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August 9, 2003 - Saturday
It's been interesting to compare reports this week on the arraignment of two men charged with a July 30 assault on an illegal gambling operation on Young Street in Honolulu.
KHON reported Thursday night that one of the men, Robert Kaialau, had been the organizer of an anti-drug community demonstration on the Leeward side recently. The Advertiser's story yesterday described the assault as part of a "turf war" between rival gangs for control of the "security" market for illegal gambling, but didn't say anything about Kaialau's background.
Buried at the very bottom of the Star-Bulletin's story is a brief mention that Kaialau has been "head riflery coach at Kapolei High School for the past three years," according to the school's athletic director. A quick Google search shows Kaialau the coach was named "coach of the week" by radio station KSSK last November.
Isn't the arrest of an apparently well-known coach and public employee for assault while acting as a soldier in a gang war worth more than a brief mention at the end of a routine crime story?
Meanwhile, a reader noted a PBN report that father & son team Jim and Kanoa Leahey will be hosting a sports talk show from the St. Louis Alumni Association's Crusader Lounge.
We were just saying the other day that we need more radio talk shows with more independence. Now we have the Leaheys broadcasting from where? The St. Louis Lounge. Oh you can just be certain they're going to be objective. Doesn't it make anyone wonder WHY the broadcast is being based at the St. Louis club? Maybe St. Louis is paying for the show and guaranteeing itself some good pub, which it craves these days. Also shows KKEA, which already does puff talk shows sponsored by UH, offers nothing in the way of independent journalistic content to the community.
PBN also reported that Honolulu Advertiser staffers will be voting on their proposed 5-year union contract today. According to PBN, the pact includes small wage increases--1% next May, 1.5 % a year later in May 2005, and then a final 2 % after another 18-month wait (November 2006). Interesting that its the non-union PBN that has presented the most specific information about this contract.
August 8, 2003 - Friday
I wonder what former mayor Frank Fasi has to say about the looming demise of the last vestiges of the free bus rides for senior citizens which he initiated years ago? It was a master political move at the time for Fasi, although we've come to take it for granted. Hmmmm, don't seniors vote at a higher rate than other age groups? And I'll bet that they're ticked off about the loss of the remaining benefit, a pass costing $25 for two years. Not free, but a great deal. This latest round of fare increases is as regressive a "tax" as you can get, and Fasi, ever the populist, will certainly have something to say.
What sticks in my mind is that Portland, Oregon, has had as tough economic times as anywhere in the country, yet the city still has free bus service in its downtown core, and fares elsewhere haven't been flying out of sight. What do they know that Honolulu doesn't?
It appears that Evan Dobelle isn't the only UH administrator facing uncomfortable publicity. The San Jose Mercury News reported recently on questions about UH-Hilo Chancellor Rose Tseng's retirement perks from her former campus in California.
A regular reader commented on yesterday's entry about Duke Bainum's campaign loans.
If you are essentially poor and have to raise money in the real world (read: Harris) you easily get into trouble. If you are rich and fund your own campaign (read: Bainum) it raises comment and innuendo. So what is the answer?
In the ideal world it would be to reduce the cost of campaigning. One way would be 1) limiting campaign contributions by amount and 2) limiting contributors to human) persons eligible or registered or who actually voted in the last election (meaning only those who voted in the district that elects any official could contribute to candidates for that office). That would be really small d-democratic.
But too many "stakeholders," starting with all kinds of media and extending to election professionals of all kinds -- not to mention everyone who has ever been elected to anything -- have too much at stake in a more expensive system.
So, which is the clean route? Money raised in the grubby, give-and-take world of those who care enough to contribute, or money earned somehow or other by one's family or oneself? Let me know.
These are certainly good questions. The answer, for now, is that we still haven't solved how to balance the competing rights--the right to unfettered political speech, which includes the right to collect and spend money to make that speech heard, and the right to protect weaker voices in the midst of our political free for alls.
But for now, we have a system that relies on contribution limits, some limits on who can contribute, and public disclosure as a inherent check on the system. In other words, disclosure and public scrutiny can rein in practices which can't be prohibited because of countervailing rights.
In Bainum's case, to put things in perspective, Dr. Duke has loaned his campaign as much or more money than I've probably earned in my whole life. I didn't suggest the loans should be banned. I did suggest that they raise questions, as public disclosure of campaign transactions is intended to do. Whether a self-funded candidate is preferable to one dealing in the "grubby" world of fundraising is ultimately a question for the voters to answer. But voters can't answer that question reasonably if we shy away from pursuing the obvious questions.
