THE RULING CLASS: We've been fairly merciless with Council Chair Jay Furfaro and his foibles and blunders, not to mention his tendency toward chest-beating blowhardism.
His insistence that his business experience in the tourism industry can be translated and applied to just about any situation has resulted in some real head-scratchers and outright bad results.
But recently, out of the blue, Furfaro has suddenly rectified one of the most blatant violations of the state Sunshine Law- one which, despite our constant whining, sniveling and even letters to the Office of Information Practices (OIP) asking them to intercede, has never been enforced on Kaua`i.
In the late 90's we made it our mission to drag the council- often kicking and screaming- as well as other boards and commissions, into compliance with the simplest of sunshine law provisions.
We joined with then Honolulu Star Bulletin Kaua`i Bureau Chief Anthony Sommer- author of KPD Blue (see left rail)- to request the listing of each specific executive session (ES) on council agendas. At the time, council chairs had always just announced that "we're going into executive session now so please clear the room."
Although the move was at first resisted by then Council Chair Ron Kouchi, it was first instituted by the Police Commission when then new Chair Michael Ching and new Vice Chair Carol Furtado acquiesced, saying they couldn’t believe it had never been done before.
Well soon Kouchi consulted then County Attorney Hartwell Blake, waking him up from his notorious perch under the air conditioner at the back of the council chambers, and finally the specific ES's began to appear routinely on council agendas, starting with ES-1 (we're now up to ES-505).
The Sunshine law provision regarding executive sessions reads
§92-4 Executive meetings. A board may hold an executive meeting closed to the public upon an affirmative vote, taken at an open meeting, of two-thirds of the members present; provided the affirmative vote constitutes a majority of the members to which the board is entitled. A meeting closed to the public shall be limited to matters exempted by section 92-5. The reason for holding such a meeting shall be publicly announced and the vote of each member on the question of holding a meeting closed to the public shall be recorded, and entered into the minutes of the meeting. (emphasis added)
But when we asked Kouchi to take a recorded, roll call vote he failed to respond and when Kaipo Asing took over as chair he continued the tradition despite years of prodding from us before we finally just gave up.
Well lo and behold a few weeks ago our ears and eyes perked up when the council was about to go into executive session and Furfaro asked then County Clerk Peter Nakamura for a roll call vote on each matter. And he's done so for each matter at each meeting since.
But of course for every step forward it's two steps backward for the Kaua`i County Council.
Furfaro is a stickler for the "council rules" which are generally passed by resolution at the inaugural meeting every two years, although they can be amended at any time by reso, as they were this year after a committee examined them.
But although community activist Bruce Pleas made it an issue a few years back, the following extremely important rule has gone back to non-enforcement status under Furfaro.
Rule 12 under Public Hearings states in Section e(4)C states that:
(C) Persons testifying shall clearly state their name, address, whom they represent, and whether they are a registered lobbyist, in compliance with H.R.S. Chapter 97, Lobbyist Law.
Not only is this a council rule but a state law.
Anyone either attending or watching the meeting on TV or on-line knows that this rule is never enforced. Recently during the debate over asking the legislature to close the loopholes in the solar hot water heater requirement for new homes, lobbyists from the Gas Company filed up to testify against the measure. They even flew one in from Honolulu. Not one identified themselves as a lobbyist, nor were they asked.
But Furfaro, who seems to constantly cite the rules, especially when it comes to limiting public testimony, seems to have somehow missed this provision.
Apparently the minotaur giveth, the minotaur taketh away.
Showing posts with label Hartwell Blake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hartwell Blake. Show all posts
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
DOLLARS AND NONSENSE
DOLLARS AND NONSENSE: Another day another attempt at journalism by our favorite punching bag Leo Azambuja, purported government beat reporter at the ever-downward-spiraling local newspaper.
But strangely enough his attempt included an effort at some context in describing some of the “legal issues” behind how, as Joan Conrow wrote today “Councilmen Tim Bynum and Jay Furfaro are giving the public the royal shaft with their support of a wholesale legalization of vacation rentals on ag land”.
