SAME OLD TRICKS: Wednesday’s Kaua`i County Council meeting’s packed agenda. contains quite a few eyebrow raisers which we’ll detail today and tomorrow.
The meeting will be preceded by long overdue recognition of legendary Kaua`i activist and original “nitpicker” Dr. Ray Chuan, who will be receiving a certificate honoring his dedication and tenacity in exposing corruption and incompetence in county government and repeatedly telling the council exactly what they didn’t want to hear... no, really.
Quite a few of the items promise to provide fodder for some 2009 “nitpicking” including a series of reports on the county’s finances with a report on the “condition of the treasury” dated October 8th which contains a whopping $173,533,919.44 in “investments”.
The lengthy reports contained in three communication for Council information are on the agenda apparently as the result of some prodding for financial accountability by Council Vice Chair Jay Furfaro who has headed the council’s finance committee for the past couple of years.
But the “statement” in a fourth communication shows just where the actual money “is”- depending on what the definition of “is” is.
It lists what “ought to be in said Treasury” and is signed by Director of finance Wally Rezentes Jr. and County Clerk Peter Nakamura. and lists our investments as well as the $18,733,329.79 in “cash”
Where this “cash” is physically located is not always apparent. It lists $499,446.58 as “cash in treasury” along with amounts of both cash and investments in various banks such as American Savings and Loan, The Bank of Hawai`i, Central Pacific Bank and First Hawaiian Bank (which has the bulk of the money, just under $90 million in “cash” and “investments”),
It also lists for some reason, the First Tennessee Bank where the tally is apparently $0.
But our money is not only in banks. Just over $70 million it is “invested” with four different securities brokers: Merrill Lynch ($31,107,576), Multi-Bank Securities ($15,720,270.90) UBS Financial Services Vining Sparks: ($19,620,500) and Capital Securities of America ($4,964,742.43).
When the next accounting will be submitted is not clear but with the recent crash of the financial markets and stock prices we can be assured that we don’t have all of the $70 million that was there Oct 8.
Although most taxpayers are familiar with our regular and capital improvements budgets many are unaware that all this money- not just from local property taxes but other sources of income like the state and federal governments- sits in no less than 34 different “funds”.
Most people are familiar with the “General Fund” which has over $96 million in it but not so much with things like the “Golf Fund”, the “Beautification Fund” or the “Liquor Fund” which despite the names are not there for pau hana parties.
Perhaps the First Tennessee account is there for purchasing Jack Daniels for the Liquor Fund- that would certainly explain some of the more bizarre county decisions..
There’s a Grant Fund, a Bond Fund, a Public Access Fund, a Housing Revolving Fund, a Special Trust Fund for Parks and Playgrounds, a Trust and Agency Fund, a Bikeway Fund, a Debt Service Fund, a Parks Revolving Fund, a Self Insurance Fund, a Sewer Fund and many others.
And a there’s one fund that will be raided Wednesday if certain measures are approved- the Criminal Assets Forfeiture Fund.
For those unfamiliar with the controversial program the government can seize property that was supposedly used in the commission of a crime although may times property is seized even when no one is convicted of a crime.
There are actually three funds- federal, state and local- and in Hawai`i at least they are supposed to be used for items that are a “supplemental sum to support a legitimate law enforcement purpose of any state or county law enforcement agency” according to Rule 712A-16.4.1 under HRS § 712A-16(4).
According to discussions among councilmembers last year they are aware of the fact that the money is supposed to be spent for things that would not normally be budgeted
Last year during a long dialogue regarding the use of the fund then Councilperson Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho and the rest of the council discussed the matter of what was and wasn’t an item that would “normally” be budgeted, with Iseri questioning whether a specific item qualified and what indeed is “supplemental”.
But apparently now that she is a department head, Prosecuting Attorney Iseri is quite sure that her request for the council to approve the use of $1504.05 from the state fund “for the purchase of a fax machine to replace one of our existing broken machine” (that’s been) repaired numerous times” is “supplemental”.
In her request she goes on to say “since the cost to purchase a new machine was not planned in our FY09 budget we will use our State Asset Forfeiture Funds for the purchase”.
The question of what kind of super-duper, fancy-schmancy fax machine costs $1500 aside, we’ll be asking the council to examine the issue that Iseri originally raised.
Another request from the fund comes along with the announcement of newly designed badges for the Kaua`i Police Department (KPD) officers.
In the request for “$18,020 from the Assets Forfeiture Account”- which of the three accounts is not stated but presumably it is the county’s- Chief Darryl Perry says “the purchase of the badges will serve as a symbol of a new beginning as has our new mission statement. The design encompasses the County seal with its significant uniqueness to the island of Kaua`i. As an additional bonus it would be very difficult to impersonate a KPD officer because of its distinctive design.”
And indeed the badge is a spiffy new design replete with the four elements of the county seal- the Nounou Mountains, a Mokihana flower, a Maile lei and our historically unique poi pounder with the puka handle.
But is there any way a badge- the very essence of a police uniform- can be considered “supplemental?”. If you’re in doubt ask any officer if his or her badge is supplemental.
The final request is also from Perry asking for “$929.02 from the Asset Forfeiture account to purchase a 2007 Livingston boat that was forfeited to the United States Marshall Service (USMS) during a marijuana investigation on Kaua`i”.
The request for approval says the “cost is for reimbursement for USMS expenses” and says “KPD could utilize a vessel of this nature for surveillance and investigations whereby normal vehicular transportation is not feasible.”
From the pictures attached to the communication the boat appears to be about a 14 foot fiberglass vessel with Mercury outboard motor and a trailer and is “appraised at $2,525.00”.
If indeed it is for “surveillance and investigations” and the department doesn’t have one among its “normal vehicular transportation” fleet it would appear to be another item that should be routinely budgeted for rather than acquired with asset forfeiture monies, although one might argue it is to “supplement” their “normal” transportation capabilities.
The complete agenda. is available on-line however only paper copies of documents pertaining to agenda items are available and they are available only at the county clerk’s office in the Historic County Building where the meeting will be held, beginning at 9 a.m..
Monday, December 15, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
KPD Blue Chapter 19: A Stampede to the Courthouse- Part IV: Darla Abbatiello versus KPD
KPD Blue
By Anthony Sommer
Chapter 19: A Stampede to the Courthouse- Part IV: Darla Abbatiello versus KPD
On Sept. 8, 2004, Officer Darla Abbatiello filed a lawsuit in federal court in Honolulu claiming her civil rights and her protection under the Whistleblowers’ Protection Act were violated when she was punished for reporting a KPD sergeant whom she turned in for selling protection to a drug dealer.
Abbatiello carries with her a ton of credibility. In 1999, she was named “Police Officer of the Year” for all of Hawaii. She also is one of the best-liked police officers on Kauai.
In the old Kauai County Courthouse people scheduled to appear in court (including KPD officers) used to wait in a huge foyer lined with wooden chairs. It was not unusual to see Abbatiello carrying around one or more babies.
Routinely, she would go up to mothers with children, who had been trapped in the waiting area for hours, and offer to watch their children while they went outside for a smoke. Her kindness paid off in lots of tips over the years.
And, like so many others in this tale, Abbatiello had a tie to the Lap Dancing Incident in 1995. According to testimony at Officer Randy Machado’s criminal trial, Machado’s comments to Abbatiello were so sexist and disgusting, one of the prostitutes told him to knock it off.
She was on duty in Waimea and was brought in to search the women dancers arrested that night.
Abbatiello was one of only five women officers on the KPD and the first ever to be assigned to the Vice Squad. Given the troubled history of the Vice Squad, her assignment was a highly mixed blessing.
In her lawsuit, Abbatiello said that in December 2003 she obtained a warrant to search the home of the girlfriend of a major drug supplier who had been arrested the previous June with two pounds of crystal methamphetamine in his possession.
According to the lawsuit, Sgt. Irvil Kapua, who was not a member of the vice unit, went to Abbatiello’s commanding officer and told him Abbatiello should not be investigating the case.
Vice warrants are confidential and Kapua should not have known about the investigation, the lawsuit contends. The lawsuit also alleges that Kapua registered the suspect as a confidential informant in violation of department policy.
When Abbatiello told Kapua her real target was the woman’s boyfriend who had been arrested in June, Kapua allegedly told Abbatiello the man was “nothing” and “small time.”
The woman suspect did no work as an informant and on Dec. 26, Abbatiello arrested her.
