Letters for May 16, 2015

Letters for May 16, 2015

One solution to Exchange shortfall

Here’s a thought for the cash strapped Hawaiian Health Exchange. Why not ask the 37,000 enrollees, many of whom are enjoying greatly subsidized premiums, to kick in $145.95 annually (just $12.16 per month) to fund the shortfall ? There’s your $5.4 million. That sounds like a fair request as many of us have seen huge increases to our non-subsidized premiums. My wife and I, for example, are paying nearly $8,000 more in annual premiums than before the passage of ObamaCare.

Rick Kern

Incline Village, Nevada

TGI wrong to publish guest commentary

I read with great disappointment a piece written by Allan Parachini for your publication that quiet frankly is one of the most evident pieces of PR I have ever seen. A relatively newcomer to the island, he has been a very loud and divisive voice who has clearly aligned himself with the interests of the chemical industry. That you allow this man to call the citizens, who passed bills like 2491 and voted for laws to protect their health from the effects of the pesticide testing fields that are polluting Hawaii, fringes and extremists is beyond unacceptable.

Very disheartening to see how a publication with such prestige has clearly fallen prey to the dark interests that promote the unhealthy practices of the self-described seed companies that are in reality chemical ones. A great book for the readers to add on their libraries is “Trust Us, We’re Experts,” by the very ethical and experience journalists Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber. They describe this kind of PR operations and how what we are sold as science and proven truths is in so many cases manipulated for the sake of corporate interests.

Joanna Wheeler

Kapaa

Manager system better than what we have

Mr Machell’s letter of May 9, “A manager system is not flawless,” is correct.

No system is. He mentions the occurrence at Bell, California. For Mr Machell as well as others to bring up the the City of Bell, California, fiasco as an example of the manager system not working is the proverbial comparison of apples to oranges.

The citizens of Bell negligently failed to monitor the illegal activities of the actions of their council members who were paying themselves $1 million dollars a year. And that council hired a county manager who became part of the fraud and eventually all of them were indicted and have gone to jail. The council-manager system is in use in thousands of municipalities and has proven far more successful than the other option — a mayor-council system as we have here on Kauai.

One only needs to look at the myriad problems we have on Kauai that have proliferated for way too long and realize that our current system in not working.

Our charter will specify the requirements for a manager and these requirements will be adhered to. We now have a council who I believe can and will hire a manager who will do the job they tell him to do. Remembering that he can be fired for not doing his job so the people around him must be experienced and totally qualified.

Yes, Mr Lewis wisely points out that “there are many options that would have to be decided upon under a city manager system.” But that lets the democratic process work with the council having the choices of establishing rules for the hiring of the manager and what duties you want him/her to have.

You mention our Charter Review Commission. Our previous CRC commissioners, Louie Abrams and Walter Briant, were both strong advocates of the manager system but they didn’t have the votes necessary to put it on the ballot. Hopefully, our present council will see fit to submit the matter to the people and let them decide.

Again, with the many problems that this county has faced and will face we hope that the council in their wisdom will put this issue on the ballot and let the people vote it up or down.

Glenn Mickens

Kapaa