IN THE HUNT

IN THE HUNT: As we sit back in our rose pink Cadillac and make our bet on this Kentucky Derby Day we noticed that the number of horses is expanding so fast that they may have to use those auxiliary gates to get them all into the race.

As of yesterday, 27 people have “pulled paper” for the council race although only 10 have bellied up to the pre-race mint julep bar.

And, although the mayor’s race is still only a potential three way affair so far, candidate Mel Rapozo has still not filed his papers although he has withdrawn the council papers that he filed last Feb. 22. JoAnn Yukimura also pulled papers for council but has filed for mayor.

That leaves 15 people who have until Tuesday at 4:30 to find a gate and get ready for the announcer to yell “and they’re off.”

Those definitely in the race include a name new to the list but certainly not new to running for office on Kaua`i, John Hoff who made it official on Wed. He joins the following who are going to be on the ballot unless they withdraw.

Asing, William (Kaipo) U
Bartolo, Robert A
Bynum, Tim L
Cariffe, Bob A
Furfaro, Joseph J
Kawakami, Derek S K
Kealoha, Christobel K
Kualii, Kipukai Les
Kouchi, Ronald D
Kualii, Kipukai Les P

So far hacks, apparently ass-sordid good old boys, incumbents and nut cases dominate. But in a promising development a lot of new names and faces have appeared on the list this week and are pondering spending at least their Wednesday’s in county government hell.

Going down the list the first name that stands out is Kekaha’s Bruce Pleas. He has finally decided to avoid the three ring circus of the mayoral race and will try this time again to seek the council spot that’s eluded him in the past. Getting Bruce on the county council would shake up this county something fierce. We’ve known Bruce for years and Bruce knows county government, unlike many of the “elect me even though I don’t know an ordinance from an administrative rule and wouldn’t know the Charter from the County code.” crowd.

The newcomers who are ready to brave the battle to come include Ken Taylor who has spent most of the last few years actually in the council chambers and probably knows more about how the county does and doesn’t work than anyone. Ken would be a tenacious reformer no doubt and his demands for open and transparent government may be something that strikes fear in the secretive and complacent incumbents' black little hearts.

Also new to office seeking but not new to politics is Lani Kawahara who has worked a few campaigns and political battles and from our contact with her would provide a breath of fresh air and make a welcome addition to the Council table

Then there’s Mr. Superferry Boycott, John Cragg, also known as John Tyler to those who relied on his skills in organizing the movement. We don’t know much about his other politics yet but his energy and push for accountability and transparency put him a lot closer to the pole position than many of the wishy-washies.

Another Superferry organizer is Scott Mijares. Mijares is a community radio KKCR programmer who, despite his generally conservative views is pretty thoughtful and independent and from our conversations, seems to be someone who would hold fellow legislators to a high standard of governance.

And there’s our old pal Wala`au TV star Dickie Chang who once again will seek the council seat he came close to about a decade back. If it’s a popularity contest Dickie could be a shoo-in although we’re not too sure what his politics are

There’s also perennial candidate Rhoda Libre who has been active in the Westside watershed organization.

And Officer Joe Kaauwai who came up with the Hanama`ulu traffic fix a few years back will try again.

With any of them you could do worse.

But there are definitely some real dreary wanna-be’s starting off with Republican Party hack and DLNR appointee Ron Agor, although he has also taken out papers to bang his head against the wall by running against wildly popular State Representative Mina Morita.

The rest are assorted good old boys, hacks and unknowns- at least to us- but there may be a diamond in there somewhere- we’ll be working to find out as the election draws nearer. They are:

Carvalho, Manuel
Defries, Arthur K
Kaneakua, Harry K
Leighton, Thomas C
Mcmahon, Nancy A
Thronas, George S

For anyone seeking to find out more about anyone running we list the all the Kaua`i County candidates and their contact info below. You can keep up with the latest filings at http://hawaii.gov/elections/candidates/

(We’re not sure how this list will format but the information after each name correlates to the “field” described in caps above the list)


