Thanks to Aaron Stene (The Kona Blog) for calling attention to this video of the tsunami action in Kailua-Kona.
The guy with the camera was very, very lucky, wasn’t he?
And thanks to Civil Beat’s Sara Lin for pushing the governor’s office on the firing of OIP Acting Director Cathy Takase and the apparently improper appointment of a staff attorney. CB even came up with the letter, signed by Gov. Abercrombie, making that staff appointment.
Dela Cruz did acknowledge that Abercrombie “made a mistake” when he appointed a staff attorney.
In a letter dated Feb. 25, 2011, obtained by Civil Beat, Abercrombie appointed Linden H. Joesting as a staff attorney at the Office of Information Practices, effective March 1, 2011. (Her hiring was first reported by Ian Lind.) Joesting had left OIP last fall to become a staffer in Sen. Clayton Hee’s office.
“You have a vital role to perform which will place many demands on your time and energy,” he wrote.
Earlier this week, the Progressive Democrats of Hawaii blog shed a little light on one reason why the governor’s office seems to have stumbled a number of times.
While I knew the Governor’s Office was in considerable disarray, I didn’t fully grasp the extent to which they’re short staffed until I attended the G Force Meeting this past Thursday night.
Andrew Aoki, the Governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff, the office is running with less than half the necessary paid staff. As I understand it, they have filled only 24 positions, compared to the 68 Lingle had when she left office. While I’m not sure this can be used completely as an excuse to some of Neil’s budget proposals, it would explain why they’ve maybe been slow to respond to criticism and develop alternative proposals.
I think part of the problem, at least so far, has been the Office of the Governor has had no funds to hire the staff required. The Legislature very recently passed the emergency appropriation for the Governor’s Office, so hopefully at least that part of the problem will be eliminated. I also think, given that we’re now just about half-way through the session, they may simply not have the time required to go through a thorough hiring process.
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“the guy with the camera” was an idiot. A similar “guy with a camera” died in Northern California. If he had been swept in, he would have placed the lives of those who tried to save him at risk.
and he would have placed the lives of those who tried to save those others, trying to save him… at risk. No one need try save an idiot who apparently wants to go.
unfortunately the best among us will insist on trying to save even those who clearly don’t serve saving.
Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor tsunami…
Andrew Aoki gave a very informative briefing. I wish everybody could have heard him. The scale of the problem and the heroic efforts of tiny and mostly unpaid staff and the Governor was a big eye opener.
They are doing an amazing job under extremely challenging circumstances.
Meanwhile on the continent there are at least 200,000 in the streets of Madison, Wisconsin, and no coverage at all in our news.
The Blogger quoted understands little if unaware of the difference between “positions” in an office and people actually on staff.