After the arrest, the woman told Abbatiello that her boyfriend had paid Kapua $6,000 to protect both of them, according to the lawsuit.
Abbatiello reported the suspect’s statement to her supervisor and an investigation was opened but allegedly never pursued.
As of the filing of her lawsuit almost a year later, “no meaningful action has been taken in either the criminal or internal investigations,” her lawsuit stated.
After Abbatiello filed her complaint against Kapua, he repeatedly threatened her both in the police station and in public places, her lawsuit contends.
Abbatiello requested a temporary transfer to the patrol division to avoid Kapua.
Instead, she was given a permanent transfer to patrol duty and her salary was cut by two pay grades, neither of which she had requested.
Shortly afterward, Abbatiello opened her desk dictionary to find arrows pointing to the word “death” and her name written in ink beside it. She claimed the threat never had been investigated.
Instead, her lawsuit claims, she was ordered to use the back door to the police department and to stay away from Kapua.
In an amended complaint filed the following year, Abbatiello claimed she was retaliated against again when she refused an order that she believed would violate the civil rights of two women suspects.
The women both were arrested at Lihue Airport. Abbatiello was ordered to conduct strip searches of the two women, which she did, even though she questioned the warrant, which did not specifically authorize strip searches.
She then was ordered to photograph all the body cavities of the two women. At that point, she refused because of the lack of authority in the warrant.
The department allegedly retaliated by rescinding her status as a field training officer for which she received extra pay for breaking in rookie patrolmen. They also refused to give her any overtime assignments even though every officer on the KPD was working overtime.
The case was set for trial in December 2007. A month before the trial date, the Kauai County Council agreed to settle the lawsuit by paying Abbatiello $1 million, by far a record in KPD cases.
Sgt. Kapua, who was accused of threatening to kill Abbatiello and who called her a “fucking cunt” numerous times in front of numerous witnesses, never was disciplined and never was charged with any crimes for allegedly taking protection money from a drug dealer.
He retired shortly after the lawsuit was settled.
Friday, December 12, 2008
THEY CALL ME A DOG WHEN I’M DOWN:
THEY CALL ME A DOG WHEN I’M DOWN: While the patronage system in Chicago is making national headlines, the thought of similar news reports on Kaua`i is almost laughable. As one friend said this week the FBI could make a cottage industry out of investigating the hiring practices of Kaua`i county government.
And as if to underscore the way the personnel decisions are made here we were left shaking our head at something that happened while taking care of personal business at a Kaua`i county office this week.
We’re not going to name the person involved because their name isn’t really important and they are but a cog in the machine. But we were surprised to see this county employee emerge to meet us, not from the usual clerk’s desk but from an office with “Assistant Manager” on the door.
“Oh- a promotion, eh?” we asked.
“No I’m doing two jobs right now because of retirements and others who have left... and of course no one is being hired right now because of the change in administration so the new mayor can get whoever he wants in these jobs.”
It’s not often that something actually leaves us speechless but the matter-of-fact way we were told- with a tone of voice saying “are you dumb; doesn’t everyone know that” just added to the tongue tying.
It’s one of those things that you know must be true but still is staggering hear out loud. It’s so entrenched in our local personnel department that the mayor, not merit, determines who gets the civil service jobs on Kaua`i that no one seems to care if everyone knows
Although of course the department heads are the ones who officially manipulate the system they are political appointees whose jobs depend on the good graces of the mayor so it’s likely that when they are told to hire “so and so” they do it.
It’s so engrained that they didn’t even wait to see if the new mayor might want to clean up the way people get jobs but just presumed that the system would continue under Bernard Carvalho the way is did under Maryanne Kusaka and Bryan Baptiste.
Will it ever change? Well that depends on whether the new county council follows up on the exposure of the system that started last year during the budgeting sessions.
That’s when a couple of councilmembers who are gone now- Mel Rapozo and Shaylene Iseri- Carvalho- finally got fed up with funding or even creating a skilled position at the behest of a department head only to find that that job was never filled and the money for it was used to fill another less skilled personnel slot.
One of the things that Rapozo and Iseri put into last year’s budget ordinance was a measure that requires the Department of Personnel Services (DPS) to notify the council of all changes when jobs go though what they call “downward relocation to entry level”,
We described how it really works after an astounding council meeting took place on Sept. 10.
What apparently occurs is that handpicked, unskilled but connected people are given civil service jobs that were appropriated to accomplish tasks that require skilled experienced people..
The “merit system” calls for promoting qualified people already working for the county if they exist and if not going “outside” and taking applications and actually hiring someone to do the job that they told the council needed doing when they asked for the money.
But it is rare that these jobs are ever advertised at all. Instead DPS takes the newly appropriated job slot and changes it to an entry level position in order to hire whomever the department head wants... usually at the “request” of the mayor.
Mel and Shaylene were just beginning to uncover and expose the system last fall but it’s anyone’s guess how the new council will handle it.... but we’re not holding our breath.
Much has been said both here and on other local blogs as to the apparent racial aspects to the hiring and firing practices that are exposed in many ways in the book KPD Blue.
Many see the blatant race bias in the county’s hiring practices and call it racism. But others question whether the race bias in local hiring can be called racism in what is essentially the wider “white privilege” of American society.
As we’ve said before there is a difference between race bias and racism. Race bias happens when someone simply doesn’t like people of another race. Often it’s expressed when actions are taken to deny a person their rights. When it’s done in hiring or public accommodation or other select areas, it is illegal.
But there is also real racISM that is not as easy to regulate. It confers privilege to those having white skin and confers benefits in daily life that may not seem to exist for those who have the privilege but is overtly obvious to those who aren’t a member of that group.
It expresses itself in things from racial profiling to even less overtly obvious acts that suppress and oppress non-whites often forcing them into less advantageous socioeconomic groups.
It doesn’t take a group of people practicing race bias to create an institution that confers white privilege on the members. Protestations of “I am not a racist” from individual members a group of whites that systematically excludes non-whites -whether consciously or not- doesn’t change the effective racism of the institution they belong to and are therefore responsible for..
The question many ask is whether the hiring practices at the county amount to a form of “brown privilege” in the very limited circle of county government. (We use the term brown-privilege” as a contrivance to mean non-white and not to exclude any group that doesn’t present a skin pigment that isn’t of European descent, whether African, Asian Latino, Native American/Pacific Islander or any other).
We can’t forget that this local system serves a larger white privileged power structure imposed by generations of white missionaries, sugar growers, developers, the military and others who in a larger sense “run” this island and state no matter who serves them.
And it can be said that a system such as the one of patronage-in-the-extreme on Kaua`i -whether race based on not- can make for a severely incompetent work force, one which is easy to surpress and control and serves the white power structure very well in many ways.
But many who say it’s impossible to have any real “brown privilege” in a white privileged society- a prevalent line of reasoning in academia and intellectual circles when discussing race- say that the system on Kaua`i is but one of provincialism and geocentric discrimination that centers it benefits on those who are born and raised here, especially with multi-generational roots
And, they say, that population just happens to be primarily non-white on Kaua`i.
But isn’t that the same thing that’s been said for a century when mainland institutions oppress non-whites. “It not that they are (fill-in-the-blank)” they say ”it’s just that they aren’t “one of ‘us’ here in Podunk”.
And certainly if you take your nose out of the “trees” of downtown Lihu`e and look at the “forest” of the island as a whole, even though whites are technically a minority none are lacking for job or economic opportunity because they are white.
As a matter of fact they have much of the same privilege they have on the mainland because the whole financial and wider “plantation mentality” political system here is still white controlled.
We don’t pretend to know the answer as to whether this “brown privilege” that some- like KPD Blue author Tony Sommer- see is a valid concept.
While it probably depends on your definition of racism, in the context of the wider circle of our society both on the mainland and here the answer is seemingly no.
But tell that to someone who has been told they can’t have a government job because of a bias against their skin color and you might not get the agreement that we intellectuals and academics seek.
And as if to underscore the way the personnel decisions are made here we were left shaking our head at something that happened while taking care of personal business at a Kaua`i county office this week.
We’re not going to name the person involved because their name isn’t really important and they are but a cog in the machine. But we were surprised to see this county employee emerge to meet us, not from the usual clerk’s desk but from an office with “Assistant Manager” on the door.
“Oh- a promotion, eh?” we asked.
