PLEASE ASK KOUCHI AND SENATE TO REJECT SHAWN SMITH'S APPOINTMENT TO BLNR

PLEASE ASK KOUCHI AND SENATE TO REJECT SHAWN SMITH'S APPOINTMENT TO BLNR


While the threat to "real farms" by the Westside chemical companies has sucked up much of the oxygen in the debate over the future of agriculture on Kaua`i an arguably more insidious undermining is going on just above Larsen's beach on the Northeast side.


And, one of the chief facilitators of the theft of our agricultural legacies is about to be appointed as the Kauai representative to the all-powerful Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) if we don't speak out right now and ask our state senators to reject his nomination.


Shawn Smith has been the point-person in charge of the Kahu’aina Plantation Agricultural Subdivision, a 357-acre parcel, which is zoned Agricultural and Conservation, yet has received subdivision approval for more than 80 luxury homes.


A "special session" of the legislature is scheduled for this coming Monday (Oct 28) and in addition to the main subject of marriage equality, many other matter will be taken up, including Smith's potential confirmation.


The BLNR is the "board" that oversees the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Suffice it to say they are the most powerful body in the state when it comes to land use, in a state that, along with county home rule, has another layer of centralized land-use power at the state level.


During Smith's lengthy tenure as General Manager of land developer Falko Partners- one of the biggest and most egregious of the developers luxury residential lots on agricultural lands on Kaua`i- he has shown a strong alignment with, and deep bias towards, the interests that seek to undermine the goals of Hawaii’s land use laws by converting prime agricultural land to residential use and creating rural sprawl, according to critics.


Fake farms like Kahu’aina Plantation and others are plain in their desire to subdivide agricultural lands for luxury mansions- an arguably illegal use of an Ag subdivision subdivision after the "Hokulia" ruling from Hawai`i Island, potentially barring such practices.


In 2003, Judge Ronald Ibarra halted construction of the $1 billion Hokulia project saying 1,550-acre Hōkūli‘a was a luxury-home development and not a farming venture. As part of its decision, the court stopped the county from issuing building permits to buyers, and enjoined developer Oceanside 1250 from providing utilities to the homes already under construction. The Falko Partners Kahu`aina is simply a mini "Hokulia."


Should you want to take a gander at what they have planned, even though they took down their web site- perhaps because it so obviously violated Judge Ibara's Hokulia ruling- there is still a place to view it here 


Having Smith on the BLNR could actually allow him to vote on and influence the approval of this and other similar projects. And even should he recuse himself in the case of Kahu’aina Plantation, he has shown that he is not the type of person we need in the one-and-only seat representing Kaua`i on the all-powerful BLNR, which would be ruling on other such application in the future










The Kaua`i representative on the BLNR, while only one of many on the board, is often looked to for direction by other board members regarding Kaua`i projects. Shawn Smith has, though his actions as Larry Bowman GM at Falko Partners- one of the biggest despoilers of agricultural lands in turning them into Gentleman’s estates and North Shore McMansion- shown that he is the wrong person for the job... someone whose bent is to thumb his nose at the the protection of what's left of the prime agricultural lands on Kaua`i.


Please write or call to members of the senate, especially Kaua`i Senator Ron Kouchi, and ask them to reject Smith. Word has it that this is "doable" with enough phone calls and emails. You can reach Sen Kouchi at 808-586-6030 or via email at senkouchi@Capitol.hawaii.gov and all senators at sens@capitol.hawaii.gov .

MEANWHILE I WAS STILL THINKIN'

MEANWHILE I WAS STILL THINKIN': With the exception of a few brief shining moments, the local newspaper has been a horrific example of a journalistic train-wreck ever since the 1982 departure of legendary editor Jean Holmes.


And while during the last 30 years the relative proximity of various editorial-publishing regimes to the bottom of the proverbial barrel has been subject for debate, few dispute the fact that the current iteration is would be pitiful if indeed it was worthy of pity.


Seemingly there hasn't been an actual "news" story in the year or so since Editor Bill Burley took over- he of the "all dogs, all jogging, all the time" feature story. Because Burley apparently insists that even island-shaking news must be written as if it were the perennial favorite (and archetypical cub reporter initiation assignment) story about the opening of the flower show.


But today's has to take the proverbial Sweet Marie's cake.


