description and attempt political influence against necessary law referendums. it shows that they are biased in their job, fearful of loosing that job while uninterested in the needs of patients, to the point they need to demonstrate against pending law reform. the police are going down a slippery slope towards discrediting themselves for what they will demonstrate for is irrelevant to the reality of 8,000+ patients' needs. to protect and serve?
AiMoKea: (M)y sister-in-law was dying of cancer a few years back and the ONLY thing that gave her comfort was MJ. I SAW it work for her and have been pro-medical MJ ever since and also feel very strongly that those who spew the false propaganda against it are truly ignorant on the highest (pardon the pun) level.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
OPAQUE- AND PROUD OF IT
OPAQUE- AND PROUD OF IT: We don’t know what we’d do for source material if it wasn’t for the local newspaper’s now ubiquitous Leo Azambuja whose reports today added more confusion to that caused by his recent muddled coverage.
Today was a two-fer with the primary article on the preliminary hearing in the Anahola murder case that he apparently attended, missing facts and even quotes that somehow the Honolulu Advertiser “staff” bylined article- apparently written from their offices- contain regarding future witnesses yet to testify in the continued hearing.
And when the secondary article, based on an interview with the victim’s father, gets to the meat of the article- a description of what allegedly actually occurred- it’s completely unattributed. Though many may assume it was part of the narrative from the father assumptions can always get you in trouble.
But although it’s easy to blame the newspaper and the Azambuja’s amateurism for the community’s “what the heck is going on here?” attitude toward the Anahola murder and other cases, people's ire should really be directed toward Mayor Bernard Carvalho.
We are in possession of an email from hizonnah to a constituent who, like the local newspaper and many others in the community (us included), has been focused on trying to get Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) its own public information officer (PIO) like any normal police department.
Although he has been tight lipped on the subject until now, in the email Carvalho out and out rejects the idea in favor of the current practice of controlling every bit if information that comes out of the administration through his “Communications Team”.
The email, in full, reads:
I appreciate your continued concern and support for the Kaua`i Police Department. I can assure you that the present arrangement provides the Kaua`i Police Department 24/7 access to our Communications Team, including support at the scene of an incident if that is requested by KPD. I would challenge anyone to come up with an instance where a call from KPD to one of our Communications Team members was not immediately picked up or returned within minutes of the call. This happens in the evening, on weekends, holidays and furlough days.
Information received from KPD is turned around by members of our communications team quickly in the form of a draft for review by KPD personnel. There is never a release, quote or other information relating to KPD that is not first scrutinized and approved by KPD senior personnel before being released to the media – including the quote that you reference in your email.
Again, I appreciate your concern and can only assure you that KPD is well-served by three competent, experienced, and well-trained individuals who are fully committed to serving the needs of our police department as well as satisfy the public’s need to know to the greatest extent possible.
Mahalo,
Mayor Carvalho
As most know, Carvalho’s “team” is headed by political operative Beth Tokioka who has tightly controlled the messages from the last three administrations.
It’s not about the timeliness of what is released. It’s about the amount and type and general lack of information the public receives about crimes committed on the island.
Carvalho’s rampant paranoia has not only resulted in the lack of information that normally would be released by a police department to calm the citizenry but it flouts the intent of having a police force that is supposed to be out of the normal political control of the administration- as evidenced by the fact that the Kaua`i Police Commission is solely responsible for oversight of KPD.
It’s all part of his petty-vindictive, politically-motivated, commend-and-control style of management that has become the most insulated and corrupt Kaua`i administration in memory- and that’s saying a lot.
The local newspaper can take their share of the blame for less than coherent reporting. But unless and until KPD has its own professional PIO within its ranks Kaua`i will continue to get the mushroom treatment by being kept in the dark and fed bullsh*t.
-------
Clarification: Although we can’t see how, a few people somehow got the impression yesterday that we are a part of the new “For Kaua`i” newspaper. We have not been asked and so far, are not. Sorry if we some how caused any confusion.
And the link we provided didn’t work- the correct one is here.
Today was a two-fer with the primary article on the preliminary hearing in the Anahola murder case that he apparently attended, missing facts and even quotes that somehow the Honolulu Advertiser “staff” bylined article- apparently written from their offices- contain regarding future witnesses yet to testify in the continued hearing.
And when the secondary article, based on an interview with the victim’s father, gets to the meat of the article- a description of what allegedly actually occurred- it’s completely unattributed. Though many may assume it was part of the narrative from the father assumptions can always get you in trouble.
But although it’s easy to blame the newspaper and the Azambuja’s amateurism for the community’s “what the heck is going on here?” attitude toward the Anahola murder and other cases, people's ire should really be directed toward Mayor Bernard Carvalho.
We are in possession of an email from hizonnah to a constituent who, like the local newspaper and many others in the community (us included), has been focused on trying to get Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) its own public information officer (PIO) like any normal police department.
Although he has been tight lipped on the subject until now, in the email Carvalho out and out rejects the idea in favor of the current practice of controlling every bit if information that comes out of the administration through his “Communications Team”.
The email, in full, reads:
I appreciate your continued concern and support for the Kaua`i Police Department. I can assure you that the present arrangement provides the Kaua`i Police Department 24/7 access to our Communications Team, including support at the scene of an incident if that is requested by KPD. I would challenge anyone to come up with an instance where a call from KPD to one of our Communications Team members was not immediately picked up or returned within minutes of the call. This happens in the evening, on weekends, holidays and furlough days.
Information received from KPD is turned around by members of our communications team quickly in the form of a draft for review by KPD personnel. There is never a release, quote or other information relating to KPD that is not first scrutinized and approved by KPD senior personnel before being released to the media – including the quote that you reference in your email.
Again, I appreciate your concern and can only assure you that KPD is well-served by three competent, experienced, and well-trained individuals who are fully committed to serving the needs of our police department as well as satisfy the public’s need to know to the greatest extent possible.
Mahalo,
Mayor Carvalho
As most know, Carvalho’s “team” is headed by political operative Beth Tokioka who has tightly controlled the messages from the last three administrations.
It’s not about the timeliness of what is released. It’s about the amount and type and general lack of information the public receives about crimes committed on the island.
Carvalho’s rampant paranoia has not only resulted in the lack of information that normally would be released by a police department to calm the citizenry but it flouts the intent of having a police force that is supposed to be out of the normal political control of the administration- as evidenced by the fact that the Kaua`i Police Commission is solely responsible for oversight of KPD.
It’s all part of his petty-vindictive, politically-motivated, commend-and-control style of management that has become the most insulated and corrupt Kaua`i administration in memory- and that’s saying a lot.
The local newspaper can take their share of the blame for less than coherent reporting. But unless and until KPD has its own professional PIO within its ranks Kaua`i will continue to get the mushroom treatment by being kept in the dark and fed bullsh*t.
-------
Clarification: Although we can’t see how, a few people somehow got the impression yesterday that we are a part of the new “For Kaua`i” newspaper. We have not been asked and so far, are not. Sorry if we some how caused any confusion.
And the link we provided didn’t work- the correct one is here.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
GLAD WE DIDN’T STEP IN IT
GLAD WE DIDN’T STEP IN IT: A guy walking down the street at night comes upon another guy down on his hands and knees, searching the ground underneath a streetlamp. The second guy asks the first guy what he’s doing and he says he’s looking for his keys.
“Where’d you lose them?” he asks
“Down there in the middle of the block,” the first guy replies, pointing
“Then why are you looking here?”
“Because the light is better.”
Such is apparently the logic of new County Auditor Ernie Pasion who, if an article in the local newspaper has its facts straight- a big “if” these days with little lost boy Leo Azambuja on the government beat- has turned the best and brightest hope for shining a light on rampant administration corruption and incompetence via performance audits into a busy-work office rechecking old financial audits and assorted irrelevant minutia.
Rather than diving right into long standing, well documented, scandalous situations by examining departmental shortcomings- like the patronage system in the personnel office one of the subjects that the FBI has been investigating, or in public works where multifaceted corruption was instrumental in efforts that wound up in the creation of the office of the auditor itself and in the planning department where the director seems to be unable to enforce zoning laws to name a trio- Pasion, a long entrenched good old boy appointee of the council as Deputy County Clerk, has chosen things like auditing the work of the paid financial/fiscal auditors who present the council with yearly reports replete with required actions to rectify shortcomings, as required by law.
Rather than looking into the decades long scandal over discrepancies in the amount of asphalt used on our roads he’s going to look into one single “major road maintenance program performed in the previous year”.
The well reported performance problems and allegations of corruption in the Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) that triggered an attempt at council investigations in the past- and allegations that they continue today- is not on any list but the just completed fire station- which reportedly came in early and under budget- is scheduled for a look- see.
The fact that Pasion is quoted as saying he “will be analyzing implementation of the test projects, identifying successes and making recommendations when necessary” is more telling in what it doesn’t say- anything about identifying failures- than anything it does say... not to mention the “ making recommendation when necessary” part indicating that the likelihood of looking for, much less finding, anything that requires recommend changes wasn’t a likely part of the criteria for choosing a subject for audit.
The long and winding road to this latest attempt by the council to placate critics who bemoan their inability or unwillingness to hold administrations accountable while also assuring that shady administrative affairs are swept under the rug began more than a decade ago with the endless “Developers Gone Wild” hearings when the council decided to invoke section 3.17 of the county charter that enables the council to perform “investigations” in the only exception to the non-interference with administrative affairs clause provisions also in charter section 3.
But after first squabbling over how much money to appropriate then deciding which little trees in the Department of Public Works forest to investigate and finally a seemingly intentionally bungled attempt to set up rules for the investigation, many years later that effort morphed into a non-charter created in-house auditor.
After that one sat on the table unimplemented for another year or so the charter amendment creating a county auditor was finally proposed and accepted by voters- not as an independent much less elected position but as an office administratively attached to- and an individual appointed by- the council.
Worries about the lack of specific wording to stress performance audits and make sure the office was led by someone like take-no-prisoners State Auditor Marion Higa went unheard in the fake excitement over the false hope of holding the administration accountable.
So of course we are left with what appears to be a financial/fiscal auditor’s office and an auditor who has no accounting credentials whatsoever. Now they’re actually talking about hiring at least a CPA to do Pasion’s job for him.
What we’re stuck with is a financial rather than performance auditor of the already audited. The question is who is auditing the auditor?
“Where’d you lose them?” he asks
“Down there in the middle of the block,” the first guy replies, pointing
“Then why are you looking here?”
“Because the light is better.”
Such is apparently the logic of new County Auditor Ernie Pasion who, if an article in the local newspaper has its facts straight- a big “if” these days with little lost boy Leo Azambuja on the government beat- has turned the best and brightest hope for shining a light on rampant administration corruption and incompetence via performance audits into a busy-work office rechecking old financial audits and assorted irrelevant minutia.
Rather than diving right into long standing, well documented, scandalous situations by examining departmental shortcomings- like the patronage system in the personnel office one of the subjects that the FBI has been investigating, or in public works where multifaceted corruption was instrumental in efforts that wound up in the creation of the office of the auditor itself and in the planning department where the director seems to be unable to enforce zoning laws to name a trio- Pasion, a long entrenched good old boy appointee of the council as Deputy County Clerk, has chosen things like auditing the work of the paid financial/fiscal auditors who present the council with yearly reports replete with required actions to rectify shortcomings, as required by law.
Rather than looking into the decades long scandal over discrepancies in the amount of asphalt used on our roads he’s going to look into one single “major road maintenance program performed in the previous year”.
The well reported performance problems and allegations of corruption in the Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) that triggered an attempt at council investigations in the past- and allegations that they continue today- is not on any list but the just completed fire station- which reportedly came in early and under budget- is scheduled for a look- see.
The fact that Pasion is quoted as saying he “will be analyzing implementation of the test projects, identifying successes and making recommendations when necessary” is more telling in what it doesn’t say- anything about identifying failures- than anything it does say... not to mention the “ making recommendation when necessary” part indicating that the likelihood of looking for, much less finding, anything that requires recommend changes wasn’t a likely part of the criteria for choosing a subject for audit.
The long and winding road to this latest attempt by the council to placate critics who bemoan their inability or unwillingness to hold administrations accountable while also assuring that shady administrative affairs are swept under the rug began more than a decade ago with the endless “Developers Gone Wild” hearings when the council decided to invoke section 3.17 of the county charter that enables the council to perform “investigations” in the only exception to the non-interference with administrative affairs clause provisions also in charter section 3.
But after first squabbling over how much money to appropriate then deciding which little trees in the Department of Public Works forest to investigate and finally a seemingly intentionally bungled attempt to set up rules for the investigation, many years later that effort morphed into a non-charter created in-house auditor.
After that one sat on the table unimplemented for another year or so the charter amendment creating a county auditor was finally proposed and accepted by voters- not as an independent much less elected position but as an office administratively attached to- and an individual appointed by- the council.
Worries about the lack of specific wording to stress performance audits and make sure the office was led by someone like take-no-prisoners State Auditor Marion Higa went unheard in the fake excitement over the false hope of holding the administration accountable.
So of course we are left with what appears to be a financial/fiscal auditor’s office and an auditor who has no accounting credentials whatsoever. Now they’re actually talking about hiring at least a CPA to do Pasion’s job for him.
What we’re stuck with is a financial rather than performance auditor of the already audited. The question is who is auditing the auditor?
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
DON’T YOU WORRY YOUR PRETTY LITTLE HEAD ABOUT IT
DON’T YOU WORRY YOUR PRETTY LITTLE HEAD ABOUT IT: The cesspool of sexual harassment in Kaua`i county government is nothing new to our readers.
But worse than the harassment itself and the retaliation, has been the utter lack of attention to the pervasive problem and indeed active attempts to make the growing list of complainants just go away.
Today the county council will, most likely, compound the problem by going into executive session to hear about the cases and then give the okay to the county attorney’s office to fight two of the more prominent lawsuits, those of “Kaua`i Bus” driver Kathleen M. Ah Quin and former Kaua`i Police Department dispatcher and then Liquor Department employee Kristan C. Hirakawa who now is known as Kristan C Suniga.
Also outstanding is the case of Margaret Hanson Sueoka who has filed a case with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as we exclusively detailed in June of 2009.
Ah Quin’s case, which we reported in December of 2008 remains the same but Suniga case- which we exhaustively detailed in December of 2009- originally filed in federal district court, has now moved to state circuit court.
And while the original case alleged one of the more nauseating tales of harassment and retaliation – in two different jobs no less- and told of a distinct lack of interest on the part of the county, the new case is, if possible, even more unsettling with details of harassment by the county attorney’s office front and center.
Suniga’s story of harassment began in KPD where she won a different suit and as a result she was moved to the Liquor Department where it didn’t just continue but escalated under her boss Dexter Shimatsu.
Yet that was only the beginning.
According to the suit:
Instead of investigating and remedying Plaintiffs sexual harassment claim, the County instead protected the accused supervisor, Shimatsu, by offering no remedial action to Plaintiff and. failing to conduct even a basic investigation for several months. The County failed to conduct an unbiased investigation to this day.
That’s where the much maligned county attorney’s office came into the picture and, the suit alleges, it compounded the already outrageous treatment of Suniga.
The suit goes on to say:
In many cases, County policy directs employees to report allegations of sexual harassment to the Office of the County Attorney, which is charged with allegedly overseeing an unbiased investigation of the matter. Thus, the Office of the County Attorney is responsible both for the Human Resource function of ensuring independent investigations of complaints of sexual harassment for the protection of county employees, while at the same time the Office of the County Attorney must defend the County against claims of improper sexual harassment in the workplace. In Plaintiff's case, the Office of the County Attorney did not make good on the County's promise of a fair investigation and appropriate corrective action, but instead the Office of the County Attorney, in 2007, used its position of trust and responsibility to investigate Plaintiffs complaint of sexual harassment in an adversarial manner, designed to minimize liability to the County by casting doubt on Plaintiff's character and allegations. 28. In August of 2007, the County contacted Plaintiff and informed her that the County Would conduct a sex) harassment/hostile work place investigation based on Plaintiff's allegations. The County offered Plaintiff the choice of one of three investigators, without disclosing their relative training and experience investigating sexual harassment claims.
Given no information as to each proposed investigator's background, Plaintiff chose Ann Wooton ("Wooton") based on the fact that Wooton was the only female investigator offered by the County.
Wooton is a county-employed grant writer/social worker, with no prior training or experience in sexual harassment investigations. The Office of the County Attorney oversaw an investigation into Plaintiff's complaints that was so biased that the investigator did not even ask Shimatsu the most basic questions such as if he had sent the sexually harassing emails and memoranda Based on this sham of an investigation, Wooton then concluded the investigation by finding, among other things, that Plaintiff's allegations could not be substantiated due to a lack of evidence.
The suit alleges that it took two months for Wooton to even interview Suniga and that even though she was entitled to the results of the investigation under the state’s open records law, “the Office of the County Attorney remarkably responded that the investigation would not be produced because, inter alia, it was prepared in anticipation of litigation”.
