Thursday, October 17, 2013

Musings: Notable Quotables


The moratorium's a kicker.” – Councilman Gary Hooser, caught on tape during a recess in the Sept. 27 Council meeting, telling Councilman Tim Bynum that he's OK with dumping the GMO moratorium from Bill 2491.

Gary and I have surrendered a lot, more than I ever wanted to surrender.” – Bynum discussing the seriously gutted bill at the Oct. 15 Council meeting.

I made a mistake and was making fun of Mr Fufaro, Kauai council, calling him a big toad! i am sorry, as i see his quick and tough decision making skills.” – Vincent Leaf on Facebook after Jay ended up voting for Bill 2491.

I lay awake at night and I think about that dust.” – Brandi Titus, who was pregnant while living in Hanapepe Valley.

We're concerned about the precedent set by buffers.” – BASF spokesman Kirby Kester advocating for voluntary, rather than mandatory, no-spray zones near schools, homes, hospitals, parks and waterways.

The moment the mention of deferral came up from Nadine... hundreds of people outside the building streamed up to the doors screaming 'PASS THE BILL" with a roar so loud you could hardly hear yourself think in the courtroom - when Joann started out staying that perhaps they should consider Nadines request for a deferral the council chambers went into total insane chaos, people screaming, shouting, numerous people stood up and stalked out of the room in disgust, slamming the door to join the screaming in the lobby.... In that moment, I think the Mayor and all involved realized that the island was NOT going to allow a deferral, because everyone, from the people in the chambers, to the crowd outside the building stood united in love.” – Ericka Morningstar in an Orwellian comment on Civil Beat.

PASS THE BILL! PASS THE BILL!” -- Lani Kawahara, the former Councilwoman who crumbled after one term, claiming harassment by her colleagues, participating in the aforementioned harassment.

I need you to realize how important it is to be Kauai, OK?” – Council Chair Jay Furfaro trying to restore order during the aforementioned outburst, which you can see at 1:45 on this clip.

They got a little excited, it's an understandable reaction.” – Councilman Gary Hooser defending his “million little fists” followers in their attempt to intimidate JoAnn Yukimura and prevent her from speaking.

"There will be a lot of workers needed, way more than the two we're hearing."  -- Councilman Ross Kagawa on personnel required for the bill's enforcement.

How can we say for some it's OK, but some it's not?” – Councilman Mel Rapozo questioning why Bill 2491 allows pesticides to be sprayed around homes near golf courses, but not homes near agricultural fields.

Based on the TVR experience, if we don't pay attention to how we enforce the laws this body creates we run into a lot of problems.” -- Councilwoman Nadine Nakamura, who soon will be charged with enforcing 2491 as the mayor's managing director, rationalizing her request for a deferral. The comment  prompted Bynum, who gutted the TVR bill, to denounce her as "unethical."

I've been moved to tears a few times.” – Bill 2491 supporter Mimsy Bouret, a Realtor now comfortably retired on her Princeville estate after greedily selling Hanalei, Haena and Wainiha into vacation rental slavery.

Yeah, Mimsy, I know what you mean.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

"I prefer my water heated with gas" and "The plastic bag ban is going to result in an epidemic of food poisoning"

Mel Rapozo.

Anonymous said...

"No I do not eat flies" Jay.
"I am very decisive, I think" Joanne.
"Twinkies are back in business?" Tim
"Get me out before I get dirty" Nadine
"I won this debate, just like the tea party did" Mel.
"NorthShore MILFs, you know you want me" Gary

Anonymous said...

Joan-Just curious-do you own property on Kauai?

Anonymous said...

'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
'I don't much care where —' said Alice.
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat
Curiouser and curiouser.....It is a long walk to reality for some, and as the winding process of enforcement and which way is up? becomes less clear...... if the divisions this anti-GMO bill has created do not come together, Kauai is in for a long long walk.

Joan Conrow said...

No, 1:49, I do not.

Anonymous said...

Tim's lawyer, Margery Bronster, on Bill 2491:

"What happened when I looked at it was that I believe that for a number of very serious legal reasons that this Bill, as proposed, is
unconstitutional."

Anonymous said...

Hi Joan- In this strange internet world, as I read your blogs, well written, provoking and insightful, you are sharing ideas and feelings with all of us anonymous people. Thank you. Why would you ever answer a stupid and personal question about home ownership? Keep on writing, today with a group of OMG wealthy landowners, Golfers to a one, 8 rich Golfers sitting in a row, Reagenites to a man, your Blog came up and , everyone of these longterm residents (25 years to 84 years Kauai residency)reads your Blog, disagree or agree they respect what you do, how you do it and the work involved to do it...This may not be the proper space for these comments, but where else?

Anonymous said...