We almost missed the story about the Transient Accommodation Tax (TAT)- a state tax on tourists that is "returned" to the counties each year in varying- and usually inadequate- amounts. Why? How about starting with the fact that the headline was "The Business of Aloha" with"Tourism" above the headline.


In recent times the TAT has been the issue that stirs the drink of Kaua`i County's finances and other issues too because the state has been keeping inordinate amounts of it, supposedly due to the "financial crisis." But the county has literally been afraid to ask for their fair share of the TAT- an amount that allows us to provide the infrastructure to "accommodate" all those tourists- so as not to anger the legislature and have them, not just take a bigger share but retaliate by not passing other legislation considered vital to the county.


Yes- it's a bit of Mafioso extortion. "Oh, you want us to help you with you Uncle Joey's funeral (after they just whacked him). Oh, did we mention that protection money might be going up next month? We're sure you wouldn't want someone to steal all your merchandise, oh, let's say, next Thursday at 3 a.m. (don't be here)?"


The county can't impose its own taxes without the legislature's permission. Right now the only tax the county can impose is the real property tax.


But, if the information in the article is correct- and that's a big "if" with this paper- apparently this year the county is going to ask. It's a huge story for anyone who follows such things (probably us and a handful of other Lihu`e Lookie Lous, as the government officials see us).


So it's excusable that we missed the story until we saw the Honolulu Star Advertiser's re-write with the headline "Kauai County Seeks Higher Share of Hotel Tax." and then went back and read the local story we had skipped.


The local paper's actual "lead" of this vitally important story had been "featurized" beyond recognition, beginning the article by saying:


Marie Cassel, owner of Sweet Marie’s Bakery, opened her bakery in Kapaa a few years ago.
In 2011, she moved her glutten-free specialized desserts to a bigger location in Lihue, about a mile from the airport.


Since the beginning, Sweet Marie’s has had a steady flow of visitors, Cassel said, many of whom are tourists.


“I have a lot of visitors who come here, and many are repeat customers,” she said.


Those 72 words were followed by another 62 words of ambiguous "transition" verbiage that still didn't mention the TAT.


In all 134 words to get the the point- something that is, in the news story, supposed to happen in the first 25 or so words.


We can't overstate how important the TAT is to the county budget and, as we said, other legislation. The county has been walking on egg shells for years and forgoing asking for all sorts of enabling legislation that only the state can provide, like getting us out from under liability for providing lifeguards which took years of pussy-footing to get passed in the legislature.


The discussion around the council table when it has comes to Hawai`i Association of Counties (HSAC) "wish list" each year- a list of requests for legislation approved by all county councils- as well as the Kaua`i County list of items the mayor and council want to ask for in the upcoming session, is usually focused around the question "should we ask for 'this' or 'that' or will they be less likely to give us more money through the TAT because we asked?"


We kid you not.


Back to the way the local paper covered the story today. We can just imagine what their "local take" on some past "big stories" might have been had the current "No News (Is Good News) Here," "everything is a feature" regime been in charge.


Local Man Likes His Target Practice


Wendell Duarte of Waimea loves to shoot his guns at the target range in Kekaha. And is wife Yukie loves it too.


Every morning you'll find Wendell with his collection if pistols, rifles and even bows and arrows, taking practice at the county range.


"It's a hobby I picked up in the war and my grandson Keikikane loves to come along with his gumpa to the range" said a proud Duarte, mo`opuna at his side.


"I just want him out of the house in the morning so I can do my Pilates," giggled Yukie.


But even though Duarte likes guns he is still upset about last night's assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis who was felled by a bullet... a bullet fired from a gun.....


Yes, yes- everyone wants to see their picture in the paper. And the paper is likely to sell 25 copies when someone is mentioned. And when it’s a business having smoke blown up it''s `okole you can bet it's either a pay-back or come-on for an ad spread in the paper.


But when we have to turn to the Honolulu paper to tell us to go back and read the big story that had originated our local Kaua`i paper it's time to declare a winner- the all time worst paper, certainly in Kaua`i history if not the history of the world.


Who needs plastic grocery bags? The bottom of the barrel has found a new perma-liner.

HOW FAST CAN YOU TURN ON A DIME?

HOW FAST CAN YOU TURN ON A DIME?:  There's an old joke about the agent talking to the producer. The agent say "That guy is a total jerk, a two-faced liar, a poor excuse for a human being and ugly to boot. I'd kill him if I had half the chanc...e and..." The producer interrupts him saying "Ah, that's my son you're talking about" to which the agent replies -without missing a beat- "Wait- let me finish."