As if that wasn’t enough the next episode described in the suit was truly frightening
In the fall of 2008, an unknown individual or individuals hacked into Plaintiffs financial accounts, social networking accounts and various retail merchant accounts. The hacker made unauthorized purchases on Plaintiff's credit cards, and created and posted documents and web-pages online that falsely suggested that Plaintiff was not unable to work for Defendant, but that she was instead making significant money by moonlighting or working for the private sector while she claimed to be suffering from a hostile workplace at the Liquor Department. The hacker(s) took various actions with regard to Plaintiff's accounts, which appear to be designed so as to discredit Plaintiffs claims against the County.
Plaintiff reported the series of unauthorized hacks into her accounts and expenditures on her credit cards to the Kauai Police Department However, on information and belief, the Kauai Police Department (the defendant in Plaintiff's former case) took a report, but otherwise has done nothing to investigate or solve Plaintiff's reports of identity theft. Thereafter, the County sought to use the fabricated documents manufactured by the hacker(s) against Plaintiff.
The suit’s narrative sums up Suniga’s situation by saying:
The County, through the actions of supervisor Shimatsu, the Office of the County Attorney in managing the response to Plaintiffs complaints, and the Kauai Police Department in refusing to respond to her police report, has left Plaintiff, a single mother of two, in a precarious financial position. Plaintiff's mental and physical health has suffered due to the County's action and inactions.
Plaintiff remains unable to resume working in direct contact with Shimatsu.
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 for retaliation under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 378 et. seq. Plaintiff dual filed the aforesaid charges with the United States EEOC and the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission ("HCRC"). The EEOC made a determination of cause to believe that the alleged sexual harassment occurred. On March 17, 2010 the HCRC issued Plaintiff the notice of right to sue.
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."
Plaintiff timely filed this action within 90 days of issuance of her right to sue letter from the HCRC issued on March 17, 2010.
The County retaliated against Plaintiff by: 1) having the Office of the County Attorney direct an incomplete and inadequate investigation into Plaintiff's complaint of sexual harassment; 2) the Kauai Police Department's failure to investigate Plaintiff's complaint that someone hacked into Plaintiffs financial accounts and misappropriated her image and personal accounts; and 3) failing to timely promote Plaintiff from Trainee to Investigator I despite Plaintiff receiving "More Than Satisfactory" ratings from Shimatsu.
Tomorrow, in granting the county attorney’s request for more money to fight rather than settle the two suits, the council will no doubt be adding another misdeed to the list.
----------
We’re taking tomorrow off and possibly taking a long weekend although we may get to post something Friday. If not we’ll be back Monday.
But worse than the harassment itself and the retaliation, has been the utter lack of attention to the pervasive problem and indeed active attempts to make the growing list of complainants just go away.
Today the county council will, most likely, compound the problem by going into executive session to hear about the cases and then give the okay to the county attorney’s office to fight two of the more prominent lawsuits, those of “Kaua`i Bus” driver Kathleen M. Ah Quin and former Kaua`i Police Department dispatcher and then Liquor Department employee Kristan C. Hirakawa who now is known as Kristan C Suniga.
Also outstanding is the case of Margaret Hanson Sueoka who has filed a case with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as we exclusively detailed in June of 2009.
Ah Quin’s case, which we reported in December of 2008 remains the same but Suniga case- which we exhaustively detailed in December of 2009- originally filed in federal district court, has now moved to state circuit court.
And while the original case alleged one of the more nauseating tales of harassment and retaliation – in two different jobs no less- and told of a distinct lack of interest on the part of the county, the new case is, if possible, even more unsettling with details of harassment by the county attorney’s office front and center.
Suniga’s story of harassment began in KPD where she won a different suit and as a result she was moved to the Liquor Department where it didn’t just continue but escalated under her boss Dexter Shimatsu.
Yet that was only the beginning.
According to the suit:
Instead of investigating and remedying Plaintiffs sexual harassment claim, the County instead protected the accused supervisor, Shimatsu, by offering no remedial action to Plaintiff and. failing to conduct even a basic investigation for several months. The County failed to conduct an unbiased investigation to this day.
That’s where the much maligned county attorney’s office came into the picture and, the suit alleges, it compounded the already outrageous treatment of Suniga.
The suit goes on to say:
In many cases, County policy directs employees to report allegations of sexual harassment to the Office of the County Attorney, which is charged with allegedly overseeing an unbiased investigation of the matter. Thus, the Office of the County Attorney is responsible both for the Human Resource function of ensuring independent investigations of complaints of sexual harassment for the protection of county employees, while at the same time the Office of the County Attorney must defend the County against claims of improper sexual harassment in the workplace. In Plaintiff's case, the Office of the County Attorney did not make good on the County's promise of a fair investigation and appropriate corrective action, but instead the Office of the County Attorney, in 2007, used its position of trust and responsibility to investigate Plaintiffs complaint of sexual harassment in an adversarial manner, designed to minimize liability to the County by casting doubt on Plaintiff's character and allegations. 28. In August of 2007, the County contacted Plaintiff and informed her that the County Would conduct a sex) harassment/hostile work place investigation based on Plaintiff's allegations. The County offered Plaintiff the choice of one of three investigators, without disclosing their relative training and experience investigating sexual harassment claims.
Given no information as to each proposed investigator's background, Plaintiff chose Ann Wooton ("Wooton") based on the fact that Wooton was the only female investigator offered by the County.
Wooton is a county-employed grant writer/social worker, with no prior training or experience in sexual harassment investigations. The Office of the County Attorney oversaw an investigation into Plaintiff's complaints that was so biased that the investigator did not even ask Shimatsu the most basic questions such as if he had sent the sexually harassing emails and memoranda Based on this sham of an investigation, Wooton then concluded the investigation by finding, among other things, that Plaintiff's allegations could not be substantiated due to a lack of evidence.
The suit alleges that it took two months for Wooton to even interview Suniga and that even though she was entitled to the results of the investigation under the state’s open records law, “the Office of the County Attorney remarkably responded that the investigation would not be produced because, inter alia, it was prepared in anticipation of litigation”.
As if that wasn’t enough the next episode described in the suit was truly frightening
In the fall of 2008, an unknown individual or individuals hacked into Plaintiffs financial accounts, social networking accounts and various retail merchant accounts. The hacker made unauthorized purchases on Plaintiff's credit cards, and created and posted documents and web-pages online that falsely suggested that Plaintiff was not unable to work for Defendant, but that she was instead making significant money by moonlighting or working for the private sector while she claimed to be suffering from a hostile workplace at the Liquor Department. The hacker(s) took various actions with regard to Plaintiff's accounts, which appear to be designed so as to discredit Plaintiffs claims against the County.
Plaintiff reported the series of unauthorized hacks into her accounts and expenditures on her credit cards to the Kauai Police Department However, on information and belief, the Kauai Police Department (the defendant in Plaintiff's former case) took a report, but otherwise has done nothing to investigate or solve Plaintiff's reports of identity theft. Thereafter, the County sought to use the fabricated documents manufactured by the hacker(s) against Plaintiff.
The suit’s narrative sums up Suniga’s situation by saying:
The County, through the actions of supervisor Shimatsu, the Office of the County Attorney in managing the response to Plaintiffs complaints, and the Kauai Police Department in refusing to respond to her police report, has left Plaintiff, a single mother of two, in a precarious financial position. Plaintiff's mental and physical health has suffered due to the County's action and inactions.
Plaintiff remains unable to resume working in direct contact with Shimatsu.
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 for retaliation under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 378 et. seq. Plaintiff dual filed the aforesaid charges with the United States EEOC and the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission ("HCRC"). The EEOC made a determination of cause to believe that the alleged sexual harassment occurred. On March 17, 2010 the HCRC issued Plaintiff the notice of right to sue.
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."
Plaintiff timely filed this action within 90 days of issuance of her right to sue letter from the HCRC issued on March 17, 2010.
The County retaliated against Plaintiff by: 1) having the Office of the County Attorney direct an incomplete and inadequate investigation into Plaintiff's complaint of sexual harassment; 2) the Kauai Police Department's failure to investigate Plaintiff's complaint that someone hacked into Plaintiffs financial accounts and misappropriated her image and personal accounts; and 3) failing to timely promote Plaintiff from Trainee to Investigator I despite Plaintiff receiving "More Than Satisfactory" ratings from Shimatsu.
Tomorrow, in granting the county attorney’s request for more money to fight rather than settle the two suits, the council will no doubt be adding another misdeed to the list.
----------
We’re taking tomorrow off and possibly taking a long weekend although we may get to post something Friday. If not we’ll be back Monday.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
COURTING DISASTER
COURTING DISASTER: Another day another charge of sexual harassment in government offices on Kaua`i this time at the state judiciary as reported in today’s local newspaper.
While the county has racked up at least three current sexual harassment suits- those of Kristan C. Hirakawa, Kathleen M. Ah Quin and Margaret (Hanson) Sueoka- as well as at least two thus far confidential Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) cases, every time we’ve reported on them we’ve heard from judiciary employees that the county’s penchant for hiring and protecting harassers is nothing compared to that of the state court system on Kaua`i.
So the suit against former Deputy Chief Court Administrator Ernest Barreira, comes as no surprise. The fact that he’s a “former” deputy and was, according to the suit, fired for his actions against Leanne Rosa speaks volumes as to the veracity of her claims as does the presence of a lawsuit which means that she has been granted “a right to sue” by the EEOC and the Hawai`i Civil Rights Commission (HCRC).
But, we thought, at least it’s not the county this time.
Until, that is, we read the penultimate paragraph in the newspaper story:
Barreira said in a brief telephone interview Monday that he is soon to begin a new job with the County of Kaua`i Department of Finance, as a procurement officer.
Are you freakin’ kidding? How many ways is that wrong?
First of all is the obvious liability given the guys history as a serial harasser as the suit alleges, which is exacerbated by the repeated failure of the county to do anything about it’s own complaints as we reported last December. The council has already appropriated untold dollars to fight the current suits and complaints and will probably be on the hook for huge settlements in some if not all of them.
But the question of how this guy got a civil service job in the finance department with a record of being fired and sued for harassment just further confirms the corrupt hiring practices of Malcolm “Mel” Fernandez’s Personnel Services Division as we’ve detailed here, here and here.
Looks like we’ll probably be paying for this too. Aren’t ya glad to be a Kaua`i taxpayer?
While the county has racked up at least three current sexual harassment suits- those of Kristan C. Hirakawa, Kathleen M. Ah Quin and Margaret (Hanson) Sueoka- as well as at least two thus far confidential Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) cases, every time we’ve reported on them we’ve heard from judiciary employees that the county’s penchant for hiring and protecting harassers is nothing compared to that of the state court system on Kaua`i.
So the suit against former Deputy Chief Court Administrator Ernest Barreira, comes as no surprise. The fact that he’s a “former” deputy and was, according to the suit, fired for his actions against Leanne Rosa speaks volumes as to the veracity of her claims as does the presence of a lawsuit which means that she has been granted “a right to sue” by the EEOC and the Hawai`i Civil Rights Commission (HCRC).
But, we thought, at least it’s not the county this time.
Until, that is, we read the penultimate paragraph in the newspaper story:
Barreira said in a brief telephone interview Monday that he is soon to begin a new job with the County of Kaua`i Department of Finance, as a procurement officer.
Are you freakin’ kidding? How many ways is that wrong?
First of all is the obvious liability given the guys history as a serial harasser as the suit alleges, which is exacerbated by the repeated failure of the county to do anything about it’s own complaints as we reported last December. The council has already appropriated untold dollars to fight the current suits and complaints and will probably be on the hook for huge settlements in some if not all of them.
But the question of how this guy got a civil service job in the finance department with a record of being fired and sued for harassment just further confirms the corrupt hiring practices of Malcolm “Mel” Fernandez’s Personnel Services Division as we’ve detailed here, here and here.
Looks like we’ll probably be paying for this too. Aren’t ya glad to be a Kaua`i taxpayer?
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
CANIS CANTANKEROUS
CANIS CANTANKEROUS: Having spent two years (and four days) at this daily, frothy-foamy hydrophobic-hysteria we’ve come to appreciate that people are entitled to their own opinions but they’re not entitled to their own facts.
That’s been pounded into our brain over and over as we’ve observed “the Kaua`i way of doing things” inexpertly performed by our various and sundry county entities- ones who are intent on not just reinventing the wheel but doing so to produce a square one derived through the limited self-interest of the individuals involved in the decision-making
The archetype of this warped behavior has been a Board of Ethics (BOE) made up of the ethically-challenged, carving out exemptions to conflict-of-interest laws for their own conflicts-of-interest with logic only the truly mentally-challenged could appreciated.
We’ve written extensively on the Kaua`i County Charter- section 20.02(d)- while a stream of dedicated citizens bang their heads against the wall and still the board continues to try to “carve out exceptions”, the latest for (run-to-the-dictionary) “eleemosynary” (it means charitable) activities.
But while we have felt like we were screaming in outer space someone in higher places was seemingly listening and today, in covering the latest machinations of the BOE, local newspaper reporter Mike Levine presented sections of a State Ethics Commission letter sent to him by State Senator Les Ihara that makes you wonder what these BOE dolts and their amateurish lawyers have been doing for the last year.
It states plainly what we’ve been writing in literally dozens of articles over the past two years- there is a purpose in the law that forbids county officials from appearing on behalf of private interests before county boards, commissions and agencies and it doesn’t matter what kind of cockamamie excuse you have for doing so... even if you are “doing good work”.
Levine writes:
In March 2003, the Hawai`i State Ethics Commission told Sen. Les Ihara (D-Kapahulu, Kaimuki, Palolo) that serving even as an uncompensated director of a non-profit corporation does create a “financial interest” because the Hawai`i Revised Statutes define that term to include directorship in a “business,” and define business to include a corporation, whether operated for profit or not.
“The term ‘financial interest’ pertains, of course, to having an actual monetary interest in a business, and so forth, but also includes situations where one is not receiving actual compensation or monetary gain, but the ‘interest’ in the matter is so strong as to reasonably have a possible effect upon one’s decision-making as a state official,” states the letter, provided unsolicited by Ihara to The Garden Island. It also identifies fiduciary responsibilities and the potential for a lawsuit as financial interests not generally considered by the general public.
“While such service may appear to be merely the providing of volunteer services as a good citizen, in reality, under the law, there are substantial and real financial interests that a member of the board of directors of a non-profit corporation has, whether the individual is compensated or not,” the letter concludes.
Though the state Ethics Commission is not really a controlling authority in that they rule on the activities of state officials, you’d think as a political subdivision of the state the county would take a hint- or at least check with the grownups on how they do it
The fact is that 20.02(d) is a direct challenge to the crony-crammed board and commission system that is populated by a politically connected cadre of corrupt colleagues, carefully chosen by Carvalho’s contemptuous cabal, concentrating on conniving and circumventing conventional codes of conduct.
The fact is that this “interpretive” rule is only needed for those who want to interpret the rule out of existence- it presupposes that they’re entitled to allow their opinions to drive the facts.
And when it comes to county governance that IS the Kaua`i way.
That’s been pounded into our brain over and over as we’ve observed “the Kaua`i way of doing things” inexpertly performed by our various and sundry county entities- ones who are intent on not just reinventing the wheel but doing so to produce a square one derived through the limited self-interest of the individuals involved in the decision-making
The archetype of this warped behavior has been a Board of Ethics (BOE) made up of the ethically-challenged, carving out exemptions to conflict-of-interest laws for their own conflicts-of-interest with logic only the truly mentally-challenged could appreciated.
We’ve written extensively on the Kaua`i County Charter- section 20.02(d)- while a stream of dedicated citizens bang their heads against the wall and still the board continues to try to “carve out exceptions”, the latest for (run-to-the-dictionary) “eleemosynary” (it means charitable) activities.
But while we have felt like we were screaming in outer space someone in higher places was seemingly listening and today, in covering the latest machinations of the BOE, local newspaper reporter Mike Levine presented sections of a State Ethics Commission letter sent to him by State Senator Les Ihara that makes you wonder what these BOE dolts and their amateurish lawyers have been doing for the last year.
It states plainly what we’ve been writing in literally dozens of articles over the past two years- there is a purpose in the law that forbids county officials from appearing on behalf of private interests before county boards, commissions and agencies and it doesn’t matter what kind of cockamamie excuse you have for doing so... even if you are “doing good work”.
Levine writes:
In March 2003, the Hawai`i State Ethics Commission told Sen. Les Ihara (D-Kapahulu, Kaimuki, Palolo) that serving even as an uncompensated director of a non-profit corporation does create a “financial interest” because the Hawai`i Revised Statutes define that term to include directorship in a “business,” and define business to include a corporation, whether operated for profit or not.
