2012-12-12 Board of Ethics minutes

Home

from the Council seat, don’t do it on video, because we’re watching and we’re listening. So that’s why I came to testify today, to express that point. Thank you very much. Mr. Balsis called up RJ Hampton, who had also signed up to testify on agenda item 4a (Petition No. 2012-07) and 4b (Petition No. 2012-08). MS. HAMPTON: First of all, I bought these two books today. One is the transcripts of the Watergate and the other is the Tower Commission, and this is to prove to every historian that has ever seen history go by that attorneys lie, that people cover up, and that even at the highest points of power, people can take one small lie and turn it into an incredible experience. I used to throw bricks at the TV as I was watching Dan Inouye and other people from Hawai‘i conduct the investigations and the intelligence commission hearing. So I know people lie, and I know that we later on in history get vindicated, and presidents and people can lose their positions. Today I’m just here to remind you as to why I did this, because I take a lot of slack, and I wanted to say to you that the core of the complaint is the fact that the councilman was fabricating his story that simply was not true. It took place on August 20th, 2012. To hear the county clerk’s report, what happened on August 11th, 2012, that necessitated the governor extending the closing of the elections. What we know today--and the attitude of most people out there that I talk to is that ethics in politics is perceived as an oxymoron, a figure of speech which attempts to link two contradictory concepts. I don’t believe this. Politicians are generally seen—and these are the stereotypes about politicians—are considered to be the least trustworthy profession in, next to maybe something else we won’t talk about. I even found a quote that kind of really says it all, from George Orwell. It says “political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” Nothing demonstrates more vividly the absence of ethical values in conduct of government and the loss of trust of our political representatives than the recent events of the 2012 election in Hawai‘i County. We are asking for a determination of facts and a ruling on Mr. Blas’ conduct. We are also asking an opinion on the ethics of publicly lying or committing perjury to councilmembers and public. The complaint asks the Board of Ethics to compel Mr. Blas to explain his public accusations and comments and to produce proof voters at his polling poll stations were unable to vote and that the polling station in District 4 did not open on time. If for some reason this kind of intentional deception is exempt from the Ethics Code and all rules governing the Council, it will be, in our opinion—it will call into question the very credibility of the process. The purpose of the Ethics Board—and of your Ethics Board, is to determine and to set a standard. And if I can go to Chapter 15, and I don’t find—and I can put Control-F and I don’t find lying, I don’t find dishonest, I don’t find misrepresentation, I don’t even find anything than can address itself to when a politician is lying to the public--I think that we need to rewrite the ethics or add something in there to make it quite clear, if we catch them in a lie, this is where we go. We catch them in a lie, then we take it to the criminal justice system, wherever it is. I need guidance on this, because we seen too much, and I want it all to stop. So I’m asking you to set a standard, and if that’s not your job, God, please tell me, who will? Because the decent-minded people are watching today. And I realized a long time ago that I may take a lot of flack from surfers who come into my district or my community and tear it apart. I want to know that when they step out of line, whether it be a nonprofit or a