The problem is that he failed to make any connection between what those who are actually serving the public interest- as opposed to the parade of self-interested, money hungry ag land transient vacation rental (TVR) owners and their shills- were trying to say.
What makes Azambuja’s lack of understanding even more unfathomable is that he actually quoted Caren Diamond saying what anyone watching the public hearing on Bill 2364 knew went to the crux of the absurd legal claims being made by Bynum, Furfaro and the ag land TVR owners’ string of shysters.
“To anyone who’s saying ‘we’ve been legal all along,’ where is the use permit?” she said. “There’s a procedure available, I don’t see why this council acts as if their hands are tied.”
As anyone who has followed the issue for the past decade knows the legislature many years ago set out the land use scheme for TVRs saying that the counties, which do the actual planning and zoning, were supposed to keep single family TVRs in designated “visitor destination areas (VDAs)”.
Since the state law said it, the law was written on Kaua`i to say that yes, TVRs were permitted in VDAs. Although there was no real enforcement it seemed clear enough until some wise guy in the county attorney’s office wrote an absurd opinion that said that although the law said where the TVRs were allowed, they didn’t say where they weren’t allowed- therefore they were allowed everywhere.
This bit of warped logic known as that “Kobayashi opinion” seemed just some off the wall idiocy from the office of Mayor Maryanne Kusaka’s County Attorney Hartwell Blake’s office- one known to write any-kine opinions requested by Kusaka who had been notoriously sucking up to ag land subdividers for contributions to her campaign and pet self-serving “charity”.
Years later the opinion began to be cited by illegal TVR owners to say they “depended” on the opinion to run their TVRs in non VDAs, state law notwithstanding.
But rather than just enforcing the law and letting the TVR owners sue if they wanted to- something that would have settled a matter hugely important to the future of the island a decade ago at minimal cost- the administration and councils refused to do so letting the matter get way out of hand.
When former Mayor and Councilperson JoAnn Yukimura returned to the council people expected her to continue in the “slow growth” bent she had been famous for. But instead of working to enforce the law she set up a “stakeholders committee” that not only delayed the matter for many more years but allowed the TVR owners to get a nose under the tent.
Finally, as the whole camel emerged, the council finally grandfathered existing TVRs in non VDAs in a supposed attempt to stop it there.
And, quite rightly they stated in the bill that no matter what, ag land TVRs were always fully illegal, as a recent attorney general’s opinion reiterates and as many opinions from various and sundry Department of Land and Natural Resources mucky mucks had said over the years.
But now of course after many attempts to somehow legalize the illegal ag land TVRs- including the infamous “non enforcement” bill which would have actually instructed the planning department to not enforce the law- they came up with a way to allow them under a section of law that allows for ag land owners to apply for “special use permits” under extremely restrictive rules- rules that actually were amended a few years back to state explicitly in so many words that, notwithstanding anything else, no overnight accommodations were permitted, in case there was any doubt about the matter.
So let’s go back to the claims that they relied on the Kobayashi opinion- also being claimed in the ag land cases- and so they paid they taxes and ran they TVRs over the years legally.
But if they really relied on Kobayashi and thought therefore they were legal- and legally relied upon that opinion- why didn’t they apply for special use permits which are and always have been available for ag land uses not defined by law?
They can’t have it both ways. If they claim they didn’t apply because they thought they were illegal, well, that takes care of that. If they claim they thought they were legal then they should have applied for a permit before they started using the dwellings for TVRs.
One way or another there’s something fraudulent about the claim that they relied on Kobayashi yet operated without a special use permit.
But don’t expect Bynum and Furfaro to give up. With Chair Kaipo Asing a definite “no” vote there are still four more votes out there and it may behoove the electorate to remind them all that November is just around the corner and for many this and the bill to gut the TVR in non VDAs ordinance is the last straw for “anything goes on land use” councilmembers who kow-tow to the invading money-grubbing-developer hoards.
But strangely enough his attempt included an effort at some context in describing some of the “legal issues” behind how, as Joan Conrow wrote today “Councilmen Tim Bynum and Jay Furfaro are giving the public the royal shaft with their support of a wholesale legalization of vacation rentals on ag land”.
