GENIUS AT WORK: It's never easy when the Kaua`i County Council seeks information from the administration, especially when they want data that the administration either doesn't have or is unwilling to part with.
That is, of course, if the council really wants the info to begin with or is willing to settle for much less.
We've described the administration tactics like "the fog"- the soft-spoken lulling to sleep of councilmembers, as perfected by perennial appointee Ian Costa.
Then there's "the runaround," where the department head on the hot seat conveniently lacks the knowledge sought by the council and suggests that a subordinate has it but he's out of town today. After a two week deferral the subordinate shows up and suggests another subordinate has the answers but he's "got meetings today." When the second one shows up two weeks later, well he's "new here" and doesn't know how the whole mess got started but it was his predecessor’s fault and he promises that things will be better in the future now that he's on the job.
This usually goes on ad nausium until the council simply forgets about the matter or simply gives up.
But how did the county perfect this system of obfuscation and disinformation?
The credit must go to a man whose time in his office spans three administrations and whose expertise was on display at last Wednesday's council committee confab.
Managing Director (formerly called the Administrative Assistant) Gary Heu started in the job back during the Maryanne Kusaka administration and despite some missteps that would cause lesser heads to roll has managed to continue in the job through Mayor Bryan Baptiste’s term and now into that of Mayor Bernard Carvalho due to precisely the skills he exhibited Wednesday. The council wanted Heu to explain why, despite having three people on the job- and a fourth one coming- they have only addressed three out of the 40 energy-saving strategy recommendations from the cost control commission, as a recent county audit showed.
Speaking softly and with his characteristic long, ponderous pauses before responding to questions, Heu parried the council's criticisms with a mish-mosh of sensible non-sequitors before actually trying to turn the tables by suggesting that taking all this time to answer all these questions from the auditor and now the council- and complying with them after the recommendations- was what was stopping the administration from action.
Heu is the master of the "I'm not here" style of testimony, having the ability to come up with 700 ways of saying the same thing. But when you actually write it down and read back his words they're completely meaningless. He does this by seeming to accept some blame but actually shifting it, followed by a "we're fixing it as of last Tuesday" explanation.
So it didn't seem to matter when Council Chair Jay Furfaro started waving around a consultant-prepared energy plan that dated back to 1994 from the administration of then Mayor, now Councilmember JoAnn Yukimura which, even though is almost two decades old, contained many of the same recommendation from the cost control commission and county auditor.
One particularly absurd discussion occurred when Energy Coordinator Glen Sato sat by Heu's side for a "PowerPoint presentation"- to the usual ooo's and ahhh's of the council- which included a slide of what he called a "dashboard" that showed the precise energy usage and amount being generated by the new photovoltaic system on the roof of the Pi`ikoi Building. That was impressive until councilmembers asked whether the people who worked there had access to the part that showed how much they were actually using so they could practice conservation- the core of all energy strategies... which of course they didn't.
But "fear not" said Heu. The brand new "sustainability manager" position created by the council in this year’s budget, will be hired "next week" and then we'll really be able to start in on energy savings.
By then the council chambers resembled San Francisco at 4 in the afternoon after the fog rolls in. So seemingly satisfied with the non-progress on a matter that had caused so much consternation only an hour before, Heu disappeared into the mist to reappear again the next time the administration's buffoon-of-the-month fails at the runaround and "the fixer" is called to perform his the unique magic that has kept him on the job lo these many years.
Showing posts with label Gary Heu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gary Heu. Show all posts
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, October 22, 2010
AND ALL FOR UNDER A BUCK
AND ALL FOR UNDER A BUCK: We’ve come up with a formula that perfectly describes the treatment of information consumers on Kaua`i.
Yesterday’s Papers + Everything Old Is New Again = Our Local Newspaper.
This kind of “when we get around to it... and if we’re forced to” journalism results in things like the way someone decided to tip off the Star(ad)vetiser to the story today of the $38 million sale of the Aston Kauai Beach to JMI Realty of Texas rather than tell the Kaua`i paper because they knew the S-A would not just publish the story in a timely manner but actually get the story right.
So we were not surprised by the “day late and a dollar short” story that appeared in Wednesday’s local paper that must have been a head-scratcher for anyone who had not read our report almost a month and a half ago that Mayor Carvalho’s Administrative Assistant Gary Heu was warning people that alleged “Westside serial killer” Waldorf “Wally” Wilson was spotted on Kaua`i riding a bike in Puhi.