KAUA`I COUNTY COUNCIL

NAME- MAILING ADDRESS- CITY- ZIP- CONTACT- PHONE- DATE ISSUED-DATE FILED

AGOR, RONALD 3728 Nawiliwili Rd. Lihue 96766 (808) 651-5764 7/17/2008
ASING, WILLIAM U 4113 Palau Mahu St. Lihue 96766 (808) 245-4555 6/30/2008 7/1/2008
BARTOLO, ROBERT A 5060 Nonou Rd. Kapaa 96746 (808) 639-8080 7/11/2008 7/17/2008
BYNUM, TIM L 5935 Kololia Pl. Kapaa 96746 (808) 822-1652 2/1/2008 5/30/2008
CARIFFE, BOB A 4279 Kailewa St. Lihue 96766 (808) 635-3398 2/6/2008 4/8/2008
CARVALHO, MANUEL L 6393A Ahele Dr. Kapaa 96746 (808) 823-9103 7/15/2008
CHANG, DICK S P.O. Box 3944 Lihue 96766 (808) 635-8800 7/14/2008
CRAGG, JOHN T P.O. Box 76 Anahol 96703 (808) 635-7062 7/17/2008
DEFRIES, ARTHUR K P.O. Box 42 Anahola 96703 (808) 822-5868 6/23/2008 FURFARO, JOSEPH J P.O. Box 223224 Princeville 96720 (808) 652-1550 6/25/2008 6/26/2008
HOFF, JOHN R P.O. Box 547 Lawai 96765 (332) 974-9745 6/3/2008 7/16/2008
KAAUWAI, JOSEPH H P.O. Box 623 Anahola 96703 (808) 652-0732 4/29/2008
KANEAKUA, HARRY K P.O. Box 3066 Lihue 96766 (808) 647-0172 7/7/2008 KAWAHARA, LANI T P.O. Box 1565 Kapaa 96746 (808) 652-6741 7/11/2008 KAWAKAMI, DEREK S K 5077 Kawaihau Rd. Kapaa 96746 (808) 822-7489 2/1/2008 5/2/2008
KEALOHA, CHRISTOBEL K P.O. Box 3942 Lihue 96766 (808) 245-9944 4/3/2008 4/21/2008
KOUCHI, RONALD D 3391 Eono St. Lihue 96766 (808) 639-2724 6/26/2008 7/15/2008
KUALII, KIPUKAI LES P 4210 Rice St., #A2 Lihue 96766 (808) 212-9192 2/1/2008 2/8/2008
LEIGHTON, THOMAS C 6664 Kuamoo Rd. Kapaa 96746 (808) 639-6552 3/10/2008
LIBRE, RHODA L P.O. Box 246 Kaumakani 96747 (808) 645-1210 7/14/2008 MCMAHON, NANCY A 5532 Tapa St. Koloa 96756 (808) 639-6695 7/17/2008
MIJARES, SCOTT F P.O. Box 1222 Kilauea 96754 (808) 652-7113 7/17/2008
PLEAS, BRUCE J P.O. Box 721 Waimea 96752 (808) 639-2850 7/14/2008
TAYLOR, KENNETH R 1720A Makaleha (NS) Pl. Kapaa 96746 (808) 823-8527 7/15/2008
THRONAS, GEORGE S P.O. Box 246 Kapaa 96746 (808) 651-6419 7/14/2008

KAUAI SPECIAL MAYORAL VACANCY

CARVALHO, BERNARD P 4650 Mailihuna Rd. Kapaa 96746 (808) 635-7489 7/8/2008 7/8/2008
RAPOZO, MELVIN F 3236 Inouye St. Lihue 96766 (808) 245-3539 7/7/2008
YUKIMURA, JOANN A 2749 Kapena St. Lihue 96766 (808) 245-2617 7/11/2008 7/14/2008

PROSECUTING ATTORNEY

ISERI-CARVALHO, SHAYLENE C 6539 Kawaihau Rd. Kapaa 96746 (808) 651-8134 2/5/2008 5/16/2008

DEM BONZ:

DEM BONZ: In a yet another somewhat stunning development in the case of the desecration of kanaka maoli burials at Ha`ena point the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) Tuesday requested that the attorney general’s office send a cease and desist order to halt all construction there.

The letter questions not only the legitimacy of the state burial council’s administrative rules under state constitution and statues but details how the State Archeologist Nancy McMahon and the developer’s attorney’s Walton Hong lied to both the Kaua`i Planning Commission and the Burial Council.

The highly legally notated letter, available only in a pdf file for now, first cites HRS 6E-13 and 6E-13(b) allowing the attorney general or any citizen to file suit “for the protection of an historic site or burial site and public trust therein or improper demolition alteration or transfer of property or burial site”

Then it cites 10(4)4 and 10 1(b) which essentially requires state agencies to assist OHA saying “(i)t shall be the duty and responsibility of all state departments ... to actively work toward (OHA’s) goals”.

But the heart of the request is based on Article Vii Section 7 of the State Constitution which says the state “shall protect all rights customarily and traditionally exercised for substance cultural and religious purposes”.

