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LUKE: I personally think it is . I think that one must believe in the merit system to be a civil service commissioner. And this merit system is a system that is . . .follows along. . .that it ' s not who is right , it ' s what ' s right. And if it ' s right in accordance with the merit system, it ' s right. That ' s why, if I may comment again on the district representation. . .appointment to the Civil Service Commission is not a patronage thing. It ' s to insure that there ' s patronage to the district. We deal with people. And people andemployees are centered in Hilo and Kona and may be centered elsewhere. GREENWELL: There may not be one within a certain district. You may not have one that you feel is qualified. . . LUKE: Yes. GREENWELL: . . . in a certain district . (Inaudible) six districts and five being appointed, I think the best thing to do is to leave out district entirely. CUSHNIE: I have trouble with that. Perhaps we could find wording that said five our of the six districts , and I would feel better. Speaking of patronage, if I may, we had another department head ask us if we could perhaps eliminate the necessity of his employees campaigning during election year. Do you find that a problem? And should that . . . should you be above that? LUKE: Employees campaigning in election year? CUSHNIE: And I think the pressures . . . LUKE: I would think if the employee campaigns on his own time, his campaigning is as an individual citizen, and not as an employee. CUSHNIE: I should clarify that. It was working for a campaign, the pressure to work for a specific party or. . . LUKE: I 'm sorry, I 'm not prepared to answer that. I just don' t have an answer. CUSHNIE: But you don' t see that as a problem or. . . LUKE: Working for. . . CUSHNIE: . . .a conflict of interest? LUKE: . . . someone ' s campaign? I can. . . 364