HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-11-10 Board of Ethics Minutes REG pcHAWAII COUNTY BOARD OF ETHICS
MINUTES - REGULAR SESSION
November 10, 2004 - 10:09 a.m.
King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel -Ohana Room
75 -5660 Palani Road, Kailua -Kona, Hawaii
Present: Leroy Victorine, Chairman
Sharon Cislo, Vice Chairman
Reeve Williams
Kerry Inouye
Patricia K. O'Toole, Deputy Corporation Counsel
Paulette Cainglit, Secretary
Paul deSilva, Petitioner
Joseph K. Kamelamela, Deputy Corporation Counsel
Dwight Manago, Respondent
CHAIR: The meeting of the County Ethics Board shall come to order. And
for the record, the time is 10:09 a.m.
SC: Mr. Chair, may I make a motion to amend the agenda adding
communication 2004 -25 under No. 4 Communications on the
agenda.
CHAIR: It's been moved to amend the agenda to add a memo from Lincoln
Ashida, Communication No. 2004 -25 to the agenda. Do I hear a
second?
KI: Second.
CHAIR: All in favor.
SC: Aye.
RW: Aye.
KI: Aye.
CHAIR: The agenda is amended. Are there any statements from the public
at this time? [None] There being none, we move on to the approval
of minutes. The minutes of the September 8th meeting Regular
Session and Executive Session have been circulated.
SC: I make a motion to accept and file the minutes of the Regular and
the Executive Sessions, September 8, Board of Ethics meeting
minutes.
i
i : v � � �_r r: � �• r r : r � � I
CHAIR: It has been seconded... any opposition? All in favor say aye.
SC: Aye.
RW: Aye.
KI: Aye.
CHAIR: It is passed. Communications. Communication 2004 -23 is a letter
from Mr. Gimpel to... is a letter from the Mayor to Mr. Gimpel,
accepting his resignation. Is there a motion?
SC: I make a motion to accept and file Communication No. 2004 -23.
KI: Second.
CHAIR: It's moved and seconded. All in favor.
SC: Aye.
RW: Aye.
KI: Aye.
CHAIR: It is passed. 2004 -24 is a training notice from the Corporation
Counsel, Lincoln Ashida, to all Departments and Agencies, Hawaii
County Council and Office of the Mayor relative to the Sunshine
Law Training due to commence on December 1St. Do I hear a
motion?
RW: I move to accept and file.
SC: Second.
CHAIR: It's moved and seconded that we accept and file 2004 -24. All in
favor.
SC: Aye.
RW: Aye.
KI: Aye.
CHAIR: That passes. 2004 -25 was added on as a Communication which is
a letter from Lincoln Ashida encouraging County Board and
Commission members to attend the Office of Information Practices
on the Sunshine Law Training on December 1St. Do I have a
motion?
SC: So moved.
RW: Second.
Pa
CHAIR: It's moved and seconded that we accept and file Communication
2004 -25. All in favor.
SC: Aye.
RW: Aye.
KI: Aye.
CHAIR: That is passed. Okay. We now move to New Business. New
Business is the Petition 2004 -02. Mr. Paul deSilva and Mr. Dwight
Manago, requesting an informal advisory opinion regarding
violation of the County Code of Ethics. Mr. deSilva.
Petitioner: Do you want me to sit here?
CHAIR: Yes please. And everybody, we want to remind everybody that
we're recorded, so please speak clearly and slowly.
Petitioner: Okay. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, good morning Commissioner.
My name is Paul deSilva and by way of introduction ... may I ask
first Mr. Chairman, how much time I have... as much as I want?
CHAIR: The day is yours.
Petitioner: That's dangerous if you're actually
CHAIR: Okay. Right now Mr. deSilva is going to speak and anybody who
speaks, would you please identify yourself prior to speaking, Mr.
Kamelamela and Mr. Manago and anybody else who's going to
speak.
PKO: I'm just saying that for the record, to say that Mr. Kamelamela is
present and Mr. Manago is present from the beginning and then
Mr. deSilva would have the floor.
CHAIR: Okay, as the announcement says, Mr. Manago is present. Would
you like to sit up with your attorney. And Mr. Kamelamela,
representing Mr. Manago, is also present. And before we begin, for
the record... distribute these items brought [deSilva's Exhibit]. Mr.
Kamelamela do you have a copy?
Kamelamela: Yes I do.
CHAIR: Mr. Manago?
Manago: He [Mr. Kamelamela] has one.
CHAIR: Thank you.
Petitioner: Thank you Mr. Chairman. By way of introduction, I know all of you
might not know me. My name if Paul deSilva and unfortunately, by
next month I'm going to be seventy. By way of experience, I went
to Hilo High School and graduated from Hilo High School in 1952.
Then the University of Hawaii, I got out of there in 1958 with a
teacher's certificate. I taught school for eight years... public school,
and with three children and my wife and no money, I went to the
mainland and my wife took care of the children and I supported my
family and earned a law degree. After doing that, I returned back to
Hilo and I became employed by the County Attorneys Office. My
first job was the Ethics Commission... the Board of Ethics
rather. In fact, I must confess, I really didn't know much about what
was doing, unlike your present counsel. After working for
a couple of years, I got activated and sent overseas
along with Police Commissioner Horace Hara and Police
Commissioner Pete Mueller who also went to Korea to serve that
time then came back to Hilo. Then when I came back they tried to
split the County Attorneys Office and the Prosecutors side and the
Corporation Counsel side. I went with the Prosecuting Attorney's
side. I stayed there for a few years, and I was elected Prosecutor
twice. After that... in mid -term, I was appointed by the Chief Justice
of District Court of the Third Circuit in Hilo. And then I was elevated
later to the Circuit Court. I retired from there in 1988, then
practiced law for six years. till I joined the Police
Commission in January of 2003. 1 resigned from the Police
Commission this year... I think it was in July or August... but sure.
want to say just by way of background that I resigned from the
Police Commission for the number of reasons. Some of the
reasons are personal reasons, and other reasons are that I became
very frustrated with the Police Commission and I found that I was
not handling my own personal frustrations very well, so I thought it
would be best for everyone if I resigned. Still I have an interest in
civilian review of law enforcement. In fact, it has become my
hobby. And I not prefer to be a watch dog over the Police
Commission, rather than f watch dog over the Police. I want to say
before I try to give my analysis of what happened here exactly. I
have a great deal of personal respect for Mr. Manago. I think he
was a good commissioner. I think that Mr. Hara, Deputy
Chief Kubojiri and , for the most part, I agree with.
think Mr. Manago is a decent man; comes from a good and
honorable family that has made long term contributions to this
community; he's a gentleman; he's intelligent; he's a good
man; he's a good family man; a good father; and I think he's also a
member of a church, too, what I understand. So
4
have admiration for Mr. Manago. And above any admiration for any
particular individual in government, I have a passion for the rule of
law, rather than the rule of men. I really believe that to operate a
democracy in this County and anywhere else, we must make sure
that every Commissioner or anyone who has accepted any
government responsibility, must make sure that they understand
what the law asks them to do. And before loyalty to any community
group, any community interests, any government organization, an
individual who accepted that role must be loyal to the Charter that
creates the organization that he serves. In this case, what the
evidence shows you... and Mr. Manago isn't here because
question that he is or isn't a good man. I don't question whether he
is or isn't a good Commissioner. All I'm saying, is that in the
instances involved here, Mr. Manago violated the County Charter
when he appeared before the Mayor and when he appeared before
the County Council without any authority from the Police
Commission to do so. Mr. Manago worked very hard with the
Police trying to understand their recommendations. And he
presented his own recommendations to the Mayor and the Council
as his own. And I'd like you to please look at the Exhibit that I
have... it would be that Section 2 of the Statute on powers and
duties of commissions. If you look at the Section i) at the bottom of
the page... it says:
"The affirmative vote of a majority of the entire membership to
which a board or commission is entitled shall be necessary to make
any action valid."