The problem is that he failed to make any connection between what those who are actually serving the public interest- as opposed to the parade of self-interested, money hungry ag land transient vacation rental (TVR) owners and their shills- were trying to say.
What makes Azambuja’s lack of understanding even more unfathomable is that he actually quoted Caren Diamond saying what anyone watching the public hearing on Bill 2364 knew went to the crux of the absurd legal claims being made by Bynum, Furfaro and the ag land TVR owners’ string of shysters.
“To anyone who’s saying ‘we’ve been legal all along,’ where is the use permit?” she said. “There’s a procedure available, I don’t see why this council acts as if their hands are tied.”
As anyone who has followed the issue for the past decade knows the legislature many years ago set out the land use scheme for TVRs saying that the counties, which do the actual planning and zoning, were supposed to keep single family TVRs in designated “visitor destination areas (VDAs)”.
Since the state law said it, the law was written on Kaua`i to say that yes, TVRs were permitted in VDAs. Although there was no real enforcement it seemed clear enough until some wise guy in the county attorney’s office wrote an absurd opinion that said that although the law said where the TVRs were allowed, they didn’t say where they weren’t allowed- therefore they were allowed everywhere.
This bit of warped logic known as that “Kobayashi opinion” seemed just some off the wall idiocy from the office of Mayor Maryanne Kusaka’s County Attorney Hartwell Blake’s office- one known to write any-kine opinions requested by Kusaka who had been notoriously sucking up to ag land subdividers for contributions to her campaign and pet self-serving “charity”.
Years later the opinion began to be cited by illegal TVR owners to say they “depended” on the opinion to run their TVRs in non VDAs, state law notwithstanding.
But rather than just enforcing the law and letting the TVR owners sue if they wanted to- something that would have settled a matter hugely important to the future of the island a decade ago at minimal cost- the administration and councils refused to do so letting the matter get way out of hand.
When former Mayor and Councilperson JoAnn Yukimura returned to the council people expected her to continue in the “slow growth” bent she had been famous for. But instead of working to enforce the law she set up a “stakeholders committee” that not only delayed the matter for many more years but allowed the TVR owners to get a nose under the tent.
Finally, as the whole camel emerged, the council finally grandfathered existing TVRs in non VDAs in a supposed attempt to stop it there.
And, quite rightly they stated in the bill that no matter what, ag land TVRs were always fully illegal, as a recent attorney general’s opinion reiterates and as many opinions from various and sundry Department of Land and Natural Resources mucky mucks had said over the years.
But now of course after many attempts to somehow legalize the illegal ag land TVRs- including the infamous “non enforcement” bill which would have actually instructed the planning department to not enforce the law- they came up with a way to allow them under a section of law that allows for ag land owners to apply for “special use permits” under extremely restrictive rules- rules that actually were amended a few years back to state explicitly in so many words that, notwithstanding anything else, no overnight accommodations were permitted, in case there was any doubt about the matter.
So let’s go back to the claims that they relied on the Kobayashi opinion- also being claimed in the ag land cases- and so they paid they taxes and ran they TVRs over the years legally.
But if they really relied on Kobayashi and thought therefore they were legal- and legally relied upon that opinion- why didn’t they apply for special use permits which are and always have been available for ag land uses not defined by law?
They can’t have it both ways. If they claim they didn’t apply because they thought they were illegal, well, that takes care of that. If they claim they thought they were legal then they should have applied for a permit before they started using the dwellings for TVRs.
One way or another there’s something fraudulent about the claim that they relied on Kobayashi yet operated without a special use permit.
But don’t expect Bynum and Furfaro to give up. With Chair Kaipo Asing a definite “no” vote there are still four more votes out there and it may behoove the electorate to remind them all that November is just around the corner and for many this and the bill to gut the TVR in non VDAs ordinance is the last straw for “anything goes on land use” councilmembers who kow-tow to the invading money-grubbing-developer hoards.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
REAL OPTIONS
REAL OPTIONS: As our readers- and anyone who’s seen a council meeting lately- know, one of the more power-drunk county officials is often demented County Attorney (CA) Al Castillo who last week thought it was within his purview to order someone testifying before the council to remove his hat.