But of course the newspaper danced around the whole story by leaving out the fact that Wilson was identified as the suspect in two killings and an assault many years ago, according to Chapter 8- The Serial Killer in the book KPD Blue by Anthony Sommer (see left rail to read the entire book).
Seems police beat “reporter” Paul Curtis must have missed one of the “5 W’s” in J-school classes- the one where, after covering who, what, when, and where, they cover “why”- leaving out the fact that Wilson was a suspect in those killings.
Instead Curtis wrote that “a widely circulated e-mail came just short of accusing an innocent man of murder”.
Innocent? Well, maybe just short of it according to Sommer.
The article essentially repeats Joan Conrow’s report a few weeks back regarding the KPD and AG’s office contention that they checked and Wilson “is still living in Kane`ohe” although later in the article it says that “(i)f visiting another island for more than 10 days, (registered sex offenders) must register in person with the county police department on that island within three days of arrival” implying that no notification is needed to visit for 10 days so it doesn’t mean Wilson was never here as Curtis strains to imply.
Our favorite part of course is where Curtis writes:
“Word spread from as high up as Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s No. 2 man, Administrative Assistant Gary Heu, to as low as blogs written by local residents saying Wilson may be living in Puhi”
Well if Heu is “high” and we’re “low” we suppose today’s publication means the story has finally hit rock bottom.
So why would the local newspaper fail to report the core of the story? Well it wouldn’t be the first time they failed to touch the story with a 10 foot pole.
Sommer tells us why that might be, writing:
On Sept. 12, 2000, the KPD announced it had arrested a convicted rapist on a parole violation. The man’s name and mug shot were released through the mayor’s office.
The press release was almost instantly followed by another insisting the parole violator was in no way a suspect in the west side attacks and his only crime was violating the conditions of his parole.
The KPD was so vehement in pointing out that the man was not the serial killer, every editor in the state bought it. Except for one Honolulu television station, which used his name and broadcast his picture, all the “news executives” were frightened by the KPD’s threat of libel suits.
The next day, the KPD, through the mayor’s office criticized the lone television station that identified the arrested man for “irresponsible reporting.”
The television station was correct. It was the KPD that was lying. And the mayor’s office knew it but lying to the press was pretty much standard operating procedure. Next, Inspector Mel Morris, head of the investigations bureau, began dragging a red herring claiming, “KPD has not ruled out the possibility that there may be more than one person responsible.”
He said the man arrested is “unrelated to any of these cases. Any impression that might have been given that these cases are close to being solved is flat-out wrong.”
The arrested man was, of course, KPD’s primary, in fact only, suspect and (off the record, of course) they were certain he was the killer but they couldn’t prove it.
His name was Waldorf “Wally” Wilson, and his name and picture were all over the west side on anonymously printed flyers.
But the Honolulu media executives would not publish his name until two years later—and then only because Wilson filed a lawsuit against KPD, a newspaper and a magazine.
Wilson was convicted in 1983 of a brutal rape on Oahu. He was paroled on Jan. 9, 1999 and in January 2000 moved to Kauai. The attacks began three months later.
Wally Wilson’s brother was a KPD officer, Buddy Wilson, a long-time member of the Vice Squad known for his somewhat less than subtle tactics in investigating narcotics cases.
(Once again the circle that began with the Randy Machado trial looped back. Kelly Lau was a witness for Machado at his trial. Lau indicated quite clearly she was a confidential informant working for Buddy Wilson.)
All the while, KPD insisted Wally Wilson was not a suspect. For the next two years, the KPD engaged in tactics that Wally Wilson later claimed in his lawsuit violated his Constitutional rights.
But he was kept off the streets without ever actually being charged with any crime.
And there were no more attacks.
According to Wally Wilson’s lawsuit, KPD “coerced” him into taking a polygraph test on Sept. 12, 2000 and then “strongly pressured” the Hawaii Parole Authority to revoke Wilson’s parole. The results of the polygraph test were not given in the lawsuit.
A judge ultimately threw out Wilson’s lawsuit but by then KPD’s tactics were pretty obvious, as was its complete inability (or unwillingness) to bring criminal charges against him involving the three attacks.
Unable or unwilling to cover news in a timely manner?.. failing to include facts not just material but central to the story?... repeating whatever those he covers tells him to without questioning and an inability to adhere to basic reporting standards?...
Check, check and check.