“The term ‘financial interest’ pertains, of course, to having an actual monetary interest in a business, and so forth, but also includes situations where one is not receiving actual compensation or monetary gain, but the ‘interest’ in the matter is so strong as to reasonably have a possible effect upon one’s decision-making as a state official,” states the letter, provided unsolicited by Ihara to The Garden Island. It also identifies fiduciary responsibilities and the potential for a lawsuit as financial interests not generally considered by the general public.
“While such service may appear to be merely the providing of volunteer services as a good citizen, in reality, under the law, there are substantial and real financial interests that a member of the board of directors of a non-profit corporation has, whether the individual is compensated or not,” the letter concludes.
Though the state Ethics Commission is not really a controlling authority in that they rule on the activities of state officials, you’d think as a political subdivision of the state the county would take a hint- or at least check with the grownups on how they do it
The fact is that 20.02(d) is a direct challenge to the crony-crammed board and commission system that is populated by a politically connected cadre of corrupt colleagues, carefully chosen by Carvalho’s contemptuous cabal, concentrating on conniving and circumventing conventional codes of conduct.
The fact is that this “interpretive” rule is only needed for those who want to interpret the rule out of existence- it presupposes that they’re entitled to allow their opinions to drive the facts.
And when it comes to county governance that IS the Kaua`i way.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
TRANSLUCENCY
TRANSLUCENCY: We mouth off a lot about the complete lack of transparency in county government and maintain it’s not just a matter of the buffoonish bungling of incompetent imbeciles but a concerted, concentrated effort by a cabal of connected, conniving cronies to treat citizens like mushrooms by keeping them in the dark and feeding them bullshit.
It not just the unfathomable need to delay and stonewall the release of documents or the penchant of board and commissions- including of course the county council- to jump into executive session to hide politically sensitive deliberations.
It’s the way even the most basic information is kept under wraps even in the information age.
Ever try to find a complete list and directory of all county employees or, more to the point under current scrutiny, the complete list of board and commission members at the county web site?
Don’t bother looking. There’s not a link to be found and the search box is, as anyone who has tried to use it will tell you, worthless.
But today, while researching one of the more persistent guards at the gates of the Minotaur’s labyrinth, up popped the county directory which, although outdated by many months, elicits at least the heads and deputies of all the various departments and agencies as well as the members of all boards and commissions.
We’re not sure that once we provide the pdf link it won’t magically change so we are posting it in full today so the next time you’re getting the all-American runaround- sending you from department to agency, from civil servant to appointed bureaucrat- you can use the search box at the top of this page to find the person, department, board or commissions you’re looking for.
Here’s the directory as of March 11, 2009 when it was last modified. Spelling of all words and names are as listed by CofK. Boards and Commissions are listed under the department to which they are administratively attached.
----------
COUNTY OF KAUAI
http://www.kauai.gov
4396 Rice Street
Lihue, Hawaii 96766
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
COUNTY COUNCIL (7) (12-01-10)
CHAIR..BILL "KAIPO" ASING (D) ....241-6371
Vice-chair.......Jay Furfaro (D)....... 241-6371
Council Members
Tim Bynum (D)....... 241-6371
Dickie Chang (D).... 241-6371
Daryl Kaneshiro (D).. 241-6371
Lani Kawahara (D) .... 241-6371
Derek Kawakami (D)......... 241-6371
County Clerk
Peter A. Nakamura ......... 241-6371
Deputy County Clerk.....Ernest Pasion.... 241-6371
FAX: 241-6349
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
Mo‘ikeha Building
4444 Rice Street, Suite 235
Lihue, Hawaii 96766
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
MAYOR ...BERNARD P. CARVALHO, JR. (D) ....(12-01-10) .. 241-4900
e-mail: mayor@kauai.gov
Administrative Assistant......Gary Heu.......... 241-4900
Executive Assistant..............Beth Tokioka ....241-4900
Executive Assistant..............Lani Nakazawa..241-4900
Administrative Aide ............Kaui Tanaka...... 241-4900
Public Information Officer ..Mary Daubert ... 241-4900
Staff Services Assistant .......Soncy Tamashiro 241-4900
FAX: 241-6877
Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator....Christina Pilkington... 241-6203
Anti-Drug Coordinator...Theresa Koki...... 241-4925
FAX: 241-5127
OFFICE OF BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS
4444 Rice Street, Suite 150, Lihue 96766
ADMINISTRATOR.....JOHN ISOBE ...... 241-4918
Administrative Aide ...Cyndi Ayonon ....... 241-4922
FAX: 241-5127
BOARD OF ETHICS (7)
Chair ...........Leila Fuller (12-31-10)
Vice-chair....Mark Hubbard (12-31-10)
Secretary .....Christiane Nakea-Tresler (12-31-10)
Members
.Rolf Bieber.......(12-31-09)
Robert Farias.....(12-31-10)
Judith Lenthall...(12-31-09)
Paul Weil.......... (12-31-11)
CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION (7)
Members
Barbara Bennett......... (12-31-09)
Jonathan Chun............(12-31-09)
Sherman Shiraishi......(12-31-11)
Carol Suzawa.............(12-31-11)
Leonard Vierra...........(12-31-10)
Matie Yoshioka......... (12-31-10)
__________________
COST CONTROL COMMISSION (7)
Chair ..........Tore Wistrom (12-31-09)
Vice-chair...Randy Finlay (12-01-10)
Members
Benjamin Bregman (12-31-09)
Nadine Nakamura (12-31-10)
Lorna Nishimitsu (12-31-11)
Sandy Sterker (12-31-11)
Michelle Swartman (12-31-09)
COMMITTEE ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
Chair ............Lisa Ellen Smith (12-31-11)
Vice-chair.....Regina Carvalho (12-31-11)
Secretary .....Uli‘i Castor (12-31-11)
Members......E. Kanani Alapa (12-31-10)
Mylie Alu (12-31-09)
Jade Battad (12-31-10)
JoAnne Georgi (12-31-09)
Cherie Mooy (07-31-09)
Ann Punohu (12-31-09)
Renee Sadang (12-31-11)
Valerie Yadao (12-31-09)
Ex-officio
Darla Abbatiello (Kauai Police Department)
Malcolm Fernandez (Personnel Director)
Peter Nakamura (County Clerk's Office)
Mamo Cummings Graham (State Commissioner)
SALARY COMMISSION (7)
Chair ......Gini Kapali (12-31-09)
1st Vice-chair...Randy Hee (12-31-11)
2nd Vice-chair...Thomas Cooper (12-31-11)
Members
Bob Crowell (12-31-10)
Trinette Kaui (12-31-11)
Dawn Murata (12-31-10)
Allan Smith (12-31-09)
AGENCY ON ELDERLY AFFAIRS
COUNTY EXECUTIVE ON AGING...KEALOHA TAKAHASHI....241-4470
FAX: 241-4499
CIVIL DEFENSE AGENCY
3990 Kaana Street, Suite 100, Lihue 96766
CIVIL DEFENSE ADMINISTRATOR..MARK MARSHALL ... 241-1800
Plans & Operations Officer ..Clifford Ikeda.....241-1800
FAX: 241-1860145
OFFICE OF THE COUNTY ATTORNEY
4444 Rice Street, Suite 220, Lihue 96766
ACTING COUNTY ATTORNEY ..DARREN SUZUKI... 241-6315
FAX: 241-6319
OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
4444 Rice Street, Suite 200, Lihue 96766
DIRECTOR....GEORGE COSTA..... 241-4946
Film Commissioner...Art Umezu ..... 241-4946
Energy Extension Coordinator ...Glenn Sato ..241-4946
Agriculture Specialist ..Charles W. Spitz ...... 241-4946
Tourism Specialist ..Nalani Brun ................... 241-4946
FAX: 241-6399
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
4444 Rice Street, Suite 280, Lihue 96766
DIRECTOR....WALLACE REZENTES, JR. ..... 241-4200
DEPUTY DIRECTOR .....BELMA BARIS ........ 241-6565
FAX: 241-6533
COUNTY BOARD OF REVIEW (5)
Chair ............Benjamin Lizama, Jr. (12-31-10)
Vice-chair.....Richard Koenig, Jr. (12-31-11)
Members
Craig DeCosta (12-31-11)
Cayetano "Sonny" Gerardo (12-31-11)
Eric Nordmeier (12-31-09)
FIRE DEPARTMENT
4444 Rice Street, Suite 295, Lihue 96766
FIRE CHIEF.....ROBERT WESTERMAN ....241-4980
DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF ....JOHN BLALOCK.... 241-4980
FAX: 241-6508
FIRE COMMISSION (7)
Chair ..........George Simpson (12-31-11)
Vice-chair...Darnney Proudfoot (12-31-10)
Members
Guy Croydon (12-31-10)
Basilio Fuertes (12-31-09)
Linda Kaauwai-Iwamoto (12-31-09)
Wayne Mukai (12-31-11)
Jan Rudinoff (12-31-09)
COUNTY OF KAUAI HOUSING AGENCY
DIRECTOR...EUGENE JIMENEZ.... 241-4444
Executive on Housing ....Kenneth Rainforth .... 241-4444
FAX: 241-4495
DEPARTMENT OF LIQUOR CONTROL
4444 Rice Street, Suite 120, Lihue 96766
DIRECTOR.....ERIC HONMA ....241-4966
FAX: 241-6585
LIQUOR CONTROL COMMISSION (7)
Chair ..........Clifford Nakea (12-31-11)
Vice-chair...Gerald Matsunaga (12-31-09)
Members
Shirley Akita (12-31-10)
William Gibson (12-31-10)
Gary Pacheco (12-31-11)
Myles Shibata (12-31-10)
Pauline Ventura (12-31-09)
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS & RECREATION
4444 Rice Street, Lihue 96766
DIRECTOR....LEONARD RAPOZO, JR. ... 241-4456
DEPUTY DIRECTOR .....KYLAN DELA CRUZ... 241-4456
FAX: 241-5126
DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL SERVICES
4444 Rice Street, Suite 140, Lihue 96766
DIRECTOR.......MALCOLM FERNANDEZ .... 241-4956
FAX: 241-6593
CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION (7)
Chair .........Rick Haviland, Jr. (06-30-09)
Vice-chair...Lani Aranio (12-31-10)
Members
Suzanne Aquiar (12-31-10)
Gilbert F. Maerina (12-31-10)
Ann Sokei (12-31-10)
Cathy Adams (12-31-11)
Ryan Dela Pena (12-31-09)
DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING
4444 Rice Street, Suite 473, Lihue 96766
DIRECTOR....IAN COSTA... 241-6677
DEPUTY DIRECTOR ..IMAI KALANI AIU...... 241-6677
FAX: 241-6699
HISTORIC PRESERVATION (9)
Chair/Architecture.....Patricia Sheehan (12-31-09)
Vice-chair/Hawaiian Culture .....Kaimi Molly Summers (12-31-11)
Members:
Archeology
Alan E. Faye, Jr. (12-31-10)
L. Kehaulani Kekua (12-31-09)
Architecture
Dennis Alkire (12-31-11)
__________________
Hawaiian Culture
Danita Aiu (12-31-11)
History
__________________
Planning
Randolph Wichman (12-31-09)
PLANNING COMMISSION (7)
Chair/Environmentalist ...James Nishida (12-31-10)
Vice-chair/Business .....Caven Raco (12-31-09)
Members:
At-Large
Camilla Matsumoto (12-31-09)
Business
Kurt Akamine (12-31-10)
Herman Texeira (12-31-10)
Environmentalist
Hartwell Blake (12-31-11)
Labor
Jan Kimura (12-31-11)
PUBLIC ACCESS, OPEN SPACE & NATURAL RESOURCES PRESERVATION FUND COMMISSION (9)
Chair/At-Large ........Roger Caires (12-31-11)
Vice-chair/At-Large...Caren F. Diamond (05-01-11)
Members:
Anahola-Haena .....Beryl Blaich (05-01-10)
At-Large....Johanna Gomez (12-31-10)
Hanapepe-Eleele..Jean Nishida Souza (05-01-09)
Kapaa-Wailua......Eugene Punzal (12-31-10)
Koloa-Kalaheo....Theresita Kinnaman (05-01-09)
Lihue-Hanamaulu...Puna Dawson (12-31-09)
Waimea-Kekaha ...Randall Uyehara (12-31-09)147
POLICE DEPARTMENT
3990 Kaana Street, Suite 200, Lihue 96766
CHIEF OF POLICE....DARRYL PERRY ... 241-1600
DEPUTY CHIEF .......MARK BEGLEY ..... 241-1602
FAX: 241-1604
POLICE COMMISSION (7)
Chair ..........Russell Grady (12-31-10)
Vice-chair...Charles Fulks, Jr. (12-31-09)
Members
Leon Gonsalves (12-31-09)
Thomas Iannucci (12-31-11)
Alfred Nebre (12-31-11)
Rowena Tachibana (12-31-09)
__________________
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
4444 Rice Street, Suite 275, Lihue 96766
COUNTY ENGINEER....DONALD FUJIMOTO..... 241-4922
DEPUTY COUNTY ENGINEER .....ED RANAUD...241-4922
Solid Waste Coordinator..........Troy Tanigawa ......... 241-4839
FAX: 241-6604
BUILDING DIVISION
4444 Rice Street, Suite 175, Lihue 96766
CHIEF OF BUILDING.....DOUGLAS HAIGH....... 241-4854
FAX: 241-6806
DIVISION OF ENGINEERING
4444 Rice Street, Suite 175, Lihue 96766
CHIEF OF ENGINEERING.....WALLACE KUDO ..... 241-4883
FAX: 241-6609
DIVISION OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION & MAINTENANCE
4444 Rice Street, Suite 255, Lihue 96766
CHIEF OF FIELD OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE...RYAN NISHIKAWA.... 241-4847
FAX: 241-6204
DIVISION OF WASTEWATER
4444 Rice Street, Suite 500, Lihue 96766
CHIEF OF WASTEWATER ....EDWARD TSCHUPP.... 241-6610
FAX: 241-6859
BUILDING BOARD OF APPEALS (7)
Chair/Engineering.....Larry Dill (12-31-09)
Vice-chair/Fire ...Michael S. Kano (12-31-10)
Members:
At-Large.....Jose Diogo (12-31-09)
Building.....Rodney Pascua (12-31-09)
Electrical....Norbert Watanabe (12-31-09)
Fire .....__________________
Plumber...Gaylord Fukumoto (12-31-10)
KAUAI WAR MEMORIAL CONVENTION HALL
4191 Hardy Street, Lihue 96766
HALL MANAGER...EDWARD SARITA... 241-6623
TRANSPORTATION AGENCY
4396 Rice Street, Suite 103, Lihue 96766
EXECUTIVE ON
TRANSPORTATION ...JANINE RAPOZO..... 241-6410
FAX: 241-6417148
DEPARTMENT OF WATER
4398 Pualoke Street, Lihue 96766
ACTING MANAGER &
CHIEF ENGINEER...WYNNE USHIGOME...245-5408
FAX: 246-8628
BOARD OF WATER SUPPLY (7)
Chair ........Leland Kahawai (12-31-10)
Vice-chair...Randall Nishimura (12-31-10)
Secretary .....Dee Crowell (12-31-09)
Member
Roy Oyama (12-31-09)
Ex-officio (voting)
Ian Costa (Planning Director)
Donald Fujimoto (County Engineer)
Raymond McCormick (Acting Engineer Program Manager, State Dept. of Transportation)
OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
3990 Kaana Street, Suite 210
Lihue, Hawaii 96766
PROSECUTING ATTORNEY...SHAYLENE ISERI CARVALHO....241-1888
FIRST DEPUTY ......LORI WADA..... 241-1888
VICTIM WITNESS PROGRAM/ DIVISION DIRECTOR ..DIANA GAUESPOHL-WHITE..241-1898
FAX: 241-1758
It not just the unfathomable need to delay and stonewall the release of documents or the penchant of board and commissions- including of course the county council- to jump into executive session to hide politically sensitive deliberations.
It’s the way even the most basic information is kept under wraps even in the information age.
Ever try to find a complete list and directory of all county employees or, more to the point under current scrutiny, the complete list of board and commission members at the county web site?
Don’t bother looking. There’s not a link to be found and the search box is, as anyone who has tried to use it will tell you, worthless.
But today, while researching one of the more persistent guards at the gates of the Minotaur’s labyrinth, up popped the county directory which, although outdated by many months, elicits at least the heads and deputies of all the various departments and agencies as well as the members of all boards and commissions.
We’re not sure that once we provide the pdf link it won’t magically change so we are posting it in full today so the next time you’re getting the all-American runaround- sending you from department to agency, from civil servant to appointed bureaucrat- you can use the search box at the top of this page to find the person, department, board or commissions you’re looking for.
Here’s the directory as of March 11, 2009 when it was last modified. Spelling of all words and names are as listed by CofK. Boards and Commissions are listed under the department to which they are administratively attached.