Go to 17:59:30 on the video of yesterday's Kaua`i County Council meeting at which Bill 2491 passed at 337 a.m by a 6-1 vote and watch how clear it is as Councilmember JoAnn Yukimura reads from her prepared remarks saying that she was going to vote for a deferral, in accordance with the commentary she had in the newspaper earlier in the day.

After a minute or so, when there was no doubt in anyone's mind as to her intent to vote to defer, there was a near riot- people screaming "Pass the bill" and banging on things... dozens of people in the room and apparently many more outside can be heard.

Anyone who watched could not help but envision the crowd spilling out of the chambers and, joined by the mob downstairs- which included many who, despite attempts by cooler heads to discourage it, had issued thinly-veiled threats of violence over the weekend had a deferral occurred- and running amok down Rice St doing who-knows-what... not to mention what some might have thought they might do to poor JoAnn.

When order had been restored JoAnn could be seen continuing to read from her prepared remarks about the need for deferral "until the end of the month." Then suddenly she looked up and stopped reading and said "That is why I CAN'T support a deferral today."

This all followed a four hour display of "because I can" raw politics on JoAnn's part in weakening the bill through amendments one of which actually took the word "pesticide" out of the section on pesticides in the buffer zones. Others knew they could not pass the bill without her vote. So much for Steve Covey and Peter Adler (see some of my previous posts on what that means).

Very strange- strange days indeed... most peculiar mama.

 

 

SUNSHINE SUPERMAN

SUNSHINE SUPERMAN: Another day, another outrage courtesy of the Kaua`i County Council- this time trying to essentially gut the state Sunshine Law.


As part of the yearly Hawai`i State Association of Counties (HSAC) package of bills they'd like the legislature to take up next session, a Maui council proposal- which was unanimously passed out of a Kaua`i council committee last week- would create a loophole in the open meeting provisions that you could drive a back-room deal through.


The Sunshine Law's very long section on Permitted Interactions of Members (92-2.5) carefully carves out what board members can and can't do outside of a duly agendaed meeting, mostly a prohibition on more than two members discussing matters likely to come before the council, especially if they are "deliberating toward a decision" and, strictly, on soliciting or offering a certain vote on the matter.


But the proposal would blast that out of the water thereby making a mockery of the Sunshine Law.


It would add this bit of devious dreck at the very end:


(i) Notwithstanding the foregoing, members of a county council may jointly attend and speak at a community, educational, or informational meeting or presentation, including a meeting of another entity, legislative hearing, convention, seminar, conference, or community meeting, without limitation; provided that the meeting or presentation is open to the public.


Though their "purpose" statement says that it "permit members of a county council to jointly attend and speak at a community, educational, or informational meeting or presentation" what it really does is remove all restrictions by beginning the actual change to the law with "(n)notwithstanding the foregoing"- meaning no matter what it says in "Permitted Interactions" section- and ending with "without limitation provided that the meeting or presentation is open to the public" doubling down on the loophole.


Because the term "open to the public" does not even include notification much less filing a six-day-in-advance agenda, a "meeting" can be both open to the public and held in the proverbial "backroom" with no notification of anyone but the councilmembers if they choose not to tell anyone.


The rest is garbage meant to distract the reader from the meat of the change. It doesn't even say another non-councilperson need be present for this "meeting."


Seemingly every year the various county councils try to get out from under the Sunshine Law so they can go back to doing backroom "done deals," the only difference from the bad old days being that they aren't held in smoke-filled rooms any more because no one smokes. But this year they've outdone themselves in trying to make it look like it's just a provision to allow them to attend and speak at community meetings.


Actually that alone- without the "notwithstanding the forgoing" or the "without limitations" provisions- could be used to negotiate via the microphone. That would violate the prohibition on "serial communications" to circumvent the two-at-a-time restriction.


Their "justification" section is an even more cynical attempt to bamboozle the legislature into blowing up the sunshine law. It reads


"Council members are impeded from attending community and educational meetings when it is possible that such attendance will result in alleged Sunshine Law violations or create other burdens. Community and educational meetings provide critically important information on matters that may be addressed by policy makers. If enacted, this bill will permit council members to better serve their constituents in a well-informed, transparent, and responsive manner without fear of violating the Sunshine Law."


