Whenever I run across a blank financial disclosure form filed by a public official, my alarm bells go off. That’s what happened yesterday when I happened to look at the disclosures filed with the State Ethics Commission by UH West Oahu Chancellor Gene Awakuni. Awakuni filed a “Disclosure of Financial Interests (Long Form)” report on [...]
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Here’s a brief look at some of the recent ethics stories from around the country. Here at home….”Commission Issues Advisory Opinion 2012-1 Relating to State Board Member’s Conflicts of Interests Question” Commission finds that a potential conflict of interest is too indirect to pose an issue. “Ethics legislation: Limit dollar distractions,” Atlanta Journal Constitution. Arguing [...]
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The chair of the State Ethics Commission told legislative leaders this week that any further discussions concerning recent advice from the commission should take place only as part of a regular commission meeting. In a January 18 letter, commission chair Maria Sullivan assured Senate President Shan Tsutsui that the commission agrees with the legal interpretations [...]
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I think Dave Shapiro, writing in today’s Star-Advertiser, focuses appropriate attention on the appointment of the chair of the city’s Authority for Rapid Transportation as an attorney for First Hawaiian Bank. Civil Beat noted the appointment of Carrie Okinaga, a partner at the law firm of McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon before being named city’s top [...]
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Here’s a follow-up to yesterday’s post about an unsolicited email that turned out to be planted by the American Beverage Association. This time, though, it’s an online petition that also sweeps off information to be used by the activist group MoveOn.org. A reader called it to my attention. Hi Ian, Just saw this article online [...]
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We were driving through Kaneohe on our way back to Kaaawa late Friday afternoon when NPR’s “On the Media” broadcast what might have been the two most depressing interviews I’ve heard in a long time. They reflect on the state of the media, print and online, and leave you wondering what in the world is [...]
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A five-member majority of the Honolulu City Council may have violated the state’s sunshine law by taking part in a lobbyist-paid trip to a rail transit conference in Washington, D.C. last week. In addition, the attendance of the five council members and other city officials at a lobbyist-sponsored reception may have stumbled over ethics guidelines. [...]
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The State Ethics Commission was “troubled” by Senator Clayton Hee’s filing of inaccurate or incomplete personal financial disclosure statements over a period of five years or more, but took no further action against the windward Oahu senator. The commission’s action is reported in an informal advisory opinion approved on August 17, 2011 and later posted [...]
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