August 7, 2003 - Thursday
We got home on Tuesday evening and found a waiting message--an automated campaign pitch from Duke Bainum, former council member now among the candidates for mayor of Honolulu. I'm sure that many others find these automated sales pitches as annoying as I do, so what possesses candidates to go this route?
I notice that Bainum probably set another record by making a $423,363.87 personal loan to his campaign on June 30, 2003, bringing the total of outstanding loans (all from himself) of $633,863.87. We're talking real money here. I doubt there's ever been another candidate fueling a campaign with so much of their personal wealth, and its generated little comment by political observers. The loan wasn't mentioned in the Advertiser's wrap-up of the latest campaign spending reports. The Star-Bulletin's Crystal Kua did highlight it, though without comment.
I've got to ding Bev Creamer's story a week ago on the departure of UH official Deane Neubauer. Creamer says: "Today Neubauer, 65, begins a year-long sabbatical and next fall will retire after 33 years at Manoa to finish the book on global health-care issues he dropped two years ago." As simple as that.
But Neubuer is the "interim administrator" described in the Star-Bulletin Op-Ed, Dangerous Equations:
Dobelle also recommended large bonuses for retiring administrators, costing taxpayers and current and future retirees hundreds of thousands of dollars and incurring inflated retirement costs over the longer term. For example, a Manoa executive [note: believed to be former athletic director Hugh Yoshida] turned his duties over to a successor and then got a 50 percent raise, from $120,000 to $180,000, and was effectively given a one-year leave at the higher salary until he retired June 30.
Similarly, a high-level Bachman Hall interim executive [note: Neubauer] will step down soon and then will return to the faculty ranks, going on a "professional improvement leave" for nine months at an annual salary of $254,040 before retiring.
Normally, any university staffer granted such a paid leave must pay back the university by returning to work so that the university and the public will benefit from his or her new or sharpened professional skills. In these cases, that requirement was waived and both UH executives will retire or have retired with substantial boosts to their retirement benefits as a result of the extra time at high salaries.
Interim administrative appointees who return to the faculty ranks typically return to the lower faculty salary level. However, in this situation, Dobelle is allowing this interim appointee [Neubauer] to continue to receive his interim executive's salary of $254,040 while on the nine-month leave.
Before working at Bachman Hall, the interim executive was a 30-year faculty member making about $85,000 a year. He received $238,800 the first year and $254,040 the second year as an executive.
Retirement benefits for state employees who work for more than 30 years, who are in the contributory system and who receive more than $200,000 for their final three years will receive approximately $120,000 annually. If these employees were working for approximately $85,000 for their highest three years, each would receive approximately $51,000 annually in pension income. In other words, these employees will receive a boost of more than 100 percent in their retirement income - the $120,000 annually is even higher than their original $85,000 salary!
It's the kind of public expenditure that reporters usually jump on with glee. But not this time, for whatever reasons. Now, I certainly agree that Deane is a nice guy and has done a lot for the University. But this golden parachute goes beyond reasonable.
August 6, 2003 - Wednesday
Take a moment as you begin your day to reflect on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. In a speech marking the occasion, Hiroshima's mayor aimed strong words at U.S. policy:
``The chief cause (of the weaker nuclear non-proliferation treaty) is the U.S. nuclear policy that, by openly declaring the possibility of a pre-emptive nuclear first strike and calling for resumed research into mini-nukes and other so-called 'usable nuclear weapons', appears to worship nuclear weapons as God.''
Meda did appear on NPR's All Things Considered yesteday in Part 3 of their series on Girls and the Juvenile Justice System, and the program is available online. She's also due to be interviewed live on Talk of the Nation this morning, sometime between 9 & 10 a.m. Hawaii time (that's 3-4 p.m. on the East Coast).
If UH football coach June Jones hasn't signed his new contract because he is reluctant to make it's terms public, as the Advertiser reported yesterday, a lingering question is whether or not he's already being paid those promised big bucks? Normally, it would be no contract, no pay. Or pay on the old scale. Is the coach getting a special deal, contract or no contract? If so, is it legal? Lots of questions.
Here's an interesting article from The Nation on the impact of anti-war protests on the voting behavior of young participants.
| I.A. from the big TX has some observations about cats, really an essay in feline existentialism, beginning with: "Why does a cat who will only drink out of his water bowl if it's re-filled with fresh water twice daily happily slurp down water from the gutter any time he makes it ouside?" For more of these fine observations, click here. |
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August 5, 2003 - Tuesday
I love getting up early on mornings like this when both Honolulu dailies display some good, critical reporting.