So much for “without fear or favor.”
That’s our Paul and that’s our newspaper- serial offenders of journalistic standards by any measure.
Yesterday’s Papers + Everything Old Is New Again = Our Local Newspaper.
This kind of “when we get around to it... and if we’re forced to” journalism results in things like the way someone decided to tip off the Star(ad)vetiser to the story today of the $38 million sale of the Aston Kauai Beach to JMI Realty of Texas rather than tell the Kaua`i paper because they knew the S-A would not just publish the story in a timely manner but actually get the story right.
So we were not surprised by the “day late and a dollar short” story that appeared in Wednesday’s local paper that must have been a head-scratcher for anyone who had not read our report almost a month and a half ago that Mayor Carvalho’s Administrative Assistant Gary Heu was warning people that alleged “Westside serial killer” Waldorf “Wally” Wilson was spotted on Kaua`i riding a bike in Puhi.
But of course the newspaper danced around the whole story by leaving out the fact that Wilson was identified as the suspect in two killings and an assault many years ago, according to Chapter 8- The Serial Killer in the book KPD Blue by Anthony Sommer (see left rail to read the entire book).
Seems police beat “reporter” Paul Curtis must have missed one of the “5 W’s” in J-school classes- the one where, after covering who, what, when, and where, they cover “why”- leaving out the fact that Wilson was a suspect in those killings.
Instead Curtis wrote that “a widely circulated e-mail came just short of accusing an innocent man of murder”.
Innocent? Well, maybe just short of it according to Sommer.
The article essentially repeats Joan Conrow’s report a few weeks back regarding the KPD and AG’s office contention that they checked and Wilson “is still living in Kane`ohe” although later in the article it says that “(i)f visiting another island for more than 10 days, (registered sex offenders) must register in person with the county police department on that island within three days of arrival” implying that no notification is needed to visit for 10 days so it doesn’t mean Wilson was never here as Curtis strains to imply.
Our favorite part of course is where Curtis writes:
“Word spread from as high up as Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s No. 2 man, Administrative Assistant Gary Heu, to as low as blogs written by local residents saying Wilson may be living in Puhi”
Well if Heu is “high” and we’re “low” we suppose today’s publication means the story has finally hit rock bottom.
So why would the local newspaper fail to report the core of the story? Well it wouldn’t be the first time they failed to touch the story with a 10 foot pole.
Sommer tells us why that might be, writing:
On Sept. 12, 2000, the KPD announced it had arrested a convicted rapist on a parole violation. The man’s name and mug shot were released through the mayor’s office.
The press release was almost instantly followed by another insisting the parole violator was in no way a suspect in the west side attacks and his only crime was violating the conditions of his parole.
The KPD was so vehement in pointing out that the man was not the serial killer, every editor in the state bought it. Except for one Honolulu television station, which used his name and broadcast his picture, all the “news executives” were frightened by the KPD’s threat of libel suits.
The next day, the KPD, through the mayor’s office criticized the lone television station that identified the arrested man for “irresponsible reporting.”
The television station was correct. It was the KPD that was lying. And the mayor’s office knew it but lying to the press was pretty much standard operating procedure. Next, Inspector Mel Morris, head of the investigations bureau, began dragging a red herring claiming, “KPD has not ruled out the possibility that there may be more than one person responsible.”
He said the man arrested is “unrelated to any of these cases. Any impression that might have been given that these cases are close to being solved is flat-out wrong.”
The arrested man was, of course, KPD’s primary, in fact only, suspect and (off the record, of course) they were certain he was the killer but they couldn’t prove it.
His name was Waldorf “Wally” Wilson, and his name and picture were all over the west side on anonymously printed flyers.
But the Honolulu media executives would not publish his name until two years later—and then only because Wilson filed a lawsuit against KPD, a newspaper and a magazine.
Wilson was convicted in 1983 of a brutal rape on Oahu. He was paroled on Jan. 9, 1999 and in January 2000 moved to Kauai. The attacks began three months later.
Wally Wilson’s brother was a KPD officer, Buddy Wilson, a long-time member of the Vice Squad known for his somewhat less than subtle tactics in investigating narcotics cases.
(Once again the circle that began with the Randy Machado trial looped back. Kelly Lau was a witness for Machado at his trial. Lau indicated quite clearly she was a confidential informant working for Buddy Wilson.)
