2008-09-03 Board of Ethics Minutes Regular Session

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the County Code of Ethics, and particularly Section 2 -83. That doesn't mean other testimony and other surrounding circumstances can't be considered in our decision, but we need to make it clear that we're strictly adhering to what it says in our County Code of Ethics, which all of us have to follow. Before I continue, Ms. Edwards, did you want to say anything? ED WARDS: I just wanted to kind of listen so I could hear both perspectives before I made a comment, since I signed up later. I just want to express my support for Ms. Naeole, and I just wanted to say that one of the things about her that I absolutely love is her authenticity, the fact that she —first of all, this Ms. Lisa Nahoopii, she felt free enough to be able to come and testify and give her mana `o, and also, Ms. Naeole felt free exercising her first amendment right to share her mana `o. It was actually over the course of a weekend, so she had some time to probably digest what she was —what the testimony was and her impression of things. And just another perspective is just the rawness of Emily and the fact that she —to me, when I heard that message, it was just very genuine, and you could hear her wanting to try to explain the perspective of why she was against the issue that this woman was for. And the whole arrogant, pushy part — sometimes people may come across that way on the other side of council members. I've actually seen other council members, not her, in my capacity as a newspaper reporter — I've seen them be very rude to the public on the floor, in front of the public, and to me, what happened there is not even close to the way that I've seen council members conduct themselves in a public meeting. I actually testified on a rare occasion before the Council when I was a newspaper reporter, and one of the —the council members, who - -if I say which district that person represented, it would identify that person —but actually called me out for even taking a step out of the press box to come and testify and was very harsh and humiliated me on the floor. And actually, as a result of that - -the way the interaction was and how it made me feel such shame for coming and saying something - -it resulted in a complete Council overthrow of this person's position of power. So what I heard this morning is just authentic, and that's the beauty of this person. She is not polished at all, because she is from Opihikao. Yet at the same time, like —she just feels the need to say to this woman, like —kind of like woman -to- woman, I didn't agree with you but I do understand where you're coming from. And to me, I just heard a different recording. And knowing the way that council members have conducted themselves for everyone to see on Channel 52-1 mean, we could definitely have all the council members come before you guys. I mean, if I would have known that I could have filed a petition with you years ago, I would have. So I've seen worse, and I just want you to know that. Thank you. LUM: Thank you. NICHOLSON: Thank you. CHAIR: One thing— thanks for sharing, Ms. Edwards. You mentioned not wanting to discourage people from expressing themselves in the public eye when it comes to issues close to their heart and close to their community, but what concerns me is that if —and I hear your examples of other situations —but we need to focus on this particular situation, regardless of how other people may act. And one thing that I don 't want to do is encourage, or discourage, people from expressing themselves in front of the Council or 7