I now refer you to the First Exhibit which is a copy of the County
Charter. If you would look at subsection 2. This section says that
it's the power and duty of the police commission, to review the
annual budget prepared by the chief of police and may make
recommendations thereon to the mayor and managing director.
Now, of examining the police budget, he never
presented his recommendation to the Police Commission. And I
have searched the minutes, and unless I can't find something that's
there... and I attended every meeting, I never missed a meeting,
don't remember the Commission ever voting to authorize Mr.
Manago to go and meet with the Mayor and make
recommendations. Now, before those recommendations were
presented, each of us who were commissioners at the time, had the
right to examine those recommendations, and we would disagree
or agree or make modifications and so forth. Now, Mr. Manago,
went to the Mayor, and if he did as he did before the
counsel, he was deceptive. Now, these things that I'm talking
5
about before you are not ethical violations, they're background to
the ethical violation. Now, to be absolutely clear that when Mr.
Manago went to meet with Mayor Kim, he had no authority from the
Commission to do so because there was simply no vote. Now,
furthermore, Mr. Manago felt... and I don't question Mr. Manago's
intentions, I think he had very good intentions. What Mr. Manago
doesn't understand is his role as a Police Commissioner and his
obligation to follow the law. That's all that I'm saying, I'm not
questioning his character. In this situation, Mr. Manago stated to
me, the night before he went to the Council, over the telephone,
that he was going to make these recommendations to the... I think it
was the Finance Committee of the Council. And he was going to
make this recommendation. I told him over the telephone that I
didn't think it was our role to make recommendations to the County
Council. Now, I would like to refer you back to Exhibit Number 1,
which is the Charter. Looking to subsection 2 says that it is the
power... this section defines the powers and duties of the
Commission. I'm sure there are sections that apply to you. You're
a commission also. If you look at number 2... number 2 says that
we have the power and duty to review the annual budget prepared
by the chief of police and may make recommendations thereon to
the mayor and managing director. Do you notice that it says
nothing about making recommendations to the chief of police. And
do you also notice, that it doesn't say anything about making
recommendations to the Council. So, this is what led me to file this
Ethics Complaint, because after I retired... let me show an Exhibit
first... another Exhibit first. Would you please look at Exhibit
number 5 please. Mr. Manago, in his normally conscientious
manner, which is good, brought out the idea that we should start
studying the budget again because we had to get ready to testify
before the County Council. At that meeting, I objected and I said
that we should make budget recommendations to the Mayor. I
should have said the Managing Director also. In the minutes there
is nothing that says anything about the Council. So I wondered
whether it was proper for us to go to the Council. I want to point out
to you today, that it was Mr. Ashida's opinion that our
recommendation should not be made to the County Council... that
they have to be made... unlike the Fire Department, they have to be
made through the Mayor or Managing Director. And the reason for
that, is that the Fire Department and the Police Commission are not
set up by the same basis. For the Police Commission, the Mayor
has general supervisory, authority over the operations of the Police
Department, totally. The Fire Department isn't set up this way. So
if you go through the Charter and you look at the Fire Department,
that Charter plainly says that the Fire Commission has the duty to
make recommendations to the Mayor or Managing Director and the
ra
County Council, which they do, and they did effectively with that
positions. But since the Police Department comes under the
Mayor's office, the recommendations, if any, to the Council, are
included in the Mayor's budget, that goes to the County Council to
act on. Now, it's blatantly clear, to my thinking, that the Charter
does not give the Police Commission the authority to make
recommendations to the County Council. Now if you read Mr.
Hara's affidavit, and I'd be interested in what Mr. Kamelamela is
going to say, to see whether or not he disagrees with his boss,
because his boss said that the recommendations aren't made to
the Council, they're made to the Mayor, and you can read it more
thoroughly again. But, I'm interested in what Mr.
Kamelamela is going to say about that,... what his boss has said,
and his boss is adviser isn't the Police Commission, Mr. Ashida is.
I'm interested to see what Mr. Kamelamela will say, whether or not
it's proper for Mr. Manago to have taken it upon himself to go
before the County Council because in that instance also, there was
no vote taken by the Commission. And, if there had been a vote, or
a motion made, I would not oppose this vehemently, and I think
there are at least two other commissioners that I think would have
agreed with me, and perhaps others, that it was improper for us to
act as lobbyists for the Police. I'm sure you all read the papers and
you recognize that almost all the journalists think that the Police
Commission has really become a lapdog rather a watchdog. If you
read the Charter provision here, you can plainly see that what we
have in this County is known across the mainland as a Civilian
Review Board. These types of boards are there to review police
conduct. They're not there to be palsy -walsy with the police.
They're not put there to be lobbyists for the Police Department.
They're there to be a check and balance against police authority to
protect the citizens of the community. And I think that Mr. Manago,
though... it's strange to me though, because Mr. Manago attended a
conference on the mainland about review of police operations and
he made very constructive, he made very constructive suggestions
about how the Police Commission can review the department's
operations and make recommendations. All of that was fine, so
find it difficult to understand why Mr. Manago doesn't understand
that the same principle applies to the Budget. The
recommendations are made to the Mayor. We don't interfere with
the department and we don't lobby the Council for the Police
Department. Those are intentionally done to separate the powers?
and make the Police Commission something independent... the
body that reviews the conduct of the... the police department.
RW: May I ask a question of you?
IVA
Petitioner: Sure
RW: And a little bit for Mr. Manago as well. But, first of all, I just say that
all this is preliminary to the actual ethics violation.
Petitioner: Yes, ah hum.
RW: The question is, when did Mr. Manago make the recommendations
to the Mayor? What that date?
Petitioner: It's in my memo...
RW: Maybe Mr. Manago can tell us that.
Petitioner: No, no, I could tell you, I think it was January 6 that he went and
met with the Mayor.
RW: Following this Police Commission meeting in July?
Petitioner: No.
RW: Preceding that?
Petitioner: Yes.
RW: January was with the Mayor... so this note here of when
Corporation Counsel Ashida reaffirms the principle of going to the
managing director, that chronologically follows the in
August. He had already done that right?
Petitioner: That's correct.
RW: And then, secondarily, when did Mr. Manago make
recommendations to the Council?
Petitioner: On the 15th and 17th of March.
RW: Again, all
Petitioner: Yeah.
RW: Okay.
Petitioner: Again, you know, I'll tell you frankly what the real problem is with
the Police Commission... I can't speak for the other Police
Commissions, but it seems like, not only are you appointed to this
8
position, but you're anointed. In other words, we have... to become
a police commissioner; report to a meeting and sit down and
understand all the complexities of General Orders, the complexities
of promotion policies; to understand the disciplinary system; to
understand arrest? reasoning and thinking when it comes to
making decisions; and under the leadership of Mr. Hara and Mr.