All the while, KPD insisted Wally Wilson was not a suspect. For the next two years, the KPD engaged in tactics that Wally Wilson later claimed in his lawsuit violated his Constitutional rights.
But he was kept off the streets without ever actually being charged with any crime.
And there were no more attacks.
According to Wally Wilson’s lawsuit, KPD “coerced” him into taking a polygraph test on Sept. 12, 2000 and then “strongly pressured” the Hawaii Parole Authority to revoke Wilson’s parole. The results of the polygraph test were not given in the lawsuit.
A judge ultimately threw out Wilson’s lawsuit but by then KPD’s tactics were pretty obvious, as was its complete inability (or unwillingness) to bring criminal charges against him involving the three attacks.
Unable or unwilling to cover news in a timely manner?.. failing to include facts not just material but central to the story?... repeating whatever those he covers tells him to without questioning and an inability to adhere to basic reporting standards?...
Check, check and check.
So much for “without fear or favor.”
That’s our Paul and that’s our newspaper- serial offenders of journalistic standards by any measure.
Friday, September 10, 2010
(PNN) ALLEGED WESTSIDE SERIAL KILLER WILSON SAID TO BE “OUT OF JAIL AND BACK ON ISLAND” ACCORDING TO MAYOR’S A.A. HEU
ALLEGED WESTSIDE SERIAL KILLER WILSON SAID TO BE “OUT OF JAIL AND BACK ON ISLAND” ACCORDING TO MAYOR’S A.A. HEU
ADMINISTRATION IN “DAMAGE CONTROL” AFTER EMAIL CIRCULATES WIDELY
(PNN) -- In the wake of the unsolved murders of Amber Jackson in June and tourist Nola Rebecca “Becky” Thompson- whose body was found this morning after having been missing for the last week- the man alleged to be the “west side serial killer” is thought to be on the loose and living in Puhi according to a source who quoted Kaua`i County Administrative Assistant Gary Hue as telling her to “be careful” because of it.
ADMINISTRATION IN “DAMAGE CONTROL” AFTER EMAIL CIRCULATES WIDELY
(PNN) -- In the wake of the unsolved murders of Amber Jackson in June and tourist Nola Rebecca “Becky” Thompson- whose body was found this morning after having been missing for the last week- the man alleged to be the “west side serial killer” is thought to be on the loose and living in Puhi according to a source who quoted Kaua`i County Administrative Assistant Gary Hue as telling her to “be careful” because of it.
Waldorf “Wally” Wilson was identified as the man thought privately by many- including privately some Kauai Police Department (KPD) officers- to be “the west side serial killer” in the book “KPD Blue” by former Kaua`i Bureau Chief for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin Anthony Sommer.
Waldorf "Wally" Wilson, taken 1/25/10 (provided by Department of the Attorney General’s Online Sex Offender Search)
According to an email circulated widely yesterday and obtained by PNN, a woman who asked not to be identified said that Hue told her that Wilson “is out of jail and apparently back on island” and, she says that, “apparently he rides a bike - targets middle-aged Caucasian women and is currently thought to be living in Puhi.”
But the administration got hold of the email and went into “damage control” and convinced the woman that because Wilson “was never convicted of any crimes here on Kaua`i and what I wrote about him borders on libel and slander”.
Saying she “committed a grave blunder and forgotten that all of us have rights and are innocent until proven guilty” the originator of the email said that “(t)he email I sent has gotten back to the office of the mayor and they are in damage control mode right now and I am the subject of this damage control. They do not wish to create widespread panic about this situation which I helped to create.”
According to KPD Blue’s Chapter 8- The Serial Killer which PNN serialized in 2008 (see left rail):
In the spring and summer of 2000 on Kauai’s west side, three white women were stabbed and sexually assaulted. Two died. The third was left for dead and so severely injured that it took her three hours to crawl to a telephone only a few yards away and call for help....
KPD detectives quickly identified a prime suspect but insisted they could never gather enough evidence to arrest or charge him.
The suspect’s brother was a veteran KPD officer....
On April 7, 2000, the battered body of Lisa Bissell, 38, was found in a roadside ditch near Polihale State Park on Kauai’s west side.... On May 22, 2000, a 52-year-old haole woman was beaten and stabbed in the yard of a remote Kekaha beach home where she was house-sitting... The third victim was found on Aug. 30, 2000, at her camp site near Pakala Point Beach, a popular surfing spot. She was identified as Daren Singer, 43, of Paia, Maui...
