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any conflict or impediments to his serving as a per diem district court judge in <br />the Third Circuit, while continuing to serve as the Director of Liquor Control. <br /> <br />MR. BALSIS: Good morning, Gerald. You have the floor. <br /> <br />MR. TAKASE: Thank you. The reason I’m coming to you folks—I’m not really seeking out <br />new employment, but I serve in several different capacities, and one of those is as an <br />officer in the Army National Guard, as a judge advocate. And one of our duties in that <br />position is to provide legal support to the Hawai‘i Army National Guard. <br /> <br />Since our Guard has been activated several times now, we’ve had situations where we <br />run into instances where we are getting ready to do court martials, so as part of that <br />function, we need to provide a military judge to these proceedings. So I have been <br />working with the Judiciary, because we’ve had several past—well, several current sitting <br />judges that were past National Guard members, and asking them if they would be <br />willing to serve as members. But since they’re long since retired from the military, <br />they’re not able to sit in that capacity. So the other I guess alternative that was <br />suggested was that—and this was by Judge Ibarra—that he would appoint me as a per <br />diem judge and in turn then I could sit as a military judge, because the military judges <br />are required to be sitting either part-time or full-time as judges in order to serve in the <br />military capacity as well. <br /> <br />So that’s kind of the genesis of this proposal and request. So I come here today to seek I <br />guess clearance from the County. I’ve talked to Lincoln Ashida, Corporation Counsel, and <br />both he and I don’t see any real conflicts between my position as Director of Liquor and <br />sitting as a per diem judge. I still hold my law license, but I don’t practice other than <br />through the military side. In our County work, we don’t really have occasions to appear <br />before the District Court. Any decisions or matters appealed from our department would <br />go directly to the Circuit Court as a Chapter 91 appeal, so we don’t envision any time <br />that any matter from our office would be appearing before the District Court. <br /> <br />So really I sit here trying to get an advisory opinion from you folks as to whether or not <br />you see any conflicts, and if there is none, then there are several steps that have to be <br />completed to get appointed, and there’s still some question as to whether or not I can <br />even sit as a judge still holding a County position. But that’s something the Judiciary is <br />looking at at this moment as well. <br /> <br />MR. BALSIS: Any comments or questions from members? <br /> <br />MR. HENRICKS: Yeah, I’d like to make a comment. Other than the fact that you play <br />lousy basketball, I sat in that same position for ten years as a per diem judge in the <br />District Court, and I had absolutely no interaction with the Liquor Commission during <br />those ten years, so I can’t possibly see any conflicts at all. So that’s my experience. I was <br />kidding about the basketball. <br /> <br />3 <br /> <br />