“No I’m doing two jobs right now because of retirements and others who have left... and of course no one is being hired right now because of the change in administration so the new mayor can get whoever he wants in these jobs.”
It’s not often that something actually leaves us speechless but the matter-of-fact way we were told- with a tone of voice saying “are you dumb; doesn’t everyone know that” just added to the tongue tying.
It’s one of those things that you know must be true but still is staggering hear out loud. It’s so entrenched in our local personnel department that the mayor, not merit, determines who gets the civil service jobs on Kaua`i that no one seems to care if everyone knows
Although of course the department heads are the ones who officially manipulate the system they are political appointees whose jobs depend on the good graces of the mayor so it’s likely that when they are told to hire “so and so” they do it.
It’s so engrained that they didn’t even wait to see if the new mayor might want to clean up the way people get jobs but just presumed that the system would continue under Bernard Carvalho the way is did under Maryanne Kusaka and Bryan Baptiste.
Will it ever change? Well that depends on whether the new county council follows up on the exposure of the system that started last year during the budgeting sessions.
That’s when a couple of councilmembers who are gone now- Mel Rapozo and Shaylene Iseri- Carvalho- finally got fed up with funding or even creating a skilled position at the behest of a department head only to find that that job was never filled and the money for it was used to fill another less skilled personnel slot.
One of the things that Rapozo and Iseri put into last year’s budget ordinance was a measure that requires the Department of Personnel Services (DPS) to notify the council of all changes when jobs go though what they call “downward relocation to entry level”,
We described how it really works after an astounding council meeting took place on Sept. 10.
What apparently occurs is that handpicked, unskilled but connected people are given civil service jobs that were appropriated to accomplish tasks that require skilled experienced people..
The “merit system” calls for promoting qualified people already working for the county if they exist and if not going “outside” and taking applications and actually hiring someone to do the job that they told the council needed doing when they asked for the money.
But it is rare that these jobs are ever advertised at all. Instead DPS takes the newly appropriated job slot and changes it to an entry level position in order to hire whomever the department head wants... usually at the “request” of the mayor.
Mel and Shaylene were just beginning to uncover and expose the system last fall but it’s anyone’s guess how the new council will handle it.... but we’re not holding our breath.
Much has been said both here and on other local blogs as to the apparent racial aspects to the hiring and firing practices that are exposed in many ways in the book KPD Blue.
Many see the blatant race bias in the county’s hiring practices and call it racism. But others question whether the race bias in local hiring can be called racism in what is essentially the wider “white privilege” of American society.
As we’ve said before there is a difference between race bias and racism. Race bias happens when someone simply doesn’t like people of another race. Often it’s expressed when actions are taken to deny a person their rights. When it’s done in hiring or public accommodation or other select areas, it is illegal.
But there is also real racISM that is not as easy to regulate. It confers privilege to those having white skin and confers benefits in daily life that may not seem to exist for those who have the privilege but is overtly obvious to those who aren’t a member of that group.
It expresses itself in things from racial profiling to even less overtly obvious acts that suppress and oppress non-whites often forcing them into less advantageous socioeconomic groups.
It doesn’t take a group of people practicing race bias to create an institution that confers white privilege on the members. Protestations of “I am not a racist” from individual members a group of whites that systematically excludes non-whites -whether consciously or not- doesn’t change the effective racism of the institution they belong to and are therefore responsible for..
The question many ask is whether the hiring practices at the county amount to a form of “brown privilege” in the very limited circle of county government. (We use the term brown-privilege” as a contrivance to mean non-white and not to exclude any group that doesn’t present a skin pigment that isn’t of European descent, whether African, Asian Latino, Native American/Pacific Islander or any other).
We can’t forget that this local system serves a larger white privileged power structure imposed by generations of white missionaries, sugar growers, developers, the military and others who in a larger sense “run” this island and state no matter who serves them.
And it can be said that a system such as the one of patronage-in-the-extreme on Kaua`i -whether race based on not- can make for a severely incompetent work force, one which is easy to surpress and control and serves the white power structure very well in many ways.
But many who say it’s impossible to have any real “brown privilege” in a white privileged society- a prevalent line of reasoning in academia and intellectual circles when discussing race- say that the system on Kaua`i is but one of provincialism and geocentric discrimination that centers it benefits on those who are born and raised here, especially with multi-generational roots
And, they say, that population just happens to be primarily non-white on Kaua`i.
But isn’t that the same thing that’s been said for a century when mainland institutions oppress non-whites. “It not that they are (fill-in-the-blank)” they say ”it’s just that they aren’t “one of ‘us’ here in Podunk”.
And certainly if you take your nose out of the “trees” of downtown Lihu`e and look at the “forest” of the island as a whole, even though whites are technically a minority none are lacking for job or economic opportunity because they are white.
As a matter of fact they have much of the same privilege they have on the mainland because the whole financial and wider “plantation mentality” political system here is still white controlled.
We don’t pretend to know the answer as to whether this “brown privilege” that some- like KPD Blue author Tony Sommer- see is a valid concept.
While it probably depends on your definition of racism, in the context of the wider circle of our society both on the mainland and here the answer is seemingly no.
But tell that to someone who has been told they can’t have a government job because of a bias against their skin color and you might not get the agreement that we intellectuals and academics seek.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
ALL POWER TO THE POODLES
ALL POWER TO THE POODLES: KPD Blue is not just a book- it’s the true story of the abuse of power that led to the removal of Chief George Frietas and culminated in the “retirement” of Chief KC Lum.
Whatever people think about Anthony Sommer’s characterizations of the blatant widespread. illegal race bias in Kaua`i government, the events and facts behind them are irrefutably documented.
But of course the book ends when Sommer retired with a golden parachute after his articles went unappreciated at either of the county buildings.
Glenn Mickens was there too and knows the real story including the one the press refused to publish at the time- that fact that Police Commission Chair Mike Ching was actually found to be innocent of any wrong doing according to the administrative judge in the matter.
But that was never made public because the Kaua`i Ethics Board refused to release the document containing the judge’s actual detailed ruling- which essentially exonerated Ching-. and released only their approved excerpted documents instead.
The secret “executive” document was obtained by “nitpicker” Richard Stauber through what he described to the council as a magical event- it flew in his window in the middle of a lightning storm- and he submitted it as written testimony to the council.
Richard then sat and read the pertinent parts of the judge’s words and in one of the most bizarre episodes in the annals council secrecy and corruption, the council refused to receive the document from a member of the public.
As a matter of fact they tried to physically give it back to him- and Richard refused to physically take it back.
And because of that the local newspaper only reported on the “official documents” from the Ethics Board..
Sitting there watching all this happen was the council watchdog supreme, charter “Nitpicker” Glenn Mickens.
Mickens knows all the other particulars and now has detailed the railroading of KC Lim by what he calls “the power”.
In today’s guest post (below) Mickens gives his thoughts on and attests to what we who watched it all happen and know to be the true story of the various witch hunts that occurred of a couple of years back with Lum and almost a decade ago with Frietas..
The only problem is that Glenn doesn’t name names.
So here’s a puzzle- we’ll list most of the names of those “powers” and you can fill in the blanks... or you can make it a drinking game.
Marianne Kusaka
Brian Baptiste
Bernard Carvalho
Kaipo Asing
Mel Rapozo
Shaylene Iseri Carvalho
Peter Nakamura
Mike Tressler
Warren Perry
Randal Valenciano
Ron Kouchi
Darryl Kaneshiro
Leon Gonsalves
Lani Nakazawa
Matthew Pyun
Wally Rezentes Sr.
Wally Rezentes Jr.
Ian Costa
Mark Hubbard
David Pratt
Beth Tokioka
Jimmy Tokioka
Keith Robinson
The members of :
The Kaua`i Ethics Commission’
Grove Farm Inc
The Hawai`i Visitor’s Bureau
The Pacific Missile Range Facility
or anyone appropriate from the index of KPD Blue
Winners get a one year pass to the county council meetings and probationary membership in the nitpickers to be redeemed after challenging 12 different agenda items
-------------
By Glenn Mickens
In my opinion there was a total and methodical conspiracy to remove KC Lum from his position as Chief of Police.
Tony Sommer wrote an outstanding in depth story (KPD Blues) about this conspiracy and other corruption that goes on not only in our police department but in our total government.
I will more simplistically give my take on this conspiracy and confine my views to just the main lies that removed this learned, dedicated man from office. For lack of a better word for those responsible for this conspiracy I will just use the term "Power" and let the readers point the finger at whoever they feel is most guilty.
