2014-06-25 Board of Ethics Minutes

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Motion and Vote: Mr. Adams moved to approve the minutes. Ms. Kahakalau seconded the motion. All members voted aye. 4. NEW BUSINESS Petition No. 2014-04: Initial review of Petition alleging that a candidate for County Council is in violation of the Code of Ethics because she “comes to Pāhoa Senior Center to announce she is running for County Council seat” and “gave 20 (twenty) tickets to the site manager for distribution”. Mr. Balsis: I know that there is a question, and it was a question even prior to Mr. Cole’s testimony, to decide whether or not the Board has jurisdiction over a candidate for public office and I think this should be discussed here at the Board even before we continue to hear the petition. Are there any comments about this from any of the Board Members? Legal counsel, Renee, you have any comments? Ms. Schoen: No, unless the Board has any specific questions. I can direct you to, just a minute…Mr. Chair, I can direct you to… Member of the Public (from the gallery): I can’t hear you back here. Ms. Schoen: Can you all hear me? Apparently our system is not working. Mr. Balsis: Do you want to take a break for a moment that way everybody can hear? Ms. Schoen: Sure. Mr. Balsis: She is going to double check on this. We’ll just pause for a moment or two. Can everybody hear now? If people can move up a little closer, it would be a lot easier for everybody to hear what’s going on because we’re having technical difficulties. We need to continue with the meeting rather than delay for a long time, so the first two rows, if possible, there’s enough seats. That’ll be great. Counsel you were saying something. Ms. Schoen: Yes. Mr. Chair, I just wanted to direct the Board to the applicability section of the Hawai‘i County Code which is 2-81. That provision does say “This article shall apply to every officer or employee of the County. For purposes of this article, any person nominated for elected office or appointed but not confirmed as administrative head of any agency or as a member of any board or commission shall be considered an officer.” I think the Board should look at the fact that the term “candidate” is not specifically defined within the definitions section. The term “candidate” does not come under the exact definition of employee or officer. The only place that the term “candidate” is mentioned is in the financial disclosure section. I interpret that to mean that candidates are only subject to the Board’s jurisdiction in terms of whether or not they file financial disclosures. There was a question as to the definition of what it means to be nominated to office and trying to tie that together as meaning a candidate. In that situation, I think when 2-81 speaks to “nominated for elected office” it’s talking about situations where the County Council will appoint a successor to fill a vacant seat, so they’re nominated for an elected office, but not yet confirmed. 3