----------
COUNTY OF KAUAI
http://www.kauai.gov
4396 Rice Street
Lihue, Hawaii 96766
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
COUNTY COUNCIL (7) (12-01-10)
CHAIR..BILL "KAIPO" ASING (D) ....241-6371
Vice-chair.......Jay Furfaro (D)....... 241-6371
Council Members
Tim Bynum (D)....... 241-6371
Dickie Chang (D).... 241-6371
Daryl Kaneshiro (D).. 241-6371
Lani Kawahara (D) .... 241-6371
Derek Kawakami (D)......... 241-6371
County Clerk
Peter A. Nakamura ......... 241-6371
Deputy County Clerk.....Ernest Pasion.... 241-6371
FAX: 241-6349
EXECUTIVE BRANCH
Mo‘ikeha Building
4444 Rice Street, Suite 235
Lihue, Hawaii 96766
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
MAYOR ...BERNARD P. CARVALHO, JR. (D) ....(12-01-10) .. 241-4900
e-mail: mayor@kauai.gov
Administrative Assistant......Gary Heu.......... 241-4900
Executive Assistant..............Beth Tokioka ....241-4900
Executive Assistant..............Lani Nakazawa..241-4900
Administrative Aide ............Kaui Tanaka...... 241-4900
Public Information Officer ..Mary Daubert ... 241-4900
Staff Services Assistant .......Soncy Tamashiro 241-4900
FAX: 241-6877
Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator....Christina Pilkington... 241-6203
Anti-Drug Coordinator...Theresa Koki...... 241-4925
FAX: 241-5127
OFFICE OF BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS
4444 Rice Street, Suite 150, Lihue 96766
ADMINISTRATOR.....JOHN ISOBE ...... 241-4918
Administrative Aide ...Cyndi Ayonon ....... 241-4922
FAX: 241-5127
BOARD OF ETHICS (7)
Chair ...........Leila Fuller (12-31-10)
Vice-chair....Mark Hubbard (12-31-10)
Secretary .....Christiane Nakea-Tresler (12-31-10)
Members
.Rolf Bieber.......(12-31-09)
Robert Farias.....(12-31-10)
Judith Lenthall...(12-31-09)
Paul Weil.......... (12-31-11)
CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION (7)
Members
Barbara Bennett......... (12-31-09)
Jonathan Chun............(12-31-09)
Sherman Shiraishi......(12-31-11)
Carol Suzawa.............(12-31-11)
Leonard Vierra...........(12-31-10)
Matie Yoshioka......... (12-31-10)
__________________
COST CONTROL COMMISSION (7)
Chair ..........Tore Wistrom (12-31-09)
Vice-chair...Randy Finlay (12-01-10)
Members
Benjamin Bregman (12-31-09)
Nadine Nakamura (12-31-10)
Lorna Nishimitsu (12-31-11)
Sandy Sterker (12-31-11)
Michelle Swartman (12-31-09)
COMMITTEE ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
Chair ............Lisa Ellen Smith (12-31-11)
Vice-chair.....Regina Carvalho (12-31-11)
Secretary .....Uli‘i Castor (12-31-11)
Members......E. Kanani Alapa (12-31-10)
Mylie Alu (12-31-09)
Jade Battad (12-31-10)
JoAnne Georgi (12-31-09)
Cherie Mooy (07-31-09)
Ann Punohu (12-31-09)
Renee Sadang (12-31-11)
Valerie Yadao (12-31-09)
Ex-officio
Darla Abbatiello (Kauai Police Department)
Malcolm Fernandez (Personnel Director)
Peter Nakamura (County Clerk's Office)
Mamo Cummings Graham (State Commissioner)
SALARY COMMISSION (7)
Chair ......Gini Kapali (12-31-09)
1st Vice-chair...Randy Hee (12-31-11)
2nd Vice-chair...Thomas Cooper (12-31-11)
Members
Bob Crowell (12-31-10)
Trinette Kaui (12-31-11)
Dawn Murata (12-31-10)
Allan Smith (12-31-09)
AGENCY ON ELDERLY AFFAIRS
COUNTY EXECUTIVE ON AGING...KEALOHA TAKAHASHI....241-4470
FAX: 241-4499
CIVIL DEFENSE AGENCY
3990 Kaana Street, Suite 100, Lihue 96766
CIVIL DEFENSE ADMINISTRATOR..MARK MARSHALL ... 241-1800
Plans & Operations Officer ..Clifford Ikeda.....241-1800
FAX: 241-1860145
OFFICE OF THE COUNTY ATTORNEY
4444 Rice Street, Suite 220, Lihue 96766
ACTING COUNTY ATTORNEY ..DARREN SUZUKI... 241-6315
FAX: 241-6319
OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
4444 Rice Street, Suite 200, Lihue 96766
DIRECTOR....GEORGE COSTA..... 241-4946
Film Commissioner...Art Umezu ..... 241-4946
Energy Extension Coordinator ...Glenn Sato ..241-4946
Agriculture Specialist ..Charles W. Spitz ...... 241-4946
Tourism Specialist ..Nalani Brun ................... 241-4946
FAX: 241-6399
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
4444 Rice Street, Suite 280, Lihue 96766
DIRECTOR....WALLACE REZENTES, JR. ..... 241-4200
DEPUTY DIRECTOR .....BELMA BARIS ........ 241-6565
FAX: 241-6533
COUNTY BOARD OF REVIEW (5)
Chair ............Benjamin Lizama, Jr. (12-31-10)
Vice-chair.....Richard Koenig, Jr. (12-31-11)
Members
Craig DeCosta (12-31-11)
Cayetano "Sonny" Gerardo (12-31-11)
Eric Nordmeier (12-31-09)
FIRE DEPARTMENT
4444 Rice Street, Suite 295, Lihue 96766
FIRE CHIEF.....ROBERT WESTERMAN ....241-4980
DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF ....JOHN BLALOCK.... 241-4980
FAX: 241-6508
FIRE COMMISSION (7)
Chair ..........George Simpson (12-31-11)
Vice-chair...Darnney Proudfoot (12-31-10)
Members
Guy Croydon (12-31-10)
Basilio Fuertes (12-31-09)
Linda Kaauwai-Iwamoto (12-31-09)
Wayne Mukai (12-31-11)
Jan Rudinoff (12-31-09)
COUNTY OF KAUAI HOUSING AGENCY
DIRECTOR...EUGENE JIMENEZ.... 241-4444
Executive on Housing ....Kenneth Rainforth .... 241-4444
FAX: 241-4495
DEPARTMENT OF LIQUOR CONTROL
4444 Rice Street, Suite 120, Lihue 96766
DIRECTOR.....ERIC HONMA ....241-4966
FAX: 241-6585
LIQUOR CONTROL COMMISSION (7)
Chair ..........Clifford Nakea (12-31-11)
Vice-chair...Gerald Matsunaga (12-31-09)
Members
Shirley Akita (12-31-10)
William Gibson (12-31-10)
Gary Pacheco (12-31-11)
Myles Shibata (12-31-10)
Pauline Ventura (12-31-09)
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS & RECREATION
4444 Rice Street, Lihue 96766
DIRECTOR....LEONARD RAPOZO, JR. ... 241-4456
DEPUTY DIRECTOR .....KYLAN DELA CRUZ... 241-4456
FAX: 241-5126
DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL SERVICES
4444 Rice Street, Suite 140, Lihue 96766
DIRECTOR.......MALCOLM FERNANDEZ .... 241-4956
FAX: 241-6593
CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION (7)
Chair .........Rick Haviland, Jr. (06-30-09)
Vice-chair...Lani Aranio (12-31-10)
Members
Suzanne Aquiar (12-31-10)
Gilbert F. Maerina (12-31-10)
Ann Sokei (12-31-10)
Cathy Adams (12-31-11)
Ryan Dela Pena (12-31-09)
DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING
4444 Rice Street, Suite 473, Lihue 96766
DIRECTOR....IAN COSTA... 241-6677
DEPUTY DIRECTOR ..IMAI KALANI AIU...... 241-6677
FAX: 241-6699
HISTORIC PRESERVATION (9)
Chair/Architecture.....Patricia Sheehan (12-31-09)
Vice-chair/Hawaiian Culture .....Kaimi Molly Summers (12-31-11)
Members:
Archeology
Alan E. Faye, Jr. (12-31-10)
L. Kehaulani Kekua (12-31-09)
Architecture
Dennis Alkire (12-31-11)
__________________
Hawaiian Culture
Danita Aiu (12-31-11)
History
__________________
Planning
Randolph Wichman (12-31-09)
PLANNING COMMISSION (7)
Chair/Environmentalist ...James Nishida (12-31-10)
Vice-chair/Business .....Caven Raco (12-31-09)
Members:
At-Large
Camilla Matsumoto (12-31-09)
Business
Kurt Akamine (12-31-10)
Herman Texeira (12-31-10)
Environmentalist
Hartwell Blake (12-31-11)
Labor
Jan Kimura (12-31-11)
PUBLIC ACCESS, OPEN SPACE & NATURAL RESOURCES PRESERVATION FUND COMMISSION (9)
Chair/At-Large ........Roger Caires (12-31-11)
Vice-chair/At-Large...Caren F. Diamond (05-01-11)
Members:
Anahola-Haena .....Beryl Blaich (05-01-10)
At-Large....Johanna Gomez (12-31-10)
Hanapepe-Eleele..Jean Nishida Souza (05-01-09)
Kapaa-Wailua......Eugene Punzal (12-31-10)
Koloa-Kalaheo....Theresita Kinnaman (05-01-09)
Lihue-Hanamaulu...Puna Dawson (12-31-09)
Waimea-Kekaha ...Randall Uyehara (12-31-09)147
POLICE DEPARTMENT
3990 Kaana Street, Suite 200, Lihue 96766
CHIEF OF POLICE....DARRYL PERRY ... 241-1600
DEPUTY CHIEF .......MARK BEGLEY ..... 241-1602
FAX: 241-1604
POLICE COMMISSION (7)
Chair ..........Russell Grady (12-31-10)
Vice-chair...Charles Fulks, Jr. (12-31-09)
Members
Leon Gonsalves (12-31-09)
Thomas Iannucci (12-31-11)
Alfred Nebre (12-31-11)
Rowena Tachibana (12-31-09)
__________________
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
4444 Rice Street, Suite 275, Lihue 96766
COUNTY ENGINEER....DONALD FUJIMOTO..... 241-4922
DEPUTY COUNTY ENGINEER .....ED RANAUD...241-4922
Solid Waste Coordinator..........Troy Tanigawa ......... 241-4839
FAX: 241-6604
BUILDING DIVISION
4444 Rice Street, Suite 175, Lihue 96766
CHIEF OF BUILDING.....DOUGLAS HAIGH....... 241-4854
FAX: 241-6806
DIVISION OF ENGINEERING
4444 Rice Street, Suite 175, Lihue 96766
CHIEF OF ENGINEERING.....WALLACE KUDO ..... 241-4883
FAX: 241-6609
DIVISION OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION & MAINTENANCE
4444 Rice Street, Suite 255, Lihue 96766
CHIEF OF FIELD OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE...RYAN NISHIKAWA.... 241-4847
FAX: 241-6204
DIVISION OF WASTEWATER
4444 Rice Street, Suite 500, Lihue 96766
CHIEF OF WASTEWATER ....EDWARD TSCHUPP.... 241-6610
FAX: 241-6859
BUILDING BOARD OF APPEALS (7)
Chair/Engineering.....Larry Dill (12-31-09)
Vice-chair/Fire ...Michael S. Kano (12-31-10)
Members:
At-Large.....Jose Diogo (12-31-09)
Building.....Rodney Pascua (12-31-09)
Electrical....Norbert Watanabe (12-31-09)
Fire .....__________________
Plumber...Gaylord Fukumoto (12-31-10)
KAUAI WAR MEMORIAL CONVENTION HALL
4191 Hardy Street, Lihue 96766
HALL MANAGER...EDWARD SARITA... 241-6623
TRANSPORTATION AGENCY
4396 Rice Street, Suite 103, Lihue 96766
EXECUTIVE ON
TRANSPORTATION ...JANINE RAPOZO..... 241-6410
FAX: 241-6417148
DEPARTMENT OF WATER
4398 Pualoke Street, Lihue 96766
ACTING MANAGER &
CHIEF ENGINEER...WYNNE USHIGOME...245-5408
FAX: 246-8628
BOARD OF WATER SUPPLY (7)
Chair ........Leland Kahawai (12-31-10)
Vice-chair...Randall Nishimura (12-31-10)
Secretary .....Dee Crowell (12-31-09)
Member
Roy Oyama (12-31-09)
Ex-officio (voting)
Ian Costa (Planning Director)
Donald Fujimoto (County Engineer)
Raymond McCormick (Acting Engineer Program Manager, State Dept. of Transportation)
OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
3990 Kaana Street, Suite 210
Lihue, Hawaii 96766
PROSECUTING ATTORNEY...SHAYLENE ISERI CARVALHO....241-1888
FIRST DEPUTY ......LORI WADA..... 241-1888
VICTIM WITNESS PROGRAM/ DIVISION DIRECTOR ..DIANA GAUESPOHL-WHITE..241-1898
FAX: 241-1758
Thursday, September 10, 2009
ABSURDLY GOOD
ABSURDLY GOOD: Last week we got an email from a friend who we greatly admire and respect who does many good things for the community- including undertaking a leadership role in a non profit endeavor that works on environmental projects.
Sometimes this person represents the group before the council and planning commission but also serves on a county board.
And, to our dismay, (s)he defended this dual role because (s)he believes that, despite the notorious charter section 20,02(d) that forbids such a combination of activity it would be an “absurd result” if the law were to be enforced because (s)he was “doing good things for the community”.
So it was with great amusement that we read that Mattie Yoshioka, CEO of the Kaua`i Economic Development Board (KEDB) said exactly the same thing when, as the local newspaper’s Michael Levine reported this week, she was told by the Board of Ethics (BOE) that, despite many ruling to the contrary recently- including two favoring similarly conflicted BOE members- she and she alone would be in violation if she continued to serve on the Charter Review Commission and continue to testify before the council for KEDB.
If there was ever someone who the law was made for it would be Yoshioka and KEDB.
For the uninformed, Yoshioka was arguably one of, if not the first “old girls” in the “old boys club”, serving in any number of positions under former Mayor Maryanne Kusaka and later Mayor Bryan Baptiste before parlaying her insider status into a job for KEDB.
KEDB for its part has been a relentless pro-development and sometimes shady operation started by the now disgraced and convicted Gary Baldwin who used “the board” to serve his and the business interests of his cronies such as former PMRF Commander Bob Mullins, enabling many to line their pockets with government dollars.
As reported by PNN in the 90’s on our Parxist Conspiracy TV newsmagazine, Baldwin and Mullins- who was Kusaka’s Administrative Assistant at the time- arranged to steal federal, hurricane-related, economic development money then-destined to revitalize Hanapepe and use it instead to build the West Kaua`i High Tech Center in Waimea which serves to provide office space to defense contractors doing business at the PMRF, the Navy base in Mana.
Mullins then quit the Kusaka administration, joined “the board” and got a job heading up defense contractor Textron’s Kaua`i operations and promptly moved into one of the offices the money paid for.
That was just one of many KEBD shenanigans designed to pad the bank accounts of various private interests, investors, developers and assorted greedy bastards using county money to do it.
And Baldwin also served on the Planning Commission in blatant violation of 200.02(d)
Although Baldwin fled the island after his shady past was reveled and was then convicted of defrauding a doctor on the mainland before he ever came to Kaua`i, his creation KEDB has continued to serve in a similar manner under a series of directors including now Yoshioka
We’re sure that Yoshioka- just like our friend- really believes that she does “good” for the island but we’re just as sure that each would think what the other does many times interferes with the good they are doing.
And that’s the point in this whole business of ignoring the charter provision. Even if a “good for the island” standard was adopted- which would certainly be unconstitutionally vague if enacted- who is the arbiter of “good” as blogger Charley Foster asked Tuesday in an excellent analysis of the law and the lack of enforcement.
And that’s why the law is there- it even handedly makes sure that no one can use their influence as a county official to further their own idea of good. because to do otherwise would lead to the “absurd result” we have today of a small handful of revolving-door, well- connected old boys and girls enriching themselves and their cronies by serving both the public and private sector.
It’s a positive development for the BOE to finally tell someone “no”. Now the question is whether they will revisit their recent decision regarding a few others- and even delve into the dozens of those whose disclosure forms reveal similar conflicts.
We’re not holding our breath for a BOE that serves as the Minotaur’s gatekeepers to suddenly stop doing what’s wrong as long as they can.
Sometimes this person represents the group before the council and planning commission but also serves on a county board.
And, to our dismay, (s)he defended this dual role because (s)he believes that, despite the notorious charter section 20,02(d) that forbids such a combination of activity it would be an “absurd result” if the law were to be enforced because (s)he was “doing good things for the community”.
