I wandered a circuitous path to yesterday’s entry about the ethics disclosures filed by State Senator Clayton Hee, who happens to represent our part of the Windward coast.

I initially visited the Ethics Commission web site to check whether there had been any recent reporting deadlines, but found they are at the end of this month. While at the site, I just started wandering through available data looking for something interesting. I checked a few lobbyist reports, then moved over to the financial disclosures.

Just “checking the traps” is the way I refer to these irregular but periodic reviews.

From there, it wasn’t long before I hit on Senator Hee.

This was another example of being alert not only for what is present in a report, but for expected information that is absent.

In Hee’s case, his own campaign materials describe the senator as a “business owner and consultant.” But his report failed to disclose any business or consulting. I would normally have used a subscription database to search state business registrations and compare to Hee’s reports, but my recent computer troubles disrupted that plan. A simple web search didn’t turn up anything to help. I was pondering an alternative search strategy when I thought of his wife’s recent hiring, which should have triggered an initial ethics report. And, in a few mouse clicks, there it was. Beginning and end of story.