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hope that you do act ethically, much more ethically than the county and the State have
<br />acted in the past. And I thank you for this time. Mahalo a nui loa.
<br />CHAIN MarkMcNett?
<br />McNETT.• Mr. Chair, this lady was here before me and or slipped after me,
<br />so I would be happy to let her go ahead.
<br />GOLDEN: You can go. . Thank you.
<br />McNETT.• I'll try to speak up so it's picked up by the mic as well as the people able to
<br />hear, regardless of their ability to hear or not hear, as the case may be. My name is
<br />Mark McNett, a resident of Hilo. And as far as the Hamakua land sales, it at all
<br />appearances was an ill - conceived, complete fiasco, not one bidder, although there was
<br />great hope held out even on the last day. As someone from New York, it's really sort of
<br />gathered that someone such as myself should keep his opinion to himself in capital -H
<br />Hawaiian issues, which this is, but it's also your government issue, a county issue. And I
<br />really was uninvolved, but watching the county council meetings on TV, and committee
<br />meetings, I clearly remember the second testifier at this hearing, this gentleman, saying
<br />he preferred to stay out of court and preferred to work with the mayor and the county
<br />council. And from what we've heard, that really didn't happen. And the same thing with
<br />the mayor. I mean, he's Hawaiian, you know we're very hesitant to venture opinions,
<br />even though he is our mayor of Hawaiian [sic] county. Okay, I'll just since I'm really
<br />not an expert on that, I'll move on to the item 2010 -05, the May Yh Hawai `i County
<br />Council meeting. I'm relatively certain I was in attendance for at least part of the
<br />meeting if not most of it, so I just came mainly because of that, to find out if I could pick
<br />up any incident details just out of curiosity. And as far as the gifts to the council people
<br />and others on their staff, and perhaps others, thank you for closely examining it as well
<br />as you can. I mean, one would think that your resources are limited as far as
<br />investigating unreported gifts, but I'll just say that I'm aware of the councilperson in
<br />district 2, district S, 6, and 9 have received the comprehensive campaign public funding,
<br />the pilot program where their entire campaigns are paid for out of the State Campaign
<br />Spending Commission funds, and it's totaling around, with one non - incumbent, almost a
<br />hundred thousand dollars at this point. There's some very strict constraints on that
<br />program, so I you're probably already thinking along those lines as to what may or
<br />may not be in order there, in regard to these gifts. And I found the State Campaign
<br />Spending Commission to be great to work with, very easy, and they're very interested in
<br />any irregularities that may happen with comprehensive campaign public funding. Now
<br />as far as the proposed Ethics Code changes, there have been repeated attempts over the
<br />years. They have some success, but it's my understanding they've been thwarted as far
<br />as any penalty or fine being enacted that could be used. So thank you very much for
<br />these several minutes, one and all.
<br />CHAIR: Shirley?
<br />GOLDEN: My name is Shirley Nalani Nihau Golden. I live the rest of my life and raised
<br />in Hamakua coast of Pap `aikou. I know William Kuamoo, it's my family. I my mother
<br />has land up in Pepe `ekeo. Her maiden name is Kahana, and I do have land atMaku `u. I
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