After working as a legislative staffer for the past two years, I couldn’t help noticing a case in Seattle in which the chief of staff for a City Council member may have violated the state’s ethics code by drafting an op-ed on a hot local issue for his boss to submit for publication.

The Seattle ethics code prohibits using city time or property to influence any election, in this case a referendum on the future of the Seattle Viaduct, a controversial ballot issue and the subject of the op-ed. The violation came because the staff member wrote the draft in the office using a state computer, something that apparently the ethics commission might consider a no-no.

As far as I know, Hawaii’s State Ethics Commission hasn’t gone this far to muzzle public officials on pressing current public issues.

Although Hawaii’s state ethics code bars campaign-related activity on state time or with state facilities, there is also a catch-all exception:

Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit a legislator from introducing bills and resolutions, serving on committees or from making statements or taking action in the exercise of the legislator’s legislative functions.

This would appear to mean that where public issues and legislative issues overlap, a staff member can safely assist in preparation of statements made “in the exercise of the legislator’s legislative functions.”

On the other hand, perhaps we need to read the Hawaii Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year that found Honolulu prosecutor Peter Carlisle went over the line in using public funds to campaign for a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2002.

I’ll have to do a closer reading of that case before offering an opinion as to whether or not a staff member could get in similar ethics trouble here.

Jim Becker invites friends and fellow bookworms to track him down at next Saturday’s Books and Music Festival at Honolulu Hale.

I will be signing copies of Saints, Sinners and Shortstops at the Book &
Music Festival, Honolulu Hale, Saturday, May 19, between 1 and 2:00 pm. I
will be at the Bess Press booth.

If you are still seeking a signed copy or have a friend or two who wants
one, come and get it. Or just come by and talk. (Book signers love
company.)

The book is perking along after briefly hitting number one last fall.
We promise no sequel.

We have discovered that authorship pays about ten cents an hour. Try
getting an undocumented worker to do that job.

Thanks to Rolf, head cheese over at MacMouse Club, for this link to the history of Mother’s Day. It’s always good to recall that these are not simply commercial inventions designed to facilitate the transfer of useless commodities.

A reader notes Corky’s return to the Star-Bulletin yesterday with a cartoon taking off from a Honolulu Advertiser headline.

Thanks to Jeff Garland for pointing out that today is Wiretap the Internet Day. the deadline for commercial providers to set up expedited access for federal eavesdropping on private communications.