2007-11-14 Board of Ethics Minutes Regular Session

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HAWAII COUNTY BOARD OF ETHICS MINUTES – REGULAR SESSION Wednesday, November 14, 2007 – 10:00 a.m. Ben Franklin Building – Council Chambers 333 Kilauea Avenue, 2"a Floor Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Present: Wayne Joseph, Chair Ann Lum, Vice Chair John Dill, Member Tricia Malanka, Member Marilyn Nicholson, Member Lincoln S. T. Ashida, Corporation Counsel (counsel for the Board) Molly Lugo, Deputy Corporation Counsel Mary E. Crosson (secretary for the Board) Others Present: Councilmember Brenda Ford (via videoconference from Kona), Levi Hookano, Kenneth Goodenow (part of the time), Valerie Victorine (part of the time) 1. CALL TO ORDER The Chair called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. 2. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS Councilmember Ford made a statement: You're probably all aware that there was an article in the newspaper today, about specifically Mr. Yagong using his picture to encourage his constituents to come to public meetings, which I'm probably in favor of anything that would encourage public participation in government as being allowable, provided there's no campaign comments or anything going on. But my real concern is about what we can do in off - election years versus what we can do in election years. And it seems to me that if something is not considered campaigning in an off - election year, then it should not be considered campaigning in an election year. And vice versa —I guess if it's something that we're not allowed to do in a campaign year, then we shouldn't be allowed to do it at any time, as incumbents. I think that campaign laws should be fair and consistent at all times and should apply equally to everyone, and it's always a disadvantage in being cautious in what we do as incumbents, because certainly a non - incumbent has the right to pay for ads, just like we do, but they have the right to pay for ads and say anything they want. The concern I have is where we draw the line in council people - -in providing information to our constituents. In an effort to have not even the appearance of impropriety, I restricted myself and my staff to providing information from the council office via email, to only basic information