Ohana Kauai began in 2003 as a small group of citizens concerned about the alarming increases occurring in the property taxation of the homes of our residents. After trying unsuccessfully to persuade the council that the remedies we felt were
Ohana Kauai began in 2003 as a small group of citizens concerned about the alarming increases occurring in the property taxation of the homes of our residents. After trying unsuccessfully to persuade the council that the remedies we felt were appropriate, a restoration of tax amounts to earlier levels for long-term residents and a limit on future increases, we solicited citizens’ signatures on a petition for a charter amendment for these purposes. Over 3,500 citizens signed our petition. The measure, although opposed by all county officials, was adopted in the 2004 general election by a nearly two-to-one vote. After the election the officials, evidently enraged by the repudiation they had received, filed a challenge to the new law. It is the only instance known where a government sued itself contesting the validity of a law duly adopted by its citizens. The case is now pending in the Hawai‘i Supreme Court. We believe the amendment will ultimately be upheld.
Since then we have watched with growing concern the inadequacies and ineptitude of our county government. We have seen the inability of county officials to serve the public interest in their ineffective dealings with solid waste issues; we have watched the continuing deterioration of our traffic conditions on the major roads of our island; we have noted the continuing permissiveness in allowance of the development of resorts and accommodations for non-residents without an adequate infrastructure and numerous other deficiencies.
We have been greatly disturbed by the failure of our officials to observe the principles of the state Sunshine Law, ignoring opinions from the state office responsible for seeking compliance with the law, and increasingly going underground in their deliberations in secret executive sessions.
We have been distressed by the highly questionable morality of our elected officials in pursuing a vendetta to harass and restructure a police commission so that top police department staff can be ousted on dubious charges.
We have concluded that the quality of governance of our county urgently needs to be improved. We have created and registered the Ohana Kauai Committee for Better Government under the state election laws. Our committee will support a slate of candidates for the county council who share our convictions and concerns. The slate will include Ron Kouchi, K. C. Lum, Ming Fang and Monroe Richman. We resolutely believe that a major restructuring of the makeup of the council is essential to restore fair and meaningful governance for our island.
Our committee will also support a selection of measures we believe will be proposed by the Charter Review Commission to provide better governance. Such measures would include provisions for a county manager system, a limit on the amount the County can spend annually, and a program to elect our council members by district.
We cannot be successful without your help. If you share our concerns about the inadequacies of our current elected officials and want a brighter future for our county, please let us hear from you. The time when candidates for public office are elected because of name recognition must be ended. Elections should be won because of what the candidate has done and what the candidate’s program is. The candidates we support will seek to restore integrity to our government on a non-partisan basis and will pledge to carry out the wishes of the public rather than litigating to defeat them.
If you are willing to assist us, please contact Glenn Mickens at 822-0998 or glennruth@hawaiiantel.net.
• Walter Lewis is a Princeville resident and one of the founding members of Ohana Kauai.