Wah wah wah wah wah boo-hoo-boo.


If they really wanted to be able to go to these meeting there's nothing stopping them now as long as they follow the Sunshine Law while doing so. But this feigned, supposed inability to understand the Sunshine Law has been used for years to get out from under it, often with the added "but the legislature doesn't have to follow the sunshine law- why should we?.. wah, wah, wah, boo-hoo."


The final vote on this reprehensible request is scheduled for a final vote at the Wed. Oct 9 full council meeting at 9 a.m.

FOR SALE: SLINGS, ARROWS AND OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE

FOR SALE: SLINGS, ARROWS AND OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE: Governor Neil Abercrombie's little attempt at humor in calling for the chemical companies to "temporarily" release some vague information about pesticide use on a "voluntary" basis via some unknown rules (or laws or Kingly decrees) to be promulgated at some undetermined point in the unforeseeable future, has Kaua`i doubled over- although it's unclear whether it's with laughter or pain.


But it did do one thing- it exposed how all four Kaua`i legislators have sold their political souls to their corporate overlords rather than represent the views of the 90% of their constituents who support something a little more specific... like Bill 2491 which is headed for another Kaua`i County Council committee meeting on Friday at 9 a.m.


But who expected anything else? According to research by Babes Against Biotech's Nomi Carmona, Abercrombie has taken $34,400 from the chemical companies and their lobbyists ($58,200 if you include wives and kids of lobbyists), Rep. Jimmy Tokioka comes in at a cool $9,650 , Sen. Ron Kouchi has pocketed $6,050 for his campaign coffers, Rep. Derek Kawakami got $2,000 and rookie Rep. Dee Morikawa received $700.


But the good news is that all no one seems to be naive enough to think that the "proposal" will have any effect on Friday's meeting. But you can expect bill opponents, Councilmembers Ross Kagawa and Mel Rapozo to beat their chests and kick up some gorilla dust, waving around Abercrombie's gambit a few times before they all get down to business.


When we last left our merry band of lawgivers some thought they observed a deathbed conversion from Ross Kagawa whose last minute political pivot found him actually endorsing an "environmental study"- the third part of the bill which also calls for buffer zones and real disclosure of pesticide use, including the specific types used at specific times on specific days at specific locations as opposed to the "aggregate" total amounts Governor Abercrombie called for- something that is pretty much required by the state now.


But what we really saw was a different type of conversion, that of a sow's ear into a silk purse after Kagawa and Rapozo realized that Councilpersons JoAnn Yukimura and Nadine Nakamura were going to support the buffers and disclosure parts.


That left the "study" as their only handle to get a grip on the bill in order to kill it. And therein lies the rub because something smells rotten in the state of Lihu`e and it ain't bubble gum masking agent.


Hawai`i state law HRS 343, also known as the Hawai`i Environmental Protection Act (HEPA), is the state's version of the National EPA (NEPA) with each describing their respective Environmental Assessment (EA)/Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) processes.


And that's the third part of what the bill calls for- a moratorium on new open-air testing of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and associated Restricted Use Pesticides (RUPs). pending the county's performance of an EIS.


Because in fact that's what the facilities out in Waimea actually are- not "farms" but testing grounds for open air chemical experiments with people as the collateral guinea pigs. And despite the obvious need for environmental study one has never been conducted.


But Yukimura doesn't want to use the EA/EIS process calling it a "consultants' retirement plan"- a phrase many of her base supporters became familiar with in speaking to her in the weeks leading up to the last committee meeting on September 9.


Instead she and Nakamura- aficionados of the 1990's Steven Covey "Seven Habits of Highly Manipulative A-holes" (or something like that) series of high priced books and seminars- have suggested their own version of an "environmental study" and plan on introducing amendments to effectuate that version at Friday's meeting.


Apparently the thinking must be that if Kaua`i can take on the feds and state for failing to protect the health and safety of its citizens, we can also rewrite environmental law with our own version of the EA/EIS process.


The "Adler Process," as some call it locally- named after UH Professor and long-time professional "facilitator" Peter Adler- has been dubbed by many as the "Kumbaya Roundtable" where all the "stakeholders," including those who have no intention of negotiating anything, get "a seat at the table" so they can presumably come away with a "win-win" (put that in double quotes)... either that or they sit at the table for years if necessary until they either drown in butcher paper (you had to be there), drop dead of old age or they find at least one thing they can agree on- which is usually not to meet any more.