So it was with great amusement that we read that Mattie Yoshioka, CEO of the Kaua`i Economic Development Board (KEDB) said exactly the same thing when, as the local newspaper’s Michael Levine reported this week, she was told by the Board of Ethics (BOE) that, despite many ruling to the contrary recently- including two favoring similarly conflicted BOE members- she and she alone would be in violation if she continued to serve on the Charter Review Commission and continue to testify before the council for KEDB.
If there was ever someone who the law was made for it would be Yoshioka and KEDB.
For the uninformed, Yoshioka was arguably one of, if not the first “old girls” in the “old boys club”, serving in any number of positions under former Mayor Maryanne Kusaka and later Mayor Bryan Baptiste before parlaying her insider status into a job for KEDB.
KEDB for its part has been a relentless pro-development and sometimes shady operation started by the now disgraced and convicted Gary Baldwin who used “the board” to serve his and the business interests of his cronies such as former PMRF Commander Bob Mullins, enabling many to line their pockets with government dollars.
As reported by PNN in the 90’s on our Parxist Conspiracy TV newsmagazine, Baldwin and Mullins- who was Kusaka’s Administrative Assistant at the time- arranged to steal federal, hurricane-related, economic development money then-destined to revitalize Hanapepe and use it instead to build the West Kaua`i High Tech Center in Waimea which serves to provide office space to defense contractors doing business at the PMRF, the Navy base in Mana.
Mullins then quit the Kusaka administration, joined “the board” and got a job heading up defense contractor Textron’s Kaua`i operations and promptly moved into one of the offices the money paid for.
That was just one of many KEBD shenanigans designed to pad the bank accounts of various private interests, investors, developers and assorted greedy bastards using county money to do it.
And Baldwin also served on the Planning Commission in blatant violation of 200.02(d)
Although Baldwin fled the island after his shady past was reveled and was then convicted of defrauding a doctor on the mainland before he ever came to Kaua`i, his creation KEDB has continued to serve in a similar manner under a series of directors including now Yoshioka
We’re sure that Yoshioka- just like our friend- really believes that she does “good” for the island but we’re just as sure that each would think what the other does many times interferes with the good they are doing.
And that’s the point in this whole business of ignoring the charter provision. Even if a “good for the island” standard was adopted- which would certainly be unconstitutionally vague if enacted- who is the arbiter of “good” as blogger Charley Foster asked Tuesday in an excellent analysis of the law and the lack of enforcement.
And that’s why the law is there- it even handedly makes sure that no one can use their influence as a county official to further their own idea of good. because to do otherwise would lead to the “absurd result” we have today of a small handful of revolving-door, well- connected old boys and girls enriching themselves and their cronies by serving both the public and private sector.
It’s a positive development for the BOE to finally tell someone “no”. Now the question is whether they will revisit their recent decision regarding a few others- and even delve into the dozens of those whose disclosure forms reveal similar conflicts.
We’re not holding our breath for a BOE that serves as the Minotaur’s gatekeepers to suddenly stop doing what’s wrong as long as they can.
Friday, August 28, 2009
AS LONG AS THEY CAN
AS LONG AS THEY CAN: By far the most often violated ethics provision in the document dump provided by reporter Michael Levine- whose article on the $3 million the county has spent on outside attorneys since Jan 2007 appears in today’s print version of the local newspaper and is far more extensive than his preliminary report posted on-line Tuesday night- is of course the oft-flouted section 20.02(d) of the county charter which states that “(n)o officer or employee of the county shall (a)ppear in behalf of private interests before any county board, commission or agency”
Far and away the grand prize winner in the batch with at least 14 violations is Roger M. Caires, the CEO of CLS Hawaii Land Surveying & Mapping who according to the CLS web site
is a life long resident of Kauai. He started this business after retiring from the State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, with twenty-five (25) years of experience. Mr. Caires leads a team of land surveyors using the latest surveying technologies including the GPS (Global Positioning System), total stations, electronic data collection, and CAD equipment.
According to his disclosure statement Caires sits on the Public Access Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission and his “(c)lients represented before Kauai County Planning Commission during 2008 for subdivision applications” include “Perl Kato, Marilyn Planas, Robert Keown, Rodney Soares, Andrew Baik, Bruce Narramore, Daryl Kaneshiro , Rick Haupt, Kurt Bosshard, Kapaa 382 LLC, Stephen Gatchell, Seatrace Inc., Alan Packer, (and) Kevin P. Hurst.
Caires and his wife Susan C., who apparently also works for CLS, reported a combined income from the company of $31,600.
The Public Access Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission is administratively attached to the planning department and commission which means that, unlike other apparent violations recently exposed Caires serves in the same department as the one he has appeared before.
Is Caires a “bad guy” because he is in violation of the county charter? Probably not.
But should he be serving on a county board or commission while “(a)ppear(ing) in behalf of private interests before any county board, commission or agency”. Certainly not.
Nonetheless, in the upside down, black is white and up is down world of the county’s Board of Ethics (BOE) where the county ordinance can overrule the county charter- and that of the county attorney who can’t seem to provide simple legal advice without jumping down the rabbit hole and that of a mayor who can’t seem to find qualified people to serve among the 99% of the local people who never “(a)ppear in behalf of private interests before any county board, commission or agency”- all in hunky-dory is Lihu`e la-la land.
It is presumably the job of the BOE to review these disclosure forms for conflicts-of-interest. That’s why the charter mandates they be delivered to the BOE. But despite blatant violations such as the ones we detailed yesterday and Wednesday there has never been a conflict of interest charge filed by the BOE itself based on the information provided on any disclosure form... presuming they can even read some of them, another matter the BOE seemingly ignores.
The fact that Caires so cavalierly lists his clients before the planning commission either means he doesn’t read the newspaper or more likely has chosen to drink CA Al Castillo’s Kool-aid. And until someone files suit to force the BOE to follow the charter’s code of ethics the dysfunctional labyrinth of the minotaur will keep filling the crevices of the maze and posting Sergeant Schultz clones at the gates with those who are willing to do what’s wrong as long as they can.
Far and away the grand prize winner in the batch with at least 14 violations is Roger M. Caires, the CEO of CLS Hawaii Land Surveying & Mapping who according to the CLS web site
is a life long resident of Kauai. He started this business after retiring from the State of Hawaii, Department of Transportation, with twenty-five (25) years of experience. Mr. Caires leads a team of land surveyors using the latest surveying technologies including the GPS (Global Positioning System), total stations, electronic data collection, and CAD equipment.
According to his disclosure statement Caires sits on the Public Access Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission and his “(c)lients represented before Kauai County Planning Commission during 2008 for subdivision applications” include “Perl Kato, Marilyn Planas, Robert Keown, Rodney Soares, Andrew Baik, Bruce Narramore, Daryl Kaneshiro , Rick Haupt, Kurt Bosshard, Kapaa 382 LLC, Stephen Gatchell, Seatrace Inc., Alan Packer, (and) Kevin P. Hurst.
Caires and his wife Susan C., who apparently also works for CLS, reported a combined income from the company of $31,600.
The Public Access Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission is administratively attached to the planning department and commission which means that, unlike other apparent violations recently exposed Caires serves in the same department as the one he has appeared before.
Is Caires a “bad guy” because he is in violation of the county charter? Probably not.
But should he be serving on a county board or commission while “(a)ppear(ing) in behalf of private interests before any county board, commission or agency”. Certainly not.
Nonetheless, in the upside down, black is white and up is down world of the county’s Board of Ethics (BOE) where the county ordinance can overrule the county charter- and that of the county attorney who can’t seem to provide simple legal advice without jumping down the rabbit hole and that of a mayor who can’t seem to find qualified people to serve among the 99% of the local people who never “(a)ppear in behalf of private interests before any county board, commission or agency”- all in hunky-dory is Lihu`e la-la land.
It is presumably the job of the BOE to review these disclosure forms for conflicts-of-interest. That’s why the charter mandates they be delivered to the BOE. But despite blatant violations such as the ones we detailed yesterday and Wednesday there has never been a conflict of interest charge filed by the BOE itself based on the information provided on any disclosure form... presuming they can even read some of them, another matter the BOE seemingly ignores.
The fact that Caires so cavalierly lists his clients before the planning commission either means he doesn’t read the newspaper or more likely has chosen to drink CA Al Castillo’s Kool-aid. And until someone files suit to force the BOE to follow the charter’s code of ethics the dysfunctional labyrinth of the minotaur will keep filling the crevices of the maze and posting Sergeant Schultz clones at the gates with those who are willing to do what’s wrong as long as they can.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
LOVE AT FIRST BITE
LOVE AT FIRST BITE: After perusing today’s news in the local paper this morning and reading Board of Ethics (BOE) watchdog Horace Stoessel’s description of the latest debacle in the continuing quest for enforcement of charter provision 20.02(d)- examined in excruciating detail in this space including our three part report (see left rail)- we just happened to turn back to the “Kaua`i News” page and scroll down past today’s entries to catch an article seen only in the “previous headlines” section entitled “TOMORROW'S NEWS — $3M requested for special counsel since 2007”.
Apparently reporter Michael Levine’s quest for county documents is bearing fruit and County Attorney Al Castillo is giving up long-sought documents after they were requested by Levine in the name of the local newspaper.
The new, apparently permanent page at the paper’s website shows that Levine received the list of 42 county appropriations for outside council dating back to January 2007 along with the case and amounts for each.
But that list is something anyone could have compiled albeit with a painstaking examination of past agendas and “recap memos” although the latter have just recently been made available.
The big accomplishment is in getting the BOE to give up the actual disclosure statements of various recent applicants for various board and commission members.
In the past the BOE has kept these statements under close wraps and actually edited them and blacked out the potential conflicts of interest that violated 20.02(d) as well as other information calling it “an invasion of privacy” even though they are called “public disclosure documents”.
Although it is certainly not a complete list – they appear under two separate links- a quick run-through shows on first blush a pattern of appearance before other boards and commissions on behalf of private interests on the part of many of the applicants heretofore unreported.
Another pattern is illegible handwriting making many of the documents virtually useless.
But one statement stands out for simply it’s lack of any information- and it’s one that is an all-important link to what happens with huge stacks of county, state and federal taxpayer monies.
Though few will recognize the name Randy Finlay- whose address and phone number are not blacked out as the law requires- anyone who has passed by a road repaving or construction project will recognize the name of the company he owns and runs- Unlimited Construction.
His application to continue to be a member of the Cost Control Commission (CCC) is devoid of any information required and instead lists “no change” on all the information points required to be included when one fills out the form.
But what’s interesting in the fact that he is serving on the CCC when his company has been complicit in one of the biggest-yet underreported rip-offs on the island.
To try to be brief, a few years back- make that more than a decade ago- council “nitpicker” Glen Mickens began to notice that, as he took his daily walks pieces of broken off pavement sat by the side of the road which upon measurement were apparently thinner than the standard and required 1 ½ inches thick.
He made it his quest- one that, despite detailed presentation to the council no one so far seems to want to hear- to inform the council about how not only is the county paying for 1 ½ inch paving and not getting it but that, for some reason no one can adequately explain, on Kaua`i the standard of 90 sq. ft. of asphalt per ton is used while the national standard is 120 sq. ft. per ton to get that 1 ½”.
That means that, if anything, we should be getting roads that are 33% thinker than 1 ½” or 2” thick.
The question is, where is the extra asphalt going- a question the Public Works Department has been unable to answer.
And when Mickens presented the facts for the umpteenth time- as he has to each new council and individually to all new councilmembers over the last decade plus- one of the suggestions has been to have the CCC look into it.
Of course the more basic question is whether someone who bids on tens of millions of dollars worth of county contracts should be serving on a county commission where he might be considering cost savings such as investigating county road repaving methodologies and contracts.
Mickens’ full detailed written testimony before the council from this year’s budget hearings in April is presented at the end of this post for all those who want to fully understand this scam that has been going on for years with the apparent complicity of Unlimited Construction as well as Niu construction which Mickens mentions in his testimony
We’ll be getting out the fine tooth comb in coming days for the other disclosures, as well as filing for the statements for the council, mayor, department heads and their deputies and the rest of the sitting board and commission members covered by the pubic disclosure laws.
In the meantime we welcome you to peruse the current ones and let us know anything you might find missing from the forms or less than apparent conflicts raised by the disclosures.
-------
Glenn Mickens’ Testimony April 2009:
Our code for resurfacing roads as outlined in your Standard Details manual shows a thickness of 1 1/2". Two bids that Ryan was nice enough to give me both show the same specifications---1 1/2".If you will check the Asphalt Paving Job Calculator that all paving contractors use or if you will use simple mathematics, you will see that by using 1 TON of asphalt (AC) to pave 108 square feet, you will get a thickness of 1 1/2".
Yet, if you will refer to the memo I have from public works you will see that we use 1 Ton of AC to pave 90 square feet.
Also a check of the 07-08 Island Wide Resurfacing list will verify that we ARE using this 1 ton of AC to pave 90 square feet. A check of the calculator will show that 1 Ton of AC per 90 square feet will give a thickness of about 1 7/8"
To put this into perspective:
If we pave 1 mile of road using the 1 ton per 90 sq ft. we would use 1056 tons of AC. At today's price of about $200 per ton that cost would be 1056 x $200 or $211,200.
By using the 1 ton of AC to pave 108 sq. ft. (to give the 1 1/2" that code specifies) we would need 880 tons to pave 1 mile or, 880 x $200 = $176,000.
Thus we are spending $35,200 MORE for each mile of road that we pave. Since we have 300 miles of county roads on Kauai that means it is costing the tax payers $10,560,000 more by using the county method over the correct method.
You might argue that we are getting 3/8" more AC put on our roads but the contractors are bidding on 1 1/2" so they would lose money if their bid was for 1 1/2" and they put down 1 7/8". Also, I have picked up pieces of AC from our roads (I walk 4 miles a day over them) and they are less than an inch thick. So not only are we not getting the extra 3/8" we are paying for, we are not even getting the 1 1/2" that be bid specifies.
So, the questions are, (1) why are we using the 1 ton of AC to pave 90 sq ft. instead of the correct 1 ton to pave 108 sq ft.? (2) Where is the extra AC going or where is the money going that is costing us more? (3) Shouldn't the weight ticket at the AC plant and the core samples taken from the roads match the amount of money we are being charged for?
Also for clarity, In the 2 bids that Ryan gave me from Niu and Glover. Glovers bid (cost per ton) on 10 roads went from $268 to $762 or an average of $416 per ton all in the Waimea district, close to their plant. This was for phase 2.
Niu appears to have gotten the bid (both they and Glover for 06-07) for phase 1 on the North Shore. Their bid per ton was for an average of $224 so why this huge difference in the bids that they were awarded.
My next question. Why are we not following the Hawaii Asphalt Paving Industry (HAPI) standards for paving our roads? Both Grace Pacific and Glover are members of HAPI and they abide by their recommended paving methods.
When I spoke to a roads engineer from Glover he told me that he has asked and suggested to Public Works that they use HAPI standards but was told that our county doesn't have the funds to do it that way Thus we are being penny smart and dollar stupid as even if our roads would cost more to originally pave they will last 15 to 20 years (WITHOUT POTHOLES) or deterioration instead of being in the shape they are in now.
In other words when the county issues an RFP they do not specify replacing the old cracked base or putting a leveling course down before the final layer---all HAPI specifications. So why don't we ask for more money in the budget and do the job right with whatever funds we have?
And, if I understood what Ryan told me, we used the 07-08 budget for resurfacing for the 08-09 year and thus, instead of paving more roads with the extra money we got in 07-08 (I believe it was over $3 million) we are actually repaving less since we have less money. I asked this question since I have never seen the budget for 08-09. If I am wrong maybe Ryan can correct me.
At about $200 per ton for AC today and a budget of under 2 million dollars a year, we are only capable of paving about 10 miles of roads. That means it would take 30 years to pave all 300 miles of our county roads plus by using these incorrect methods of paving our roads will only remain a mess.
The shoulders of our paved and repaved roads. In the bid contract it states that the level of the shoulders will be put back to the level of the newly resurfaced road BUT that it will be done by Public Works. Many of our repaved roads have never had the shoulders fixed to these standards and it is a hazard. I have addressed this to PW many times but it still has not been taken care of. .
Striping our roads. I have addressed this to Donald many times and he said that unless the road is at least 20 feet wide it is their POLICY not to stripe them. This "POLICY" should be changed as it is dangerous for vehicles driving at night or in rain not to have a reference point or for opposite driving vehicles to stay on their side of the road. Hauiki road is a good example of this as it was just repaved, is 18' wide and has no stripe.
Pot Holes. Code states that pot holes will be cut on a square or rectangular pattern, new 4" of base course put in, and 2" of AC compacted into the hole. All we do now (and have done in my 20 Years on Island) is dump cold mix in the hole (sometimes with water still in it) do not compact it, and it is gone after the next rain. So we waste our time, material, and manpower doing the job wrong----this MUST be changed.
