Just a few things to catch up on.

The Office of Information Practices says seven members of the Hawaii County Council violated the sunshine law by holding a series of private conversations before a council reorganization earlier this year, according to a story in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.

The ruling came despite what looks at first glance like a pretty clear provision of the law allowing such discussions.

Section 92-2.5, Permitted interactions of members, includes the following:

(c) Discussions between two or more members of a board, but less than the number of members which would constitute a quorum for the board, concerning the selection of the board’s officers may be conducted in private without limitation or subsequent reporting.

Although no council member spoke to more than three other members, OIP found the law was violated when those members in turn spoke with additional members, eventually bringing the majority of the council into the extended discussions.

The OIP opinion is not yet available on the agency’s web site, but I have to wonder how OIP interprets the words “without limitation” in that provision, and what the record shows of the legislative intent of the phrase.

Did you notice House Speaker Calvin Say’s comment buried down in a budget story by Advertiser reporter Derrick DePledge a couple of days ago?

Advocates for the poor and many parents and teachers will likely ask lawmakers to use the rainy day fund and the hurricane relief fund to restore some social-service spending and end teacher furloughs.

Say said there are other public demands to save state programs — such as school bus routes and vector control for rats. “Where does it end for the general public to understand?” Say said. “I thought they wanted us to downsize and rightsize state government?”

What?! The speaker seems to have swallowed the “downsize government because government is the problem” views of Gov. Lingle and the GOP. Now he’s surprised that the public can be pretty vocal about wanting government services delivered. That shouldn’t be a shock for the leader of the Democratic majority in the House.

At the same time, an AP story about Hawaii’s budget woes got a lot of play on the mainland this week, appearing in the NY Times and a lot of other newspapers. It observes:

Hawaii is far from alone in cutting the size of government during the global economic downturn, with nearly every state resorting to across-the-board cuts, furloughs or layoffs to make ends meet. This state of 1.3 million residents faces a projected $1 billion budget deficit through June 2011.

But Hawaii stands apart in how its government response has been to reduce what are generally considered to be core functions: education, public health, elections and services for the disadvantaged.

Ho, ho, ho.

Oh, please do read this little essay on Santa Claus by my old friend, Gene Stoltzfus. Here’s a piece of it, but there’s more.

The original Saint Nicholas, one of the sources of modern day Santa lived in 4th century Turkey in the city of Myra and was known to be a prolific and secret gift giver particularly to people who left their shoes out for him. According to legend St Nicholas spoke up for justice and was imprisoned under the Roman emperor, Diocletian. He later became a church leader, bishop and according to historians participated in the Council of Nicaea of course after he was released from prison under Emperor Constantine the first emperor to court the support of church people. St. Nicholas died Dec. 6, 343 and according to reports a unique relic called manna formed on his coffin. The manna had special healing powers.

The merging of Santa Claus, in his flying sleigh and St. Nicholas, the gift giver and healer with the birth of Jesus has really only happened in the last several hundred years. The choice of December 25 to remember Jesus birth didn’t occur until 350 years after Jesus’ birth. It is almost certainly not Jesus birthday. It is winter in Palestine and shepherds are not likely to be in the fields at that time of year. The date was probably chosen because it was the Roman holiday that celebrated the winter solstice in the Northern hemisphere. Today Christian and non Christian cultures celebrate Christmas.

Somewhere between my childhood and the 1990s I learned that the combination of St Nicholas in the fourth century, European mythology, and imagination gave birth to the modern Santa Claus. There is just enough magic in all of the sources to maintain curiosity in children and adults. In the final chapter of this mashing together to make Santa Claus, the holiday season has become a marriage of commerce and advent that conveniently invokes Santa in order to escape the more demanding implications of the story of Jesus birth, the politics of domination, poverty, infanticide, peace, and hints of universal claims from the Magi.