Manago, we have no training program. And I'd like to suggest to
you, that it is not the Mayor's responsibility to create a training
program. It isn't the Corporation Counsel's responsibility to train or
create a training program. It's the Police Commission's
responsibility to provide themselves with a training program,
because they're supposed to be the experts on police review. Now,
all you have to do is look in the back of... or look at the website.
There's a national organization on police review. All you have to do
is get a training program from there, modify it and apply it. What
happens in the Commission is, they... not having any pay ?, they've
come to define their own role right, they didn't come to do
concerning the budget. We have no role to lobby the
Council. They've come to define that as their own role. Now, if you
looked at Mr. Hara's exhibit, he said... well... and I've heard Mr.
Manago say this to me once too at a meeting, "The Charter doesn't
say that we can't do that." Now, you know, I ask you, if you get any
lawyer to write a provision in the Charter saying what your powers
and duties are, would you expect that he would write down all the
things that you can't do? You know, you'd have a book fifty pages
long, about things that you can't do. So the way the Charter is
written, if we read it in manner, all the types
, what the Fire Department's supposed to do, what the
Police Commissioner's supposed to do and we're supposed to read
together. If that isn't true, there is nothing in here in the Charter
that would even imply that we're supposed be a lobby for the Police
Department before the County Council.. Now, that's all background
information. Because the real question before us is whether or not
Mr. Manago, as a government official, used his office to
secure... helped to secure unwarranted advantage for himself or
others... that's what it says. Now, what did Mr. Manago do. Not
only did he he tried to advance the budget before the
Mayor, before the County Council. He came to Kona and
organized about ninety of his friends or people that know him, to
come to the Council meeting to push for the budget. Now, I think
that's good, and I think even if intentions might be good, but that's
not why we're here. You know, if I'm with an official, call the public
trust. And when it comes to apparent conflict of interest, principle
ethics exists so that on Mr. Manago and know what a
nice man he is and so forth. Who only knows that Mr. Manago
would tell Mr. Manago and the Police Commissioner. I know
3]
people buy into trust. I've gotten it. When they two -
tenths of a mile from Manago Hotel. May I have some water....
So, whether intentional or not, I think... you know, the fact that
they're playing their... I think....whether or not that was his principle
objective or whether or not he even cared about it, it doesn't matter.
Did he do it in such a way so that a member of the public would
look at it and think, "Gee, Mr. Manago might have been pushing
that button so he could get a Police Station built right down the
street." And to me that is at least an apparent, if not, a real conflict
of interest. Because I think, at least if the papers are correct, Mr.
Manago has already admitted that it would be a benefit, an
economic benefit to the Manago Hotel and Restaurant by having a
large facility built a tenth of a mile down the street. I think probably
everyone in this room has already gone to eat Mr. Manago's
wonderful pork chops in his restaurant. And they are good. And
I'm sure his business is going to profit, and he knows it. He
admitted it. Now, if that's the case, Mr. Manago could have said to
Mr. Hara and other members of the Commission, "Mr. Hara or Mr.
, 1 think I'm in an apparent conflict of interest situation,
think you're the one that should go forward with it." What would
have been so difficult about that. Now, what you're going to be left
with is perpetual monument. If you do nothing about this, what
you're going to leave in this community is two perpetual
monuments, who is obvious to me anyway, in my opinion, an
obvious violation of the Code of Ethics. Every time somebody
drives by the nice Police Station and Manago Hotel, many are
going to remember that Mr. Manago was very instrumental in
getting that done. Now, everybody agrees that what he did was
defective. In fact, you know, even though I disagreed with Mr.
Manago going before the County Council, I went to watch him
testify. I went to watch him testify. I went to watch him testify
because I wanted to hear what the Police said about the budget
and what he said about the budget. He did a marvelous job. After
the , 1 told him, I shook his hand and I said, "I think you
did a good job." But, you can also tell that to a carpenter who
builds a beautiful house on the wrong lot without a contract. And
that's what happened here. He did a wonderful job doing
something that he wasn't supposed to do. And doing something, in
my opinion, was a conflict of interest. I don't know what Mr.
Kamelamela is going to say about this, but I heard the following
comments. Comment 1) Well, the old station is to my
hotel than up the street. The old station... substation there is a lot
smaller and is about a tenth of mile. The other one is two - tenths of
a mile away. I fail to understand how that justifies that it anyway
mitigates what Mr. Manago did in this situation, they're getting a
way bigger building with more people. But more importantly than
10
that, whoever chose the original station across the street... location
across the street... wasn't the influence by public official. But
nobody from Manago Hotel was a public official when that
happened. But now when it's happening, Mr. Manago is a public
official who's going to get an economic benefit. So... I'm almost
done, I promise you. I heard also from the Police Commissioners,
as a matter of fact, Mr. Hara's memo, and I don't , but
it's the idea is, we've done this before. Who are you to tell us that
you're going to do this, because we've done this for a long time
before. You know, the problem of them having not any training,
isn't any responsibility of any member of the public or any police
commissioner. It's them that didn't train themselves. So if they
didn't, if you commit murder one, does it mean the second murder
is correct or three and the fourth one you could do
okay. No, you have to judge from its inception, right at the time at it
happen. You look at the County Charter saying it's not. Also, this
comment, everything I did was intended for the benefit of the
community. You know, there's stuff like Richard Nixon saying,
"Everything I did was for the benefit of the community and the
Republican Party when he burglarized the Watergate Hotel." I
mean, we don't judge by the outcome. You don't say,
"This is a beautiful station, if Bush was out therefore
we don't care about what anybody here is getting because it's so
good. That's the way old boys think. People that believe in
democracy preserve the process because the process is what
guarantees us all employment in government? You know, one
thing I was very disappointed in Mr. Manago's presentation to the
Council was that, Mr. Manago knew full well that he was there
without authority from the Council. Councilman Tyler asked him
two or three times or maybe four, but a number of times... "Mr.
Manago, did you discuss these matters with the Police Commission
and is this the position of the Police Commission ?" I remember
exactly what his words were.
"In the past." You ask him again. "In the past." The reason he
didn't say yes is that he knew that he's not supposed to be there,
so he wanted to give them the impression that `yes' I can give it
`cause the cops will let them do that "in the past." So he never
answered the question. And that, I found was very, very bad. But
anyway, I do feel much regret to Mr. Manago, I find this very difficult
to do things like this because he was a friend. You know I had
friends on the Commission, I think some of them no longer consider
me a friend. But, you know, as a lawyer and a judge is one thing.
"Cause my friend. If he committed this conduct in my
court, I'd report him to the bar disciplinary committee. Why?
Because it's my job. If you sit on this commission and you know
there's conflict from another committee member, you report it to the
11
Mayor. Why? Because that's your job. And the reason it's your
job as well as my job, is that we're the only ones that really know
what happens in government and if we don't do something about it,
no one will. I ask you... all I ask from you is to please do what you
feel is your sense of justice and your understanding of what ethical
and what isn't and I will be forever satisfied and I thank you very
much for your attention.
RW: Are you going to speak to us of the land swap issue...
Petitioner: The land swap issue only became germane because that's how I
learned about this... no land swap was ever mentioned to the Police
Commission. I read about it in the Council minutes. And you know,
began to wonder what's going here, because this man was talking
to the County a long, long time ago. And apparently there were
ongoing discussion... not one word from Mr. Manago about it.
Although, he even mentioned his hotel and the land site inspection.
