Musings: Strange But True

I went  to the County Council meeting today, seeking clues about why the prosecutor's problematic POHAKU program just can't be discussed in public.  In the process, I witnessed a surreal drama. And no, I'm not making this stuff up.

Cast of characters: Councilmembers Mel Rapozo, JoAnn Yukimura, Tim Bynum, KipuKai Kualii, Nadine Nakamura and Dickie Chang; Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho; County Attorney Al Castillo

Staging: Handsomely remodeled Council chambers in historic county building

Setting: Council Chair Jay Furfaro is absent, leaving Mel in charge. Shay's first deputy, Jake Delaplane is wrapping up a one-hour re-election promo for his boss, cleverly disguised as a power point budget presentation. He has more, but even Mel, a solid Shay supporter, is prodding him to move along so there's time for questions. Jake speaks enthusiastically about the POHAKU program, Shay's shining star, with no mention of the ominous cloud that now hangs over it.

The power point flashes to a new slide, and Shay takes over the narration, accusing the County Attorney's office of continually working against the interests of her office, repeated conflicts of interest and “constant attacks.” Shay's message to the Council is clear: she wants money to hire special counsel for her office.

The air is crackling with tension. The time for questions has arrived. Jake rubs the perpetual five o'clock shadow on his chin. Shay straightens the carnation lei that matches her pink jacket. JoAnn, the one person certain to question Shay about POHAKU, has her hand up. Mel clears his throat.

Mel: I've been informed the county attorney is conflicting out on the POHAKU program. Until special counsel can be appointed, we won't talk about it.

JoAnn: POHAKU is in the budget. I have a right to ask about it. I don't understand the basis of the ruling.

Mel: It's not my rule. It's the county attorney's opinion.

Al: Mumbo jumbo, mumbo jumbo, prudent for CA's office to declare conflict, mumbo jumbo.

JoAnn: I want to ask some questions based on public information. I don't see how my rights can be curtailed on that.

Mel: I know people think I usually don't agree with the county attorney's advice, but this time I do. But just so everybody knows, I didn't request that advice. It was given to me.

Al: I don't want to go any further in potentially violating my client's rights.

JoAnn: Who is your client?

Al: I represent the whole county. 

Mel: He advises me and I control the discussion on the floor.

Tim: If we would've had those executive sessions on POHAKU that we keep putting off, would we be in this situation?

Mel: I'm gonna be the judge here. That's speculation. Nobody can answer that. If Al can answer that, I'm gonna take him to Vegas with me.

Al: The answer is no.

Tim: Is this all because of the conflict issue that Shay just raised in her power point?

Shay: I OBJECT! THIS IS RIDICULOUS! HOW DARE THAT HAPPEN!

Tim: How dare what happen?

Mel: Al, take your client outside and answer his question.

Tim and Al exit to the hallway.  A recess is called. The Council breaks up. JoAnn and Mel engage in a spat over fairness before JoAnn exits and Mel approaches Shay, who is fuming.

Shay: This is ridiculous. This is a waste of my time. You need to get your Council rules in order. I see a lot of violators of the rules and it's not being called. She's smarter than the County Attorney, apparently. This is such a waste of my time. 

I seek out JoAnn and ask, what were the questions you were going to ask about POHAKU? 

                            ACT II

It's after lunch and everyone is reassembled. I've gone home and am watching on line, via the county's webcast. Jay is back at the helm. Everyone except Nadine is clearly scratchy after being cooped up together for two long weeks of budget hearings. JoAnn has just finished questioning Shay about the 300 percent increase in her travel budget and is moving on to other topics.

JoAnn: Do you try cases?

Shay: I try a lot of cases.

JoAnn: I thought you said you didn't.

Shay: No, I said I'm the only prosecutor in the whole state who tries cases. 

JoAnn: Oh, I was only aware of you trying one case, the Tim Bynum zoning misdemeanor.

Shay: Sputter, sputter, hissssss. I'm trying the Hilario murder case.


JoAnn:  I thought John Murphy was trying that.

Jay: Ladies, ladies.

At JoAnn's request, Al takes the stand.

JoAnn: How come Shay got to talk about POHAKU but we don't? How can we do our due diligence on her budget if we can't ask about POHAKU? I want to schedule another meeting where we can question her about POHAKU.

Tim: I have a whole list of questions I'd like to ask.

Shay:  Can I leave? I've got a 4 o clock and it's 3:45.

Jay: Sure. We'll send the rest of the questions over by email. Try to get them back by next Tuesday, just do the best you can. 

JoAnn: It's inconceivable to me that a department head giving testimony on a budget would need a county attorney or any other attorney to advise her, and that not having one would prevent us from asking questions. 


Al: In any situation where there is some exposure to the county or county personnel they would have an attorney present advising them on whether to answer questions. But rather than risk getting into that situation with the Prosecutor, I decided to avoid it entirely. I have to protect my client. But regardless of what I thought, I wasn't the chair when the decision was made to stop you from asking about POHAKU. 

JoAnn: Who is the client you have to protect?

Al: It would be two right now: the county, the county council and the prosecutor. I'm protecting her rights, Jake's rights.

JoAnn: Their personal rights?

Al: Their personal rights,  their rights related to their work for the county. If you want to go into a special executive session, I can tell you more about why you can't ask questions about POHAKU.  The session's not on the agenda, but it's allowed under unexpected circumstances.

Tim: I think extraordinary things have happened In the past few weeks that seem intended to prevent the public from getting some information about POHAKU, and I have no faith that we will ever go into executive session on these issues. You guys are just trying to run out the clock. I'm ready to call for an emergency executive session right now to talk about this. It's time to quit playing games and serve the public.

KipuKai: It's not useful to say things like quit playing games and try to say who is and isn't serving openness to the public. It's not an emergency. We're going to be having a meeting on POHAKU anyway in a week or so. 

Mel: This whole controversy of POHAKU was generated from a inquiry from the Council. It was on the advice of Deputy County Attorney Jennifer Winn that we decided to defer the executive session the other day. It's not a stall tactic. And I'm not voting for an emergency executive session.

Jay: Jennifer Winn came here on the behalf of the prosecutor, asking for a deferral, and I extended Shay the same courtesy I would any other department head and granted her a delay. I want to make it clear there was no preferential treatment.  Now let's have a roll call vote on going into an emergency executive session.


Mel, KipuKai, Dickie:  No 


Jay, JoAnn, Tim: Yes 


(Nadine has been sent to represent Jay at a police department event.)


Jay: That's it then. It has to be a super majority, 4 of 6. The motion fails.


But though the official discussion of POHAKU stalled out, my investigation has not.  Be sure to tune in for the next installment, when the pieces of the POHAKU puzzle start falling into place.