Picking the roads to be resurfaced. There is no methodology as to which roads are to be paved. As long as we only have finite money in the budget for roads repaving and can only do about 10 miles a year, we need to pick the heaviest traveled roads and the ones that are in the worst shape. But this isn't done. As an example Kealia Road was resurfaced in the 05-06 budget year at a cost of $250,800. This road has few homes along it---most of it with none---but it was still repaved. A 2000 acre subdivision is going in at the top of this road but the tax payers shouldn't have to pay the cost of a road that benefits a developer.
Apparently reporter Michael Levine’s quest for county documents is bearing fruit and County Attorney Al Castillo is giving up long-sought documents after they were requested by Levine in the name of the local newspaper.
The new, apparently permanent page at the paper’s website shows that Levine received the list of 42 county appropriations for outside council dating back to January 2007 along with the case and amounts for each.
But that list is something anyone could have compiled albeit with a painstaking examination of past agendas and “recap memos” although the latter have just recently been made available.
The big accomplishment is in getting the BOE to give up the actual disclosure statements of various recent applicants for various board and commission members.
In the past the BOE has kept these statements under close wraps and actually edited them and blacked out the potential conflicts of interest that violated 20.02(d) as well as other information calling it “an invasion of privacy” even though they are called “public disclosure documents”.
Although it is certainly not a complete list – they appear under two separate links- a quick run-through shows on first blush a pattern of appearance before other boards and commissions on behalf of private interests on the part of many of the applicants heretofore unreported.
Another pattern is illegible handwriting making many of the documents virtually useless.
But one statement stands out for simply it’s lack of any information- and it’s one that is an all-important link to what happens with huge stacks of county, state and federal taxpayer monies.
Though few will recognize the name Randy Finlay- whose address and phone number are not blacked out as the law requires- anyone who has passed by a road repaving or construction project will recognize the name of the company he owns and runs- Unlimited Construction.
His application to continue to be a member of the Cost Control Commission (CCC) is devoid of any information required and instead lists “no change” on all the information points required to be included when one fills out the form.
But what’s interesting in the fact that he is serving on the CCC when his company has been complicit in one of the biggest-yet underreported rip-offs on the island.
To try to be brief, a few years back- make that more than a decade ago- council “nitpicker” Glen Mickens began to notice that, as he took his daily walks pieces of broken off pavement sat by the side of the road which upon measurement were apparently thinner than the standard and required 1 ½ inches thick.
He made it his quest- one that, despite detailed presentation to the council no one so far seems to want to hear- to inform the council about how not only is the county paying for 1 ½ inch paving and not getting it but that, for some reason no one can adequately explain, on Kaua`i the standard of 90 sq. ft. of asphalt per ton is used while the national standard is 120 sq. ft. per ton to get that 1 ½”.
That means that, if anything, we should be getting roads that are 33% thinker than 1 ½” or 2” thick.
The question is, where is the extra asphalt going- a question the Public Works Department has been unable to answer.
And when Mickens presented the facts for the umpteenth time- as he has to each new council and individually to all new councilmembers over the last decade plus- one of the suggestions has been to have the CCC look into it.
Of course the more basic question is whether someone who bids on tens of millions of dollars worth of county contracts should be serving on a county commission where he might be considering cost savings such as investigating county road repaving methodologies and contracts.
Mickens’ full detailed written testimony before the council from this year’s budget hearings in April is presented at the end of this post for all those who want to fully understand this scam that has been going on for years with the apparent complicity of Unlimited Construction as well as Niu construction which Mickens mentions in his testimony
We’ll be getting out the fine tooth comb in coming days for the other disclosures, as well as filing for the statements for the council, mayor, department heads and their deputies and the rest of the sitting board and commission members covered by the pubic disclosure laws.
In the meantime we welcome you to peruse the current ones and let us know anything you might find missing from the forms or less than apparent conflicts raised by the disclosures.
-------
Glenn Mickens’ Testimony April 2009:
Our code for resurfacing roads as outlined in your Standard Details manual shows a thickness of 1 1/2". Two bids that Ryan was nice enough to give me both show the same specifications---1 1/2".If you will check the Asphalt Paving Job Calculator that all paving contractors use or if you will use simple mathematics, you will see that by using 1 TON of asphalt (AC) to pave 108 square feet, you will get a thickness of 1 1/2".
Yet, if you will refer to the memo I have from public works you will see that we use 1 Ton of AC to pave 90 square feet.
Also a check of the 07-08 Island Wide Resurfacing list will verify that we ARE using this 1 ton of AC to pave 90 square feet. A check of the calculator will show that 1 Ton of AC per 90 square feet will give a thickness of about 1 7/8"
To put this into perspective:
If we pave 1 mile of road using the 1 ton per 90 sq ft. we would use 1056 tons of AC. At today's price of about $200 per ton that cost would be 1056 x $200 or $211,200.
By using the 1 ton of AC to pave 108 sq. ft. (to give the 1 1/2" that code specifies) we would need 880 tons to pave 1 mile or, 880 x $200 = $176,000.
Thus we are spending $35,200 MORE for each mile of road that we pave. Since we have 300 miles of county roads on Kauai that means it is costing the tax payers $10,560,000 more by using the county method over the correct method.
You might argue that we are getting 3/8" more AC put on our roads but the contractors are bidding on 1 1/2" so they would lose money if their bid was for 1 1/2" and they put down 1 7/8". Also, I have picked up pieces of AC from our roads (I walk 4 miles a day over them) and they are less than an inch thick. So not only are we not getting the extra 3/8" we are paying for, we are not even getting the 1 1/2" that be bid specifies.
So, the questions are, (1) why are we using the 1 ton of AC to pave 90 sq ft. instead of the correct 1 ton to pave 108 sq ft.? (2) Where is the extra AC going or where is the money going that is costing us more? (3) Shouldn't the weight ticket at the AC plant and the core samples taken from the roads match the amount of money we are being charged for?
Also for clarity, In the 2 bids that Ryan gave me from Niu and Glover. Glovers bid (cost per ton) on 10 roads went from $268 to $762 or an average of $416 per ton all in the Waimea district, close to their plant. This was for phase 2.
Niu appears to have gotten the bid (both they and Glover for 06-07) for phase 1 on the North Shore. Their bid per ton was for an average of $224 so why this huge difference in the bids that they were awarded.
My next question. Why are we not following the Hawaii Asphalt Paving Industry (HAPI) standards for paving our roads? Both Grace Pacific and Glover are members of HAPI and they abide by their recommended paving methods.
When I spoke to a roads engineer from Glover he told me that he has asked and suggested to Public Works that they use HAPI standards but was told that our county doesn't have the funds to do it that way Thus we are being penny smart and dollar stupid as even if our roads would cost more to originally pave they will last 15 to 20 years (WITHOUT POTHOLES) or deterioration instead of being in the shape they are in now.
In other words when the county issues an RFP they do not specify replacing the old cracked base or putting a leveling course down before the final layer---all HAPI specifications. So why don't we ask for more money in the budget and do the job right with whatever funds we have?
And, if I understood what Ryan told me, we used the 07-08 budget for resurfacing for the 08-09 year and thus, instead of paving more roads with the extra money we got in 07-08 (I believe it was over $3 million) we are actually repaving less since we have less money. I asked this question since I have never seen the budget for 08-09. If I am wrong maybe Ryan can correct me.
At about $200 per ton for AC today and a budget of under 2 million dollars a year, we are only capable of paving about 10 miles of roads. That means it would take 30 years to pave all 300 miles of our county roads plus by using these incorrect methods of paving our roads will only remain a mess.
The shoulders of our paved and repaved roads. In the bid contract it states that the level of the shoulders will be put back to the level of the newly resurfaced road BUT that it will be done by Public Works. Many of our repaved roads have never had the shoulders fixed to these standards and it is a hazard. I have addressed this to PW many times but it still has not been taken care of. .
Striping our roads. I have addressed this to Donald many times and he said that unless the road is at least 20 feet wide it is their POLICY not to stripe them. This "POLICY" should be changed as it is dangerous for vehicles driving at night or in rain not to have a reference point or for opposite driving vehicles to stay on their side of the road. Hauiki road is a good example of this as it was just repaved, is 18' wide and has no stripe.
Pot Holes. Code states that pot holes will be cut on a square or rectangular pattern, new 4" of base course put in, and 2" of AC compacted into the hole. All we do now (and have done in my 20 Years on Island) is dump cold mix in the hole (sometimes with water still in it) do not compact it, and it is gone after the next rain. So we waste our time, material, and manpower doing the job wrong----this MUST be changed.
Picking the roads to be resurfaced. There is no methodology as to which roads are to be paved. As long as we only have finite money in the budget for roads repaving and can only do about 10 miles a year, we need to pick the heaviest traveled roads and the ones that are in the worst shape. But this isn't done. As an example Kealia Road was resurfaced in the 05-06 budget year at a cost of $250,800. This road has few homes along it---most of it with none---but it was still repaved. A 2000 acre subdivision is going in at the top of this road but the tax payers shouldn't have to pay the cost of a road that benefits a developer.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
I’LL SHOW YA HOW TO WALK THE DOG
I’LL SHOW YA HOW TO WALK THE DOG: The construction of the so-called “coastal” bike path has always been a harebrained. through-the-looking-glass experience.
But, to mangle a phrase, it keeps getting circuitous-er and circuitous-er as the path moves from Lydgate to the Kapa`a Boat launch at Lihi according to an informative piece by Juan Wilson at IsalndBreath who has been staying on top of the latest phase of the boondoggle.
He also reports a new wrinkle to explain what the rush is in deciding on one of the untenable options the county is considering- there’s $4 million dollars of federal stimulus money involved and if it isn’t used soon it will grow and spread wings, Big Island bound.
He reports
Some small, yet important adjustments can still be made to improve the overall plan. There is now a very short window of opportunity to having any affect on these plans because $4 million of funding has been obtained through the federal stimulus program and final plans must submitted by early August or those funds will be redistributed to the Big Island. Comments on this projected work must be in by August 7th 2009...
The major projects consist of two state components:
1) The widening to four lanes of the Kuhio Highway north of the Wailua River to the Kapa`a bypass.
2) The rebuilding of the existing cane haul bridge to accommodate two lanes of traffic and the bike pedestrian path.
It also consists of one County component:
3) The bike path from the Wailua river crossing north as far as the Kapa`a bypass.
Of course this won’t be the first county scam of questionable legality to redirect funds from needed transportation projects to supplement the bike path funding which dried up with only as small fraction the entire path constructed.
We blew the original $40 million that was supposed to build the whole shebang long ago and are well into the $10’s of millions in additional county funds, not including the other state and federal money stolen from other much-needed transportation and recreational projects.
Wilson continues:
The routing of the alternative transportation "bike" path between Lihue and Kapa`a has been a tortured history of misplaced priorities, hurried planning and bad decisions. The current state of the plans are as illogical as they will be impractical.
One must remember, regardless of what Thomas Noyes says, the federal funding for alternative transportation that is going to our bike path is not earmarked for a "coastal recreation trail". It is funding for transportation alternatives to automotive traffic.
Since we’ve been getting away with it for so long apparently we’re going to do it again. But we may not even wind up with a coastal path after all this if the best option among a lot of bad alternative routes is selected.
More from Wilson
Ideally, this alternative should be safe and efficient and not have negative impact on the environment or cultural sites. Some, including ourselves, have advocated mauka (inland) routes for the bike path.
One mauka scheme would lead through what were once cane fields from Lihue north of the Kuhio Highway, past Hanama`ulu and follow the base of Kelepa Forest Reserve, and cross the Wailua River just mauka of the existing highway bridge. The route could then follow the public right of way behind the old Coco Palms along the canal and hook up with the canal way that goes behind the Foodland in Waipouli. This route would never have to cross the highway and would avoid problems of other routes on cultural sites and sensitive beach environments.
Where we are today is stuck with a crossing of the Wailua River makai (seaward) of the cane haul bridge structure that will carry two lanes of the Kuhio Highway. This route will be narrow and close to heavy traffic with accompanying noise, dust, and fumes.
The bike path then is planned to run over the dunes and plants covering burial sites along Wailua Beach. It will then follow a twisted route up Papaloa Road, make a left at Lanikai Street, then absurdly backtrack east along the Kuhio Highway to Hale`ilio Street until it can finally line up with a mauka path to Foodland. This is a ridiculous and unacceptable plan.
Yes. it’s already been decided that the “scenic” beach path is going through the Foodland and Safeway parking lots and crossing the highway at the worst intersection on the island. But one of the alternatives on crossing back over is even more absurd.
That was so we could get the property for the path by letting the two mall owners off the hook for 25 year of ignoring and delaying a required bridge to connect the two supermarkets. That was the reason for the path crossing the highway in the first place.
Wilson describes one alternative for what he calls the “canal route” designed to link up with the now urban corridor.
After exiting the cane haul bridge bike path would follow the mauka side of the rock wall dividing the highway from Wailua Beach until it is north of Kuamo`o Road. It would then ramp down to a pedestrian highway underpass (funded by the Coco Palms developer) and parallel Kuamo`o Road until it reach the canal where it could then follow the public right of way to link eventually with Foodland.
A highway underpass? 100 yards from the ocean about a foot above sea level? And depending on a developer- one who hasn’t done a thing about the rat infested ruins of the hotel and is apparently trying to sell the development rights after getting an extension from a bamboozled planning commission- to do it.
Yeah... that’ll happen.
The county is hell bent on completing this boondoggle no matter how much it costs and no matter how much disruption it causes because if it doesn’t then it will certainly never be able to claim that any transportation is happening, even though the only ones they have ever made that claim to is the DOT.
Wilson also notes the details of the latest illegally segmented environmental assessment up for approval- where a full blown EIS would be required if it wasn’t divided into small sections.
Oh- and despite lies Noyes repeated recently saying the DOT director has signed off on the “primarily transportation. not recreation” requirement for the bike path he still can’t produce the document.
The idea of putting a ribbon of concrete along the ocean to protect it and provide access has always seemed to us to be kind of like the kid who spits on his ice cream to make sure he doesn’t have to share it with his buddies. Yup he’s got your ice cream, disgusting though it may be
Still if we have to throw more money down this rat hole boondoggle, we’ve got to agree with Juan that moving it mauka is the least objectionable of the idiotic alternative.
Can’t anyone here play this game?
But, to mangle a phrase, it keeps getting circuitous-er and circuitous-er as the path moves from Lydgate to the Kapa`a Boat launch at Lihi according to an informative piece by Juan Wilson at IsalndBreath who has been staying on top of the latest phase of the boondoggle.
He also reports a new wrinkle to explain what the rush is in deciding on one of the untenable options the county is considering- there’s $4 million dollars of federal stimulus money involved and if it isn’t used soon it will grow and spread wings, Big Island bound.
He reports
Some small, yet important adjustments can still be made to improve the overall plan. There is now a very short window of opportunity to having any affect on these plans because $4 million of funding has been obtained through the federal stimulus program and final plans must submitted by early August or those funds will be redistributed to the Big Island. Comments on this projected work must be in by August 7th 2009...
The major projects consist of two state components:
1) The widening to four lanes of the Kuhio Highway north of the Wailua River to the Kapa`a bypass.
2) The rebuilding of the existing cane haul bridge to accommodate two lanes of traffic and the bike pedestrian path.
It also consists of one County component:
3) The bike path from the Wailua river crossing north as far as the Kapa`a bypass.
Of course this won’t be the first county scam of questionable legality to redirect funds from needed transportation projects to supplement the bike path funding which dried up with only as small fraction the entire path constructed.
We blew the original $40 million that was supposed to build the whole shebang long ago and are well into the $10’s of millions in additional county funds, not including the other state and federal money stolen from other much-needed transportation and recreational projects.
Wilson continues:
The routing of the alternative transportation "bike" path between Lihue and Kapa`a has been a tortured history of misplaced priorities, hurried planning and bad decisions. The current state of the plans are as illogical as they will be impractical.
One must remember, regardless of what Thomas Noyes says, the federal funding for alternative transportation that is going to our bike path is not earmarked for a "coastal recreation trail". It is funding for transportation alternatives to automotive traffic.
Since we’ve been getting away with it for so long apparently we’re going to do it again. But we may not even wind up with a coastal path after all this if the best option among a lot of bad alternative routes is selected.
More from Wilson
Ideally, this alternative should be safe and efficient and not have negative impact on the environment or cultural sites. Some, including ourselves, have advocated mauka (inland) routes for the bike path.
One mauka scheme would lead through what were once cane fields from Lihue north of the Kuhio Highway, past Hanama`ulu and follow the base of Kelepa Forest Reserve, and cross the Wailua River just mauka of the existing highway bridge. The route could then follow the public right of way behind the old Coco Palms along the canal and hook up with the canal way that goes behind the Foodland in Waipouli. This route would never have to cross the highway and would avoid problems of other routes on cultural sites and sensitive beach environments.
