2007-03-09 Investigation Into Alleged Sunshine Law Violations

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Printer Friendly :: Page 1 of 2 West Ha i. Print Page oay, INews from the B'ig Island Council members go on air, may end up in hot water by Jim Quirk West Hawaii Today jquirk @westhawaiitoday.com Thursday, March 1, 2007 8:09 AM HST HILO--Three Hawaii County Council members could be removed from office for potentially violating Sunshine law regulations. Council members Stacy Higa and J Yoshimoto,of Hilo,and Emily Naeole, Puna,appeared together on two separate Hilo- based AM radio station programs this week.The first program aired live Monday morning on KPUA and the second aired live Tuesday morning on KHBC. During both radio programs, Higa,Yoshimoto and Naeole apparently talked about government issues.Council members aren't allowed by law to congregate outside of scheduled public meetings to discuss government affairs, County Corporation Counsel Lincoln Ashida said Wednesday. Ashida said County Clerk Casey Jarman received complaints from residents about the council members appearing on the radio station programs and discussing county business.The complaints prompted Ashida to launch an investigation. Ashida made it clear that it would take a lot for the state Office of Information Practices to determine that Higa, Naeole and Yoshimoto willfully violated Sunshine laws,which, among other things, require government officials to abide by regulations designed to keep the public informed about when government issues are discussed. In matters such as this,the OIP usually determines that council members violated Sunshine laws nonwillfully,Ashida said. If the violation is determined to be involuntary,the members may be required to discuss their radio comments at a council meeting. If willful,they could be removed from office,Ashida said. In the six years he's served as corporation counsel,Ashida said he's never seen the OIP determine a willful violation of Sunshine laws by government officials. If Ashida determines in his investigation that the three council members violated the law, he would turn the information over to the OR The OIP would then determine whether the violation was willful or non-willful, he said. If there was a violation,Ashida doesn't believe the OIP would consider it a willful act because the council members were talking on radio stations and not meeting together and plotting in a secret meeting closed to the public. The three council members did know in advance they planned to appear on radio shows together. According to a Stephens Media report published Saturday,"the three said they wanted to'set the record straight'and will appear this week on Hilo radio shows." Citing a lack of information, Leslie Kondo,director of the OIP, declined to comment on the matter Wednesday. Higa,Yoshimoto and Naeole together called a press conference Friday to express their displeasure at allegations they, along with Hilo Councilman Donald Ikeda, excused themselves from a regular meeting last Thursday as part of a political game. Because of their absence,the remaining five council members were forced to postpone voting on a number of bills that required two-thirds of favorable council votes to pass. One of the bills was the final ordinance reading to approve bonding$2 million for a$9.3 million project to build a refuse reload station in Hilo. http://westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2007/03/01/local/loca102.prt 3/7/2007