First there was the police commission connection. This 5 member commission is empowered by our charter to select a Chief. 4 of these 5 commissioners in their unbiased evaluation process chose KC Lum to be the Chief. The two of three finalists for the job were Daryl Perry and KC Lum and except for one member of the commission who voted for Perry (he was accused of racial bias towards Lum) the selection would have been unanimous.
However, the "power" certainly couldn't have a Chief operating the department who couldn't be manipulated and might break up the widespread drug problems on Kauai.
So "they" began their effort to prove that Lum was illegally placed in office. First "they" went after Mike Ching, an outstanding voluntary commissioner for 3 years, and got him to resign. His "major" fault was that he used his 1st amendment right to support Lum as chief and by asking others to support this outstanding candidate! Wow, what a crime!!
Then the "power" went after another commissioner, Carol Furtado who also picked Lum over Perry even though she grew up with Perry and felt that Lum was the better qualified! Ms Furtado chose to be her own defense at a public contested case (administrative trial) hearing AND was completely exonerated of any wrong doing---a blow to the "power"!
Next the "power" went after the officer that Lum had picked as his Deputy Chief, Ron Vennaman. Ron's "mistake" was also believing that Lum was the best qualified for the Chiefs' position and soliciting signatures from other officers in a support letter for his appointment---as with Ching his 1st amendment right. And, a check of Vennaman’s qualification to be Deputy Chief or to support his evaluation of Lum, one only has to look at his biographical data sheet. It reads like a who's who of highly experienced police officers in the nation!! So, in the process of appointing a new acting chief when Lum "retired" the protocol shows that Vennaman should fill that position.
But our Mayor had made sure that the police commission now had members that followed his wishes---Ching and the other two members who voted for Lum were now gone. So Vennaman was "overlooked" and put back as a patrolman---a huge injustice to probably the best qualified officer in Hawaii.
Now, a new twist to this conspiracy theory enters the picture. The "power" had to prove that Lum was illegally hired to his position so they tried to make the case that Ching and Furtado had acted in a prejudicial manner by voting for Lum over Perry. But where they miserably failed to make their case was that even without Ching's vote there were still 3 others who voted for Lum making his selection legitimate.
And the "power" tried to make it legal for the finance director to take away Lum's contract (due to their bogus effort to prove that Lum was illegally hired) but failed again as only the police commission has that authority.
The "powers" next move in their conspiracy effort was to show that Lum had flagrantly exceeded his 04-05 budget by $330 thousand. However an examination of the 04-05 County of Kauai Financial Audit will clearly show that the police budget for that period had a surplus of over $8000! There was some double talk and song and dance from the "power" saying that money was taken from "another" account to cover this huge overage BUT there is no record of the Council authorizing such a transaction and by law, the Council must approve the intra-department transfer of funds. Also, there is no record on the audit books showing this sum of money being moved from one account to the other so what we have is yet another lie!!!
And finally there is the "forgery" episode---our total government trying to prove that our chief---who taught classes in forged documents---had tried to falsify one of the 3 pages of his employment contract cancellation document sent to him from the County via Lum’s attorney.
The incident was simply an error by Lum's attorney's fax machine and was quickly admitted to by his attorney. BUT the "power now in their desperation mode to find some fault with Lum to prove his incompetence sent this forgery theory to the State Attorney General.
Here the plot even thickens more. The investigator who took this forgery evidence to the AG, LEFT OUT Lum's attorney's admittance of the fax error and the AG investigators proceeded to enter Lum's house with a warrant obtained by excluding the admission of the document transmission mistake by Lum’s attorney. The responsible AG investigator took Lum’s computer hard drives in an attempt to prove the forgery theory. Once the AG found out the truth about this botched scheme, the case was dropped like a hot potato! The question still remains as to why the investigator left out the most relevant part of the forgery theory---the part that would have kept the AG from embarrassing their office and a potential huge law suit against them.
In a brief summary as there is so much more---read KPD Blues. The "power" tried to make their case to fire Lum on 3 huge lies---he was illegally hired to be Chief; he overspent his budget by $330,000; and he forged his employment contract cancellation papers.
Due to the cancellation of Lum’s employment contract, Lum chose to retire from police service to avoid loosing his pension and retirement benefits. The legality of the contract voidability is still in dispute in Lum’s lawsuit against the County.
It would appear that this "conspiracy" has worked as Lum is no longer our Chief. But every dog has his day in the sun and, in my opinion, this dedicated man will prevail in a higher court and his reward will cost this county dearly for what they have done to him. Or, to put it more clearly, the fat lady has not sung so the game is not over!!!
Whatever people think about Anthony Sommer’s characterizations of the blatant widespread. illegal race bias in Kaua`i government, the events and facts behind them are irrefutably documented.
But of course the book ends when Sommer retired with a golden parachute after his articles went unappreciated at either of the county buildings.
Glenn Mickens was there too and knows the real story including the one the press refused to publish at the time- that fact that Police Commission Chair Mike Ching was actually found to be innocent of any wrong doing according to the administrative judge in the matter.
But that was never made public because the Kaua`i Ethics Board refused to release the document containing the judge’s actual detailed ruling- which essentially exonerated Ching-. and released only their approved excerpted documents instead.
The secret “executive” document was obtained by “nitpicker” Richard Stauber through what he described to the council as a magical event- it flew in his window in the middle of a lightning storm- and he submitted it as written testimony to the council.
Richard then sat and read the pertinent parts of the judge’s words and in one of the most bizarre episodes in the annals council secrecy and corruption, the council refused to receive the document from a member of the public.
As a matter of fact they tried to physically give it back to him- and Richard refused to physically take it back.
And because of that the local newspaper only reported on the “official documents” from the Ethics Board..
Sitting there watching all this happen was the council watchdog supreme, charter “Nitpicker” Glenn Mickens.
Mickens knows all the other particulars and now has detailed the railroading of KC Lim by what he calls “the power”.
In today’s guest post (below) Mickens gives his thoughts on and attests to what we who watched it all happen and know to be the true story of the various witch hunts that occurred of a couple of years back with Lum and almost a decade ago with Frietas..
The only problem is that Glenn doesn’t name names.
So here’s a puzzle- we’ll list most of the names of those “powers” and you can fill in the blanks... or you can make it a drinking game.
Marianne Kusaka
Brian Baptiste
Bernard Carvalho
Kaipo Asing
Mel Rapozo
Shaylene Iseri Carvalho
Peter Nakamura
Mike Tressler
Warren Perry
Randal Valenciano
Ron Kouchi
Darryl Kaneshiro
Leon Gonsalves
Lani Nakazawa
Matthew Pyun
Wally Rezentes Sr.
Wally Rezentes Jr.
Ian Costa
Mark Hubbard
David Pratt
Beth Tokioka
Jimmy Tokioka
Keith Robinson
The members of :
The Kaua`i Ethics Commission’
Grove Farm Inc
The Hawai`i Visitor’s Bureau
The Pacific Missile Range Facility
or anyone appropriate from the index of KPD Blue
Winners get a one year pass to the county council meetings and probationary membership in the nitpickers to be redeemed after challenging 12 different agenda items
-------------
By Glenn Mickens
In my opinion there was a total and methodical conspiracy to remove KC Lum from his position as Chief of Police.
Tony Sommer wrote an outstanding in depth story (KPD Blues) about this conspiracy and other corruption that goes on not only in our police department but in our total government.
I will more simplistically give my take on this conspiracy and confine my views to just the main lies that removed this learned, dedicated man from office. For lack of a better word for those responsible for this conspiracy I will just use the term "Power" and let the readers point the finger at whoever they feel is most guilty.
First there was the police commission connection. This 5 member commission is empowered by our charter to select a Chief. 4 of these 5 commissioners in their unbiased evaluation process chose KC Lum to be the Chief. The two of three finalists for the job were Daryl Perry and KC Lum and except for one member of the commission who voted for Perry (he was accused of racial bias towards Lum) the selection would have been unanimous.
However, the "power" certainly couldn't have a Chief operating the department who couldn't be manipulated and might break up the widespread drug problems on Kauai.
So "they" began their effort to prove that Lum was illegally placed in office. First "they" went after Mike Ching, an outstanding voluntary commissioner for 3 years, and got him to resign. His "major" fault was that he used his 1st amendment right to support Lum as chief and by asking others to support this outstanding candidate! Wow, what a crime!!