Where we are today is stuck with a crossing of the Wailua River makai (seaward) of the cane haul bridge structure that will carry two lanes of the Kuhio Highway. This route will be narrow and close to heavy traffic with accompanying noise, dust, and fumes.
The bike path then is planned to run over the dunes and plants covering burial sites along Wailua Beach. It will then follow a twisted route up Papaloa Road, make a left at Lanikai Street, then absurdly backtrack east along the Kuhio Highway to Hale`ilio Street until it can finally line up with a mauka path to Foodland. This is a ridiculous and unacceptable plan.
Yes. it’s already been decided that the “scenic” beach path is going through the Foodland and Safeway parking lots and crossing the highway at the worst intersection on the island. But one of the alternatives on crossing back over is even more absurd.
That was so we could get the property for the path by letting the two mall owners off the hook for 25 year of ignoring and delaying a required bridge to connect the two supermarkets. That was the reason for the path crossing the highway in the first place.
Wilson describes one alternative for what he calls the “canal route” designed to link up with the now urban corridor.
After exiting the cane haul bridge bike path would follow the mauka side of the rock wall dividing the highway from Wailua Beach until it is north of Kuamo`o Road. It would then ramp down to a pedestrian highway underpass (funded by the Coco Palms developer) and parallel Kuamo`o Road until it reach the canal where it could then follow the public right of way to link eventually with Foodland.
A highway underpass? 100 yards from the ocean about a foot above sea level? And depending on a developer- one who hasn’t done a thing about the rat infested ruins of the hotel and is apparently trying to sell the development rights after getting an extension from a bamboozled planning commission- to do it.
Yeah... that’ll happen.
The county is hell bent on completing this boondoggle no matter how much it costs and no matter how much disruption it causes because if it doesn’t then it will certainly never be able to claim that any transportation is happening, even though the only ones they have ever made that claim to is the DOT.
Wilson also notes the details of the latest illegally segmented environmental assessment up for approval- where a full blown EIS would be required if it wasn’t divided into small sections.
Oh- and despite lies Noyes repeated recently saying the DOT director has signed off on the “primarily transportation. not recreation” requirement for the bike path he still can’t produce the document.
The idea of putting a ribbon of concrete along the ocean to protect it and provide access has always seemed to us to be kind of like the kid who spits on his ice cream to make sure he doesn’t have to share it with his buddies. Yup he’s got your ice cream, disgusting though it may be
Still if we have to throw more money down this rat hole boondoggle, we’ve got to agree with Juan that moving it mauka is the least objectionable of the idiotic alternative.
Can’t anyone here play this game?
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
BREAKING UP THE PACK
BREAKING UP THE PACK: Tomorrow’s showdown at the C-O-K Corral- aka the County of Kaua`i Council Chambers- has, much to our surprise, drawn beaucoup attention in the newspaper and among even those most politically distracted citizens on the island.
As many have heard in the reams of e-mails flying about, Wednesday’s agenda includes two diametrically opposed items on the subjects of open governance and transparency that dissident councilmembers Tim Bynum and Lani Kawahara forced into public scrutiny in June.
Not only is the promised “discussion” of the archaic council rules up for debate but, in response, the forces of darkness have led Councilpersons Jay Furfaro and his sidekick “nice guy” Dickie Chang to try to block any changes.
They’ve introduced a resolution asking the council to “appoint a special advisory committee” made up of three well known allies of Chair Kaipo “the Minotaur” Asing- charter members of the old boys network former Council Chair and long time member Ron Kouchi, former state circuit court Judge George “Spike” Matsunaga and long time board and commission member and all around status quo defender Phil Tachbian... and if they aren’t sycophantic enough of the status quo the alternate is the head of the Chamber of Commence, old boy in waiting Randall Francisco.
Their task?- to “recommend amendments to the rules”.
And these guys “ain’t the old boys”, as Chang was quoted as saying? Either Chang is obscenely disingenuous or lives in his own Wala`au world of naivety.
It is the ultimate absurdity. They want to appoint an opaque body, not subject to open meeting laws to hold a discussion and report on how to bring open government and transparency to the council. It’s a conversation that should be happening in open session, before the council, with public testimony, not behind closed doors with the sole input of three or four people who could never in anyone’s wildest imagination be confused with open governance and sunshine advocates.
Oh, did we mention there’s another measure?- a cryptic little ditty that no one who hasn’t been bulldogging this issue would notice or comprehend.
A few weeks back discussion at the council table centered around one of Bynum and Kawahara’s demands- that all materials that are addressed to councilmembers or are distributed to other councilmembers get to them in a timely manner and not be subject to the whims of County Clerk Peter Nakamura. At the time, County Attorney Al Castillo halted the discussion to say that any conversation criticizing Nakamura was a “personnel” discussion and must be held behind closed doors.
So this week there is an executive session scheduled to “consider the evaluation of officers and/or employees where consideration of matters affecting privacy will be involved and associated matters”. Note the absence of what the heck this is really specifically about- something required by the sunshine law
So, in a nutshell, what do we have?
First it was pure stonewalling in refusing to hear the specific rule changes that Bynum tried to introduced in June. Then when that partially failed and Kawahara found a strategy to get a “discussion” of the subjects on the agenda, they delayed as long as they could until tomorrow finally came around.
But in the interim they bogusly got the administration to announce that very limited council materials would be posted on the web site, lying about the supposed “year-long” efforts, including absurd excuses like the death of Bryan Baptiste and last year’s elections.
And now the latest scam- delaying any action for at least three months so three skilled obfuscators and defenders of the realm can go behind closed doors and decide how to, most likely not change the rules in any way except perhaps cosmetically.
Oh, and they’ve put discussion of the staff’s complicity behind closed doors. presumably including reforms as to the staff’s role in the effecting reform. Any discussion of the job Asing’s chief henchman Nakamura is doing goes into the black hole of executive session where it can be disposed of without a public whimper.
Who thinks this stuff up?
We’ve never seen a more politically complex “inside baseball” matter take hold of the community the way this one has. It apparently has touched an already exposed nerve of long-time frustration with the council.
If the chambers aren’t packed at 9 a.m. tomorrow we’ll actually be surprised and we rarely think people will really show up.
The surprising thing is that it’s not just the usual suspects who are fed up with Asing and the others if the outpouring from the community that usually votes back in the incumbents and likes the status quo just fine, thank you, is any indication.
As a matter of fact, even though the real underpinnings of the actual “conspiracy” are more than enough to raise ire, some people have gone wild with their own theories.
We heard this week- and we must say up front that we have absolutely no knowledge that this is true- that according to the scuttlebutt on the south side, “all of them”- Asing, the other four councilmembers, Ron Kouchi, Castillo, Planning Director Ian Costa, and all the rest of the Minotaurs’ minions- have regularly been seen coming and going at Ron Kouchi’s house, presumably meeting to plot strategy.
Obviously this is an imaginatory figment- it would be way too risky for them to illegally meet like that and frankly most of them haven’t got the political skills or intelligence to set that up much less come up with anything effective... as evidenced by the patently silliness of the two blocking measures on this week’s agenda indicate.
But we tell the story because it does show how people are finally finding out what’s been going on and are no longer unwilling to believe the crap that’s being shoveled their way
In fact, they have filled in their own conspiratorial blanks.
So send out the border guards, the kingdom is crumbling. If this time of no bread makes you yearn for the circus you could do worse than to be there at 9 a.m. tomorrow. They say there could be fireworks AND a dog and pony show.
As many have heard in the reams of e-mails flying about, Wednesday’s agenda includes two diametrically opposed items on the subjects of open governance and transparency that dissident councilmembers Tim Bynum and Lani Kawahara forced into public scrutiny in June.
Not only is the promised “discussion” of the archaic council rules up for debate but, in response, the forces of darkness have led Councilpersons Jay Furfaro and his sidekick “nice guy” Dickie Chang to try to block any changes.
They’ve introduced a resolution asking the council to “appoint a special advisory committee” made up of three well known allies of Chair Kaipo “the Minotaur” Asing- charter members of the old boys network former Council Chair and long time member Ron Kouchi, former state circuit court Judge George “Spike” Matsunaga and long time board and commission member and all around status quo defender Phil Tachbian... and if they aren’t sycophantic enough of the status quo the alternate is the head of the Chamber of Commence, old boy in waiting Randall Francisco.
Their task?- to “recommend amendments to the rules”.
And these guys “ain’t the old boys”, as Chang was quoted as saying? Either Chang is obscenely disingenuous or lives in his own Wala`au world of naivety.
It is the ultimate absurdity. They want to appoint an opaque body, not subject to open meeting laws to hold a discussion and report on how to bring open government and transparency to the council. It’s a conversation that should be happening in open session, before the council, with public testimony, not behind closed doors with the sole input of three or four people who could never in anyone’s wildest imagination be confused with open governance and sunshine advocates.
Oh, did we mention there’s another measure?- a cryptic little ditty that no one who hasn’t been bulldogging this issue would notice or comprehend.
A few weeks back discussion at the council table centered around one of Bynum and Kawahara’s demands- that all materials that are addressed to councilmembers or are distributed to other councilmembers get to them in a timely manner and not be subject to the whims of County Clerk Peter Nakamura. At the time, County Attorney Al Castillo halted the discussion to say that any conversation criticizing Nakamura was a “personnel” discussion and must be held behind closed doors.
So this week there is an executive session scheduled to “consider the evaluation of officers and/or employees where consideration of matters affecting privacy will be involved and associated matters”. Note the absence of what the heck this is really specifically about- something required by the sunshine law
So, in a nutshell, what do we have?
First it was pure stonewalling in refusing to hear the specific rule changes that Bynum tried to introduced in June. Then when that partially failed and Kawahara found a strategy to get a “discussion” of the subjects on the agenda, they delayed as long as they could until tomorrow finally came around.
But in the interim they bogusly got the administration to announce that very limited council materials would be posted on the web site, lying about the supposed “year-long” efforts, including absurd excuses like the death of Bryan Baptiste and last year’s elections.
And now the latest scam- delaying any action for at least three months so three skilled obfuscators and defenders of the realm can go behind closed doors and decide how to, most likely not change the rules in any way except perhaps cosmetically.
Oh, and they’ve put discussion of the staff’s complicity behind closed doors. presumably including reforms as to the staff’s role in the effecting reform. Any discussion of the job Asing’s chief henchman Nakamura is doing goes into the black hole of executive session where it can be disposed of without a public whimper.
Who thinks this stuff up?
We’ve never seen a more politically complex “inside baseball” matter take hold of the community the way this one has. It apparently has touched an already exposed nerve of long-time frustration with the council.
If the chambers aren’t packed at 9 a.m. tomorrow we’ll actually be surprised and we rarely think people will really show up.
The surprising thing is that it’s not just the usual suspects who are fed up with Asing and the others if the outpouring from the community that usually votes back in the incumbents and likes the status quo just fine, thank you, is any indication.
As a matter of fact, even though the real underpinnings of the actual “conspiracy” are more than enough to raise ire, some people have gone wild with their own theories.
We heard this week- and we must say up front that we have absolutely no knowledge that this is true- that according to the scuttlebutt on the south side, “all of them”- Asing, the other four councilmembers, Ron Kouchi, Castillo, Planning Director Ian Costa, and all the rest of the Minotaurs’ minions- have regularly been seen coming and going at Ron Kouchi’s house, presumably meeting to plot strategy.
Obviously this is an imaginatory figment- it would be way too risky for them to illegally meet like that and frankly most of them haven’t got the political skills or intelligence to set that up much less come up with anything effective... as evidenced by the patently silliness of the two blocking measures on this week’s agenda indicate.
But we tell the story because it does show how people are finally finding out what’s been going on and are no longer unwilling to believe the crap that’s being shoveled their way
In fact, they have filled in their own conspiratorial blanks.
So send out the border guards, the kingdom is crumbling. If this time of no bread makes you yearn for the circus you could do worse than to be there at 9 a.m. tomorrow. They say there could be fireworks AND a dog and pony show.
Friday, June 12, 2009
ON AND ON, ON AND ON, ON AND ON
ON AND ON, ON AND ON, ON AND ON: It’s been ten days of conflicting thoughts and emotions with the explosion of public interest in a subject that is anything but revelatory to us or our gw?/PNN subscribers and readers.
After a year and a half of exposes and detailed coverage of the secrecy and corrupt machinations of Council Chair Kaipo Asing and his henchmen, through the forced courage of one man the island suddenly sees their emperor has been nakedly rigging the process.
We feel like we owe Councilperson Tim Bynum an apology for some of the things we’ve written in the past, not just questioning the luminosity and focus of his cerebral candlepower but more importantly his integrity in acquiescing to Asing’s dictatorial hold on the council.
Who knew that he was apparently biding his time and going to eventually expose what we’ve been saying and he now admits has seen Asing’s active efforts to treat everyone like mushrooms- keeping us in the dark and bury us in bullsh-t.
Despite the outward signs that Bynum was occasionally frustrated as his first term went by, rather than take on any kind of adversarial role he showed the same inclination that other formerly idealistic new councilpersons had displayed- allowing their “respect” for Asing to squelch and stifle any penchant for reform.
We’ve wondered for years what it would take to pull back the veil for the general apathetic and uninvolved Kaua`i populace. Who knew that it would be Asing himself that would- or could- go a step too far in denying the basic tenets of democracy and violating the rule of law... and that some of his actions would be the straw that broke the camel’s back for Bynum.
Surely one factor in Bynum’s conversion- and one without which it never would have happened- was the election of Lani Kawahara who similarly could have spent years building up the courage of her convictions had Bynum not been through the same thing and poised to act.
How all this will play out is anyone’s guess. A courtroom is looking more and more like the place where the ability of councilpersons to place items on the agenda will be decided.
One local attorney, citing Marbury v. Madison- the 1803 Supreme Court decision establishing the “rule of law”-, wrote this morning in an email that “(i)f Tim Bynum sues, Tim should win”.
Another professional asked where people could contribute to a “democracy defense fund” as it were, to finance the case.
But with all the ire being directed at Asing what seems to escape many is that Asing’s hold on power is in the hands of the other four councilpersons.
If supporters of recently elected Councilmembers Dickie Chang and Derek Kawakami let them know their support of Asing could jeopardize their nascent political careers- something that both care deeply and apparently excursively about- as unlikely as it may seem the political pressure could cause them to vote to save their own necks.
It doubtful that either Jay Furfaro or Darryl Kaneshiro will buck Asing. Both are as paternalistic as Asing.
But even now, with their stress on the agenda availability and access to public documents Bynum and Kawahara makes one wonder what would happen if suddenly Asing, seeking to cut his losses, just gives up control of these two matters to run away and fight another day.
Though important and shockingly manipulative these matter are merely the tip of the iceberg and only symptomatic of the deeply seated corruption of process Asing and the rest of the council has traditionally promulgated and perpetuated.
Will the two dissidents stop voting with the majority to go into executive session at the drop of a hat, as they have despite reservations? Will they refuse to confirm conflicted board and commission appointees? Will they hold the administration’s feet to the fire when incompetence and corruption are exposed as they have been time and again, not just in this space but on the council floor.
We certainly hope they get the power to add items to the agenda and post public documents on-line. But the list of needed reform legislation is long and implantation will be arduous. Our county code and administrative rules are lettered with outdated ordinances that were written to protect the island’s power elite. And our charter is countermanded in many provisions.
The Ethics Board- which is appointed by the council- is itself the most corrupt and lawless of all county entities and the code of ethics ordinance is littered with illegal provisions. The Planning Commission is a rubber stamp of dumb growth and the director is so entranced he has convinced the commissioners that they work for him when the charter says the opposite. The well documented rampant corruption in the Personnel Department is in many ways encoded in county ordinances that permit patronage that would put Chicago to shame. The Access and Open Space Commission is forbidden by ordinance from even discussing re-establishing beach and mountain access.
And the Public Works Department is, as it has been for decades, as crooked as a hundred year old `Ohia tree with a cash-greased revolving door system that is all but detailed in printed in wall-hanging notices.
The people just approved a new county auditor and other reforms this past fall but the council has voted unanimously to meet in secret to discuss the implementation legislation for that, the general plan enforcement charter amendment and other reforms.
It’s not a stretch to think that those sessions are all about figuring out ways to negate the effects people expected when they ratified them.
We could go on and on but you get the idea.
If Bynum and Kawahara succeed in effectuating the three goals listed at kauaiinfo.org will they and everyone who is currently up in arms be happy and go back to sleep?
Sources close to the two have described to us the trepidation that Bynum and Kawahara had in “going public” with the situation. Would the public understand? Was it too “inside baseball” as they say? Would they simply be crushed?
Or would people rally to their side and appreciate the courage it took to go public with their frustrations and not just “go along to get along” and become one of the old boys and girls as the years go by.
