2015-09-09 Regular Session Minutes

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Ms. Kahakalau: Thank you very much. Alright for our petitioner could you please provide us with a brief opening statement? Mr. Revell: My name is Mariner Revell from Hilo, Hawai`i. Nice to see you guys again. The reason why I've brought this upon the Ethics Board for a second time is the first time we were here, we didn't know of the gifts situation. The gift situation came up when the gift disclosure was made earlier this year. I think it was in June, I could be mistaken. You know, I still really feel that I wasn't treated fairly and neither were my colleagues or the rest of the public that were involved in this issue and I want justice. The last time I was seeking justice, this time I demand it. Whether it's from the Board, the Attorney General's office and anybody else. I spoke with Attorney General's office and they told me to go to the Ethics Board, make a complaint again and have them get us involved and we'll take care of the rest. And they said it's better than if I went directly to them and requested it. It looks more official. So I'm here again, you know requesting that justice be served to the public and not only myself. Ms. Kahakalau: Thank you. Mr. Kanuha can you respond please to the allegations. Mr. Kanuha: Good morning Chair, Vice-Chair and member Adams. I did submit a letter responding to the petition and hopefully you've received it and got a chance to look it over. Basically, you know I'm gonna just read a few sentences within the letter and we can go into detail if you have any questions afterwards. But... "The petition contains assumptions and conclusions that are simply not true. At no time was I "heavily influenced by the lobbyist group The (sic) Coalition For a Tobacco Free Hawai`i resulting in Administrative Actions (sic) the creation and passing of Bill 135 (sic) Ordinance 13 124 & Bill 32 (sic) Ordinance 15 11." What I was heavily influenced by and which is pretty hard to hear as some of these testifiers saying that the community wasn't in favor of these bills because they're the ones that told me that this that they were having problems with tobacco and how easily accessible it was to kids. And for e-cigarettes that when they're having dinner at restaurants or within work places, that they didn't want these things to be around them. They felt a certain kind of violation of their air space. They're the ones that created this bill, not the Coalition for Tobacco Free Hawai`i and nobody else. It was my constituents and myself that made this bill. So again, "What I was 16