2008-02-13 Board of Ethics Minutes Regular Session

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YAGONG: Well that's one of the things that we tend to do, simply because we had a picture of the State highway sign that says Wainaku, So Steve went out there and took the picture of Wainaku that was in the ad, you know, so people that lives in Wainaku, they - Wainaku —and they'll read the ad. So we're certainly doing that, because we committed back in May that we weren't going to be running our pictures, you know, during the political year, you know. So it has nothing to do with an ethics inquiry or anything like that. It's just something we volunteered, so that's what we're going to do. Now, if you're going to ask me are we going to continue to run the picture? If we continue to get the success through ads like that, probably not, you know. But 1 guess what I would like to say is, try not to come to a conclusion that it's a wrong thing to do just because it's never been done before. It doesn't make it wrong because it's never been done before. And in fact, you know, the option of putting up the pictures for the Council members I think is a good one, because in the end, I tell you what's going to happen. In the end, it is the people of that district that is going to determine whether or not doing this is a waste of money, whether doing this is self - serving. And they have a way of doing that, even if they vote you out. You know, so I don't take this lightly, you know. I make sure that these are —that all the issues are things that are important to the community. And for me, I have had nothing but, you know, thanks from my community. LUM: Thank you. CHAIR: Any further questions? I appreciate your coming in and clarifying this. DILL: Yeah, thank you LUM: Thank you. YAGONG: No, thank you very much. LUM: I apologize for being late. Flat tire. YAGONG: If you may have any —I'll be around here —any further questions. Thank you very much. CHAIR: Actually, he clarified it all, Mr. Ashida did. I wanted you here just to clarify GOODENOW: 1 have two quick things. CHAIR: Oh, thank you please. GOODENOW: Just in light of what Mr. Yagong said You know, he quoted the administrative manual for our district allowance policy. This manual is approved by the Council members, and in addition to the requirement that it meet those purposes, we do require them to post on the internet every month a breakdown of their district allowance expenditures. So as Mr. Yagong said, you know, from the Clerk's Office, when we looked at this issue, we thought really, since it wasn't clear, it's really the voters that would make the ultimate decision. It is posted publicly, the amounts spent for the ads. And the 17