Then the "power" went after another commissioner, Carol Furtado who also picked Lum over Perry even though she grew up with Perry and felt that Lum was the better qualified! Ms Furtado chose to be her own defense at a public contested case (administrative trial) hearing AND was completely exonerated of any wrong doing---a blow to the "power"!
Next the "power" went after the officer that Lum had picked as his Deputy Chief, Ron Vennaman. Ron's "mistake" was also believing that Lum was the best qualified for the Chiefs' position and soliciting signatures from other officers in a support letter for his appointment---as with Ching his 1st amendment right. And, a check of Vennaman’s qualification to be Deputy Chief or to support his evaluation of Lum, one only has to look at his biographical data sheet. It reads like a who's who of highly experienced police officers in the nation!! So, in the process of appointing a new acting chief when Lum "retired" the protocol shows that Vennaman should fill that position.
But our Mayor had made sure that the police commission now had members that followed his wishes---Ching and the other two members who voted for Lum were now gone. So Vennaman was "overlooked" and put back as a patrolman---a huge injustice to probably the best qualified officer in Hawaii.
Now, a new twist to this conspiracy theory enters the picture. The "power" had to prove that Lum was illegally hired to his position so they tried to make the case that Ching and Furtado had acted in a prejudicial manner by voting for Lum over Perry. But where they miserably failed to make their case was that even without Ching's vote there were still 3 others who voted for Lum making his selection legitimate.
And the "power" tried to make it legal for the finance director to take away Lum's contract (due to their bogus effort to prove that Lum was illegally hired) but failed again as only the police commission has that authority.
The "powers" next move in their conspiracy effort was to show that Lum had flagrantly exceeded his 04-05 budget by $330 thousand. However an examination of the 04-05 County of Kauai Financial Audit will clearly show that the police budget for that period had a surplus of over $8000! There was some double talk and song and dance from the "power" saying that money was taken from "another" account to cover this huge overage BUT there is no record of the Council authorizing such a transaction and by law, the Council must approve the intra-department transfer of funds. Also, there is no record on the audit books showing this sum of money being moved from one account to the other so what we have is yet another lie!!!
And finally there is the "forgery" episode---our total government trying to prove that our chief---who taught classes in forged documents---had tried to falsify one of the 3 pages of his employment contract cancellation document sent to him from the County via Lum’s attorney.
The incident was simply an error by Lum's attorney's fax machine and was quickly admitted to by his attorney. BUT the "power now in their desperation mode to find some fault with Lum to prove his incompetence sent this forgery theory to the State Attorney General.
Here the plot even thickens more. The investigator who took this forgery evidence to the AG, LEFT OUT Lum's attorney's admittance of the fax error and the AG investigators proceeded to enter Lum's house with a warrant obtained by excluding the admission of the document transmission mistake by Lum’s attorney. The responsible AG investigator took Lum’s computer hard drives in an attempt to prove the forgery theory. Once the AG found out the truth about this botched scheme, the case was dropped like a hot potato! The question still remains as to why the investigator left out the most relevant part of the forgery theory---the part that would have kept the AG from embarrassing their office and a potential huge law suit against them.
In a brief summary as there is so much more---read KPD Blues. The "power" tried to make their case to fire Lum on 3 huge lies---he was illegally hired to be Chief; he overspent his budget by $330,000; and he forged his employment contract cancellation papers.
Due to the cancellation of Lum’s employment contract, Lum chose to retire from police service to avoid loosing his pension and retirement benefits. The legality of the contract voidability is still in dispute in Lum’s lawsuit against the County.
It would appear that this "conspiracy" has worked as Lum is no longer our Chief. But every dog has his day in the sun and, in my opinion, this dedicated man will prevail in a higher court and his reward will cost this county dearly for what they have done to him. Or, to put it more clearly, the fat lady has not sung so the game is not over!!!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
SNIFFING IT OUT
SNIFFING IT OUT: The publication of Anthony Sommer’s book KPD Blue has lifted the veil on racial bias if not systemic racism in Kaua`i county government.
But arguments over the role that race has in hiring and the daily provision of services in not just the police department but all county departments has almost overshadowed also pervasive gender bias.
A recently filed lawsuit has refocused attention in what appears to be not just a blatant case of gender bias but the lackadaisical response by the county to the complaints which led to the lawsuit being filed.
Bus driver Kathleen M. Ah Quin is suing the Kaua`i Department of Transpiration- specifically Executive on Transportation Janine Rapozo- for what appears to be a pervasive hostile atmosphere in the agency toward women.
Just as appalling as the actual discrimination is the fact the lawsuit was filed only because a year went by after Ah Quin’s filing of Hawai`i Civil Rights Commission (HCRC) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints without any attempt by the county to respond or even attempt to investigate the charges.
At a special council meeting called at the end of November the County Attorney at the time Matthew Pyun asked the council for $50,000 to hire an outside attorney to respond to the suit.
And outgoing councilpersons Shaylene Iseri Carvalho and Mel Rapozo (no relation) were livid.
“You’ve got to read this” shrieked Iseri waving a copy of the suit over her head. “The County Attorney’s office has not engaged in any investigation (for a year) and now wants to hire an investigator” when there’s only 20 days to respond.
She told the council that she would not use taxpayer money without a commitment to investigate complaints when they are filed, saying she was “disgusted” and how the situation was “typical of the wasteful spending” of the administration and specifically the county attorney’s office.
She also questioned why it would cost $50,000 to respond since the first 20 day response is really a pro-forma type of thing that should rightfully be done “in-house” before hiring an outside attorney if it becomes necessary to defend the suit.
Councilmember Rapozo- who with Iseri voted against the approval of the funds even after the request was amended to $20,000- described how no one with the county ever spoke to any of the employees names in the suit or investigated any of the incidents.
The complaint itself depicts a transportation agency where females were routinely passed over for full time jobs because, as Ah Quin was told by another named female employee, Janine Rapozo “doesn’t like females” after Rapozo had ordered the employee to “keep her door closed” when she was working as a dispatcher because male drivers would stop by to talk to her.
That employee wasn’t the only one to warn Ah Quin. According to the suit another named female bus driver also told her to watch out for Rapozo because “likes her males, she does not like females”.
There are only three female employees in the agency and 17 males according to the suit.
Despite 11 years of experience and her more than adequate licensing it seems Ah Quin couldn’t get promoted to a full time position while men were given the jobs when they opened up.
The suit describes many incidents where despite the fact that her qualification surpassed theirs, Rapozo hired or promoted men to full time positions passing up Ah Quin and other women.
It also tells how on occasion drivers were brought in from outside the department and even county government itself to fill the full time positions in violation of standard county personnel department policy.
Ah Quin goes on to list eight males who were promoted over her as well as other incidents and examples of Rapozo’s gender bias.
When Ah Quin began to question why, despite a gleaming job performance evaluation she was passed up for promotion Rapozo started to engage in a program of retaliation, according to the suit by cutting Ah Quin’s hours.
Incidents described include one where passenger complaints was treated differently when filed against male drivers and another of a reprimand of Ah Quin for wearing her uniform shirt from another part time driving job while male employees similarly attired went unchallenged.
Ah Quin says she finally asked Rapozo “why don’t you like me. You never did like me. You keep ignoring me. You ignore me in the office. I keep asking myself what did I do to you? I know you don’t like me”.
Rapozo allegedly replied “because I have had problems with every female driver that has been hired.”
The suit also lists incidents where other named female drivers were harassed in a similar manner as well as misrepresentations by Rapozo as the fact that there was "no money in the budget” for expanding hours – a statement followed immediately by ads in the newspaper soliciting new drivers.
In another, Rapozo scolded Ah Quin for not picking up a person who was sitting in a wheelchair in front of the gift shop at Wilcox hospital which was not a designated bus stop, telling her she should have stopped the bus, gotten out and asked the person if they wanted to board the bus.
Ah Quin responded that there are persons in wheel chairs all over the place all the time around the hospital and that she was never told to stop, get out and ask each one if they needed the bus.
Rapozo has been a long-time, loyal, appointed crony in the past two administrations and has been shifted around various jobs before landing in the transportation agency overseeing the Kaua`i Bus.
To no one’s surprise she was retained in her position by Mayor Bernard Carvalho when he took office this month without any investigation of the complaints or lawsuit.