I think that was much later in the process, but I think we should ask
him when did you first find out that it was a possibility that this was
going to be... as soon as it became a possibility, it became an
ethical question for him. The more probable it became, the deeper
his ethical problem became. Because if he knew it was going to
happen for sure, he should have been hands off. If he knew it was
an reasonable probability it was going to be happening, in my
opinion, he should have been hands off. So as soon as he knew
that... maybe and he may benefit, he should have just
recused himself. Thank you very much.
Kamelamela: I just have one question for Judge deSilva, that I'm not sure exactly
what the violation is, but, you're claiming that the ethical violation in
this case is an event that occurred in January 6, 2004, regarding
the Mayor and an event occurring on March 15, 2004 and March
17, 2004 when Manago went to the County Council. Those
that we were considering and it all has to relate to the
land swap... is that it? Or are we talking about something else.
Petitioner: The land swap is really irrelevant. The location of the Police
Station is relevant.
Kamelamela: Okay.
Petitioner: I'm just saying, Mr. Kamelamela, the only way I found out about
was, because of the land swap that roused through my suspicion.
That's all.
12
Kamelamela: Okay, so the specific violation that you're talking about is that of the
location of the site.
Petitioner: Mr. Manago's participation in becoming an advocate of the site.
RW: Okay.
Petitioner: Thank you.
RW: And was that first known in January or March, respectively?
Manago: Well, in reading page 2 of his Complaint, the location of the site is a
quarter of a mile south of Manago Hotel.
RW: That was known in January when you were testifying?
CHAIR: Read the Petition, on page 2.
RW: Yeah, I've done that, I wading through a lot of
CHAIR: At this meeting, Manago made a presentation supporting the
department's budget request including the location of the new
station.
RW: Okay.
Kamelamela: Yeah, but, now he just said new police station in central South
Kona... not just in Central... of the location. Because, right now, we
don't have any specifics as to whether he knew back in January
and March, of the specific location. Now, why don't we do this...
brought some affidavits that each of the members should get a hold
of. Can you pass it... I got a copy... to Judge deSilva.
CHAIR: You should have... if I have it correct, an Affidavit of Mr. Kubojiri,
Affidavit of Mr. Reynolds and Affidavit of Mr. Hara. Those are the
three.
SC: What to do with the extras?
CHAIR: The extras, just drop them here.
RW: Can we just digest these before go on?
Kamelamela: Oh, okay, then I'll get some water.
13
CHAIR: Sure. Let's take a little recess while we have a chance to go over
those.
Recess: 10:50 a.m.
Return: 10:55 a.m.
CHAIR: The meeting is back to order again. Mr. Kamelamela, first off,
would you tell us the order in which you want to look at the
Affidavits.
Kamelamela: I won't be looking at it in any special order... I was just making a
statement... a loud statement. And then when I do the reference to
it, I will let the Commissioners on the Board know which affidavit I'm
referring to.
CHAIR: Okay. Before you begin sir, would you clarify for us in your
letter... in your stance to the Petition on page two. You list your
defenses... under the third defense, would you identify what it is that
Mr. Manago is admitting to in the allegation from paragraph one.
What paragraph specifically is it referencing?
Petitioner: Mr. Chairman. Mind if I could have a copy of that. I never did get
any copy.
CHAIR: Did you forward a copy to Mr. deSilva?
Kamelamela: I have a certificate of service of October 6.
Petitioner:
I never got a copy.
Kamelamela: Is your residence address 3020 Ainaola Drive?
Petitioner: Yes. You're not talking about the affidavit Mr. Kamelamela?
Kamelamela: No, no, no. This is our answer to the Petition.
Petitioner: Oh, I never got that... I don't care... you can go ahead, but I should
sometime get a...
Kamelamela: Oh, here, I have an extra.
Petitioner: Okay, thank you.
Kamelamela: So, page two...
CHAIR: Page two, and we've got third defense...
14
Kamelamela: Okay.
CHAIR: Item number one. It states Manago admits to the allegations in
paragraph one of the Petition.
Kamelamela: Yeah, that's the name and address and telephone number.
CHAIR: Okay... that was... I guess part of the discussion here to understand
what it was, okay.
Kamelamela: Yeah, `cause that's the only thing that we could admit to.
CHAIR: Okay, thank you. Everybody understand that.
Kamelamela: That's paragraph number one.
CHAIR: Sometimes, sir, just to clear the air, us non - lawyers we looking at
Allegations and I don't see allegations in that paragraph, so that's
why... it's good. Thank you. Go on sir.
Kamelamela: Good morning Chair and members of the Board of Ethics. My
name is Joseph Kamelamela. I'm a Deputy Corporation Counsel.
Sitting to the left of me is Dwight Manago who I am representing in
this situation. We kinda have our hands tied behind our back here,
all because besides Mr. deSilva filing this ethics complaint, he, from
what I understand has also filed a criminal complaint alleging
violation of counsel. And because of that, I advised my client that
he has a right to remain silent. And that right, I believe is a right
that should be respected because we actually do a lot of making
these statements that may be taken out of context. And we believe
that what we see here is really a complaint that I'll consider
retaliatory because of we basically philosophical differences about
how the things should be done. It's something that shouldn't be
brought before the Board of Ethics... a complaint like this. I know
that Judge deSilva had said that he's a watchdog, but, you know,
there's a limit that we should receive in certain kinds of things and
one of the most important things to remember to me... I mean, our
concern too is that, here we have an honorable man who's been on
the Police Commission for at least four years and has continued to
serve the Police Commission and the Police Department the way
that would benefit a community. Not just him, but the community
at- large. So I find the complaint, although it has a lot of allegations,
to be defamatory, to be inflammatory, that there's really no
productive matter when it comes to furthering the business of the
Police Commission. Because what is here so far, is that yes,
15
there's a disagreement of how certain things should be done. But
that doesn't mean that that's something for the Board of Ethics
should consider. For example, Hilo is with the Police
Commission. Trading whether they have the authority
to speak before the Council. That's not an issue for the Board of
Ethics. And he admits that that's not an issue. But yet, he brings it
up. He shouldn't have brought it up. And because he brings it up,
to me, it's just to encourage you to find something wrong. You
shouldn't use that kind of problems with the Police Commission to
find something wrong. We have to stick to the issue in this case.
What did he do to gain some kind of benefit... not only for himself,
but for Manago Hotel and the restaurant. Another example, he
talks about the Charter violations, he talks about Section 7 to that
too and he says, "Well, we can't let anything into the Charter to see
what " which is right. I mean, like the Mayor goes
around and talks to the public and that's not listed in as to one of
his powers... but he does it anyway. And do we find the Mayor to
be in violation of the Charter because of that? I say, "No." That
doesn't make sense. We have to kinda step back sometimes and
then think about why we have the Charter. It's a hard one. And
although you're not here to really decide that issue, I think I have to
respond `cause he brought it up. In reading the Charter, and I'm
glad that he made you Exhibits of all the Charter, 7.7.2. Yes, it
talks about the pertinent duties of how our Police Commission is.
That's all it does. And so, when a member of the public serves on
the Police Commission and reads it that way, the way,
they're going to read it and say, "Well, I have a duty to do this." I'm
serving for me to do something else. I mean, this makes common
sense to me. Okay, so we're not here to decide whether it's a
violation of the Charter... I mean I'm talking about it because he had
talked about it. Neither are we here to decide whether certain
conduct that Mr. Manago had done is illegal. We're not here to
decide that too. He had used the word illegal many times during
his oral presentation and in his written, he also states illegal, that's
why... you know, you're not here to decide whether it's legal or not.