Then citing HRS 6E and Chapter 13-300 of Hawaii Administrative rules which regulate the Burial Council it quotes McMahon and Hong misrepresenting the law to the two citizen panels.

At the heart of the claim is the state’s contention that the burial councils, as they have been told, have no right to have any say over burials other than to say either remove them or let them sit where they are.

OHA goes on to show that this is not true when the actual laws and rules are read, claiming that the burial council also has the right to say “no- you’ can’t build there” or other appropriate actions.

It questions the legitimacy of the process and says because the process was abused that the current decision allowing Joe Brescia to build a house on top of the numerous burials, both discovered and undiscovered at the north shore parcel at Naue in Ha`ena must be revisited and the decision of the burial council be considered void and illegitimate.

The letter includes many other specific details of and objections to the way the Burial Council, under the State Historic Preservation Department (SHPD) has violated the constitution and state laws and presents the transcripts of the misrepresentation by SHPD head McMahon, and Brescia’s attorney Hong before both the Kaua`i Planning Commission and the Burial Council.

What’s most surprising is that it took so long for OHA to start going through this process. But the confluence of events brought to light by Ka`iulani Edens Huff, Nani Rogers Louise Marston and a host of others over the last month or so has perhaps spurred them to action

And perhaps the very adamancy of the right wing wacko property rights crowd in supporting Brescia’s “right to desecrate” because he “followed all the rules” was just the thing needed to spur action by OHA,

OHA outrages their own community with regularity in its state-lap-dog habit of fighting against its own beneficiaries on so many occasions that it has become a joke to most kanaka in light of its mission.

And the fact that Chief Darryl Perry on Kaua`i brought up the state law against desecration- even though it is written separately from the laws protecting the traditional cultural and religious rights of the descendent of pre-western contact islanders- might have been contributory enough to finally provoke the ever conservative OHA to finally stand up for the rights of the people they represent.

It is an election year- for OHA too- and this story has been getting statewide media attention of late and has gotten to the point where not just many but most, in the Kaua`i community agree that something is wrong as typified by a letter in today’s local paper .

The one problem may be that the person who OHA is requesting/demanding write the cease and desist letter is allegedly the most corrupt of the hacks in the Linda Lingle administration Attorney General Mark Bennett who is responsible for the Superferry debacle and various other gubernatorial sleazy ploys, using blatantly unethical if not illegal secrecy ploys to cover-up alleged crimes by administration personnel.

How he answers the letter will be most interesting but it is apparent that asking him to do it is only OHA’s first move and that if he refuses, OHA makes it most clear that they will proceed on their own.

We leave you with the words of Nani Rogers on the current situation written this week when the corrupt pols in the AG’s and the local Kaua`i Prosecutor Craig Decosta’s office refused to back up Police Chief Perry ’s assertion that Bescia’s and Hong’s actions were desacratory.

I pray all is maita`i with you and your loved ones. Auwe! Auwe! Auwe! Kaua`i na po`e are crying over the unbelievable disrespect and denial of State and County agencies. For their disrespect of sacred burials and their denial of the truth and cultural and natural laws that protect graveyards from desecration. It is a criminal act, in anybody's law book, to desecrate burials; the Naue burials date back to the 13th century and are of great significance to our na po`e that are lineal descendants ofna iwi at Naue and to all na po`e and supporters that have been camping near by to protect them from harm for the last three months. It has been a long and hard battle but we will go on, we will continue to be there and to stand up to any challenges they may throw at us.

We urge na kanaka to come to Naue and be eye witnesses to the desecration so you can go home and tell your ohana and children. They need to learn our ways.

Ka`iu, myself, and others will be at Naue this afternoon to camp overnight again. We made a vow to protect our na po`e buried there, we must keep our promise to do all we can to do so.

To Mr. Joseph Brescia, who says he owns the `aina, to Mr. Walton Hong, his lawyer, to Mr. Galante, the contractor, to Pua Aiu, SHPD Director, to the Police Dept., the Attorney General and to Governor Lingle, et al, we say, BEWARE! get ready for the grave (pardon the pun) spiritual consequences your actions will cause. Remember that you will have brought it all upon yourselves, nobody else is to be blamed but you for anything that may happen to you and your family. Can you see that?

We pray that our na Akua, na Aumakua and na Tupuna continue to surround and protect us at Naue. We pray that our na po`e; men, women and children; buried there may continue to rest in peace. Mahalo!

