• Where’s the opinion on bill 2288?
• Carvalho gets my vote
• ‘No’ to constitutional convention
Where’s the opinion on bill 2288?
In response to the front page article “Council weighs bill to make some county attorney opinions public,” Oct. 31:
I possess copies of several opinions, each released a different way, that provide a historical context for discussing bill 2288.
• A 5/5/99 opinion from Hartwell H. K. Blake to Mayor Kusaka addressing the question of whether the mayor has the authority to appoint certain deputy department heads. The opinion was handed to me by Blake (encouraged by council members) during a discussion of the matter in open council session.
• A 1/17/03 opinion from Lani Nakazawa to Bill “Kaipo” Asing addressing two questions related to the mayor’s appointing authority. The opinion in part reverses and rescinds the Blake opinion cited above. It was handed to me by a councilmember after the council decided in executive session to release it.
• An 11/18/03 opinion from Lani Nakazawa to Jay Furfaro addressing two questions about salary-setting and a question about the authority of the Cost Control Commission to conduct performance audits. A cover letter from Furfaro to fellow councilmembers accompanies the opinion, in which he says, “For your information, the attached memorandum is being released from its confidential status, as members of the Salary Commission have raised similar questions in their meetings.”
• A 2/9/04 opinion from Lani Nakazawa to Salary Commission chairman Mark Hubbard addressing two questions related to salary-setting and the following question: “Does the county attorney concur with the Salary Commission’s intention to release the opinions regarding these questions to the public? If not, why?
The county attorney answered the last question as follows: “The waiver of the attorney-client privilege regarding an opinion is a matter for the client (Salary Commission) to decide.”
I received this opinion as a member of the Salary Commission and made the motion to release the opinion.
With this brief historical summary in hand, you can judge for yourself what you are hearing and reading about turning over to the county attorney the authority and responsibility for releasing opinions. One point you might wonder about, as I do, is why the council has not already released the 15-page opinion it received regarding bill 2288.
• Horace Stoessel, Kapa‘a
Carvalho gets my vote
In recent weeks, I have met privately with Bernard Carvalho and JoAnn Yukimura respectively about their campaigns for mayor. Both, I assure you, equally desire the job. I admire them, not only for their decades in service to the county of Kaua‘i, but their deep commitment to the island for they each cut unique trails from their personal lives into and along a political landscape intersecting soon in a flurry to Tuesday’s finish line.
In their careers, both have suffered deep criticism, perhaps deservedly so, yet today each remain vital, optimistic and engaged to lead us through forecasted troubled waters. Anyone who’s campaigned for office could appreciate what effort these two public servants endure.
Until recently, I was torn over who might lead best, a decision taken heavily. A decision better made after one-on-one conversation with the mayoral candidates casting my personal views of their respective campaigns and my perceived effects on fellow islanders into perspective.
Early on, their race had been a dead-heat. Slowly, I’ve concluded though that it is Bernard Carvalho that has tilted the scale of favor with his inquiry of me when we last met. He hammered the importance of public service and he kept at it. He wanted to know what the people were saying and thinking, “I want the truth. Don’t hold back, tell me what my critics are saying because I want to address it.” In the moment, Bernard was sincerely impassioned, later he went further when we talked story: “If elected, departmental changes are coming. I am accountable.” He convinced me he’d put his own stamp on this administration. Additionally, it’s as much about the passing of Mayor Baptiste and a subsequent special two-year election, the administration, the council and the people on the street as it is about the two remaining mayoral candidates.
So I ask, “Which candidate fits best into this equation?”
To me, Bernard’s the better fit.
Call it what you will, faith or false hope. But I’ve talked with JoAnn and I’ve talked with Bernard one-on-one and it’s Bernard who’s convinced me that he has the people’s best interest first in his mind. And where I roam, the majority want Carvalho.
Bernard Carvalho, you get my vote for mayor of Kaua‘i.
• Rolf Bieber, Kapa‘a
‘No’ to constitutional convention
At its 49th annual Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs Convention, held in Nukoli‘i, Kaua‘i, over the past week, members passed a resolution urging the citizens of Hawai‘i to vote “No” to the question on the need for a Hawai‘i State Constitutional Convention.
There are no glaring deficiencies with the constitution and the alternative process of working through the Legislature is available; money used for a 2010 Constitutional Convention would better be directed to such efforts as improving the infrastructure to support Hawai‘i’s growing population, affordable housing, alternative energy and state hospitals. Our people spoke out very passionately of the need to sustain and to enhance the work that has been done to protect Hawaiian rights and entitlements, and in particular, the ceded lands corpus.
A constitutional convention puts at risk those gains realized in the 1976 constitutional convention by changing demographics of Hawai‘i’s residents. Only 56.9 percent of the 1.2 million residents recorded in Hawai‘i as of 2000 were born in Hawai‘i. These changing demographics means that we have a larger number of Hawai‘i residents who lack full knowledge and understanding of Hawai‘i’s historic commitment to its Native peoples, and there are now some who seek to undermine Native Hawaiian rights and entitlements. As a member of the Hawaii Pono‘i Coalition, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs has been part of an effort to educate the public about Hawai‘i’s correct history.
Voting “No” to a constitutional convention assures that the people of Hawai‘i continue to honor and respect its native people, and sends the message that the people’s priority is funding first and foremost programs that provide needed services to our community.
• Leimomi Khan, President, Association of Hawaian Civic Clubs
