|
minutes 10-13-99Page 18 of 31
<br />PRANKE: I don’t know that. I do know that a lot of people have more empathy with the person that
<br />they have on their Council from their district, because that person comes from their district, but I don’t
<br />know that, and I don’t know what process. I know that, for the current County Executive, people are
<br />given police background checks in some cases. There are various kinds of other things. I suppose,
<br />politically, that’s important. Democratically, it’s not.
<br />HERKES: It’s important to me but I think that’s fine.
<br />PRANKE: It may be. You know, most of us probably wouldn’t want a child molester sitting on some
<br />Board, but the point of the fact is that everybody does belong to this democracy, and the question of
<br />limiting people because of certain traits, we have to be real careful about how we do that, I think. A
<br />person with a criminal background, doesn’t necessarily mean that they wouldn’t be as good a
<br />Commissioner on some Board or Commission as somebody else, but that pretty much precludes them
<br />from being on Boards and Commissions at this point.
<br />RAY: Any other questions? All right, thank you. Is Mr. Ross still here?
<br />?: I think he left. He’s not here.
<br />RAY: Okay, Coco Pierson. Then we’re going to take a five minute break after Coco is finished.
<br />PIERSON: Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the Charter Commission. My name is Coco Pierson.
<br />I’m also from Puna and I’d like to range over a couple of things here, but I won’t take too long. I sat in
<br />this very room when the Police Commission was holding its meeting here, and one of the Police
<br />Commissioners was irritated at public testimony. It is terrible, you know, to have to listen to the public
<br />sometimes. And, even though it was not on the agenda, this Commissioner made a motion that
<br />henceforth, all public testimony will be in writing. It was seconded and it passed. And I said, when will
<br />this take effect? Next month. Okay. A representative from the Corp Counsel’s Office was here to give
<br />some guidance to the Commissioners so that they would do things legally, but that guidance was not
<br />forthcoming. It didn’t happen. I protested that any action has to be on the agenda, advance written
<br />notice, you cannot deny oral testimony and require it, it’s not legal, and the representative from Corp
<br />Counsel’s Office will affirm what I’m saying, I’m sure. So, the representative from Corp Counsel’s
<br />Office was asked, said yes, I’m afraid that Mr. Pierson is correct, and it’s not legal. But, only, he spoke
<br />up when he was asked. Okay. So, from what I’ve seen, and I’ve been to many Police Commission
<br />meetings, it’s a joke, and it’s a real bad joke for the public. If you can’t consider something along the
<br />lines that Mr. Pranke has suggested, then consider, and I think he gave two possibilities, I’ll give you a
<br />third. Eliminate the Police Commission. Just take it out. As a citizen, if you don’t like what the police
<br />are doing, then just vote the Mayor out of office, and if he’s only serving for two years, you won’t have
<br />too long to wait. But, don’t put up a false hope that the Police Commission is going to deal in an honest,
<br />forthright manner with anything that comes before it. It’s not going to happen. It hasn’t happened in the
<br />past. Can anyone remember anything the Police Commission has done? I don’t think so. The papers are
<br />full of many things. Why didn’t the officers take their complaints to the Police Commission? Why are
<br />we paying for a lot of attorney fees? Why wasn’t this solved at the Police Commission level? It’s
<br />because each and every Police Commissioner is basically a puppet of the appointing authority, and the
<br />Legislative Branch, who must confirm or reject the Police Commissioners, as it now stands, has not
<br />done their job. People appointed by the Mayor have come before the County Council and lied to the
<br />County Council. Lied to the County Council, and still be approved. Ditto for the Ethics Commissioners,
<br />the members of the Board of Ethics. They have lied. I’m not talking about in their prior activities, or
<br />unrelated, but to the County Council, and still be approved. So, where is the oversight? Where is the
<br />review? It does not, or has not existed enough. A shortage? You mention a shortage of people willing to
<br />serve.
<br />file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 10-13-99.html7/1/2011
<br />
<br />
|