The lawsuit- Kathleen M. Ah Quin vs. County of Kaua`i Department of Transportation et. al.- was filed November 10 in Federal District Court, Civil # C V 080057 and demands a jury trial.
But arguments over the role that race has in hiring and the daily provision of services in not just the police department but all county departments has almost overshadowed also pervasive gender bias.
A recently filed lawsuit has refocused attention in what appears to be not just a blatant case of gender bias but the lackadaisical response by the county to the complaints which led to the lawsuit being filed.
Bus driver Kathleen M. Ah Quin is suing the Kaua`i Department of Transpiration- specifically Executive on Transportation Janine Rapozo- for what appears to be a pervasive hostile atmosphere in the agency toward women.
Just as appalling as the actual discrimination is the fact the lawsuit was filed only because a year went by after Ah Quin’s filing of Hawai`i Civil Rights Commission (HCRC) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints without any attempt by the county to respond or even attempt to investigate the charges.
At a special council meeting called at the end of November the County Attorney at the time Matthew Pyun asked the council for $50,000 to hire an outside attorney to respond to the suit.
And outgoing councilpersons Shaylene Iseri Carvalho and Mel Rapozo (no relation) were livid.
“You’ve got to read this” shrieked Iseri waving a copy of the suit over her head. “The County Attorney’s office has not engaged in any investigation (for a year) and now wants to hire an investigator” when there’s only 20 days to respond.
She told the council that she would not use taxpayer money without a commitment to investigate complaints when they are filed, saying she was “disgusted” and how the situation was “typical of the wasteful spending” of the administration and specifically the county attorney’s office.
She also questioned why it would cost $50,000 to respond since the first 20 day response is really a pro-forma type of thing that should rightfully be done “in-house” before hiring an outside attorney if it becomes necessary to defend the suit.
Councilmember Rapozo- who with Iseri voted against the approval of the funds even after the request was amended to $20,000- described how no one with the county ever spoke to any of the employees names in the suit or investigated any of the incidents.
The complaint itself depicts a transportation agency where females were routinely passed over for full time jobs because, as Ah Quin was told by another named female employee, Janine Rapozo “doesn’t like females” after Rapozo had ordered the employee to “keep her door closed” when she was working as a dispatcher because male drivers would stop by to talk to her.
That employee wasn’t the only one to warn Ah Quin. According to the suit another named female bus driver also told her to watch out for Rapozo because “likes her males, she does not like females”.
There are only three female employees in the agency and 17 males according to the suit.
Despite 11 years of experience and her more than adequate licensing it seems Ah Quin couldn’t get promoted to a full time position while men were given the jobs when they opened up.
The suit describes many incidents where despite the fact that her qualification surpassed theirs, Rapozo hired or promoted men to full time positions passing up Ah Quin and other women.
It also tells how on occasion drivers were brought in from outside the department and even county government itself to fill the full time positions in violation of standard county personnel department policy.
Ah Quin goes on to list eight males who were promoted over her as well as other incidents and examples of Rapozo’s gender bias.
When Ah Quin began to question why, despite a gleaming job performance evaluation she was passed up for promotion Rapozo started to engage in a program of retaliation, according to the suit by cutting Ah Quin’s hours.
Incidents described include one where passenger complaints was treated differently when filed against male drivers and another of a reprimand of Ah Quin for wearing her uniform shirt from another part time driving job while male employees similarly attired went unchallenged.
Ah Quin says she finally asked Rapozo “why don’t you like me. You never did like me. You keep ignoring me. You ignore me in the office. I keep asking myself what did I do to you? I know you don’t like me”.
Rapozo allegedly replied “because I have had problems with every female driver that has been hired.”
The suit also lists incidents where other named female drivers were harassed in a similar manner as well as misrepresentations by Rapozo as the fact that there was "no money in the budget” for expanding hours – a statement followed immediately by ads in the newspaper soliciting new drivers.
In another, Rapozo scolded Ah Quin for not picking up a person who was sitting in a wheelchair in front of the gift shop at Wilcox hospital which was not a designated bus stop, telling her she should have stopped the bus, gotten out and asked the person if they wanted to board the bus.
Ah Quin responded that there are persons in wheel chairs all over the place all the time around the hospital and that she was never told to stop, get out and ask each one if they needed the bus.
Rapozo has been a long-time, loyal, appointed crony in the past two administrations and has been shifted around various jobs before landing in the transportation agency overseeing the Kaua`i Bus.
To no one’s surprise she was retained in her position by Mayor Bernard Carvalho when he took office this month without any investigation of the complaints or lawsuit.
The lawsuit- Kathleen M. Ah Quin vs. County of Kaua`i Department of Transportation et. al.- was filed November 10 in Federal District Court, Civil # C V 080057 and demands a jury trial.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
MAYBE THE DINGO ATE YOUR BOOK
MAYBE THE DINGO ATE YOUR BOOK: One aspect of yesterday’s discussion of the, if not censorship at least apparent, reticence on the part of Borders book store to carry the book KPD Blue - and their slew of questionable excuses as to why they won’t- drew a phone call within moments of pushing the publish button.
It was librarian/councilmember Lani Kawahara at Kapa`a library calling with the news that, despite Sommer’s contention that “Hawaii public libraries are ignoring the book as well”, she had ordered and received copies for the Kapa`a library- where there is a waiting list of seven people as of yesterday- and facilitated getting copies over to Koloa and other libraries on Kaua`i.
David Thorpe at the Koloa Branch conformed that and told us that
When (Lani) received it she sent it to our Cataloging Section in Honolulu for original cataloging. That process does take a little while, but it is the only way to enable to book to be circulated by the Hawaii State Public Library System. When there seemed to be a growing interest in the book (as evidenced by an GI editorial by Walter Lewis last week), I asked the Friends of Koloa Library to order 2 copies for each branch on Kauai. The order came in today and the books have been sent out to the branches. The books should be available for borrowing soon.
But more importantly we understand there is a new and final reason why Borders will not be carrying KPD Blue- they apparently can’t get a decent wholesale price.
We finally got a call from Borders manager Helaine Perel who told us that despite what the publisher had told author Anthony Sommer book stores cannot apparently get a decent wholesale price from the distributor and would not only have to take the books on a “no-return” basis but would only get a 5% discount off retail and have to pay for shipping.
“In no way did I ever try to keep the book out of the store. It’s completely mercenary- we just couldn’t make any money on it” said Perel.
Sommer said in a phone call today that he can get them at a reasonable wholesale price but it would take 90 days or more because “it’s the holiday season” as the publisher warned him months ago. Even then Borders would have to pay for them up front, which he says Perel told him would take her 90 days clear.
Perel confirmed that and said she could order them from Sommer now with a credit card but Sommer says he’s certainly not set up to do that.
“Print on demand is a bad way to go for writers- there’s just too many problems” for the anyone who also want their book in book stores in addition to on-line orders. Perel added
Interestingly Perel said she spoke to former councilmember and mayoral candidate Mel Rapozo about the book and his role in it and the “lap dancing at the station house” episode the book begins with “
“You probably lost the election because of the book” she told him,
“You’re probably right” he said.
Nothing was mentioned about how his actions had allowed Sommer to detail them in the book in the first place.... seems as usual in politics it’s getting caught that ruins everything.
“I would have loved to sell it- I could have sold a thousand copes but it would have cost more than I would have made on each book” she said.
Sommer said he’s satisfied with Perel’s explanation. Whether Borders will or won’t get them in is anyone’s guess.
---------------
To update and correct our projection last month of how the newly passed citizen’s charter amendment giving “teeth” to the general plan will effect the Planning Department’s processing of tourism accommodation projects, it seems that actually charter amendments don’t take effect until 30 days after they are passed according to the charter, as opposed to “immediately upon passage” as we reported.
And that would make tomorrow’s meeting of the Planning Commission the first where an illegal approval might take place.
According to Juan Wilson piece at his Island Breath web site
Well, those pesky developers continue to plague south Kauai. They have not dried up and blown away in the wind with all that phony money.
In fact they threaten another attack.
Two items come up before the County Planning Commission tomorrow. Both should be turned down. Kauai needs your voice there to help make that happen.
First is final approval for The Knudsen Trust (read Stacey Wong and lawyer Walter Hong) are going for a final approval on plans for Phase One of the Village at Poipu subdivision.