FROTH AND FOAM

FROTH AND FOAM: Miss Malaprop was at it again making a speculum of herself in using the Council TV cameras to aid her run for Kaua`i Prosecutor during last week’s Council committee meetings.

In a typical spittle-splattering performance, replete with the mandatory repetition of the term “ludicrous”, Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho proved again to be the exception that proves the rule when people say that you can’t get a job much less be successful if you speak Hawaiian-pidgin instead of standard English.

She quite rightly used her righteous indignation to skewer both the man she seeks to replace and new-old Director of Finance Wally Rezentes Jr. for misappropriation of funds.

The matter was covered sans the vivid imagery last week by pinch-hitter Blake Jones in an article in the local paper but as a malahini he probably couldn’t really understand what all the hubbub was about.

Rezentes- who formed a one-two lazy-punch with his dad the Administrative Assistant sleeping under the Council Chambers’ air conditioner through the Kusaka administration- okayed allowing the County to pay for fines allegedly incurred by an unnamed deputy prosecutor who apparently either forgot or blew off a court appearance leaving jurors, witnesses and other special guest stars thumb-twiddling in court.

The judge fined the office, not the attorney but since there is no budget line item for fines Rezentes approved Prosecutor Craig De Costa’s use of money originally appropriated for court costs, witness travel and other specified miscellany including “other commodities”.

Both Iseri and Councilman Mel Rapozo were livid and expressed disbelief at the action. But then this is their first foray into “little Wally-World”.

But Rezentes is a champion- or was at Kusaka’s behest- of “program-based” budgeting which allows department heads to get lump slush fund with general instructions from the Council at budget time... until she used them to lease a luxury red Chrysler from her campaign manager at an exorbitant price for personal use.

This led the Council at the time to rue the day they gave her administration the proverbial blank check and they went back to “line item” budgeting where every nickel spent has to fit into a specifically defined and delineated grouping.

And if an expense comes up that is not covered or if they want to shift funds from one line item to another and spend it differently than appropriated, they are supposed to simply send a “communication for Council approval” for the switch.

It’s something you see on almost every council meeting agenda and most are routinely approved without debate or discussion. Sometimes they must draw up a “money bill” to amend the budget if a needed item exceeds their departmental budget or an unexpected big ticket item breaks down and needs replacing. Those ordinances are also routinely approved without debate.

But this was not the case- no one asked the Council and the money was paid, treating the line item as a slush fund... and this was the third time, according to Iseri and Councilman Mel Rapozo, that it had happened to pay a court sanction.

But Wally’s Department of Finance was always known for it’s fanciful explanations of Kusaka’s staff’s manipulations. “Close enough is good enough” was and again is their motto now that everything old is new again. And, according to Rezentes, since the term “court costs” was “rolled up” into “other commodities” it was used for the fines despite the facts that court costs are routine expenses and court fines follow misconduct by the office or one of it’s attorneys.

Iseri’s ferocity is legendary- and not only in a good way- as she has badgered and belittled people testifying before the council- citizens and county personnel alike- when they disagreed with her positions, especially during the council’s witch hunts against Police Commission Chair Mike Ching and Police Chief KC Lum.

One of the most bizarre moments came when Rezentes was explaining why he did what he did and started a sentence by saying “And I asked the County attorney if...” when Iseri cut him off screaming “are you about to violate attorney-client privilege?” with an incredulous look on her face.

As also detailed last week in the paper the Council has taken to hiding public policy decision making by calling every function of the CA part of “attorney client privilege”, a privilege which doesn’t even exist in Hawai`i Sunshine Law governing county councils’ activities. But even if the Council wants to hide their own actions behind such an alleged privilege, to say that another “client” of the CA- and one from the administration, with which the Council is forbidden from interfering- can’t exercise his right as a client to waive that privilege is, well, ludicrous.

In her unabashed play for the cameras Iseri brought her campaign into the living rooms of all those who watch the County funded cablecasts of council meetings and was one of those “only on Kaua`i” moments when the abuse of resources and power for personal political gain is commonly greeted with shrugs of “well everyone does it” especially from the corrupt Ethics Board..

And of course no councilmember suggested sending this “misappropriation of funds” case- a potentially serious charge- to the Ethics Board possibly because they were afraid of people literally busting a gut laughing if the suggestion were to be articulated.

One wonders what Shaylene will do if asked to prosecute someone for a severe ethics violation. Judging by her past performances in punishing those she personally despises and looking the other way at abuses of her political allies and friends one has to keep asking “and you want to be my Prosecutor?”