When our Oceanic Cable service went haywire last night, I tried to report the problem but got a recording estimating the waiting time on the phone would be 36-50 minutes. Is that “service”? It sounds like a sentence. I gave up. It’s one strategy for avoiding complaints, I suppose. Just leave people stewing on hold until they go away. Oh, I just checked. There’s still a whole tier of cable channels that our out of order. Anybody at Oceanic reading this?

We happened on Perry & Price interviewing Gov. Lingle last night and it was a painful experience. Why? Because these pseudo-news guys were reading from Superferry talking points with that tone of voice they get when doing the paid pitches for products that they mingle with their normal inane banter, leaving the listener to wonder whether their Superferry comments are similarly commercial pitches bought and paid for by the company.

They were pressing on the “very small minority” characterization of those calling for an environmental review. All the other county councils except Honolulu are on record backing the environmental review. I suppose it is accurate to call all three neighbor island counties together as making up a minority of the state, but it’s certainly not a small minority.

And the governor, while composed and qualifying her comments by reminding people that she isn’t a lawyer, consistently dismissed the Supreme Court’s ruling by repeating the mantra, “we did everything legally.”

Short reply: No, you didn’t.

And while I’m still on the Superferry issue, I should again mention the company’s continuing failure to fully disclose its lobbying activities and what they cost.

For the past two years, Hawaii Superferry has only reported the relatively small amounts it has paid lobbyists. Meanwhile, it has paid for a very visible lobbying effort aimed at getting people to contact lawmakers on their behalf.

State law defines lobbying (Chapter 97 HRS):

“Lobbying” means communicating directly or through an agent, or soliciting others to communicate, with any official in the legislative or executive branch, for the purpose of attempting to influence legislative or administrative action or a ballot issue. [emphasis added]

For example, advertising that urges people to contact their legislators to support the Superferry would be considered lobbying, as would fees paid to the public relations firm that puts it all together.

In an April 1, 2007, “Legislative update”, the Advertiser noted: “Superferry developers hired some of the state’s top lobbyists and public-relations executives to help kill the bill. The campaign included e-mail blasts, radio ads and a poll that found broad public support for the planned July launch.”

Clearly lobbying, but the company’s expenditure report to the State Ethics Commission makes no mention of any of this.

The penalty is a slap on the wrist, a $500 fine for each violation including each failure to make required disclosures, but an official finding that the company withheld such information would further underscore the company’s apparent disregard for the law as it muscles its way into the state.

In light of all this, I’m considering filing a complaint with the Ethics Commission regarding this lack of disclosure. I know, journalists shouldn’t be part of the story, or so we were told in the corporate environment. In this case, though, perhaps it should just be treated as a form of participant observation, a perfectly legitimate form of social research.

By the way, check out Doug White’s comment on the Maritime Administration’s loan guaranteee earlier this week on his site, Poinograhy.com

Here’s what it looked like a few days back when a brief but intense rain squall hit while we were walking on the beach. Despite umbrellas, we got a bit damp, but it was nonetheless beautiful. Just click for a larger version.