It can be endless and pointless and allows anyone who wants to obstruct any resolution to be the big winner while the rest walk away scratching their heads asking "what just happened?".


Instead of being a consultant’s retirement plan it's a facilitator's career plan.


Oh- did we mention that Nakamura's is professional "facilitator?"


Anyway that explains what Ross and Mel were up to when they suddenly "supported the bill." By the time Nakamura and Yukimura had finished describing their amendments that would turn the EIS into a "facilitated roundtable," two things were painfully apparent to Ross and Mel.


The first was that Nakamura and Yukimura had earlier indicated that were going to support disclosures and buffer zones, if not in the precise form in which they appear on the bill now, then at least close enough for government work. And that would make four votes assuming they and the bill's introducers Gary Hooser and Tim Bynum can find wording that all four of them like- which seems likely.


But Bynum and Hooser are not about to accept the never-ending, shaggy-dog-story of the facilitated "Barney approach" (I love you, you love me...) with Bynum saying that if they didn't call it an EA/EIS but stuck to the precepts described in HRS 343, he- and presumably Hooser- might be okay with that.


Which left Kagawa and Rapozo an opening to if not kill, then severely gut what they can by supporting JoAnn's and Nadine's "make-kissy-face-with-your-opponent" plan, thereby leaving their corporate masters- and, they hoped, the naive public- all singing Kumbaya... and with four votes for the interminable study, one-third of a loaf being better than no loaf at all.


Will JoAnn and Nadine risk their political futures by refusing to okay an EIS or EIS-based study? Will Ross and Mel heads spin around three or four more times during the day until somebody (probably us) throws-up? Will Tim and Gary be able to convince JoAnn and Nadine that this is one of those once in a political lifetime deals where doing the right thing actually lines up with it being political advantageous? And will Council Chair Jay Furfaro feel jilted and neglected by all this lack of attention and sell his vote for flowers and candy?


Tune in Friday at 9 a.m. for another episode of "What Dreams May Come."

AROUND THE TURN AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME

AROUND THE TURN AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME: It's crunch time for Bill 2491 as a series of events this week lead up to the big Kaua`i County Council committee meeting on Tuesday September 9, including the ManaMarch and Rally on Sunday Sept 8 when thousands are expected to gather at Vidhina Stadium in Lihu`e at 11:30 a.m. and and noon march up Rice St to the County Building where music and fun are promised.

But before that on Thursday Sept 5 the council will be holding a executive session meeting on the bill that would require disclosure of restricted pesticide use, buffer zones around schools and homes and a moratorium on new experimental Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) tests pending an environmental assessment.

Closed door meeting or not, organizers are urging people to make a showing in their red shirts to show support for the bill. Even though public testimony will be taken (by law), since most everything that can be said to the council has been said, it would seem counterproductive to make it into a repetitive public yak-fest.

So what is The State Of The Bill this week? And what are both the white hats (Gary Hooser and Tim Bynum) and the black hats (Mel Rapozo and Ross Kagawa) planning?

Near as we can tell despite the fact that the chemical/biotech/just-plain-simple-farmers' massive million dollar PR campaign has put bullet after bullet into their own feet with counter-intuitive shmaltz and "did he really say that" common-sense-defying, expert blathering, there are still at least 17 people left on the island, with the exception of employees and vendors, who actually oppose the intent of the bill.

But for the other 60,742 of us the important numbers are 2-2-3: two yes votes, two no votes and three "how am I going to get through this without killing my political career and/or legacy" votes.

On the 9th it's expected that the noes, Mel and Ross, will put up a fight on a few fronts to give cover to councilmembers Nadine Nakamura and Jay Furfaro to vote to kill the bill entirely and JoAnn Yukimura to water it down with amendments that could allow it to pass but make it all but totally ineffective.

On the legal front all indications are that neither the County Attorney nor Attorney General is going to say there is any type of state law "preempting" the county's state constitutional right to regulate the health and environmental safety of it's citizens. There is no question of preemption at the federal level as even the chemical companies' lawyers have agreed, there being strong US Supreme Court rulings saying that the county has those rights.

It is expected that some other big gun attorneys will show up to support the legality of the bill and it's looking like there's not much the "other five" will have on this front.

Then there are the "medical" issues... for lack of a better term.