Sally Apgar's story in today's Star-Bulletin skewers the often repeated claim of 30,000 hard-core ice users in Hawaii. Apgar peels away the "sources" one by one. A delight to read. Meanwhile, the Advertiser continues to report the inflated numbers in their story today.
But Advertiser sports writers Stephen Tsai and Ferd Lewis all but ask the question: "Is football above the law?" Their story in this morning's Advertiser does a genuine public service by highlighting not only the continuing secrecy regarding football coach June Jones' contract, but Jones' outrageous attitude that the terms of his deal with our public university is somehow nobody's business but his own. Lewis hits the issue head-on in his accompanying column, which I didn't notice until I sat down with my coffee and the newspaper (instead of relying on the online edition). This is one of those times when I hope Gannett flexes all of its corporate muscle to pry the details out of UH.
The New York Times reflects the frightening run to the right by mainline Democrats with a story on Sen. Joe Lieberman's attacks on rivals in the 2004 presidential race. According to the Times, Lieberman brands as "extremist" anyone who failed to support the war in Iraq "or were ambivalent about it, either before or after the war." So I guess that in Lieberman's vision of things, you're either on board the unilateral militarism express or you're a dangerous extremist. This is like the old Nixon-Agnew rhetoric, but from someone calling himself a Democrat. Whew.
And this defense of UH telemarketing came in from Travis Gray, director of annual giving for the University of Hawaii Foundation:
I noticed your comments on your web site this morning [Monday] about the University of Hawaii's College of Education current calling campaign. The University of Hawaii Foundation is in fact currently calling alumni and friends of the College of Education to solicit their annual support of the COE. We view these calls as not only an effective way to raise much-needed funds for the College of Education, the calls are also a mechanism for alumni and friends of the College of Education to provide feedback relating to the college and university. In addition, many alumni and friends have said they enjoy speaking with current UH students.
If one of our student callers speak to someone who indicates they prefer not to receive phone calls soliciting support for the College of Education, we note that information and remove the individual from subsequent calling campaigns for the College of Education.
And so it goes.
August 4, 2003 - Monday
The Sunday Star-Bulletin has quietly been picking up a few more inserts, including a glossy booklet of Proctor & Gamble coupons and a second set of national coupons. It seems like a modestly positive indicator.
The University of Hawaii's College of Education isn't making any friends here with their persistent telemarketing. Yesterday's calls came during my early afternoon Sunday nap, and later as we were preparing dinner. I know that the only reason I got on their list is that I graduated from University High School back in the mists of prehistory, and now, despite the fact that UH is working hard to sever its ties to the lab school, they continue with these unsolicited phone calls. I try to be polite, but it's a stretch.
| I just added another batch of scanned photos from the May 1970 student/faculty strike at the University of Hawaii. This campus action was in response to President Nixon's announcement that U.S. troops were entering Cambodia, and the subsequent shootings at Kent State. Neil Abercrombie's beard was a lot longer in those days. |
Click on photo
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August 3, 2003 - Sunday
Gannett has reportedly reached a contract deal with the unions at the Honolulu Advertiser, although details of the settlement were not publicly available when it was announced on Friday. A ratification vote has been set later this week.
So what's behind the fight between Lingle's new labor department director and a top department administrator? The Advertiser's Jim Dooley reported it on Tuesday, and the S-B's Richard Borreca followed the next day. In a subsequent press conference, Gov. Lingle said the matter is still under investigation. So isn't anybody anxious for more details about the administration's labor policies, which apparently are the underlying factor? Shouldn't someone be canvassing the labor community for examples of the new policies? It seems to be another example of newspapers being stretched too thin so that there aren't resources to dig behind the obvious.
We had one of those extraordinary small world experiences yesterday afternoon. One of our neighbors is off on a trip to visit her mother in Florida, but one of her cats has a sudden health emergency, and the phone number she left with the cat sitter doesn't work. What to do? We phoned a mutual friend, who didn't have a number, but remembered that our neighbor's brother teaches at Oxford. A quick search turned up an email address and I sent off a quick note. Several hours later he responded from South Korea, where he is traveling. And he then offered to call the family's Florida beach house and make the connection. Small world.
| I finally got around to updating the Kaaawa photo gallery. Just click this preview to see the latest. |
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