Many other “reformers” have done as much over the years when Asing and his cronies corner them and subvert them as happened most recently with Mel Rapozo.
We obviously misunderestimated Bynum and are glad to have been wrong in our assessment of his courage and intellect. Though we weren’t “shocked-shocked to find gambling” we do hope that “this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”.
After a year and a half of exposes and detailed coverage of the secrecy and corrupt machinations of Council Chair Kaipo Asing and his henchmen, through the forced courage of one man the island suddenly sees their emperor has been nakedly rigging the process.
We feel like we owe Councilperson Tim Bynum an apology for some of the things we’ve written in the past, not just questioning the luminosity and focus of his cerebral candlepower but more importantly his integrity in acquiescing to Asing’s dictatorial hold on the council.
Who knew that he was apparently biding his time and going to eventually expose what we’ve been saying and he now admits has seen Asing’s active efforts to treat everyone like mushrooms- keeping us in the dark and bury us in bullsh-t.
Despite the outward signs that Bynum was occasionally frustrated as his first term went by, rather than take on any kind of adversarial role he showed the same inclination that other formerly idealistic new councilpersons had displayed- allowing their “respect” for Asing to squelch and stifle any penchant for reform.
We’ve wondered for years what it would take to pull back the veil for the general apathetic and uninvolved Kaua`i populace. Who knew that it would be Asing himself that would- or could- go a step too far in denying the basic tenets of democracy and violating the rule of law... and that some of his actions would be the straw that broke the camel’s back for Bynum.
Surely one factor in Bynum’s conversion- and one without which it never would have happened- was the election of Lani Kawahara who similarly could have spent years building up the courage of her convictions had Bynum not been through the same thing and poised to act.
How all this will play out is anyone’s guess. A courtroom is looking more and more like the place where the ability of councilpersons to place items on the agenda will be decided.
One local attorney, citing Marbury v. Madison- the 1803 Supreme Court decision establishing the “rule of law”-, wrote this morning in an email that “(i)f Tim Bynum sues, Tim should win”.
Another professional asked where people could contribute to a “democracy defense fund” as it were, to finance the case.
But with all the ire being directed at Asing what seems to escape many is that Asing’s hold on power is in the hands of the other four councilpersons.
If supporters of recently elected Councilmembers Dickie Chang and Derek Kawakami let them know their support of Asing could jeopardize their nascent political careers- something that both care deeply and apparently excursively about- as unlikely as it may seem the political pressure could cause them to vote to save their own necks.
It doubtful that either Jay Furfaro or Darryl Kaneshiro will buck Asing. Both are as paternalistic as Asing.
But even now, with their stress on the agenda availability and access to public documents Bynum and Kawahara makes one wonder what would happen if suddenly Asing, seeking to cut his losses, just gives up control of these two matters to run away and fight another day.
Though important and shockingly manipulative these matter are merely the tip of the iceberg and only symptomatic of the deeply seated corruption of process Asing and the rest of the council has traditionally promulgated and perpetuated.
Will the two dissidents stop voting with the majority to go into executive session at the drop of a hat, as they have despite reservations? Will they refuse to confirm conflicted board and commission appointees? Will they hold the administration’s feet to the fire when incompetence and corruption are exposed as they have been time and again, not just in this space but on the council floor.
We certainly hope they get the power to add items to the agenda and post public documents on-line. But the list of needed reform legislation is long and implantation will be arduous. Our county code and administrative rules are lettered with outdated ordinances that were written to protect the island’s power elite. And our charter is countermanded in many provisions.
The Ethics Board- which is appointed by the council- is itself the most corrupt and lawless of all county entities and the code of ethics ordinance is littered with illegal provisions. The Planning Commission is a rubber stamp of dumb growth and the director is so entranced he has convinced the commissioners that they work for him when the charter says the opposite. The well documented rampant corruption in the Personnel Department is in many ways encoded in county ordinances that permit patronage that would put Chicago to shame. The Access and Open Space Commission is forbidden by ordinance from even discussing re-establishing beach and mountain access.
And the Public Works Department is, as it has been for decades, as crooked as a hundred year old `Ohia tree with a cash-greased revolving door system that is all but detailed in printed in wall-hanging notices.
The people just approved a new county auditor and other reforms this past fall but the council has voted unanimously to meet in secret to discuss the implementation legislation for that, the general plan enforcement charter amendment and other reforms.
It’s not a stretch to think that those sessions are all about figuring out ways to negate the effects people expected when they ratified them.
We could go on and on but you get the idea.
If Bynum and Kawahara succeed in effectuating the three goals listed at kauaiinfo.org will they and everyone who is currently up in arms be happy and go back to sleep?
Sources close to the two have described to us the trepidation that Bynum and Kawahara had in “going public” with the situation. Would the public understand? Was it too “inside baseball” as they say? Would they simply be crushed?
Or would people rally to their side and appreciate the courage it took to go public with their frustrations and not just “go along to get along” and become one of the old boys and girls as the years go by.
Many other “reformers” have done as much over the years when Asing and his cronies corner them and subvert them as happened most recently with Mel Rapozo.
We obviously misunderestimated Bynum and are glad to have been wrong in our assessment of his courage and intellect. Though we weren’t “shocked-shocked to find gambling” we do hope that “this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”.
Friday, April 17, 2009
PUPPY LOVE
PUPPY LOVE: If we had a dollar (inflated from the traditional nickel) every time a federal, state or local legislator spoke the words “these tough economic times” as they prepare their budgets this year, they wouldn’t be.
But here on Kaua`i that doesn’t seem to stop the county council from extending the financial teat to every Tom, Dick and Harry Inc. coming in for suckle.
The developer and tourism industry crowd all seem to be adamant free marketeers and liaise-faire zealots until it comes time to line up for a government handout. Social safety net food programs for keiki, kupuna and cripples be damned- the adults at the C of C must be served- and served first.
Exhibit one- this past Wednesday’s council committee meetings.
The first recipient rat hole was the new “Kaua`i Marathon” coming up in September . Now no one is really complaining much about having a marathon on Kaua`i except those who will have to negotiate around the closed off Kalaheo and Lawa`i back roads that day or the residents- who were never asked- who apparently won’t even be able to leave their driveways.
The big question is why the heck with all the corporate sponsorship do they need a Kaua`i County Economic Development grant to do it?
Well you might ask Mr. Tourism, Economic Development Committee Chair Dickie Chang or his buddy Mr. Hotel Executive, Vice-Chair Jay Furfaro who ran the meeting in Chang’s absence... neither of whom were shy about taking the council’s time- and TV budget- to promote the event with a half hour infomercial at Wednesday’s meeting.
Before that they spent another good sized chunk of their televising budget, as they do every week, to give out "certificates"- all fully captioned- while patting themselves on the back for honoring this week’s recipients- four Small Business Administration prize winners.
Of course there’s always plenty of money to televise these little personal vote buying ventures but none to televise the current budget hearings,
The “winners” included the small business “journalist of the year”, the guy who does PR for the Chamber of Commerce, and the Woman Business Owner of the Year, a defense contractor intermediary, plus someone from the Kaua`i Economic Development Board for their apparently highly unsuccessful Economic Development Plan... all recipients of government largess to promote somebody’s business.
Back to Chang whose “Wala`au” TV program is sponsoring and directly financially benefiting from the marathon. Unbelievably enough, he not only hasn’t recused himself from discussion of the marathon as the law seems to require but actually he put this free “ad” for it on the agenda too.
With Chang “under the weather”, Furfaro and the rest of the councilmembers gushed over another the Chang-sponsored commercial, this one for the new taxpayer-sponsored tourism promotion web site put together by the local newspaper and linked through their web site.
To hear “The Garden Island (TGI)” newspaper Publisher Mark Lewis talk about his creation was to take off on a flight of fancy that the councilmembers were all too happy accommodate.
Lewis started out by claiming that TGI’s KauaiWorld site is the “most powerful web site on the island” at first claiming an absurd 97,000 individual hits a day, which later turned out to be the yearly figure- a paltry readership number that even this tiny little site approximates and exceeds with our daily e-mailing list.
Lewis- with Kaua`i Visitor Bureau chief Sue Kanoho, who cooked up this little boondoggle, at his side- then went on to tout the exposure the taxpayer-created and supported site will provide.
Apparently it’s not only going to be on the GI web site but at all 14 of owner “Lee Enterprises’” newspaper web sites. Quite a coup until you find out that the biggest market is in Tucson, Arizona and some of the other biggies are Bismarck, North Dakota, Butte, Montana and Sioux City, Iowa.
Still Lewis had the council seemingly awed by the wondrous site to behold and its nearly obsolete, cookie-cutter format and cluttered design... and it’s link from the paper’s “home page” with little box way down on the extreme right where it’s off the side of the screen for many browsers.
As anyone who has visited the paper’s web site knows it’s pretty pitiful to begin with. But as any regular reader can tell you there’s nothing much on the home page that isn’t available all over the web, which is why most people go straight to the local news page.
And guess what?- the subject site isn’t even linked to the “local news” or any of the content pages.
The site itself doesn’t really promote much of anything on Kaua`i except for 120 large businesses all the way from hotels to golf courses. Oh, shoved in the middle of a string of buttons for things like “hotels and lodging, vacation rentals, weddings, luaus, golf and dining” there is a link to something called “attractions” which lists a few beaches and such on a separate page.
There was no word from Lewis or Kanoho as to how these businesses are selected or whether there is a charge for posting them or even the customary “per click-through” charge for this taxpayer supported advertising. And the council didn’t even bother to ask.
And so how successful is the site? Lewis admitted- or actually he presented it like it was a lot- all of 2000 visitors have clicked it on so far.
All the specifics aside the propriety of a newspaper and government- especially in a discretionary monetary partnership- is ethically unconscionable. But not apparently at TGI where they do the bidding of the “old boys network” on a daily basis.
Well the councilmembers were extremely pleased with the whole thing and as usual patted themselves on the back for spending our money on it even though, as with all the other money they shove into off-island-based big businesses’ pockets through advertising, there’s absolutely no accountability and no valid mechanism to check if it’s working or, as we suspect, is just another rat hole of a boondoggle.
But we can be sure that at least one person is getting his – or our- money’s worth. Chang, who put these two promotional items on the agenda, has been rewarded with buttons of his own that link to his Wala`au Web site.
In a recently passed charter amendment anyone who has financial interest in any agenda item before the council is required to not just disclose that fact but now must actually recuse him or herself from discussing and voting on the matter.
The only question for Chang- who actually put the name of his TV program “Wala`au” on the ballot next to his name and then tried to claim that was his name because people yell out “Wala`au” when they see him- is whether he put these items on the agenda because he’s oblivious to the law or simply flouting it.
Has the master of personal promotion gone too far? Apparently not for Kaua`i where no one seems to care and no doubt will keep re-electing Chang and his fellow interest-conflicted, greedy little baby bovines until we, the milk-cows, come home.
Note- We apologize for the delay in presenting the final report in our “Unethical Culture” series on the Kaua`i Board of Ethics. If Time Warner cable’s ever gives us reliable internet service again- they’ve been out almost all day for the last two days- we’ll be able to finalize our research and links. We’ll try again next week- Ed.
But here on Kaua`i that doesn’t seem to stop the county council from extending the financial teat to every Tom, Dick and Harry Inc. coming in for suckle.
The developer and tourism industry crowd all seem to be adamant free marketeers and liaise-faire zealots until it comes time to line up for a government handout. Social safety net food programs for keiki, kupuna and cripples be damned- the adults at the C of C must be served- and served first.
Exhibit one- this past Wednesday’s council committee meetings.
The first recipient rat hole was the new “Kaua`i Marathon” coming up in September . Now no one is really complaining much about having a marathon on Kaua`i except those who will have to negotiate around the closed off Kalaheo and Lawa`i back roads that day or the residents- who were never asked- who apparently won’t even be able to leave their driveways.
The big question is why the heck with all the corporate sponsorship do they need a Kaua`i County Economic Development grant to do it?
Well you might ask Mr. Tourism, Economic Development Committee Chair Dickie Chang or his buddy Mr. Hotel Executive, Vice-Chair Jay Furfaro who ran the meeting in Chang’s absence... neither of whom were shy about taking the council’s time- and TV budget- to promote the event with a half hour infomercial at Wednesday’s meeting.
Before that they spent another good sized chunk of their televising budget, as they do every week, to give out "certificates"- all fully captioned- while patting themselves on the back for honoring this week’s recipients- four Small Business Administration prize winners.
Of course there’s always plenty of money to televise these little personal vote buying ventures but none to televise the current budget hearings,
The “winners” included the small business “journalist of the year”, the guy who does PR for the Chamber of Commerce, and the Woman Business Owner of the Year, a defense contractor intermediary, plus someone from the Kaua`i Economic Development Board for their apparently highly unsuccessful Economic Development Plan... all recipients of government largess to promote somebody’s business.
Back to Chang whose “Wala`au” TV program is sponsoring and directly financially benefiting from the marathon. Unbelievably enough, he not only hasn’t recused himself from discussion of the marathon as the law seems to require but actually he put this free “ad” for it on the agenda too.
With Chang “under the weather”, Furfaro and the rest of the councilmembers gushed over another the Chang-sponsored commercial, this one for the new taxpayer-sponsored tourism promotion web site put together by the local newspaper and linked through their web site.
To hear “The Garden Island (TGI)” newspaper Publisher Mark Lewis talk about his creation was to take off on a flight of fancy that the councilmembers were all too happy accommodate.
Lewis started out by claiming that TGI’s KauaiWorld site is the “most powerful web site on the island” at first claiming an absurd 97,000 individual hits a day, which later turned out to be the yearly figure- a paltry readership number that even this tiny little site approximates and exceeds with our daily e-mailing list.
Lewis- with Kaua`i Visitor Bureau chief Sue Kanoho, who cooked up this little boondoggle, at his side- then went on to tout the exposure the taxpayer-created and supported site will provide.
Apparently it’s not only going to be on the GI web site but at all 14 of owner “Lee Enterprises’” newspaper web sites. Quite a coup until you find out that the biggest market is in Tucson, Arizona and some of the other biggies are Bismarck, North Dakota, Butte, Montana and Sioux City, Iowa.
Still Lewis had the council seemingly awed by the wondrous site to behold and its nearly obsolete, cookie-cutter format and cluttered design... and it’s link from the paper’s “home page” with little box way down on the extreme right where it’s off the side of the screen for many browsers.
As anyone who has visited the paper’s web site knows it’s pretty pitiful to begin with. But as any regular reader can tell you there’s nothing much on the home page that isn’t available all over the web, which is why most people go straight to the local news page.
And guess what?- the subject site isn’t even linked to the “local news” or any of the content pages.
The site itself doesn’t really promote much of anything on Kaua`i except for 120 large businesses all the way from hotels to golf courses. Oh, shoved in the middle of a string of buttons for things like “hotels and lodging, vacation rentals, weddings, luaus, golf and dining” there is a link to something called “attractions” which lists a few beaches and such on a separate page.
There was no word from Lewis or Kanoho as to how these businesses are selected or whether there is a charge for posting them or even the customary “per click-through” charge for this taxpayer supported advertising. And the council didn’t even bother to ask.
And so how successful is the site? Lewis admitted- or actually he presented it like it was a lot- all of 2000 visitors have clicked it on so far.
All the specifics aside the propriety of a newspaper and government- especially in a discretionary monetary partnership- is ethically unconscionable. But not apparently at TGI where they do the bidding of the “old boys network” on a daily basis.
Well the councilmembers were extremely pleased with the whole thing and as usual patted themselves on the back for spending our money on it even though, as with all the other money they shove into off-island-based big businesses’ pockets through advertising, there’s absolutely no accountability and no valid mechanism to check if it’s working or, as we suspect, is just another rat hole of a boondoggle.
But we can be sure that at least one person is getting his – or our- money’s worth. Chang, who put these two promotional items on the agenda, has been rewarded with buttons of his own that link to his Wala`au Web site.
In a recently passed charter amendment anyone who has financial interest in any agenda item before the council is required to not just disclose that fact but now must actually recuse him or herself from discussing and voting on the matter.
The only question for Chang- who actually put the name of his TV program “Wala`au” on the ballot next to his name and then tried to claim that was his name because people yell out “Wala`au” when they see him- is whether he put these items on the agenda because he’s oblivious to the law or simply flouting it.
Has the master of personal promotion gone too far? Apparently not for Kaua`i where no one seems to care and no doubt will keep re-electing Chang and his fellow interest-conflicted, greedy little baby bovines until we, the milk-cows, come home.
Note- We apologize for the delay in presenting the final report in our “Unethical Culture” series on the Kaua`i Board of Ethics. If Time Warner cable’s ever gives us reliable internet service again- they’ve been out almost all day for the last two days- we’ll be able to finalize our research and links. We’ll try again next week- Ed.
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