JoAnn Yukimura has been making a lot of noise at a pitch only a lawyer can hear, trying to look for the definitive link to an actual proven medical epidemic of pesticide-related disease. This of course is NOT what is required as medical review, unlike law, is a very long meticulous process where "proof" of harm is concerned. But all that is needed legally here is the strong POTENTIAL for harm.

And there's no one but those Roundup-guzzling salesmen denying a pervasive potential for harm.

First there's the American Council on Pediatrics strong disdain of child exposure to any pesticides and the growing undeniable exposure of Waimea children at their schools and residences and other areas exposed to the wind drift. There's the sheer number of days and types of restricted use pesticides (RUPs), which are used in open air experiments 240 days a year, with each day having the potential for use of multiple RUPs. And there's the testimony of apparently all the pediatricians and almost every doctor and other health care provider on the island, all warning of the harm they are actually seeing.

To pooh-pooh this as being "only anecdotal" and not real potential harm is to misunderstand the nature of medical inquiry. It's painfully obvious why there are no "25-year studies" and as a matter of fact a law that requires disclosure is the first step in setting up these studies.

That kind of study is something that our state Department of Agriculture (DOA) seems to be working as hard as they can to prevent, ignoring and even misrepresenting the incidents of poisonings and looking more and more like shills for "Big Chemical" than the state level protector of the health of the people.

Wanna see something really scarey? One of our researches who has seen the DOA's inspection logs says that they made only 175 total inspections of all pesticide users in Kauai county over the past two year period. Of these inspections they have redacted 45% as "ongoing investigations" of "open cases" where violations could supposedly lead to enforcement actions- although enforcement of regulations in government circles is usually more a case of "seeking compliance" instead... sometimes years after the violation.

In these ongoing cases all the information is blank so no one in the public has any idea what the violation even is (or was). Of the unredacted inspections there were only 29 during a two year period that were done on the operations of the four agrochemical companies or 3.625 inspections per company per year... about one every hundred days. And they tell them when they are coming.

Don't forget about those 240 spraying days a year, according to information revealed though the current federal court lawsuit against Pioneer filed by 100 west-side people who say they've been harmed by the chemical companies pesticide practices.

Additionally, the Kaua`i DOA representative said in an open council session that it takes up to 3 years to resolve and close a case. They also said they don't even publicly notify the community when violations occur but only when they are resolved and then only if a member of the public requests the information.

And just ask anyone who has ever requested information from a state agency how easy that is. And that's for agencies that don't have anything they want to hide.

Which brings us to what will probably prove to be bill supporters' biggest challenge next week- one people need to be fully aware of and fight like hell to stop it from happening.

Ross and Mel are determined to find a way to stop this bill- all of it. Killing it entirely most likely won't happen although remember what we said about JoAnn (Nadine too in past posts) and amendments. The disclosure and buffer zones look strong unless someone wants to throw away their political career or, in Jay's case, legacy.

The only way to stop it is to kick it upstairs.

We were discussing this with a long time observer and political operative on Kaua`i and, not surprisingly, we saw our own thoughts reflected in the email: It read:

-----

What needs debunking is the laughable notion that "the state or federal government will take care of this for us if only we put pressure on them." It's the old "I'm going to write a letter and we can all sign it" strategy...just plain stupid.

"This is not our job and we will demand that the governor, the state legislature and the EPA and congress (in between voting to go to war)... make them do their jobs."

I can see it now. Kouchi and Tokioka will agree to "draft a Bill". The DOH and the DOA will agree to "look into updating the rules" and maybe the governor will even "establish a task force"...and see, there...it is all handled and several council members will say "whew...it is all handled...look what we did mom...plus we will write that letter... and we will all sign it...demanding that they do something...and then we'll get really tough... we will schedule a follow up meeting to make sure it happens."

As you and I know...nothing will happen except the process will drag for another 2 or 3 years...the industry hacks and attorneys will do their thing at the legislature during the long drawn out rule making process...and at the end of the day there will be bupkis, nada, nothing.

Plus...a quick scan of the campaign spending reports shows several of our legislative people are clearly taking piles of money from the biotech and gmo industries. And...the Chair of the Senate Ag committee (where any legislation will have to pass through) has also taken plenty...including donations from pharmaceutical companies (now why would a pharm company give to an Ag Chair?). I only skimmed very quickly the reports and found the obvious direct contributions and have not yet googled individuals or looked at the lobbyists numbers to see who the lobbyist who was giving money had as clients. I can't imagine what that will show...