Castillo is the latest in line of CA’s that have acted as political hacks and stooges for the council and mayor, following in the “law is what we say it is” footsteps of Hartwell Blake, Matthew Pyun and Lani Nakazawa who is currently serving Mayor Bernard Carvalho as his own private attorney and political “advisor”.
We’ve called for a charter amendment to elect the county attorney since the current 10-year-long charter review commission (CRC) first met in 2004 but it has escaped their radar screen due partially to the fact that the post-2006 members don’t seem capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time except for regurgitating an old seven-time rejected amendment for four-year council terms and other assorted Titanic seating-chart tinkering.
Today we received an advance copy of a letter from CRC watchdog Horace Stoessel making the case for an elected CA with a particularly pithy set of choices.
Here it is.
OPTIONS
The county charter provides for the county attorney to be appointed by the mayor, with council approval, and to serve as the county’s chief legal adviser and legal representative.
The charter also mandates that the Charter Commission “study and review the operation of the county government under this charter” and propose amendments to the charter that it deems necessary or desirable.
Based on my observations of government operations and study of the charter, if the commission honors its mandate it has two options for proposing amendments regarding the county attorney’s office.
If the commission wants to bring the operations of the office into line with the charter, it should propose that the county attorney, like the prosecuting attorney, be elected for a four-year term, thereby freeing the office from having to serve not one but two political masters who are sometimes at odds with each other.
However, if the commission deems that the proper course is to bring the charter into line with current practice, it should propose adding a phrase to make the charter read, “chief legal adviser, legal representative, and political enforcer.”
For reasons too obvious to require spelling out, I favor a proposal for a four-year elected term.
Horace Stoessel
Castillo is the latest in line of CA’s that have acted as political hacks and stooges for the council and mayor, following in the “law is what we say it is” footsteps of Hartwell Blake, Matthew Pyun and Lani Nakazawa who is currently serving Mayor Bernard Carvalho as his own private attorney and political “advisor”.
We’ve called for a charter amendment to elect the county attorney since the current 10-year-long charter review commission (CRC) first met in 2004 but it has escaped their radar screen due partially to the fact that the post-2006 members don’t seem capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time except for regurgitating an old seven-time rejected amendment for four-year council terms and other assorted Titanic seating-chart tinkering.
Today we received an advance copy of a letter from CRC watchdog Horace Stoessel making the case for an elected CA with a particularly pithy set of choices.
Here it is.
OPTIONS
The county charter provides for the county attorney to be appointed by the mayor, with council approval, and to serve as the county’s chief legal adviser and legal representative.
The charter also mandates that the Charter Commission “study and review the operation of the county government under this charter” and propose amendments to the charter that it deems necessary or desirable.
Based on my observations of government operations and study of the charter, if the commission honors its mandate it has two options for proposing amendments regarding the county attorney’s office.
If the commission wants to bring the operations of the office into line with the charter, it should propose that the county attorney, like the prosecuting attorney, be elected for a four-year term, thereby freeing the office from having to serve not one but two political masters who are sometimes at odds with each other.
However, if the commission deems that the proper course is to bring the charter into line with current practice, it should propose adding a phrase to make the charter read, “chief legal adviser, legal representative, and political enforcer.”
For reasons too obvious to require spelling out, I favor a proposal for a four-year elected term.
Horace Stoessel
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
FIRST THERE IS A STICK, THEN THERE IS NO STICK, THEN THERE IS
FIRST THERE IS A STICK, THEN THERE IS NO STICK, THEN THERE IS: Some are astounded, some are ambivalent, some are apathetic, some are angry.
But no one who watches the twice-monthly circus on TV should be baffled at the Kaua`i Planning Commission’s approval of an extension of the zoning permits for the Coco Palms developers.
The commission isn’t chock-full-o-nuts, it’s just choke pre-corrupted citizens who operate at the behest of revolving door planners whose only relationship with smart growth principles are that they think themselves too smart to be principled.
It’s not surprising that new commissioner Hartwell Blake most likely voted for the measure (we only know the vote was 6-1 according to this morning’s brief notice in the local paper). The former county attorney for former Mayor Maryanne Kusaka- who, along with her flunkies took a financial beating in the collapse of the project- was pre-approved for serving the interests of developers during his years aiding and abetting the crimes of Kusaka.
