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<br />MS. SONG: Let me begin, and then I’m going to turn this over to Tiffany _____. You
<br />received sort of a lengthy petition from Ms. Hunt about alleged violations, but I do want
<br />to point out that the Ethics Code puts an obligation on government officials to treat—to
<br />act with a certain, in a manner of conduct. And one of the provisions under Section 2-83
<br />is government officials are supposed to treat the members of the public fairly. And it says
<br />all persons shall be treated in a courteous, fair, and impartial manner. And this applies
<br />to officers and employees of the County while discharging their duties. This may put a
<br />greater burden on County officers and employees than other members of the general
<br />public, and many times officers and employees of the County of Hawai‘i may have
<br />difficult public to deal with. Nevertheless, under this Code of Ethics they have a
<br />responsibility to treat everyone in a courteous, fair, and impartial manner. And if it is
<br />not done, then this commission has the obligation to issue an informal opinion to the
<br />employee’s supervisor so that the employee will not do that again. And that is one of the
<br />options that this commission has. There were numerous statements in Tiffany’s petition.
<br />I would like to point out one in particular. On election morning, Ms. Hunt and Dave
<br />Corrigan, who is also a reporter, had an appointment with Jamae Kawauchi at four a.m.
<br />They’re reporters, so they want to report about the election. They had an appointment to
<br />meet with her at four a.m. regarding the election. They were there outside the County
<br />Building, with the gates locked at four a.m., and they were told that she wouldn’t meet
<br />with them. They waited two hours there, and they were finally shown to a media room.
<br />But it is not—regardless of what kind of pressures Ms. Kawauchi might have been under
<br />on Election Day, and I wouldn’t doubt that she was under tremendous pressures, she still
<br />had an obligation to be courteous, fair, and impartial to Mr. Corrigan and Tiffany, and
<br />she was not, by making them wait like that and refusing to meet with them. I might also
<br />point out that even her—there was another incident when she had a press conference,
<br />where only certain reporters were included and not all. If Ms. Kawauchi is going to be
<br />fair and impartial and courteous, then all the media should be notified, not select media.
<br />Again, to some people these things might not be significant, but I just want to point out
<br />that Ms. Kawauchi is in a position of authority. She’s also required to comply with the
<br />requirements of the Ethics Code. And so it puts her in a more important position and
<br />more difficult position than members of the public. So under the circumstances, she is
<br />not here to defend herself, although she did have an opportunity. She did receive the
<br />petition. So I’m asking that based on the petition, with no opposing statement from Ms.
<br />Kawauchi, that the commission should issue an informal advisory opinion to her
<br />supervisor, who I believe is Dominic Yagong, that she should not continue to engage in
<br />this kind of conduct. I’m going to turn this over to Tiffany, because I think she has some
<br />more to say to this Board.
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<br />MS. HUNT: Aloha. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to state my opinion. I’ve
<br />covered Hawai‘i County politics for various media outlets daily, weekly, monthly, and
<br />now in real time reporting on my website, BigIslandChronicle.com, since 2001, and I
<br />have never experienced such blatant—I feel stonewalling, actually. And the fact that
<br />Jamae Kawauchi is not present today, when I’m here and ready to look her in the eye and
<br />state all of my allegations, is symbolic to me. That’s another example of how I’m not
<br />able to get information or communicate with someone in such a position of authority.
<br />Not only is she running the Election Division, she is also in charge of the County Clerk’s
<br />Office, which runs Council Services, handles the minutes of meetings. If you read my
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