In early September, KPD detectives rounded up all 70 registered sex offenders on the island. They said they didn’t find any suspects but, of course, they had.
On Sept. 12, 2000, the KPD announced it had arrested a convicted rapist on a parole violation. The man’s name and mug shot were released through the mayor’s office.
The press release was almost instantly followed by another insisting the parole violator was in no way a suspect in the west side attacks and his only crime was violating the conditions of his parole.
The KPD was so vehement in pointing out that the man was not the serial killer, every editor in the state bought it. Except for one Honolulu television station, which used his name and broadcast his picture, all the “news executives” were frightened by the KPD’s threat of libel suits.
The next day, the KPD, through the mayor’s office criticized the lone television station that identified the arrested man for “irresponsible reporting.”
The television station was correct. It was the KPD that was lying. And the mayor’s office knew it but lying to the press was pretty much standard operating procedure. Next, Inspector Mel Morris, head of the investigations bureau, began dragging a red herring claiming, “KPD has not ruled out the possibility that there may be more than one person responsible.”
He said the man arrested is “unrelated to any of these cases. Any impression that might have been given that these cases are close to being solved is flat-out wrong.”
The arrested man was, of course, KPD’s primary, in fact only, suspect and (off the record, of course) they were certain he was the killer but they couldn’t prove it.
His name was Waldorf “Wally” Wilson, and his name and picture were all over the west side on anonymously printed flyers.
But the Honolulu media executives would not publish his name until two years later—and then only because Wilson filed a lawsuit against KPD, a newspaper and a magazine.
Wilson was convicted in 1983 of a brutal rape on Oahu. He was paroled on Jan. 9, 1999 and in January 2000 moved to Kauai. The attacks began three months later.
Wally Wilson’s brother was a KPD officer, Buddy Wilson, a long-time member of the Vice Squad known for his somewhat less than subtle tactics in investigating narcotics cases.
(Once again the circle that began with the Randy Machado trial looped back. Kelly Lau was a witness for Machado at his trial. Lau indicated quite clearly she was a confidential informant working for Buddy Wilson.)
All the while, KPD insisted Wally Wilson was not a suspect. For the next two years, the KPD engaged in tactics that Wally Wilson later claimed in his lawsuit violated his Constitutional rights.
But he was kept off the streets without ever actually being charged with any crime.
And there were no more attacks.
According to Wally Wilson’s lawsuit, KPD “coerced” him into taking a polygraph test on Sept. 12, 2000 and then “strongly pressured” the Hawaii Parole Authority to revoke Wilson’s parole. The results of the polygraph test were not given in the lawsuit.
A judge ultimately threw out Wilson’s lawsuit but by then KPD’s tactics were pretty obvious, as was its complete inability (or unwillingness) to bring criminal charges against him involving the three attacks.
Initially, Wilson’s parole was rescinded because he had been in contact with a woman on Kauai that his parole conditions specifically directed him to avoid. The revocation lasted until Feb. 28, 2002, when he was set free. On June 15, 2002, Wilson was again sent back to prison for violating his parole by failing a polygraph test.
To this day, KPD never has stated Wilson was a suspect at all in the West Side attacks. Yet every time he was released, his parole was violated on one technicality or another, and he was sent back to prison.
The problem is, Wilson has now “maxed out,” served the full term for his earlier conviction, and is back on the street. Since he no longer is on parole, he can’t be hauled in for parole violations.
The case of the one and only serial killer in Kauai’s history remains unsolved.
According to Wilson’s page at the Department of the Attorney General’s Online Sex Offender Search page, Wilson is 50 years old, 5’ 11”, 185 lbs with black hair and brown eyes with tattoos on his right shoulder and left ankle. Although it lists a Honolulu address that is from 2004.
According to the site Wilson was convicted of first degree rape, first degree sex abuse and kidnapping on July 26 1983.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
EVEN MORE ‘WANTED'
EVEN MORE ‘WANTED’: When it comes to playing kissy face in covering the police and courts beat for the local newspaper “reporter” Paul Curtis is a champ with his ceaseless publication of the “Kaua`i “Most Wanted” list and write-ups for every award and commendation given at the monthly police commission (PC) meetings.
But when it comes to covering controversies that come up at the meetings Curtis’ coverage is, shall we say, strangely absent.
You’d never know it if you read the local newspaper but if you watch the government channel you know that during February’s PC meeting Mayor Carvalho’s power grab- formerly covered in January by Curtis in his usual sycophantic style- caused conniption fits on the part of at least two commissioners.
