Musings: Abuse Backstory 1

It occurred to me, while reading the article “TVR probe stalls” in today's edition of The Garden Island, that we need another series to run concurrently with the Abuse Chronicles. This new series will include the backstory that helps people understand how and why this vacation rental mess came to be.

Let's start with County Attorney Al Castillo. As TGI reports, Al raised concerns about costs, legalities and jurisdiction in his attempt to derail the Council's proposed investigation into the abysmal failure of the 2010 TVR law. 

So where was Al when the Council passed the 2010 TVR law? You know, Ordinance 904 — the law that cemented all the problems created by the 2008 TVR law, dug the county's legal hole that much deeper?

Al didn't pinpoint the failings in 904 because he was too busy lobbying for it. Remember when the bill was up for a vote, in July 2010, and former Councilman Dickie Chang was on the fence? And Al and Deputy County Attorneys Ian Jung and Mike Dahilig (who is now the planning director)  visited Dickie at home and plied him with beer to secure his vote on the TVR bill? Yeah, that's the kind of lobbying I'm talking about.

Maybe "beer gate" wasn't technically illegal, but it sure seems unethical – especially since the County Attorney's office is supposed to represent the Council, the Administration and the county as a whole, which presumably includes the poor taxpayers who are footing the bill for all these missteps.

And it certainly raises the ethical and practical question of whether Al, after actively pushing the bill, should now be advising the Council on how to deal with it's utter failture. A failure has been documented in 16 Abuse Chronicles that cover 24 separate TVR certificates, and that's barely scratching the surface.

Al and his office are so badly conflicted on this issue that ethically, he should have recused himself at the last Council meeting and suggested they hire special counsel. Instead, with Council Chair Jay Furfaro's complicity, he bought a 30-day delay — time that he and Mayor Bernard Carvalho (who hired him, let's not forget) can use to head off any investigation into these wrong doings.

You know, the same way a proposed Council investigation into Public Works was sidelined – an investigation that might have prevented some of the Building and Engineering transgressions uncovered by the Abuse Chronicles. Things like allowing tiny houses to be remodeled into mini-resorts without meeting flood or septic requirements.

If Bernard, Al, Ian and Mike had actually checked into how the planning department was implementing the 2008 law, they would have found that it was in total shambles. Instead, they pushed the Council to amend the law in 2010, which compounded the problems from 2008 while eliminating inspections, proof of tax payments, proof of prior TVR use and all the other teeth.

With the passage of Ordinance 904 in 2010, they threw open the door to pretty much anybody who could put a pencil on paper. And for those who couldn't, well, remember how Bruce Fehring admitted to the Planning Commission that planner Mike Laureta had actually written his TVR application for him?

Al also claimed the mere presence of HGEA union rep Gerald Ako at the Council meeting “raised a red flag” that should be heeded. If Al had been paying attention he would have known that Ako actually raised a red herring. Ako later admitted to the Council that no matter who did investigation, employees would still have union representation and all the protection it entails.

The red flag I saw was Ako arguing for the Administration, rather than the Council, to conduct the investigation. He obviously knows, like the rest of us, that if it's left to the Administration, absolutely nothing will happen.

Finally, I've got to say something about Council Chair Jay Furfaro. I'm talking about his feigned shock and indignation that the Council resolution hadn't been sent to the County Attorney's office for review. 

Curious how Jay, a supposed stickler for process, has never implemented a procedure for what goes to the County Attorney's office for review, and when.  That's right. It's totally ad hoc, hit and miss, whatevahs. Seems awfully inefficient. But oh so convenient when you want to stall something while pretending that you're moving it along.