This, as you may know, is planned to stretch from Poipu to Koloa and displace and destroy much of the most significant Hawaiian settlement remaining on Kauai, or anywhere else. Knudsen Trust has not gotten a sign-off on this project from the State on this.
Whether anyone will raise the issue as to the jurisdiction of the planning commission in approving the project is anyone’s guess but what is apparent is that according to the county charter the county council, not the commission, is the only entity that has that power at present.
The meeting is scheduled for 8 a.m. at the Lihue Civic Center, Moikeha Building Meeting Room 2A-2B
It was librarian/councilmember Lani Kawahara at Kapa`a library calling with the news that, despite Sommer’s contention that “Hawaii public libraries are ignoring the book as well”, she had ordered and received copies for the Kapa`a library- where there is a waiting list of seven people as of yesterday- and facilitated getting copies over to Koloa and other libraries on Kaua`i.
David Thorpe at the Koloa Branch conformed that and told us that
When (Lani) received it she sent it to our Cataloging Section in Honolulu for original cataloging. That process does take a little while, but it is the only way to enable to book to be circulated by the Hawaii State Public Library System. When there seemed to be a growing interest in the book (as evidenced by an GI editorial by Walter Lewis last week), I asked the Friends of Koloa Library to order 2 copies for each branch on Kauai. The order came in today and the books have been sent out to the branches. The books should be available for borrowing soon.
But more importantly we understand there is a new and final reason why Borders will not be carrying KPD Blue- they apparently can’t get a decent wholesale price.
We finally got a call from Borders manager Helaine Perel who told us that despite what the publisher had told author Anthony Sommer book stores cannot apparently get a decent wholesale price from the distributor and would not only have to take the books on a “no-return” basis but would only get a 5% discount off retail and have to pay for shipping.
“In no way did I ever try to keep the book out of the store. It’s completely mercenary- we just couldn’t make any money on it” said Perel.
Sommer said in a phone call today that he can get them at a reasonable wholesale price but it would take 90 days or more because “it’s the holiday season” as the publisher warned him months ago. Even then Borders would have to pay for them up front, which he says Perel told him would take her 90 days clear.
Perel confirmed that and said she could order them from Sommer now with a credit card but Sommer says he’s certainly not set up to do that.
“Print on demand is a bad way to go for writers- there’s just too many problems” for the anyone who also want their book in book stores in addition to on-line orders. Perel added
Interestingly Perel said she spoke to former councilmember and mayoral candidate Mel Rapozo about the book and his role in it and the “lap dancing at the station house” episode the book begins with “
“You probably lost the election because of the book” she told him,
“You’re probably right” he said.
Nothing was mentioned about how his actions had allowed Sommer to detail them in the book in the first place.... seems as usual in politics it’s getting caught that ruins everything.
“I would have loved to sell it- I could have sold a thousand copes but it would have cost more than I would have made on each book” she said.
Sommer said he’s satisfied with Perel’s explanation. Whether Borders will or won’t get them in is anyone’s guess.
---------------
To update and correct our projection last month of how the newly passed citizen’s charter amendment giving “teeth” to the general plan will effect the Planning Department’s processing of tourism accommodation projects, it seems that actually charter amendments don’t take effect until 30 days after they are passed according to the charter, as opposed to “immediately upon passage” as we reported.
And that would make tomorrow’s meeting of the Planning Commission the first where an illegal approval might take place.
According to Juan Wilson piece at his Island Breath web site
Well, those pesky developers continue to plague south Kauai. They have not dried up and blown away in the wind with all that phony money.
In fact they threaten another attack.
Two items come up before the County Planning Commission tomorrow. Both should be turned down. Kauai needs your voice there to help make that happen.
First is final approval for The Knudsen Trust (read Stacey Wong and lawyer Walter Hong) are going for a final approval on plans for Phase One of the Village at Poipu subdivision.
This, as you may know, is planned to stretch from Poipu to Koloa and displace and destroy much of the most significant Hawaiian settlement remaining on Kauai, or anywhere else. Knudsen Trust has not gotten a sign-off on this project from the State on this.
Whether anyone will raise the issue as to the jurisdiction of the planning commission in approving the project is anyone’s guess but what is apparent is that according to the county charter the county council, not the commission, is the only entity that has that power at present.
The meeting is scheduled for 8 a.m. at the Lihue Civic Center, Moikeha Building Meeting Room 2A-2B
Monday, December 8, 2008
THE DOG ATE ALL THE BOOKS
THE DOG ATE ALL THE BOOKS: Our continuing serialization of the controversial book KPD Blue by Anthony Sommer has spurred quite a bit of backlash- some of it personal- to Sommer’s charges of pervasive racism and sexism in Kaua`i county government, especially the Kaua`i Police Department.
But Sommer’s biggest difficulty may be what appears to be a blatant attempt to keep the book out of the hands of Kaua`i readers by the top bookseller on the island, Borders Books at Kukui Grove.
Borders’ story as to why they have refused to carry the book has morphed over the past three months from what appeared to be laziness on the part of manager Helaine Perel to the creation of a new policy on the part of Borders locally- one apparently created specifically for KPD Blue.
After we could never seem to reach or get our calls to “the manager” returned we called and got the real scoop from the clerk who answered the phone and the supervisor who both told us that a “new policy” has been instituted and they will no longer carry what are known as “print on demand” (POD) or “print to order” books.
POD is the latest trend in publishing and through on-line outlets like amazon.com the book is printed and shipped within a couple of days of when it is ordered.
According to the Borders clerk “we don’t want to order them and then be stuck with them when they don’t sell”.
But even on its face the contention seems a bit perplexing in the case of KPD Blue given that Borders has received daily requests for the book probably totaling over a thousand requests since the book’s release the supervisor admitted..
Sommer told us how the story has changed since the book’s release in September.
In an email last week Sommer wrote:
“I was getting email complaints that it wasn't available at Borders (for some reason, at least some people on Kauai haven't figured out how to buy stuff on line)”
He figured it was just a miscommunication so he called and talked to Perel in late September.
She told him that she had had over 200 requests at the time for the book and seemed eager to carry the book.
Sommer says:.
“I called Helaine and she said she had been trying to contact me (anyone on Kauai who knows me is aware I live in Phoenix and my phone number is listed, so I don't think she tried very hard). She said she wanted to order the books but didn't have the ISBN numbers needed for the order. I sent them to her”
“That was the last time I talked to her. I've called her repeatedly and left messages and as recently as two weeks ago left the ISBN numbers again.
No response.
It's very bizarre and maybe there's a rational explanation but I can't imagine what it is.
Except that maybe she's afraid of retaliation by the KPD or other county officials. That fear is very real on Kauai.
But over the years Border’s has been a great supporter of self-publishing and books on demands. Books such as Georgia Mossman’s "Kaua`i Police Blotter” as well Chris Cook’s tome recounting the many movies shot on Kaua`i and a dozen other Kaua`i based books with limited printing and POD have lined their shelves over the past 10 or 15 years..
And a look through the Kaua`i based books tables shows many others that are apparently POD.
Sommer at first was a little perplexed at the short sightedness of Borders in not carrying his book saying:
A book like mine that has a built-in demand, I would think they would stock a small supply for those good customers who ask for it. Borders on Kauai has a very loyal client base. Might be nice to keep them happy.
Again, if I lived there I would be out peddling copies to WalMart and Costco and even Safeway and Foodland. That's what's normally done with self-published books.
Frankly, from a selfish standpoint, I would rather people bought them from Amazon. At Amazon, I get a royalty of 35 percent on the retail price (about $5.50 royalty per book). If the books are sold wholesale for about $10, I only get 10 percent of the wholesale price, or about $1 royalty).
But my real interest is in getting the books out there. Other than covering my costs (which were covered the first two months), the profit motive isn't that big a deal to me. In a few months no one will be buying it anyway. I really just want to get people thinking and talking about what a shitty government Kauai County has (in my humble opinion, of course).
Sommer said that the book is available wholesale though his publisher, Booksurge- Amazon’s publishing house wing. And apparently Borders has it’s own POD service called Lulu so the story that they don’t carry POD quite obviously doesn’t stand up very well.
He added that
“I know Booksurge sells through Baker & Taylor, the nation's largest book wholesaler and Borders has an account there. Or book stores and libraries (apparently Hawaii public libraries are ignoring the book as well) also can buy directly from Booksurge. See the Wholesale section (t)here.”