To be fair the quest to allow counties to change their charters to allow the mayors of each island to appoint their respective police chief and others department heads currently hired by boards and commissions has been requested not just by Kaua`i Mayor Bernard Carvalho but by the Hawai`i Council of Mayors- a four person group that includes all the counties’ chief executives.
Right now a state law HRS 52D requires police chiefs be appointed by citizen police commissions. But, using the seemingly phony excuse of “home rule”, Administrative Assistant Gary Heu and Board and Commission Administrator John Isobe have been pushing Senate Bill SB2177 and it’s companion House Bill HB 2016 which would allow the counties to change their charters with a vote of the people.
But when Commissioner Leon Gonsalves- the controversial commissioner who authored the “Hop Sing” email that began the political purge of former Chief KC Lum and was attending his last meeting due to term limits- got wind of it he apparently authored a scathing letter criticizing the plan and defending his now former fiefdom.
He placed the letter on the PC agenda for discussion and vetting by fellow commissioners and that brought Heu and Isobe to the meeting to defend the plan.
But it was another controversial commissioner, homophobic, former marine “Pastor Tom” Iannucci, who started off the critique accusing the administration of “entering scary territory”.
“I support my mayor” Iannucci told the assembled and TV audience in a theme he repeated at every criticism of the plan. “I just worry about what comes after him”.
Saying the police commission “should be a buffer for the people to keep politics out of pubic safety” he wondered what would happen “if we get an ‘old boy’, corrupt mayor” in the future as, he said, has happened in the past although he mentioned no names.
Failing to see the irony of his praise of Carvalho’s administration while addressing to two of the mayor’s chief ‘old boy’ operatives, Heu and Isobe, he told of how when he joined the commission he found out about how procedures called for a list of prospective KPD employees- including officers- to go to the mayor for approval. a violation of civil service law.
Iannucci began his stint on the commission during the Baptiste Administration and seemed unaware that the practice continues today according to many county employees.
“That’s the way it used to be” he said complaining how it wasn’t just the idea of the change he objected to but the way the administration was trying to flim flam the commission into “approval” of it by claiming all they wanted to do was change the state law “for now” when everyone knew and the administration admitted that this was done in order to ultimately take the hiring and firing of the chief out of the hands of the police commission.
Gonsalves, whose letter wasn’t available on the county web site, said he completely agrees with Iannucci who had cited Gonsalves letter in his rant.
“Leave it alone- don’t play with it” said Gonsalves chiding Heu and Isobe by saying they “should have approached the commissions first” and discussed it before the legislative push to change the state law, not after.
“There’s a reason it’s set up that way” he said noting that the set-up goes “back to the 40’s”.
Chief Darryl Perry agreed saying “my fear down the line (is that) things may change for the worse” adding that “ we do investigations from parking citations to the top of government.
“This process may be compromised if one person has the power over this department.”
Nowhere was a discussion of how civilian control over our paramilitary police should be the norm and that taking the politics out of police departments is the norm across the country, not the other way around.
They also failed to mention the incidents during Mayor Maryanne Kusaka’s administration when she tried to personally fire Chief George Freitas for not protecting her “people” until she was informed that only the police commission could do that. Eventually Freitas sued and got a hefty “retirement package” in exchange for dropping his suit.
Strangely enough after discussion of the “good governance” item was over- without approval or disapproval or any vote on disposition- the commission discussed whether and how they could stop the televising of police commission meetings with Iannucci saying "commissioners (are) making statements that shouldn’t go out” to the public and seemingly unaware of the sunshine law which requires open meetings.
Iannucci used the excuse of how money was tight to call for an end to televised commission meetings right before the commission went on to the subject of how many commissioners they could send to the next junket to attend a state police commissioners’ meeting on the Big Island.
We just thought that if you don’t watch the meetings on TV you might want to know about this stuff since we don’t expect Curtis will be publishing anything controversial regarding the commission or department- or the administration for that matter- any time soon.
But when it comes to covering controversies that come up at the meetings Curtis’ coverage is, shall we say, strangely absent.
You’d never know it if you read the local newspaper but if you watch the government channel you know that during February’s PC meeting Mayor Carvalho’s power grab- formerly covered in January by Curtis in his usual sycophantic style- caused conniption fits on the part of at least two commissioners.