------

All snark aside you get the picture. This little dance is a tried and true way for these snakes to slither out of dealing with political grenades once they've failed to table them with 14 "Star Chamber" executive sessions where they come out and say "We can't tell you what it is but there's a very good reason we're killing this."

To put a fresh spin on an old canard: "We could tell you why but then we wouldn't be able to kill you"

This is really what we have to prevent. Mel is a master of this kind of "it's someone else's fault/responsibility" fake outrage. When you're watching him do it remember what you're watching.

This is going to be a week when everyone needs to play the part they've taken and play it like their life depends on it. It just might.

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Other events this week include:

Tuesday September 3 from 5-8 p.m. An informational meeting/"fun event" for south-side people at Po'ipu large pavilion. Nurses and friends of Kauai will answer questions based on new information from the American Pediatric Association about pesticides.

Wednesday September 4 at 5 p.m. Sign making and planning for Sunday's March and Rally- pot luck; dance with DJ at Lydgate Big Pavilion.

PROGRAM, GET YER PROGRAM

PROGRAM, GET YER PROGRAM: What would a game be without a rundown of the players, the games they're currently playing and what kind of pitch will work on each- and for that matter who not to even bother to pitch to.

Here's the third inning morning line for those betting on passage of Bill 2491 (regarding pesticides and GMOs)... with the prospects for each of the Crudville 7.

Of course Gary Hooser and Tim Bynum are the people's champions. Follow their lead. It's that easy.

Mel Rapozo is with Ross Kagawa and both are in the pockets of the biotexters- don't be fooled by anything either might say or do. The two of them are trying to kill the bill, currently by keeping it in committee where they may have the votes to do so permanently, waiting for a legal opinions that will never come.

Don't let Mel trick you into thinking he is genuinely doing anything but trying to kill the bill. Don't forget- he and Ross both didn't care how much it's going to cost to defend Mel's palsy-walsy Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho and both he and Ross said so just a couple of weeks ago. Mel is a snakey-wakey and may slither into some other corner next week but for now he's coiled to delay the bill in committee forever. Don't misunderestimate Mel. Ross would be helpless without him.

Gary and Tim need to get the bill out of committee to the floor of the full council (where the vote count will be tied at 2) and work amendments and votes there. One big problem in committee is that Gary is the chair and cannot make a motion or a second- including to offer an amendment- so even presuming he has a motion or a second from JoAnn Yukimura, unless Nadine Nakamura goes along with what he wants he cannot even get it considered in committee. (Tim is not on the committee; nor is Council Chair Jay Furfaro).

As far as JoAnn goes, she will most likely support most of the bill especially on the pesticide "right-to-know" section. But she could also allow some not-so-great amendments and may even allow Mel and Ross to bamboozle her with the legally non-existent "preemption" crap in order to find the equally non-existent "win-win."

Nadine is not as much of a "no" as her vote to defer last Monday might make you think- she just wants it all to go away and will probably go with the majority on anything, including amendments. She is known for trying "compromise away" the meat of a measure but probably feels powerless to do that on this one. She apparently only voted to defer because that was going to be the outcome anyway- don't forget, technically Gary voted for the deferral too.

Jay may be genuinely on the fence. He is a lifelong corporate man but likes to see himself as a Hawaiian defender of the environment. In terms of his legacy he sees a lot of it as being his grandchildren and a protector of the `aina... that kind of thing. Don't forget he is retiring and probably understands that no matter what he does this will be his legacy- whether he likes it or not he will be remembered for what he does on this bill. He can be convinced but will not like "doing the work" on the council floor (as opposed to in committee). He can be lobbied hard on a "do what's right for your grandchildren" basis.

JoAnn will probably vote for the bill but what amendments she will ask for is anyone's guess. She may even fall for Mel's and Ross' can't-afford-a-lawsuit drivel. She needs to be reminded who her friends are (in politispeak who her base is) but she is always doing her Steve Covey "win-win/keep the end in mind" stuff so if you speak that language, speak to her.

Don't forget- it essential to get this bill amended and out of committee ASAP to get to the real action. And for all you handicappers worried about what you know they they don't know (as opposed to what they know that you don't) remember- it's not like they don't all know this already.