"During her tenure as Hawaii attorney general, Bronster had prosecuted members of the board of trustees of the Bishop Trust (the richest trust fund in the world, which was established to educate Native Hawaiians) for fraud. She ranks among Hawaii’s “superstar” lawyers."

Andy Parks, describing Margery Bronster on his blog.

Anonymous said...

"While the industry sprays tons of poisons in our community, refuses to provide the council with even the most basic information, and threatens to sue us for the right to spray pesticides near schools, we smile and continue to act like all is ok."

Gary Hooser on his blog, apparently oblivious to the tons of poisons sprayed by the State and County on Kauai.

Anonymous said...

"Moratorium – This provision was deleted and was perhaps my biggest disappointment."

Gary Hooser on his blog on September 28, apparently having a change of heart after telling Tim Bynum that the moratorium was a kicker the day before.

Anonymous said...

"SB1555 was passed into law without the requisite three readings in each House and there was never a proper public hearing on the substance of the major amendments that significantly altered the content of the Bill. Clearly giving the public less than two hours public notice does not meet any reasonable standard that would satisfy the constitutional requirement."

Gary Hooser on his blog, discussing the PLDC law, apparently believing that major amendments to 2491 do not require a proper public hearing and that passage of major amendments to 2491 without any public notice is reasonable. Shame on the mayor for asking for a deferral that may have allowed for greater public scrutiny of the amendments.

Anonymous said...

"Personally, I believe an immediate moratorium on expansion is needed. However, the political will for taking such action at the County level does not exist at the present time."

Gary Hooser on his blog, apparently forgetting that he told Tim Bynum that it's a kicker.

Gary is a politician who will say one thing to his adoring public and something completely different when he thinks the microphone is off. He'll have one standard for legislation that he is against and one standard for legislation that he sponsors. He used to sell real estate, which is like being a used car salesman with a bigger commission.

Anonymous said...

Could somebody give me Gary's Blog address?

Joan Conrow said...

Thanks, 5:43 p.m. You made me laugh. Now that I know rich golfers are reading I'll have to put out my tin cup. ;)

7:52, It's http://garyhooser.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.

Groucho Marx

Anonymous said...

I interpreted the use of the word "kicker" as meaning the moratorium could put a kink in the passing of the bill, so would most likely need to be omitted. I don't think Gary was being "2-faced".

Anonymous said...

Give him the benefit of the doubt even though he told Joan that enforcement wasn't important? I guess agreeing to gut the bill wouldn't matter if you never intended it to work from the beginning.

Anonymous said...

Take a moment and look up the word "kicker" as it relates to a poker hand. A "kicker" is often the "ace in the hole" or the card that makes you win when otherwise you might not. Look at Texas Holdem.

Anonymous said...

"We've constantly seen chairs narrow the scope of a posting to limit discussion so that they can either leave full discussion for a closed door attempt at circumvention of the "serial communication" rule or worse, so an item doesn’t get fully discussed at all due to political considerations."

Andy Parks, bemoaning politicians' efforts to quash full discussion of legislation on his blog.

"Anything less than shrieking "Pass The Bill" at 3 a.m. in the streets of Lihu`e would be what's crazy."

Andy Parks, advocating passage of 2491 without full discussion of the major amendments that were just introduced at 3 a.m. because, hey, why not?

Anonymous said...

Definition of kicker:

A tricky or concealed condition; a pitfall.

US and Canadian slang: a hidden and disadvantageous factor, such as a clause in a contract.

Slang.
a. a disadvantageous point or circumstance, usu. concealed or unnoticed.

Unless you happen to discuss it when you don't know the mic is on.

Andy Parx said...

If hundreds of hours of testimony and a stack of documents a mile high (okay- an exaggeration) in open session are not enough to have public input on any possible amendment- even if it was introduced at 13 o'clock on the 32nd of never- I would complain. Show me what was not covered in testimony if you're going to make that claim- I watched all of it, gavel to gavel. And there is written testimony too.
I used to have a lot of problems with the lack of further testimony on all amendments. But I've come to realize that as long as there was enough time for testimony and a vigorous discussion took place, amendments, drawn up by one or two persons (legal according to the sunshine law) based on discussion that took place in open session- are sufficiently vetted. If the amendments are so off subject that they would create something not covered in the testimony then a new bill should be introduced. That is NIOT the case here no matter how much we don't like them.
All this is what the law currently says is permissible. I saw no "back room" deals or serial communications. If you have different information then say so but don't intimate there was and say nothing more. Actually I shouldn't even be answering anonymous commenters.

Anonymous said...

Nothing more to it. No two step analysis fer ol' Mr. P. who has time to watch days and days of Kabuki council meetings for just such an occasion. Too bad the rest of us have to work for a living.