After we told Sommer of what the clerk and night manager told us he said he thinks he knows the real reason why KPD Blue is on the “do not carry” list and it goes way beyond any competition or getting stuck with books.
He wrote in his usual bombastic style adopted since his retirement from journalism after almost 40 years of reporting both here and in Arizona:.
I'm even more convinced my theory that Borders is afraid to sell the book is correct and NOT some conspiracy.
Borders (and just about every merchant) is not willing to risk pissing off KPD and Benito Carvalho by selling a book that takes an honest and critical look at what a fascist government Kauai County really has.
If the Kauai merchants sell the books and they need a county permit in the future, they are afraid they will be fucked by the county. And they probably will be.
And if they run a stop sign? Go directly to jail.
"Reward your friends and punish your enemies" is the primary theme of Kauai politics and I repeat it in "KPD Blue" over and over like a mantra because that's the way it really is.
And, as we know too well, Da Mayor (at least Bryan and Bernard is his protégé) is not above pressuring the KPD to bring false criminal charges against his enemies.I know that from personal experience. Bryan tried his best to have me thrown in jail on a phony charge. KPD Chief K.C. Lum refused (editor’s note: as did the prosecutor as PNN previously detailed) and that's one of the reasons Lum was fired
They even brought absurd criminal charges against Lum to derail his campaign for County Council. That's as dirty as politics can possibly get: "Kauai Style!"
Lum was arrested and his computer with all his campaign records confiscated one week before the council election on a bizarre charge of altering county documents when a fax-feeding error by his attorney inadvertently combined pages of an ethics commission document. Lum was cleared of all charges- after the election).
Sommer continued:
What many people on Kauai don't realize is how oppressive their county government really is.
Why should they? If they were "Born on Kauai" (the best pedigree a local believes he can show), they really don't know anything different.
They don't know what real democracy is supposed to be. Worse, they don't know that they don't know!
Borders? They're scared to sell a book that challenges authority, that criticizes Da King.
Because, in the great Kanaka tradition that dates back to way before Kamehameha I, Da King might just whack them over the head with his club.
Well, Da King ain't gonna swing that club at anyone at Amazon.com. That's why I chose to have them sell my book.
The book is reportedly available at Ching Young Shopping Village in Hanalei at “the pizza place” there, reportedly through the graces of mall-owner and former police Commission Chair Michael Ching, the subject of a witch-hunt detailed in the book.
But Sommer’s biggest difficulty may be what appears to be a blatant attempt to keep the book out of the hands of Kaua`i readers by the top bookseller on the island, Borders Books at Kukui Grove.
Borders’ story as to why they have refused to carry the book has morphed over the past three months from what appeared to be laziness on the part of manager Helaine Perel to the creation of a new policy on the part of Borders locally- one apparently created specifically for KPD Blue.
After we could never seem to reach or get our calls to “the manager” returned we called and got the real scoop from the clerk who answered the phone and the supervisor who both told us that a “new policy” has been instituted and they will no longer carry what are known as “print on demand” (POD) or “print to order” books.
POD is the latest trend in publishing and through on-line outlets like amazon.com the book is printed and shipped within a couple of days of when it is ordered.
According to the Borders clerk “we don’t want to order them and then be stuck with them when they don’t sell”.
But even on its face the contention seems a bit perplexing in the case of KPD Blue given that Borders has received daily requests for the book probably totaling over a thousand requests since the book’s release the supervisor admitted..
Sommer told us how the story has changed since the book’s release in September.
In an email last week Sommer wrote:
“I was getting email complaints that it wasn't available at Borders (for some reason, at least some people on Kauai haven't figured out how to buy stuff on line)”
He figured it was just a miscommunication so he called and talked to Perel in late September.
She told him that she had had over 200 requests at the time for the book and seemed eager to carry the book.
Sommer says:.
“I called Helaine and she said she had been trying to contact me (anyone on Kauai who knows me is aware I live in Phoenix and my phone number is listed, so I don't think she tried very hard). She said she wanted to order the books but didn't have the ISBN numbers needed for the order. I sent them to her”
“That was the last time I talked to her. I've called her repeatedly and left messages and as recently as two weeks ago left the ISBN numbers again.
No response.
It's very bizarre and maybe there's a rational explanation but I can't imagine what it is.
Except that maybe she's afraid of retaliation by the KPD or other county officials. That fear is very real on Kauai.
But over the years Border’s has been a great supporter of self-publishing and books on demands. Books such as Georgia Mossman’s "Kaua`i Police Blotter” as well Chris Cook’s tome recounting the many movies shot on Kaua`i and a dozen other Kaua`i based books with limited printing and POD have lined their shelves over the past 10 or 15 years..
And a look through the Kaua`i based books tables shows many others that are apparently POD.
Sommer at first was a little perplexed at the short sightedness of Borders in not carrying his book saying:
A book like mine that has a built-in demand, I would think they would stock a small supply for those good customers who ask for it. Borders on Kauai has a very loyal client base. Might be nice to keep them happy.
Again, if I lived there I would be out peddling copies to WalMart and Costco and even Safeway and Foodland. That's what's normally done with self-published books.
Frankly, from a selfish standpoint, I would rather people bought them from Amazon. At Amazon, I get a royalty of 35 percent on the retail price (about $5.50 royalty per book). If the books are sold wholesale for about $10, I only get 10 percent of the wholesale price, or about $1 royalty).
But my real interest is in getting the books out there. Other than covering my costs (which were covered the first two months), the profit motive isn't that big a deal to me. In a few months no one will be buying it anyway. I really just want to get people thinking and talking about what a shitty government Kauai County has (in my humble opinion, of course).
Sommer said that the book is available wholesale though his publisher, Booksurge- Amazon’s publishing house wing. And apparently Borders has it’s own POD service called Lulu so the story that they don’t carry POD quite obviously doesn’t stand up very well.
He added that
“I know Booksurge sells through Baker & Taylor, the nation's largest book wholesaler and Borders has an account there. Or book stores and libraries (apparently Hawaii public libraries are ignoring the book as well) also can buy directly from Booksurge. See the Wholesale section (t)here.”
After we told Sommer of what the clerk and night manager told us he said he thinks he knows the real reason why KPD Blue is on the “do not carry” list and it goes way beyond any competition or getting stuck with books.
He wrote in his usual bombastic style adopted since his retirement from journalism after almost 40 years of reporting both here and in Arizona:.
I'm even more convinced my theory that Borders is afraid to sell the book is correct and NOT some conspiracy.
Borders (and just about every merchant) is not willing to risk pissing off KPD and Benito Carvalho by selling a book that takes an honest and critical look at what a fascist government Kauai County really has.
If the Kauai merchants sell the books and they need a county permit in the future, they are afraid they will be fucked by the county. And they probably will be.
And if they run a stop sign? Go directly to jail.
"Reward your friends and punish your enemies" is the primary theme of Kauai politics and I repeat it in "KPD Blue" over and over like a mantra because that's the way it really is.
And, as we know too well, Da Mayor (at least Bryan and Bernard is his protégé) is not above pressuring the KPD to bring false criminal charges against his enemies.I know that from personal experience. Bryan tried his best to have me thrown in jail on a phony charge. KPD Chief K.C. Lum refused (editor’s note: as did the prosecutor as PNN previously detailed) and that's one of the reasons Lum was fired
They even brought absurd criminal charges against Lum to derail his campaign for County Council. That's as dirty as politics can possibly get: "Kauai Style!"
Lum was arrested and his computer with all his campaign records confiscated one week before the council election on a bizarre charge of altering county documents when a fax-feeding error by his attorney inadvertently combined pages of an ethics commission document. Lum was cleared of all charges- after the election).
Sommer continued:
What many people on Kauai don't realize is how oppressive their county government really is.
Why should they? If they were "Born on Kauai" (the best pedigree a local believes he can show), they really don't know anything different.
They don't know what real democracy is supposed to be. Worse, they don't know that they don't know!
Borders? They're scared to sell a book that challenges authority, that criticizes Da King.
Because, in the great Kanaka tradition that dates back to way before Kamehameha I, Da King might just whack them over the head with his club.
Well, Da King ain't gonna swing that club at anyone at Amazon.com. That's why I chose to have them sell my book.
The book is reportedly available at Ching Young Shopping Village in Hanalei at “the pizza place” there, reportedly through the graces of mall-owner and former police Commission Chair Michael Ching, the subject of a witch-hunt detailed in the book.
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