To be fair the quest to allow counties to change their charters to allow the mayors of each island to appoint their respective police chief and others department heads currently hired by boards and commissions has been requested not just by Kaua`i Mayor Bernard Carvalho but by the Hawai`i Council of Mayors- a four person group that includes all the counties’ chief executives.
Right now a state law HRS 52D requires police chiefs be appointed by citizen police commissions. But, using the seemingly phony excuse of “home rule”, Administrative Assistant Gary Heu and Board and Commission Administrator John Isobe have been pushing Senate Bill SB2177 and it’s companion House Bill HB 2016 which would allow the counties to change their charters with a vote of the people.
But when Commissioner Leon Gonsalves- the controversial commissioner who authored the “Hop Sing” email that began the political purge of former Chief KC Lum and was attending his last meeting due to term limits- got wind of it he apparently authored a scathing letter criticizing the plan and defending his now former fiefdom.
He placed the letter on the PC agenda for discussion and vetting by fellow commissioners and that brought Heu and Isobe to the meeting to defend the plan.
But it was another controversial commissioner, homophobic, former marine “Pastor Tom” Iannucci, who started off the critique accusing the administration of “entering scary territory”.
“I support my mayor” Iannucci told the assembled and TV audience in a theme he repeated at every criticism of the plan. “I just worry about what comes after him”.
Saying the police commission “should be a buffer for the people to keep politics out of pubic safety” he wondered what would happen “if we get an ‘old boy’, corrupt mayor” in the future as, he said, has happened in the past although he mentioned no names.
Failing to see the irony of his praise of Carvalho’s administration while addressing to two of the mayor’s chief ‘old boy’ operatives, Heu and Isobe, he told of how when he joined the commission he found out about how procedures called for a list of prospective KPD employees- including officers- to go to the mayor for approval. a violation of civil service law.
Iannucci began his stint on the commission during the Baptiste Administration and seemed unaware that the practice continues today according to many county employees.
“That’s the way it used to be” he said complaining how it wasn’t just the idea of the change he objected to but the way the administration was trying to flim flam the commission into “approval” of it by claiming all they wanted to do was change the state law “for now” when everyone knew and the administration admitted that this was done in order to ultimately take the hiring and firing of the chief out of the hands of the police commission.
Gonsalves, whose letter wasn’t available on the county web site, said he completely agrees with Iannucci who had cited Gonsalves letter in his rant.
“Leave it alone- don’t play with it” said Gonsalves chiding Heu and Isobe by saying they “should have approached the commissions first” and discussed it before the legislative push to change the state law, not after.
“There’s a reason it’s set up that way” he said noting that the set-up goes “back to the 40’s”.
Chief Darryl Perry agreed saying “my fear down the line (is that) things may change for the worse” adding that “ we do investigations from parking citations to the top of government.
“This process may be compromised if one person has the power over this department.”
Nowhere was a discussion of how civilian control over our paramilitary police should be the norm and that taking the politics out of police departments is the norm across the country, not the other way around.
They also failed to mention the incidents during Mayor Maryanne Kusaka’s administration when she tried to personally fire Chief George Freitas for not protecting her “people” until she was informed that only the police commission could do that. Eventually Freitas sued and got a hefty “retirement package” in exchange for dropping his suit.
Strangely enough after discussion of the “good governance” item was over- without approval or disapproval or any vote on disposition- the commission discussed whether and how they could stop the televising of police commission meetings with Iannucci saying "commissioners (are) making statements that shouldn’t go out” to the public and seemingly unaware of the sunshine law which requires open meetings.
Iannucci used the excuse of how money was tight to call for an end to televised commission meetings right before the commission went on to the subject of how many commissioners they could send to the next junket to attend a state police commissioners’ meeting on the Big Island.
We just thought that if you don’t watch the meetings on TV you might want to know about this stuff since we don’t expect Curtis will be publishing anything controversial regarding the commission or department- or the administration for that matter- any time soon.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
KPD Blue- Chapter 24: The Return of K.C. Lum
KPD Blue
By Anthony Sommer
Chapter 24: The Return of K.C. Lum
Just when everyone thought K.C. Lum’s retirement as chief of the Kauai Police Department would end the most absurd chapter in the sorry history of Kauai County government, it got worse.
As he retired from the KPD, Lum announced he was a candidate for the County Council.