It's for somebody else to decide that issue. That issue, has not
been decided already. He wants you to take that issue,
as background information and say, "Okay, this is
where it's wrong." You know, that, to me, is wrong. To have you
guys, hear all the policies, here in this fashion. This is not the
correct time to do this kind of airing out. You know, there's other
ways to do it. When Mr. Manago went to talk to the
County Council on the budget, I don't see any real problems with
that. I don't see any problems with that. The County Council
members, both of them were appreciative as we found out,
because he presented some in detail. And even if the County
16
Council , get the property in x place. I mean, if he had
said that, "Let's get the property in Captain Cook." Maybe, there's
a violation. But I haven't seen anything written or discussed, that
says that that's what he said. You know, "Let's get this particular
land site for the new Police Station and Fire Station complex."
There's nothing like that, okay. He talks , yet he talks
about training, but is it Manago's fault that they need... you know,
somebody , but, training, that's separate. You have to
decide on what kind of issues. We're here to decide whether there
is an ethical violation of 2 -83. That's all we're are here to decide.
Whether there's a conflict of interest and before I really start on that
issue, I want to comment on Exhibit 5 that was sent by Mr. deSilva.
What Corporation Counsel Ashida was talking about, if you look at
sentence number two, if a commissioner goes to the Council, so
then he's there, there's if he and makes
recommendations, that may create conflict. Now, the conflict that
he refers to is that, which may not with the Mayor's
budget... oh, you don't have the response.
RW: Yeah. Don't know...
Kamelamela: If Mr. Manago had stated something that was different from what he
says to the Mayor, that is a potential conflict. That is what the
reference is being made to. The reference is not saying that, "Hey,
commissioner, you cannot talk to the County Council." That issue
hasn't been made or really yet. But, I guess this is the
not body to litigate decide it. We focus on what this particular
complaint is about. What is this complaint about? You know, I'll
really be honest... I don't know what this is about. Although he said
that certain things happened on a certain date, January and March.
He's claiming that in some fashion, my client, Mr. Manago, had
influenced people to get up and make a cut. Now, I haven't seen
anything, so far, to indicate to me that 1) that he even owns the
property... if he owns the property, I can see that there's a problem.
2) Anything in writing or other testimony where maybe he indicated,
"Hey, I would rather this perfect site in Captain Cook." Because it's
going to be closer. What about things like that? To me, that would
be a clear violation of section 2 -83. All I have is deSilva
alleges that Manago could possibly reap the benefits
that anybody else would get, okay? It's not like people can't get
better response time. I think because it's moving away from Mr.
Manago's place, the response time will be increased. `Cause right
now, there's a police station next to him... it's just a stone's throw
away from him. But they're moving the location to another area to
better serve the community. There's nothing wrong with that. All
know is that deSilva talked about Nixon, but you know, Nixon did
17
something that was , he burglarized the place, but we
don't have that kind of situation here. It's not like went out to, go
talk to a friend and say, "Eh, do this for me." And that's it. While
we're at it, actually let's look at the Affidavit by Joe Reynolds. He
was the one that went out to get the property. He did whatever was
necessary to get the property. And all Manago did was to be
involved in the discussions. That's all he had. Although there's no
timeline as to when certain things happened, we know that it was
Joe Reynolds who pushed for a specific site. Now, in reading
deSilva's allegations, I think a lot of things that he had noted to me,
was an unfair characterization of Manago's conduct. Because he
were the information, but yet, he makes these
inferences which to me, is not backed up. There's nothing to show,
right now, that Mr. Manago had in some way, influenced what is
Reynolds or the company to locate the new Police
Station and Fire Station complex at the time of the County Council
hearing. There is nothing there that will show that. I'd like to look
at some of ... we need to look at some of his allegations that he
made in his motion. Let's go over some of those things. One of the
allegations that I disagreed with him, and if you look at page 3,
number 1, Economic opportunities and advantages above other
businesses. You know, technically just an argument, but he uses
that word almost side -by -side which to me, is a misrepresentation.
It's not like the hotel and the new site being compensated if side -
by -side. We're talking about something that's a quarter mile away.
Let's look at page number 5, he makes references, see, if you look
at paragraph 6, paragraph 9, paragraph 12, he makes allegations
about Charter violations and illegality ,again, I ask you
not to consider those types of things, because like I said earlier,
anything related to those kinds of issues, is not to be decided by
this Board. What the facts show, and that's why I submitted my
Affidavit, is that if you look at Harry Kubojiri's affidavit, it's clear that
the Police had a need. It's clear that the Police recognized a need
to have a new Police Station located in the South Kona area. This
is something that the Police want. And if you look at page 2,
paragraph 4, and at the time that they were thinking about the
Police Station, at that time, they had no definite area identified in
South Kona for that. So, this isn't something that was drummed up
by Manago, this something that the Police want. And the reason
why I submitted all of these affidavits is because all of these people
have who understand with Judge deSilva
and Joe Reynolds. I feel that although Judge deSilva said that
Manago is a nice man, he no problem, but you know, he's still
attacking his character as an individual. That's one of the reasons
why we have submitted these affidavits who know him. His motives
were clear. His motives were not benefit himself or the hotel. His
18
motives was to benefit the community as a whole. Nothing more
and nothing less. And because of that, you should find that there's
no violation of Section 2 -83. Any questions?
RW: Is that criminal complaint still open and pending?
Kamelamela: That's my understanding right now.
CHAIR: The Board... let me interject here. For the purposes of this hearing,
don't want to discuss the criminal aspects.
RW: Okay.
CHAIR: It has no bearing in my eyes.
RW: Okay, then let me move into another... did Mr. Manago ever testify
before the Council prior to this March testimony?
Kamelamela: , whether he had testified previously.
RW: Yeah, was this a recurring thing he had done?
Kamelamela: I have to tell you that other Police Commissioners...
RW:
Kamelamela: Yeah, well, because of the pending criminal, I advised him not to
testify, . If I were to tell you what he tells me that's a
RW: Well, when... what was Manago actually authorized by the Police
commission to represent them before the Council on this March
testimony?
Kamelamela: See, again there's a disagree Judge deSilva and
myself as to what you're talking about now. I'm saying that he was
authorized to talk about this issue before the County Council. He
sees it different. But to me you're not here to decide that issue.
CHAIR: That's correct. And here again, I may interject, it's part of our
consideration as to whether or not Manago had a legal right to
testify.
RW: Well, he had a legal right, I'm just trying to get the whole event that
transpired in my judgment to make a sound conclusions as to
whether or not there was a violation, because that's relevant.
19
Kamelamela: But, at the same time... but my thinking is different from his. I think
he has. He says, "No." So you gotta weigh that. But I also tell you
that I know that there's been prior Commissioner's who testified
too. And then, you should add in this fact that, that at times with
the Corp counsel there, present, and did not go back to testify.
RW: Further, did you... did Mr. Manago suggest or have any knowledge
of the Kona site being availability of the Corporation Counsel?
Kamelamela: As far as I know, he did not.
RW: Did Mr. Manago organize or recruit community members to testify
in favor of the Captain Cook site at this March hearing? First,
question, did he organize or recruit community members to testify
at the March hearing... that's the first question.
Kamelamela: You know you're not supposed to ask him that question or we
stepping into the criminal area.
