2013-01-09 Board of Ethics minutes

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skateboard, but it didn't quote the County ordinance. Instead, the bottom read, the Transit Agency. That was too vague supposed to have the ordinance code. They left that out. Then I looked up Section 18 -91 regarding baggage fares. There is no provision to charge a dollar for a skateboard or an extra bag of groceries. I followed the chain of command with my complaint. At the top was Bobby Command. He gave me false hope. Then he promised a recommendation for the transit board. He was going to put in my name. Then he promised a telephone conference. Nothing came through. And this is just the nuts and bolts. I mean, I went through a lot of grief and a lot of time on a wild goose chase. After a cruel long time--after a cruel long time, it dawned on me that Bobby Command was hiding a malfeasance: the $1 theft for the skateboard or the bag of groceries. The final step was when Bobby Command asked me, in regard to fares, what if somebody brought an atom bomb onto the bus? Then I knew that he was playing me for a fool. He was not a concerned citizen. He had turned into a bureaucrat. He is a bureaucrat in the worst sense of the word. Bobby Command is costing our County more money than he gets paid The Hele-On Bus is not user-friendly. Everybody knows that. The $1 extortion proves it. If the system were user-friendly, then more citizens would stop putting gas in their cars. They'd do like I do. Their dollars would not go off - shore, as mine don't, but stay in our local economy, as mine will today when I get my plate lunch at the Chinese restaurant, all you can eat. Etcetera. Bobby Command did nothing to help, and that hurts the economy of this County. Mahalo. Mr. Balsis called up Tim Rees, who had signed up to testify on several agenda items. MR. REES: I also had a brief comment that I didn't write down, number 6b. I do have a brief comment, if I can add that on there. Thank you. Okay, beginning with 4a., communication, you know I I am very concerned about the agendas of all of the County boards. I think the Ethics Board is one of the most important boards that this County actually has, and it's not that there's so much bad activity going on, but there really has to be a fair venue for people to bring their complaints. And seguewaying into Sa., this new business item, Petition No. 2012 -10. I have certain problems with I guess it's the Ethics Board's rules, or maybe it's actually the Ethics Code of the County of Hawaii in relation to this petition--or not this particular petition, but initial reviews. My problem is that this Board can dismiss petitions at initial review stage. Now if I was to come down here and testify intelligently--I don't mean like an expert, I mean just as a regular citizen coming in, having a real good idea about the gist of what the complaint is about. It may be something that I am very much an interested person in. Maybe it's something I have a general interest in. But if I cannot have access to Petition No. 2012 -10 in this particular matter, then I have to go by the quotes that have been put on this agenda to try to discern what is this matter really about. Now I just heard Mr. Warren. And I've known Mr. Warren as an acquaintance from the County Council meetings. We both show up there quite often. He seems reasonable, but when I read these quotes, by quote, violating their own rules, quote, delay tactics and psychological warfare, and the last one, quote, the extortion of money from Hele-On Bus passengers. Now that last one is the one that really concerns me, that there are no rules cited here, there's no County Code cited, so I'm not able with--maybe he does that in his complaint. Again, here I am trying to testify intelligently. I have to--I'm forced to testify somewhat ignorantly. Obviously, the County Code that he might be referring to in his complaint is a matter of