Blake recently was rubber-stamped by the council to fill the “environmental” slot on the commission recently when no one from the organized environmental community stepped up to object his lack of credentials or offer themselves for service despite by attempts by rookie councilperson Lani Kawahara to get them involved in the council’s decision.
And, although many thought that perhaps former progressive Democratic Party stalwart Commission Chair Jimmy Nishida might actually represent the community’s interests, once he sold his soul to upzone some of his vast Wailua ag land holdings to residential- supposedly so he could put up as yet unbuilt, promised but not required to be, “affordable” housing- he went the way of Kaipo Asing who also not so coincidentally did a 180 after being granted a personal zoning favor by the county council in the 90’s.
But the real brains behind the extension was planner Mike Lauretta- a charter member of the conflicted, revolving-door, old-boys network, having moved back and forth with ease from his position with the planning department to the employ of developers over the years.
His convoluted plea at the last commission meeting was no doubt the deciding factor for many planners, even though his spiel flew in the face of a vast movement to obtain the abandoned hotel for use as a cultural park.
Everyone from Lihu`e Business Association chief Pat Griffin, to State Senator Gary Hooser to Kanaka activist Nani Rogers and hundreds if not thousands of people- from the average working Keone to the highest mucky mucks of all stripe- have watched as the community got scammed by the current owner and waited for yesterday so the value of the property would plummet to an affordable realm so the poised-for-success project could go forward once the property was valued at an “undevelopable” price.
At the previous meeting Lauretta launched into a “where are they all with specific plans and funding?” spiel, despite the packed chamber and dozens who filed up to ask the commission to reject the extension so the long-envisioned park project could be realized.
Lauretta simply ignored the fact that land is just land but land with the rights to develop it is worth it’s weight in gold, at least doubling if not tripling it’s value in the case of Coco Palms.
He listed all the people who had not come up with the money and the plan- DLNR, Hooser, OHA and a slew of others who have in fact put forth extensive plans and commitments and are waiting for the commission to put the final nail in the developer’s coffin after the “two local guys from Princeville”- who turned out to be shopping center developers from Maryland- intentionally put the kibosh on their own permits by asking for a “spa” in a place and of a nature that they could be assured they would be rejected, after their funding disappeared in the real estate bubble-burst.
Under Planning Director Ian Costa- whose conflicts and corruption go back to the grubbing and grading cover-ups during the Kusaka administration that ended up on the Pflueger debacle- the commission has become an incompetent joke. The members are selected solely for their ability to do the bidding of Costa who actually serves at the pleasure of the commission according to the county charter... that and a seemingly pierced nose to accommodate the tethered ring Costa apparently installs upon their swearing in.
The problem is that commission rules conveniently leave out any process for removing a sitting planning director and not only have none ever been removed (the past ones have all resigned and gone on to represent developers, even before the commission and department) the ones that have served have all been “appointed” by the Mayor and rubber stamped by the commission without any inkling sometimes that they even know they have the power to do a search for a skilled competent director and hire one on their own.
The three year extension for all intent and purpose puts the cultural park on the back burner thanks to Lauretta’s threats that the property will just become more of a public nuisance and the commission’s usual “fool me a hundred times, fool me a hundred-and-one times” stupidity in believing the owners will clean up the place now when they’ve refused to do so for many years.
Expect a sale of the property to another developer soon when we’ll all issue a particularly unsatisfying “we told you so”.
But no one who watches the twice-monthly circus on TV should be baffled at the Kaua`i Planning Commission’s approval of an extension of the zoning permits for the Coco Palms developers.
The commission isn’t chock-full-o-nuts, it’s just choke pre-corrupted citizens who operate at the behest of revolving door planners whose only relationship with smart growth principles are that they think themselves too smart to be principled.
It’s not surprising that new commissioner Hartwell Blake most likely voted for the measure (we only know the vote was 6-1 according to this morning’s brief notice in the local paper). The former county attorney for former Mayor Maryanne Kusaka- who, along with her flunkies took a financial beating in the collapse of the project- was pre-approved for serving the interests of developers during his years aiding and abetting the crimes of Kusaka.
