For those of you who aren’t up early enough to watch the sunrise, or maybe are already trapped on a freeway and unable to appreciate it, here’s another bit of a typical Kaaawa morning.
Nothing fancy.
As usual, just click for a larger version.
A Kaaawa sunrise at the end of the week
February 3rd, 2012 · Kaaawa, Photographs
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Is a private email sent by a public official a public record?
February 3rd, 2012 · Politics, Sunshine
Kauai blogger Andy Parx (Got Windmills?) made an interesting comment in the discussion of the email from City Councilmember Tom Berg. I had clarified that the email came from a private email account and not his official council email. Andy responded:
I don’t think it matters if it was sent from a private email account- if it touches on the council’s business it is a public record.
Here’s why I don’t agree.
Hawaii’s law governing access to government records is found in Chapter 92F Hawaii Revised Statutes.
Here the statute’s deceptively simple definition of a “government record”:
“Government record” means information maintained by an agency in written, auditory, visual, electronic, or other physical form.
In a booklet providing guidance on the UIPA, the Office of Information Practices further explained:
OIP has interpreted “maintained” to mean information physically possessed or administratively controlled by an agency. An agency has administrative control over a record where it has the right to gain access to the record. For example, where an agency contracts with a private company and has the right to review the records held by the company under the contract, those records would be considered government records.
So back to the case of an email sent by a Hawaii official from a private email account. Is it a “public record?”
It doesn’t appear to fall under that definition of information “maintained by an agency” and therefore subject to public disclosure.
I’m guessing that may not be the end of the story. I hope readers will pile on with additional references.
Duke welcomes you to another Feline Friday
February 3rd, 2012 · Cats, Photographs
Mr. Duke welcomes you today’s Feline Friday.
Duke has had a rough life. His mother was rescued from a hoarder’s house. She was pregnant, gave birth to Duke and his sister, and died of previously undiagnosed diabetes soon after they were weened. Duke’s sister died of diabetes two years ago. But we managed medical intervention with Mr. Duke, and he’s pretty stable now with his twice daily doses of insulin. He’s actually a very happy cat these days!
Meanwhile, Romeo’s YouTube video just passed 150,000 views yesterday.
Amazing and funny at the same time.
–>See all of today’s Friday Felines!
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City Council chairman tops mayor in campaign fundraising during latest period
February 2nd, 2012 · Campaigns, Politics
A commenter yesterday asked about Mayor Peter Carlisle’s top contributors.
The mayor actually reported a relatively quiet 6-months, with total contributions received of just $53,222.41.
For a bit of perspective, that is 30 percent less than the $76,122.80 raised by City Council Chairman Ernie Martin, who happens to represent the district that includes Kaaawa.
Mayor Carlisle only had seven contributors giving more than $1,000 in the 6-month period going into this election year, and only one gave more than $2,000.
I’m not at all sure what, if anything, should be read into this modest fundraising for the period.
You can see his top contributors here.
Martin, on the other hand, reports eight contributors who gave him the maximum $4,000 allowed by law. Joe Pickard, president of Environet Inc., company vp Vicki Gaynor, and three Pickard family members combined to give a total of $17,000. The Pickard family have been longtime powers in the Kahuku community.
Dennis Mitsunaga, president of Mitsunaga & Associates, and two others from the company combined for $12,000 to Martin’s campaign warchest.
Both Pickard and Mitsunaga have also been major campaign backers of Gov. Neil Abercrombie.
The list of Martin’s top contributors can be found here.
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Exhibit celebrates 90 years of Ka Leo, the UH Manoa student newspaper
February 2nd, 2012 · History, Media
Celebrating 90 years of student journalism!
This in from Jay Hartwell, student media advisor at UH Manoa.
We have completed the installation of an exhibit at Hamilton Library’s bridge gallery that celebrates the 90 years that students have edited Ka Leo O Hawai`i for the University of Hawai`i at Manoa community. It will be open through May 11.
While going through old issues, I found an article about you that I have attached.
For the exhibit, the student curator Erica Lenentine suggested that we scan more than 70 articles, letters, editorials, commentaries, and a cartoon for one section (“The Right to Be”) that focuses on the 1990 controversy generated by Joey Carter, who wrote a commentary in which he objected to being called haole. All of the clips are viewable here, or can be accessed through a QR code.
State Representative K. Mark Takai, who was Ka Leo’s editor during 1990-1991, introduced a resolution honoring Ka Leo’s 90th anniversary, which will be presented to editor Will Caron about noon this Thursday, Feb. 2, at the state House.
The university has a release about the exhibit.
A slide show about the exhibit is also available.
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CIty Councilman Berg: “I am concerned for my safety….”
