2006-03-08 Board of Ethics Minutes regular

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RW: Okay. Is there someone back behind you Aaron? AA: No. RW: Okay, lets begin. So Board of Ethics, now, back in session dealing with new business which was deferred, awaiting the arrival of our Corp Counsel, our counsel, Mr. J.D. Kim from Maui, and we are addressing the business of Petition No. 2005 -08 in which Roger Christie seeks an opinion from the Board of Ethics regarding Sections 2 -83(b) sub (2) and 2 -84(a) sub (1) of the County Code, in which the council members are seeking public defense for their impeachment trial. And, uh, I would like to ask if we can begin, if I may, JD would you be comfortable to sort of summarize, summarizing, or we can have Mr. Christie summarize his action. Yeah, lets have you summarize the petition and ah, basically we have determined that, I think, that that we are dealing with one section of the Code 83 (b) sub (1), take us in a summary direction there. JD: As I understand, from Mr. Christie's petition he seeks an opinion whether or not there is a conflict of interest wherein eight members of the County Council voted, or had on their agenda, an issue of reimbursement for legal fees on an impeachment action filed by Mr. Christie. He cites to Section 2 -83, Fair Treatment, subsection (b)(2) which states that no officer or employee shall use, or attempt to use the officer's or employee's official position to secure or grant unwarranted privileges, exemptions, advantages, contracts or treatment, for oneself or others; including but not limited to the following: sub section (2); Accepting, receiving, or soliciting compensation or other consideration for the performance of the officer's or employee's official duties or responsibilities except as provided by law. And then he also cites Section 2 -84, Conflicts of Interest, subsection (a) No officer or employee shall take any official action directly affecting: subset (1) A business or other undertaking in which that officer or employee has a substantial financial interest. RW: Okay, and so Mr. Christie, Roger, does that essentially summarize it? RC: Yes, very well, thank you. RW: Would you like to make your case. RC: Yes, I would. Good morning and aloha to everyone. Its my pleasure to be here. I love this county very much. I've been a happy resident for almost 20 years and I feel like I'm a citizen performing a citizens responsibility to help keep government in check and accountable. Our beautiful state constitution says that all political power of this state is inherent in the people and the responsibility for the exercise thereof rests with the people. All government is found upon this authority and it is my pleasure to be a long -term resident here and if I see something that seems to be in conflict or out of integrity, I feel it is up to me to speak out about it. I have full respect for all parties involved in this case and my feelings in doing a political action like this remind me of Desmond Bishop Tutu when he won the Nobel Peace Prize and said "...people sometimes do bad things, but there is no such thing as a bad person." I do my best to come from that point of view. So, Albert Einstein said many years ago we need a new standard of ethics in order for humanity to survive. I believe that it is true today as well. It's my pleasure to exercise my civic responsibility. It started over my opinion that a perpetual prejudice and a form of civil war has existed on this island for over 30 years, it is known as the Marijuana Eradication 5