Blake recently was rubber-stamped by the council to fill the “environmental” slot on the commission recently when no one from the organized environmental community stepped up to object his lack of credentials or offer themselves for service despite by attempts by rookie councilperson Lani Kawahara to get them involved in the council’s decision.
And, although many thought that perhaps former progressive Democratic Party stalwart Commission Chair Jimmy Nishida might actually represent the community’s interests, once he sold his soul to upzone some of his vast Wailua ag land holdings to residential- supposedly so he could put up as yet unbuilt, promised but not required to be, “affordable” housing- he went the way of Kaipo Asing who also not so coincidentally did a 180 after being granted a personal zoning favor by the county council in the 90’s.
But the real brains behind the extension was planner Mike Lauretta- a charter member of the conflicted, revolving-door, old-boys network, having moved back and forth with ease from his position with the planning department to the employ of developers over the years.
His convoluted plea at the last commission meeting was no doubt the deciding factor for many planners, even though his spiel flew in the face of a vast movement to obtain the abandoned hotel for use as a cultural park.
Everyone from Lihu`e Business Association chief Pat Griffin, to State Senator Gary Hooser to Kanaka activist Nani Rogers and hundreds if not thousands of people- from the average working Keone to the highest mucky mucks of all stripe- have watched as the community got scammed by the current owner and waited for yesterday so the value of the property would plummet to an affordable realm so the poised-for-success project could go forward once the property was valued at an “undevelopable” price.
At the previous meeting Lauretta launched into a “where are they all with specific plans and funding?” spiel, despite the packed chamber and dozens who filed up to ask the commission to reject the extension so the long-envisioned park project could be realized.
Lauretta simply ignored the fact that land is just land but land with the rights to develop it is worth it’s weight in gold, at least doubling if not tripling it’s value in the case of Coco Palms.
He listed all the people who had not come up with the money and the plan- DLNR, Hooser, OHA and a slew of others who have in fact put forth extensive plans and commitments and are waiting for the commission to put the final nail in the developer’s coffin after the “two local guys from Princeville”- who turned out to be shopping center developers from Maryland- intentionally put the kibosh on their own permits by asking for a “spa” in a place and of a nature that they could be assured they would be rejected, after their funding disappeared in the real estate bubble-burst.
Under Planning Director Ian Costa- whose conflicts and corruption go back to the grubbing and grading cover-ups during the Kusaka administration that ended up on the Pflueger debacle- the commission has become an incompetent joke. The members are selected solely for their ability to do the bidding of Costa who actually serves at the pleasure of the commission according to the county charter... that and a seemingly pierced nose to accommodate the tethered ring Costa apparently installs upon their swearing in.
The problem is that commission rules conveniently leave out any process for removing a sitting planning director and not only have none ever been removed (the past ones have all resigned and gone on to represent developers, even before the commission and department) the ones that have served have all been “appointed” by the Mayor and rubber stamped by the commission without any inkling sometimes that they even know they have the power to do a search for a skilled competent director and hire one on their own.
The three year extension for all intent and purpose puts the cultural park on the back burner thanks to Lauretta’s threats that the property will just become more of a public nuisance and the commission’s usual “fool me a hundred times, fool me a hundred-and-one times” stupidity in believing the owners will clean up the place now when they’ve refused to do so for many years.
Expect a sale of the property to another developer soon when we’ll all issue a particularly unsatisfying “we told you so”.
Monday, February 2, 2009
I GOT YA ‘QUALIFICATIONS’ RIGHT HEA
I GOT YA ‘QUALIFICATIONS’ RIGHT HEA: Despite a valiant challenge from rookie Councilperson Lani Kawahara the man who allegedly and arguably was one of those most responsible for facilitating and allowing the inaction and cover-up leading to the Ka Loko dam disaster has received council approval to fill an “environmental” slot on the planning commission.
