Musings: La-La Land

How does NOAA expect to build momentum for expanding the Hawaiian Island Humpback Whale Sanctuary when it's simultaneously proposing to remove that magnificent mammal from the Endangered Species List?

Sounds like it's time to scale back the sanctuary. There's just no way folks are going to support more federal control over Hawaiian waters, especially on the westside, where PMRF already exerts so much control.

Several folks have told me they want to scale back Kauai County Councilman Gary Hooser's political career. Or in other words, impeach him. 

They do have good cause. 

His publicity stunt in Switzerland caused him to miss two County Council meetings, for which he is nonetheless paid.

Gary also blew off a Council meeting to testify at the Legislature against the nomination of Carelton Ching. That makes a total of three Council meetings that he's missed this term while working directly on behalf of HAPA, his political advocacy group that masquerades as a nonprofit.

Gary has consistently represented himself to the Legislature and other bodies, including the people of Switzerland and the shareholders of Syngenta, as speaking on behalf of the Kauai County Council and even the entire community. He has done this even though he specifically promised that he was visiting Switzerland on behalf of HAPA and would be speaking as an individual citizen.

He's also shown himself to be of questionable moral character because he repeatedly and publicly misrepresents facts and lies outright — all to advance the cause of HAPA.

Unfortunately, Article XXVII of the Kauai County Charter makes it impossible to impeach Hooser, for two reasons:

1. Only elected officials serving four-year terms can be recalled (27.01). Council is a two-year term.

2. Even if politicians in two-year terms could be recalled, removal by recall cannot occur during the first six months of the term in which the recall is conducted (27.09). Gary is now entering his sixth month.

Perhaps it's time for the Charter Review Commission to visit the recall provisions in the Charter and ask the voters whether they'd like the opportunity to impeach Council members who engage in misconduct during their first months in office.

Meanwhile, Walter Lewis is keeping up the call for a city manager/Council form of government as his pal, Glenn Mickens, sings the praises of disgraced County Auditor Ernie Pasion in the newspaper's letters to the editor section.

While I've seen the manager system work well in other municipalities, there's a good reason why it will not succeed here: the County Council. That's the panel that hired Ernie, even though he wasn't qualified, and then bungled his firing, prompting him to file a lawsuit and take home a hefty settlement for spending his term first engaged in political vendettas, and then doing zip.

That debacle cost taxpayers $400,000 in legal fees and $300,000 in a settlement.

So why would anyone in their right mind think the Council would hire a qualified, competent, experienced city manager to run the county— especially one that might challenge them, as a good manager should do? If they couldn't manage an auditor, how could the manage a manager?

It ain't gonna happen, except in the fantasies of Walter Lewis, Ken Taylor, Glenn Mickens and a few others who harken for the good old days on the mainland they left.

But here is a smart move on the part of the Council: picking Jade K. Fountain-Tanigawa as the County Clerk of the County. A resolution appointing her is on the May 6 agenda, and she deserves to be approved.

Also on the May 6 agenda is the second reading of a bill that hasn't gotten much attention. Introduced by Councilman Mason Chock, Bill 2585 calls for slashing the percentage of real property tax revenue that's appropriated to the public access, open space and natural resources preservation fund. Rather than the 1.5 percent approved by voters, just 0.5% would be appropriated.

It's another budget-cutting measure, and it directly impacts the people of Kauai by making it harder to buy or otherwise acquire significant lands for public access and preservation. But then, the commission has never really been taken seriously, which is why it has $5 million just sitting there for acquisition.

Meanwhile, Fern Rosenstiel of Ohana o Kauai took to Civil Beat to tell how she, Gary and Malia Chun had “shared their [fabricated] story” about pesticides with the Swiss:

They are appalled to know that we are only asking for disclosure, so we can know when to shut our windows.

Surely Fern knows that all the companies disclose their pesticide use on the Good Neighbor website. And though it isn't required, they also provide pre-notification of pesticide applications to schools, KVMH and any residents in the area who have signed up for the notification. The only exception to the pre-notification is Pioneer, which isn't allowed to contact residents because some of them are involved in the dust lawsuit against the company.

So ya gotta wonder, is Fern hopelessly out of touch with reality, or simply telling tales?

Her piece prompted a number of comments, including one from Kilauea resident Cyndee Fehring, directed toward a UH researcher:

You sit in the ivory tower of U of H, which is in a cozy relationship with these corporations, while we grow food here ORGANICALLY and in abundance. I'll put up my experience as an organic farmer seeking organic solutions to problems against Syngenta's researchers and your university degrees, any day of the week.

Really? If you're such a successful farmer, then why must you supplement your income with an illegal TVR on ag land? If Kauai folks are growing organic food in abundance, why is nearly everything edible still imported? And do you truly believe that you, as a new hobby farmer, know as much about agriculture as Ph.D. researchers?

Yet another person with an exaggerated sense of self telling tall tales in la-la land.