I IN
Kamelamela: Let me answer it this way. You got to of you. What is
the relevance on that issue, that issue whether he organized it or
not because a, a lot of us organize people who...
RW: You know, I... boards will ask what they interpret appropriate.
I aft TII- 17,M_FAm —t0
RW: `Cause he's a member of Board or Commission and so we're
asking too if he used his position to secure land and water
contract for treatment for himself or others, let's the
way the Charter reads as I understand it. I'm just wondering if he
indeed lobbied while a member of the Police Commission.
Anyway, lobby efforts. Because this certainly the privy
of the Board of Ethics. This is exactly what we're about.
Kamelamela: Yeah, but that's...
CHAIR: Let me interject here... That's the specific issue that we will be
looking at to make a decision. Did he use if official position to
better grasp unwarranted privileges et cetera for himself or
others... in this case Manago Hotel. That is our specific... frankly
our lone issue in this whole consideration. All the rest of the
information presented in writing and in testimony as been
20
background and color if you will. The issue we're looking at is
specifically section 2 -83, Standards of Conduct... and I'll read it:
"No officer or employee shall use or attempt to use his official
position to secure or grant unwarranted privileges, exemptions,
advantages, contracts, or treatment, for himself or others." That
specific authority.
Kamelamela: The reason why I asked the question, so that I period.
As to what is what... but before I talk to him, he has another
question...
RW: Well, I guess that the drift of the gist of my questioning at that point.
Organizing, recruiting, you know, any members, to testify to secure
the place at the County Council.
Kamelamela: Yeah, because I can tell you this, from what I know... is that when
the particular resolution went through but I don't know
whether he wants to talk about that particular
RW: Shall we call a huddle or a break?
Kamelamela: Ummm...
CHAIR: I'm sorry, just a moment.
PKO: Why don't you see if Joe wants a break to talk to Manago.
CHAIR: Would you like some time to talk to Mr. Manago?
Kamelamela: What I was thinking is that if there's other questions that the Board
has that's similar to Mr. Williams one... I would like the questions
now... and then...
CHAIR: Okay, specifically, the issue that we're talking about is what I read.
The Standard of Conduct issue of the Ethics Code. Okay? That's
where we're at. Mr. deSilva did you have something?
Petitioner: Mr. Chairman, if you think it's , 1 would like to give a
brief rebuttal on what Mr. Kamelamela said. If not, that's okay, but
who has the burden of proof does
CHAIR: Yeah... let's see if he wants to talk to his client first.
Petitioner: Okay.
21
CHAIR: Okay, Joe, you want to talk to Mr. Manago at this point?
PKO: And if any other commissioners have any questions.
CHAIR: That's the bulk of our questions at this point.
Kamelamela: Okay, so...
CHAIR: We'll take a recess for a little while?
RW: Yeah.
CHAIR: Okay, we are in recess.
Recess: 11:25 a.m.
Returned: 11:45 a.m.
CHAIR: We're back in session. Mr. Kamelamela?
Kamelamela: Yeah, thank you. In order to get this I will address
several issues , what I'll do, I'll ask questions in certain
areas and then when you have follow up questions, then we can
follow up in the end. Okay, let's take it one at a time.
Petitioner: I would just like to inquire Mr. Chairman... is it his idea that he's
going to assert the 5t" amendment on certain questions and then
next one he'll answer it and any other one he won't answer it, is
that the idea? I don't think that's too myself.
Kamelamela: Like I said, I'll ask the questions, and then you'll answer the follow
up to that area.
CHAIR: Specifically to that area?
Kamelamela: Yeah, to that area, yeah.
Petitioner: That's not fair... I don't want to be overly legalistic, but if he gets to
answer only what he wants to answer and he doesn't have to
answer things that I asked of him... that's fair to the public. Either
he gives up his right to the 5t" amendment or you don't. That's the
way it works. Maybe we can check with counsel... I don't know
what she thinks, but...
PKO: Well, I think it's not a trial... so the strict evidence rules don't apply
here, so...
WA
Petitioner: So it's okay?
PKO: Yeah.
CHAIR: There's one other thing too. Even in criminal court, Mr. deSilva,
when a witness testifies to certain areas, cross - examination is
limited to those areas also.
Petitioner: Yes, if the person is a witness, Mr. Chairman, but not the accused.
For instance, if a man is accused of a crime, he decides to take the
stand in his defense, such as Police Commissioner Mr. Manago is,
you cannot answer only certain questions. Either you give up the
right or not. If you're a witness that is true, but, that's not ... but
CHAIR: Okay, then at this point, the ruling that I'll make is that whatever
questions will go to Mr. Manago would be specific to those issues
that he discussed.
Kamelamela: Okay, so the first area would be, the incident that Mr. Williams had
talked about earlier, if you had organized...
CHAIR: Okay, Mr. Manago would you identify yourself for the record.
Respondent: My name is Dwight Manago. I live in Captain Cook and I am the
manager of the Manago Hotel... and I'm also Vice - Chairman for the
Police Commission.
Kamelamela: My first question is, "Did you organize a committee support to
testify before the County Council ?" And that was Mr. Williams'
question.
Respondent: Okay, I think you need some background about this first. First of
all, I was contacted by CPO, Community Police Officer. South
Kona District was having some major problems and he wanted me
to hear and come to one of their community watch meetings... so
told him if we're having problems, I'm willing to attend some of his
meetings . And they were having some major
problems with amount of... the time between the reporting of it and
the response time. But this means that the South Kona District
spans from Manuka Park all the way to the Kanaha
above the Keauhou lookout. And there's only two patrol officers
patrolling that huge district at any given time. Members of the
community had to wait in excess of one hour sometimes from the
time that they phoned in a complaint or because the two officers
might have been down in Milolii taking care of a domestic and
23
. They wouldn't be allowed before they got back to the
area where they couldn't attend the problems that other people are
having. So I went to the meeting and they were telling us that they
have a problem, this is what's happening, we're not getting proper
response and everything so , so you know you just
can't blame the officers about this, `cause this is what's happening
within the district. We have two patrol officers, our stations stem
from here to here, this is what's happening. This is why we take so
long for the response. They say well, "That's not a good enough
answer. We deserve more than that." But you know we're
taxpayers, we deserve more service than what we're getting. And
you're probably right. And I says, "Well, what do we
do? What can we do to get better service ?" And I said, "Well, you
know, part of the problem that we had is with not having enough
police officers for this district. And I told them that we as a
commission had recommended that ... stated from the fact that the
Police Department, had in their budget... stated that they need a full
on station, fully manned station up in South Kona to handle the
amount of complaints, I mean the amount of calls they were having
and everything. I told them well, the process is basically, the chief
would have to agree that you need a fully manned station up there.