Hartwell Blake, who served as Mayor Maryanne Kusaka’s County Attorney during the “grubbing and grading” scandal and hearings in the late 90’s and early ‘00’s, was unanimously approved by the council last Wednesday despite Blake’s complicity in Kusaka’s squelching of complaints against Jimmy Pflueger and Blake’s legal support of the Department of Pubic Works’ (DPW) contention that they couldn’t gain access to inspect Pflueger’s properties.
As County Attorney Blake testified before the council numerous times in support of Kusaka’s and the DPW’s positions at the time that there was nothing they could do and had no right to go in and inspect without permission from Pflueger.
Kusaka recently testified before a grand jury that returned a murder indictment against Pflueger and it is believed – and has been reported- that she most likely received some form of immunity in doing so.
That followed many reports of her attempts to obstruct justice and ban DPW’s inspectors from looking into complaints against Pflueger and against developer Tom McCloskey who was also being investigated for grubbing and grading violations on his north shore properties at the time.
Kaua`i has a system unique in the islands for selecting planning commissioners, with two each coming from the environmental, labor and business communities as well as one “at-large”. according to the county charter.
Blake’s nomination to fill an “environmental” slot was a real head scratcher for Kawahara who questioned not his integrity or ability to do a good job as a commissioner but his environmental credentials.
“Hartwell is a very good man- no one can argue with that” said Kawahara saying she had no doubt that he sees himself as an environmentalist after he cited his Hawaiian upbringing and values
But Kawahara questioned Blake’s credentials .”by education, training occupation or experience” as the charter requires, since he had never worked with or been a member of any of the organized environmental groups or even worked for any environmental causes in the community.
She also said she was concerned that neither Blake nor Mayor Bernard Carvalho who nominated Blake had apparently reached out to any environmental groups or individual environmentalists on the island in seeking someone for the open environmental slot.
“I think it’s important to represent or at least be aware of what others in the environmental community are concerned about” she said “If you go by the component of ‘participation with environmental groups’ there’s not a strong connection there.”
Kawahara urged Blake and the mayor to “reach out” to those in the environmental community on the island.
Others on the council seemed to have a lot less concern saying basically that they were satisfied that because Blake is a “native Hawaiian” his “values” as such make him an environmentalist.
Councilperson Tim Bynum excused any complicity in the Ka Loko matter by saying that as an attorney “you have to do what your client wants you to do”..
Councilperson Darryl Kaneshiro said he was a rancher and farmer and said he considers himself an environmentalist although he is not a member of any group.
Councilperson Jay Furfaro pointed to Blake’s participation in Pohaku Nishimitzu’s hula halau saying that Blake surely learned about stewardship of the land, the Konohiki system and Hawaiian values regarding fishing from Nishimitzu.
Chair Kaipo Asing said that though others are free to disagree, the way he interprets the charter Blake qualifies to fill the environmental opening.
During the discussion no councilmember offered any example of who exactly wouldn’t be an environmentalist or what they would have to do to not qualify.
The matter of Blake’s involvement in giving Kusaka legal basis’s for suppressing investigations of Pflueger and McCloskey was actually raised at the meeting by council watchdog and now-retired DPW employee Joe Rosa who directly accused Blake of complicity in the events leading to Ka Loko dam failure.
“All this could have been stopped by Mr. Hartwell Blake” said Rosa. “The inspector (who was looking into the matter) quit because (Blake) wouldn’t back him up.
“If he were an environmentalist he could have stopped all that illegal grubbing and grading” Rosa alleged pointing at the council and saying “I don’t want you to forget, because I remember”.
Reached by phone this weekend Kawahara said she wasn’t aware of Blake’s alleged involvement in the grubbing and grading matters that dominated headlines for years before the Ka Loko dam failure took seven lives.
In explaining why in the end she voted to confirm Blake, Kawahara said she had been willing to “go to bat” for the organized environmental groups on the island if they had thought perhaps there might have been people who would better represent them than Blake.
But she said, to her surprise, after calling many of them across the island none would step forward to oppose Blake’s nomination or offer to serve themselves.
Blake previously served on the commission in the 90’s before the “slotting” system was passed into law. He will be officially sworn in at the next planning commission meeting a week from tomorrow.