February 1st, 2012 · Media, Politics
In this morning’s email stack was an unsolicited message from City Councilmember Tom Berg, actually a copy of a message addressed to Honolulu Weekly. Subject: BERG AT APEC EVENT.
This email consisted of a rambling series of accusations against the Honolulu Police Department and federal agents based on what Berg says is the “truth” of his experience at APEC. It also includes accusations against the Star-Advertiser and two of its columnists for “patently false” (Berg’s term) reporting.
Reached by phone this afternoon, Berg confirmed he had sent the email.
Berg, in the mail, said: “I am concerned for my safety….”
And then it adds this sentence:
THIS EMAIL IS CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVATE AND ITS CONTENTS CANNOT BE SHARED OR PUBLISHED OR DISSEMINATED.
I would say this. If you really want something to be “confidential and private,” then I don’t think you should be sending it out unsolicited to others who have no such agreement with you.
Let me ask readers: Do you think I have any obligation whatsoever to Berg’s demand to keep his unsolicited email confidential?
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The Candidates Report: Money, money everywhere
February 1st, 2012 · Campaigns, Politics
The new money figures are in.
Governor Abercrombie did quite well for himself, taking in $1.1 million during the latter half of 2011.
I originally wrote that as “raking in” rather than “taking in”, but decided it slighted changed the meaning of the sentence in a manner I’m not sure I meant. Language is a powerful and potentially dangerous thing, as I learned a few days ago in a post that brought beaucoup comments on “speculation” and its meanings.
In any case, here’s the top of the Governor’s dance card, as reported in his contribution list for the period. I know you probably can’t read that small print, but just click on it and you’ll see a larger version.
![[text]](http://www.ilind.net/images_2012/neil.jpg)
If corporate cash is free speech, as the Supreme Court seems to believe, then the First Amendment is alive and well in our state. Unfortunately, many of Governor Abercrombie’s supporters voted for him in order to keep corporate influence at bay, not embrace it so wholeheartedly.
It wouldn’t be so bad if this were done in that old cynical Texas style, described by the late Molly Ivins.
As they say around the Texas Legislature, if you can’t drink their whiskey, screw their women, take their money, and vote against ‘em anyway, you don’t belong in office.
Instead, it appears the money flow is influencing policy in a way that is definitely giving many of the governor’s backers heartburn.
The regulars are there. The Kobayashi Group ($24,000), R M Towill Corp ($21,000), the former Campbell Estate companies (Aina Nui & the James Campbell Co. combined for at least $18,000), Blacksand Capital ($12,000), etc., etc., etc. And these figures don’t include spouses, subcontractors, attorneys, and others who bundled their contributions along with the Big Boys.
In any case, there are lots of interesting data to be pored over today.
Check the candidate reports at the Campaign Spending Commission’s web site.
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UH West Oahu chancellor sidestepped required financial disclosure
January 31st, 2012 · Ethics, Politics
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 June 1, 2010. It was essentially blank. Other than his name, title, and campus, along with his signature at the bottom, it did not contain a single item. No income. No creditors or loans. No officerships in other organizations. No real estate.
He filed an abbreviated report in 2011, in which he reported no changes from the prior year.
Again, no income, no interests.
So I did a quick profile of Mr. Awakuni and found quite a number of things that apparently should have been reported.
First of all, his own salary, which didn’t appear on the disclosure form.
Then there’s his wife, Maui realtor Leslie-Ann Yokouchi, who owns and operates her own real estate firm, MSY Corp., operating under the trade name, Windermere Valley Isle Properties.
Yokouchi is the daughter of influential Maui developer, political organizer, and philanthropist, Masaru “Pundy” Yokouchi, who died in 2006.
The state’s professional and vocational licensing database lists 50 real estate brokers and salespersons working for Windermere, including former Maui Mayor James Kimo Apana.
Awakuni did not include his wife’s company or her income on his financial disclosures, as required.
With all of the wheeling and dealing over establishment of the new UH West Oahu campus, and its relationship to land development in the leeward Oahu area, these would certainly seem to be relevant.
Real estate records show Awakuni and Yokouchi own several properties on Maui and Oahu. He is not required to list personal residences on his disclosure, and it isn’t clear whether any of the properties should have been publicly disclosed.
Then there’s Awakuni’s mortgage. According to public real estate records, Awakuni has a mortgage of $877,500 from Central Pacific Homeloans originated in 2008 for a condominium apartment in Honolulu. It was not reported on his financial disclosure.
Awakuni is a director of the state’s largest health insurer, Hawaii Medical Service Association, according to the HMSA web site and state business registration records. He is also a director of the Kapolei Chamber of Commerce. Neither of these positions has been reported on his financial disclosures.
Last year, State Ethics Commission Director Les Kondo told me that his office was going to start scrutinizing financial disclosures that fail to report basic items. I think this one qualifies for that additional review.
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