Number two, you would need the Mayor to approve it also, because
he's the one person that allocates the amount of people. He's the
only one that can add personnel to the purpose. And number
three, he needs County Council approval to get the funding for
these things. I said, "This is what needs to be done." So Brenda
Ford who is very active in the community, and she's also like the
head of the community watch group and everything. She organizes
all those things. She said, "Well, what to we need to do with this ?"
said, "Well, for us, you know, we have our recommendations and
these are the types of recommendations we have." Some of the
recommendations we had looked at was, equipment budget;
training, proper training budget, budget, accreditation,
getting the Police Department accredited. Also, they were having
problems with filling vacancies for the Police Officers. So we said,
"You know, it takes twenty months to get a police officer fully
trained and on the road." So, why are we waiting until a police
resigns or retires before we decide that we need a police officer
now? Why wouldn't these provisions be funded previously, and
therefore, we know we have about fifteen officers that resigned,
retired or whatever during the course of the year. Why aren't we
already looking ahead of time and say, "Hey, would these should
be positions, therefore, when one officer leaves, we
somebody to replace or cover the position. Those are things, and
number one on the Capital improvement that they had was the new
station for Puna, and number two would be a new station for South
24
Kona. These are all on the Police Department, on their two capital
improvements . So anyway, as far as organizing the
group. Brenda Ford was the one that organized it. She said, "I
have this, I have this person, I'm going get this, we're going to
organize and everything." And she said, "Would you be able to
help to provide information ?" And I said, "Sure, I can do that. You
need information, I can give it to you and everything." And, so we
went on that basis. And the person that did represent the
community at the meeting that Paul deSilva's talking about is Meg
Childs who is Sherwood Greenwell's daughter. Meg Childs. She
was the one that represented the whole community. While we went
down to the meeting also, in talking to the Mayor, when did get our
recommendations to the Mayor, the Mayor said, "Yeah. I will do it.
Everything you folks have here. I agree with all the points, for the
moneys and the capital improvement budget. I feel that being that
we have the facts here, this is what we need." And we had
made... we did a lot of work. We provided ratios, we provided
amount of officers per district, we provided him with things like how
many officers per district, how many citizens call for district what,
how rough the district was, how many incidents, how many calls for
service. And, we provided him with all that information so that he
would be able to make a better... see what the needs of the
community were. So went to them, and he said,
"Yes, I agree with everything... everything you have here." And she
said, "Wait a minute, I don't understand this." And I think it had to
do with... she said, "I can't agree with this because I don't know how
big the district is and whatnot... how many... certain... how wide the
districts are... and so I provided him with that because we had that
information, so he said, "I agree with all of them." And so that was
it. So, I told them that at the meeting, Joe Reynolds did make a
statement that the administration was not in favor of having this
station in South Kona, therefore, you folks need to go and make a
push on it also. And that's when I stepped back. I just attended the
meeting, I was in the back of the room, and I said, "You know what,
I have to And the clarification that I made at the
meeting was this... I told them, "The Mayor in the meeting that we
had, had stated that he is for that, for the station for South Kona.
And that, and so it's not that we need to tell the Mayor that we need
to get on board and we deserve it and everything like that
RW: Is this the March Council meeting?
Respondent: No. This happened, chronology... it was... I'm not sure when it was,
but they came to Kona. `Cause they had a Finance Committee
meeting. The Council was listening to everybody and saying,
25
"Everybody can provide testimony to secure funding for different
departments or whatever.
RW: You were
Respondent: Right, right. Basically, we told them what the needs were based on
all the work we had done. So, that's what we did. And so, you
know the thing is, is that, the way it was done, is that, you have
ninety something people there... maybe 90 to 100 people there, but
one person spoke and it was... people were very respectful. Meg
Childs presented the... her ... all the different points and everything
like that, and when she did that, after... I'm not sure if it was before
or after she presented, she asked everybody, "Whoever is here,
, please stand up." And everybody in the whole
audience stood up. Okay, then they sat back down, and it was not
something where you're going in there yelling and screaming and
everything, because the wasn't there. Okay, we have
a problem, we're reasonable people, and this is the way we
presented it. You know there's people of the community, they have
a problem, they want the up front, and
and number and that's the way they presented it. And
in fact, many of the Council people were very, they were very
happy. In fact, they started wanting more information. In fact, they
asked them about things, like even tourist and things like that, but
they kept on asking them, "Well, what else do you folks think." And
this third group could get more people to come up to just tell them
what affects or experience they were having in the community and
so on and so forth. They told them things that happen there.
RW:
Kamelamela: Now, the question that was asked was have you before the County
Council.
Respondent: Okay. I'm in charge of the committee. My
is Horace Hara is the Chair for the Police
Commission. And we have provided information to the County
Council... every time we come to the County Council, they asked us
for more and more information. They've asked us to do more
research to qualify certain things that we're taking to them and
telling them. And so, this time we came back with more information
and told them what the news of the community was. So yeah,
have testified, but only for the... on the budget items that we
brought to the County Council to provide them that type of figures
and whatever they asked and whatever budgetary things.
pro
Kamelamela: And then, the third question is: When you on March 2004 at the
County Council, did you have authorization to speak on behalf of
the Police Commission?
Respondent: This is what did happen. In the year before, we had voted to
accept all these recommendations for the budgetary item,
budgetary thing. We did accept it, we voted on it and the following
year, 2004 we maintained since we received absolutely
nothing... nothing was received from the County Council or the
Mayor. Everything was status quo, so we got nothing then. So
basically, we did take the stance that hey, you've got the mandate
of this commission and so therefore, we're presenting the same
thing all over again. `Cause we didn't get equipment, we didn't get
the...
RW:
Respondent: Yeah, all those things didn't happen. And what we did do, is right
before the meeting... going to the County Council, in our minutes,
you will see that I did once again, tell them, this is what again... we
reiterated what we were doing again. And it would show in the
minutes also.
Kamelamela: Okay, are they any questions.
a-RU
is an authorization
Respondent: And the thing is, when we did go to the Mayor's office and
everything like that, I did have another commissioner with me. Jim
Frazier was also with me when we went to the Mayor's to go and
talk to discuss, you know, these things also. So, you know, the
thing is, we're lay people. I don't have the law degree that Paul has
or, you know, we're lay people. . We volunteer our
time and try to do the best job we can to make the community
better. And if I've done anything wrong, I think, I put in a lot of time,
put in a lot of time to do research, put in a lot of time to do a lot.
You know, you try at least create better knowledge, more
knowledge for the people making the decisions also, so that we can
make better decisions. So, if I'm guilty of something, I think that's
what I would guilty of. And I have taken a lot of time from my
business or from my family and everything. You know, you folks
should know that, because you folks do the same thing here too.
Kamelamela: The last area, I should refer you to page 5, paragraph 10. There's
an allegation of Manago that on or about March 13, 2004, this is
04A
about a telephone conversation. Do you agree or disagree with
that?
Respondent: That telephone conversation never happened. It never, ever,
happened. And you know, the first thing about it is ... 2 things, if
Paul had wanted to disagree with things that was being brought up
or the fact that we were bringing up something that was
, then the previous meeting at the Police Commission
meeting, when I had brought these things out, should have been
the proper place to have done it. Number 2, the proper person to
have attached that to, would have been to the Chair. Executive two
would have been to the chair. You know, and being that he has a
law degree, being that he was prosecutor and a past
you get like that, the first person I would have called
would have been the Chair. And that has always been my method
of operation. Horace Hara would tell you, that whenever or if
anything happens, I would first of all, call him and tell him, advise
him that we may have a problem and this is what was happening.
And I never called Horace because Paul never told me he objected
to all these things. So as far as that goes, you know, that phone
conversation, I have no recollection of that phone conversation.
Kamelamela: Any other questions that ... I was going to do something really short,
but if there's other questions.
RW: Chair. I just appreciate the time, it was helpful.
Kamelamela: Dwight did nothing wrong. If you were to look at the minutes too.
Whatever was presented to the County Council, it was budgetary
items, things like that. If you look at the minutes, nobody is
objecting to anything that Mr. Manago had to say. So you can look
at that. Like I said, there is... this is more of a philosophical
disagreement. But it shouldn't rise to an ethical violation here.
