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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Lanny Sinkin <br /> Attorney at Law <br /> 58 Furneaux Lane, Suite 5 <br /> Hilo, Hawai'i 96720 <br /> (808) 969-7768 <br /> FAX: (808) 934-9609 <br /> E-mail: light@ilhawaii.net <br /> <br /> July 27, 1998 <br /> Mayor Steve Yamashiro <br /> Members of the County Council <br /> 25 Aupuni Street <br /> Hilo, Hawai'i 96720 <br /> <br /> Dear Mayor Yamashiro and Members of the County Council, <br /> <br /> I am writing to you on behalf of Parents Against Irradiation and other organizations <br /> and individuals who gathered the signatures on the certified initiative petition coming before <br /> the County Council on August 5. <br /> <br /> The certification of this initiative unquestionably makes the irradiator issue an <br /> electoral issue. Under the circumstances, the United States Constitution and simple fairness <br /> requires that the government itself not use public resources in a partisan fashion to support or <br /> oppose the initiative. I have enclosed an opinion by the Oregon Supreme Court which <br /> contains an extensive and well-developed legal analysis regarding why public resources <br /> should not and cannot be used in a partisan fashion. <br /> <br /> This letter is to encourage you to examine the relevant constitutional principles and <br /> then to act in accordance with those principles from this date forward. <br /> <br /> Specifically, the use of county employees to write official letters to the editor <br /> promoting irradiation, such as those by Marcia Reynolds, and the use of county funds to <br /> promote an irradiator, such as the continued pro-irradiation presentation on the county's web <br /> site, are both viewed as violations of the constitutional guarantee of a republican form of <br /> government and of the First Amendment rights of those opposed to an irradiator. <br /> <br /> The appropriate response to the certification of the initiative is for Mayor Yamashiro <br /> to direct Ms. Reynolds not to engage in partisan political activity while on the job or using <br /> her official position. Similarly, the appropriate response is to remove the pro-irradiation <br /> pages from the County web site. These specific actions should also lead to a general <br /> expression from the Mayor and the Council that representative democracy bars public monies <br /> and non-elected public employees on public time from being used in partisan campaigning. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ooous. No. 93 1. o l <br /> MNo. NcrlaeN <br /> <br /> l TO, CO UN C- l L_ <br /> se, n....mL 2 71999 <br />