Figuring out exactly what happened next (why it happened is too obvious) from a wide variety of accounts, this appears to be the story:
On May 30, 2006, the Honolulu law firm representing Kauai County faxed a letter to Lum’s Honolulu attorney, Clayton Ikei, informing Ikei that the county had decided to cancel Lum’s contract as chief of police.
The letter also said Lum could serve as a lieutenant on the KPD if he wanted to remain on the force.
It directed Lum to contact Gary Heu, Baptiste’s administrative assistant, within a week to let him know Lum’s decision about the lieutenant position.
The law firm also sent copies to their client, Kauai County, including the mayor and the County Council. Ikei scanned the faxed letter and attached it in an email to his client, Lum.
Lum sent an email to Heu declining the offer and attached the letter from the county’s attorney. Or at least the version he received from Ikei.
Heu emailed Lum saying the letter Lum had attached in his email to him was not identical to the one the mayor’s office received from the county’s private attorney.
Missing were the two paragraphs about the offer of a lieutenant’s position.
Ikei, Lum’s attorney, admitted the mistake was his. In scanning the faxed letter from the county’s lawyer there was some overlap of the pages and the two paragraphs were covered up.
Lum immediately sent out corrected versions with the missing paragraphs restored. He sent the corrected version within two hours of sending the original version.
In the meantime, Lum announced he would be a candidate for the County Council.
The Council incumbents’ reaction reflected its natural tendency to retaliate harshly against its critics: Rule #1 includes “Punish Your Enemies.”
At the Kauai County Council’s June 15, 2006 meeting, Chairman Kaipo Asing went into one of his PowerPoint rants (which replaced his old blackboard chalk talk diatribes) accusing “someone” of tampering with a government document and publishing it on the internet to mislead the public.
The letter had been posted on an activist’s website—the version without the paragraphs that offered Lum a job if he would accept a demotion. It was widely read throughout Kauai. And it made the mayor and Council look bad.
What happened next probably was a result of the stupidity of the activist who posted the wrong version of the letter on the Internet as it was of the Council’s venomous attitude toward Lum.
It provided Council members an opportunity to lash out at Lum, who had the audacity to oppose them in an election.
And, at the same time, they could thump on an incredibly clumsy activist.
Asing completely ignored the fact that Lum had sent a correction to everyone as soon as he was aware of the mistake, and his attorney took the blame.
And he ignored the fact that the original letter from the county’s attorney had been in their hands from the start. So everyone knew what the entire letter said.
Nonetheless, the Council went into its anguish routine.
An editorial in The Garden Island newspaper gives a colorful account of the June 15 Council meeting:
“At that meeting Kaipo Asing, Jay Furfaro, Jimmy Tokioka and Mel Rapozo lamented the conspiracy of false information being foisted on the community by the posting of the document minus the paragraph, stating there was an open lieutenant position that Lum could apply for. Asing and his merry band were quite distraught at the blemish boiling to the surface on their untarnished reputations.
‘The council does everything right, and then people do something that is not right and we get blamed for it,’ Asing said.
“Tokioka hung his head low and sorrowfully said it was a shame that people would believe what they were reading.
“The media and the community are to blame for the council’s tarnished reputation, lamented Asing. He was utterly disgusted that uninformed residents were actually speaking their minds when the only true authority on everything is the council. It was at that same meeting Asing, upset at a member of the public for asking the question about whether there are any charges against Lum, replied, ‘We’re not here to answer questions, we’re here to take testimony.’”
But then it got nasty, also Standard Operating Procedure for Kauai’s County Council, which habitually retaliates with all the subtlety of a train wreck.
On Sept. 14, only a week before Kauai’s primary election, agents of the Hawaii Attorney General’s Criminal Division served a warrant on Lum, searched his house and two vehicles, and seized his computer and three hard drives.
Lum was informed he was being investigated on a charge of altering a government document. The charge supposedly had been filed by the Kauai County Council—in other words, the people Lum was running against in the election—and the affidavit providing probable cause for the issuance of the search warrant is believed to have been signed by Asing.
The search warrant specified the search was to be conducted on or before Sept. 23, which was Election Day.
Of course, “the media was alerted” by the incumbent Council members whom Lum was challenging.
And, of course, Lum lost the election.
On June 29, 2007, nine months after it was seized, the Attorney General’s Office returned the computer to Lum. Along with it came a letter informing him there would be no prosecution on the altering records complaint and that the case was closed.
There was no apology. The Republican governor had taken care of her Republican mayor on Kauai.
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