Because the facts just don't meet that. And there are examples
that provided it 2 -83 in a situation that would warrant a violation.
For example, when you try to sneak out in for oneself.
So if in the County Code itself, it says the kind of things that are
pure violations and if we were to go to something more benevolent
you're on shaky ground to me. And it's going to have
people really think hard and long as to whether it would be a public
service to serve on any kind commission after awhile. If you find
that what he did through his hard work is an ethical violation. So
thank you for listening.
CHAIR: Mr. deSilva.
oil
Petitioner: I think Mr. Manago and I have a difference of memory. I will swear
to you, on a stack of Bibles that that telephone conversation did
occur with Mr. Manago. But whether it did or not, really, it really
isn't, really isn't the issue here. The issue I think, Mr. Kamelamela
tries to say that he's a commissioner, he's only a volunteer, so you
don't have to understand what the law says. And I guess, back to
the same thing again. The Police Commission continues to define
its' own role. Now it's one thing, incidentally, Mr. Manago said that
this was approved in 2003, 1 think he said last year, I went through
all the minutes for 2003, and I never found any approval by the
Police Commission for Mr. Manago to make recommendations to
the County Council. And even if he did, you know when Mr.
Manago went and testified. There were three commissioners that
were on the prior board and the very clear and very
simple. You don't have to be a lawyer. You can be a high school
and read that before any action is taken on behalf of the
Commission, you have to have a vote of the majority. Now, I guess
it's the responsibility of anyone there on the Commission to make a
motion that someone to testify before the Council. If Mr. Manago
wanted to do that, he should have made the motion. There's
nothing in the record of any motion. So, when Mr. Manago
appeared, I'm sorry, he has good intentions, he does work hard.
But I think we can expect of all our public servants that they how at
least the fundamental rules of law. And the Commission never did
authorize him to act on behalf of the Commission. He is a Police
Commissioner and these duties that are specified by the Police
Commission's powers and duties. You cannot exercise any of
them unless the Commission authorizes him to do that. I have
other things to say. But I think enough is enough. I trust your good
judgment and unless you have any questions, I don't think I have to
say anything else, although I do have some defenses
CHAIR: Okay, thank you Mr. deSilva. Entertain a motion that we go into
closed session for discussion with our attorney over issues.
RW: I move that we do that.
SC: Second.
CHAIR: It's moved and seconded that we go into Executive Session for
purposes of discussing the issues at hand with our attorney. All in
favor.
SC: Aye.
RW: Aye.
KI: Aye.
PQ
CHAIR: Okay thank you. We are in recess from the regular meeting and
going into Executive Session.
Petitioner: Can we go?
CHAIR: Yes, you may.
Petitioner: We can go home, in other words.
CHAIR: Yes.
Petitioner: Okay, thank you, thank you very much.
Moved to Executive Session: 12:10 p.m.
Returned to Regular Session: 12:23 p.m.
CHAIR: The Ethics Board will resume its regular session, it's 12:23 p.m.
We have been able to define what are job is. And that is to
determine whether or not there has been any violation of
Section 2 -83, Standards of Conduct. That's what we're looking at,
not at anything else. Mr. Kamelamela, you got anything else you
want to say before the Board?
Kamelamela: No.
CHAIR: I want to request a motion that we take the time on our own to mull
this over. And then make our final decision at the December
meeting. Do I hear a motion?
RW: I'll so move, because I would like to go back and read this and our
rules specifically, and I would in preparing for this, I would like to
ensure that I understand this fully... so I would like to defer. I move
to defer to the following meeting.
CHAIR: Okay. Do I hear a second?
KI: Second.
CHAIR: It's been moved and seconded that we defer the decision in this
case until December in order that we may further review our written
documents and rules that support, down the line. All in favor say
aye.
SC: Aye.
RW: Aye.
KI: Aye.
30
CHAIR: Aye. Any opposed. It passes and the matter is deferred until next
time.
PKO: And I'll be a nag and warn you not to call each other and discuss
this at all.
CHAIR: Yes. Review and so forth is strictly not allowed.
RW: Right.
CHAIR: Mr. Manago, I thank you for coming in. . But this isn't
quite as simple as some of the other issues that have come before
us. Mr. Kamelamela, thank you very much.
CHAIR: Now let's finish what we have in Regular session. We have
Unfinished Business, the Financial Disclosure Statements and for
that we need a motion to go back into Executive Session.
RW: I'd like to move that we return to Executive Session to address the
Unfinished Business from last time.
PKO: Well, this Unfinished Business is not any particular person.
SC: We have to go into Executive Session for that.
PKO: No, no. I know that, but I'm looking at Unfinished Business. I
thought Mr. Williams wanted at some time, some amendment to the
rules of the filing procedure.
RW: No, we wanted to have a whole from you whether we
should accept the Short Form or the Long Form. I think...
CHAIR: I think what we need to do is to go into Executive Session and take
care of Mr. Shirota's.
PKO: Aren't we on Unfinished Business number 6? This is not Mr.
Shirota's.
CHAIR: I'm sorry, pardon me. Filing Requirements of the Financial
Disclosure Statements. That's what we're doing now. Then after
that I go into Executive Session. According to the Code of Ethics,
we're required to use the Short Form, but we would have to change
the Code to use the Short Form.
RW: That was the issue, what we need to file
31
CHAIR: I think we'd have to go back.
PKO: Do you want me to draft an amendment to the code and then next
maybe next time you could vote if you want that or what you want
to do.
CHAIR: The Council would have to do it right.
RW: The Long Form yearly. It can be the Short Form be yearly or the
Long Form, I don't care. It's just time to do the Short or Long
Forms. We should change and update that. And then we can, as
Board members we can all
SC: And where's the Long Form going to be filed at.
CHAIR: Yes. The biggest problem is... like we all agree on ... would be to file
a Short Form, and nobody's having to dig out the Long Form.
Actually they're supposed to submit the Long Form along with the
Short Form, they're copy... a lot of people don't bother to attach it.
Okay.
PKO: One of you would have to testify before Council.
RW: Would we have a representative in Pat?
PKO: No.
CHAIR: No, the incoming chairman would take that initiative... the testimony
before the Council. Alright. Now, I'll take a motion to go into
Executive Session.
SC: So moved.
KI: Second.
CHAIR: All in favor.
SC: Aye.
RW: Aye.
KI: Aye.
CHAIR: Aye. Close the door.
Moved to Executive Session: 12:30 p.m.
Return to Regular Session: 12:35 p.m.
32
CHAIR: Okay, we have returned to Regular Session. I'll entertain a motion
to accept and file the Financial Disclosure Statements of Gary
Shirota.
RW: I so move.
SC: I second.
CHAIR: It's been moved and seconded that Gary Shirota's Financial
Disclosure Statement is accepted and filed. All in favor say aye.
SC: Aye.
RW: Aye.
KI: Aye.
CHAIR: The chair votes aye and it is approved. The next meeting is
scheduled for Wednesday, December 8, to be determined is the
location. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.
SC: So moved
KI: Second.
CHAIR: All in favor.
SC: Aye.
RW: Aye.
KI: Aye.
CHAIR: Aye. We are adjourned.
(Meeting adjourned at 12:40 p.m.)
Respectfully submitted,
Paulette Cainglit
Secretary
Note: Blank lines indicate inaudible word(s) /voice(s) on audio tape recording.
33