Hartwell Blake, who served as Mayor Maryanne Kusaka’s County Attorney during the “grubbing and grading” scandal and hearings in the late 90’s and early ‘00’s, was unanimously approved by the council last Wednesday despite Blake’s complicity in Kusaka’s squelching of complaints against Jimmy Pflueger and Blake’s legal support of the Department of Pubic Works’ (DPW) contention that they couldn’t gain access to inspect Pflueger’s properties.
As County Attorney Blake testified before the council numerous times in support of Kusaka’s and the DPW’s positions at the time that there was nothing they could do and had no right to go in and inspect without permission from Pflueger.
Kusaka recently testified before a grand jury that returned a murder indictment against Pflueger and it is believed – and has been reported- that she most likely received some form of immunity in doing so.
That followed many reports of her attempts to obstruct justice and ban DPW’s inspectors from looking into complaints against Pflueger and against developer Tom McCloskey who was also being investigated for grubbing and grading violations on his north shore properties at the time.
Kaua`i has a system unique in the islands for selecting planning commissioners, with two each coming from the environmental, labor and business communities as well as one “at-large”. according to the county charter.
Blake’s nomination to fill an “environmental” slot was a real head scratcher for Kawahara who questioned not his integrity or ability to do a good job as a commissioner but his environmental credentials.
“Hartwell is a very good man- no one can argue with that” said Kawahara saying she had no doubt that he sees himself as an environmentalist after he cited his Hawaiian upbringing and values
But Kawahara questioned Blake’s credentials .”by education, training occupation or experience” as the charter requires, since he had never worked with or been a member of any of the organized environmental groups or even worked for any environmental causes in the community.
She also said she was concerned that neither Blake nor Mayor Bernard Carvalho who nominated Blake had apparently reached out to any environmental groups or individual environmentalists on the island in seeking someone for the open environmental slot.
“I think it’s important to represent or at least be aware of what others in the environmental community are concerned about” she said “If you go by the component of ‘participation with environmental groups’ there’s not a strong connection there.”
Kawahara urged Blake and the mayor to “reach out” to those in the environmental community on the island.
Others on the council seemed to have a lot less concern saying basically that they were satisfied that because Blake is a “native Hawaiian” his “values” as such make him an environmentalist.
Councilperson Tim Bynum excused any complicity in the Ka Loko matter by saying that as an attorney “you have to do what your client wants you to do”..
Councilperson Darryl Kaneshiro said he was a rancher and farmer and said he considers himself an environmentalist although he is not a member of any group.
Councilperson Jay Furfaro pointed to Blake’s participation in Pohaku Nishimitzu’s hula halau saying that Blake surely learned about stewardship of the land, the Konohiki system and Hawaiian values regarding fishing from Nishimitzu.
Chair Kaipo Asing said that though others are free to disagree, the way he interprets the charter Blake qualifies to fill the environmental opening.
During the discussion no councilmember offered any example of who exactly wouldn’t be an environmentalist or what they would have to do to not qualify.
The matter of Blake’s involvement in giving Kusaka legal basis’s for suppressing investigations of Pflueger and McCloskey was actually raised at the meeting by council watchdog and now-retired DPW employee Joe Rosa who directly accused Blake of complicity in the events leading to Ka Loko dam failure.
“All this could have been stopped by Mr. Hartwell Blake” said Rosa. “The inspector (who was looking into the matter) quit because (Blake) wouldn’t back him up.
“If he were an environmentalist he could have stopped all that illegal grubbing and grading” Rosa alleged pointing at the council and saying “I don’t want you to forget, because I remember”.
Reached by phone this weekend Kawahara said she wasn’t aware of Blake’s alleged involvement in the grubbing and grading matters that dominated headlines for years before the Ka Loko dam failure took seven lives.
In explaining why in the end she voted to confirm Blake, Kawahara said she had been willing to “go to bat” for the organized environmental groups on the island if they had thought perhaps there might have been people who would better represent them than Blake.
But she said, to her surprise, after calling many of them across the island none would step forward to oppose Blake’s nomination or offer to serve themselves.
Blake previously served on the commission in the 90’s before the “slotting” system was passed into law. He will be officially sworn in at the next planning commission meeting a week from tomorrow.
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