MIN CHC 1990-06-22 - Laserfiche WebLink

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.. �� . 1 1P .••••••••.•••.:.. Big Island Press Club Y 1967- 1987 �r •••• .•• • r oi,v atJIit: €.-'y: . yy a` xrfi nom%;{gdA, Py+" "S� � � 'rAinto Mrlirpl eft, 14; ' --P.O. Box 1920, Hilo, HI 96721 June 22, 1990 • Hawaii County Charter Commission Liquor Commission Conference Room Suite 230, 101 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Ladies & Gentlemen: I represent the Big Island Press Club, a - rou_ of ....bout 100 ne\'es reoorters, editors and others in television, radio, newspaper and other media work. For more than 22 years we have been vitally interested in openness in government. Your records will show our successful lobbying efforts in 1967 in introducing the open meeting provision ( 13-20 b) into the charter. County legal officials can outline our string of successful court efforts to protect openness it litigation against the mayor, the Hawaii County •Council and the Hawaii County Police Commission, among others. The charter is now quite simple on the 4uestion of oenness. Decision— making procedures, including both ce:_timony and fact finding leading up to them, are to be open to the public. They can be closed only in the case of a. question of personal privacy. And only thenwhenthe .:arson whose privacy is involved so chooses to invoke that right. We think this served ��, ved the people well: With that background, we want today to share our alarm over the recent informal discussions about and allusions to a possible change in the ethics board procedures. We fear, based on what we have been told, that the amendment could alter the whole concept of openness -- all because of he procedural mishandling earlier this year of a dubious complaint filed against planning commissioner Mike Luce. The ethics board, because of a reassignment of its -administrative staffing from the mayor' s office to the corporation counsel' s office, simply goofid. Luce should have been informed of the complaint against him before the panel proceeded. The same board also failed to provide meeting agendas to the media covering Hawaii County despite standing requests such agendas be mailed -- a clear violation of the state' s Sunshine Law. • EXHIBIT A 20 Years of Commitment to the Public's Right To Know nMMIIr �ttlai