CHC 1979-10-19 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Another one from Mr. Burley to Mr. Ishida, dated October 18, 1979. It reads - "Dear Mr. Ishida: It has come to my attention that a member or members of the County Charter Review Commission have caused advertisements to appear in local newspapers and readio which advocates a yes vote for Charter Amendment #1. This, in my estimation, is a misuse of County (taxpapers) funds. (para) The Charter Review Commission should remain neutral and impartial in all matters that are to be left for voters consideration. (para) I, for one, am not in favor of a yes vote on that measure, and if this use of funds for advertising is not illegal it definitely coliinter to my feelings and wishes, and therefore improper. (para) To counteract the effect this advertising may have had on the voting public and ONLY fair thing to have-done isto have an equivalent amount of advertising placed in the same media advocating a no vote on the same measure and also the opposing view any other measure that may have been advertised. Sincerely, Keith Burley. " (Copy of this Communication 97 attached.. ) I think one of the big concerns that we 'face at this time is the report of the flack that we have received from the public as soon as these ads were put out in the paper and to the media here. Therefore, we decided the best thing to do was to get to the bottom of this - and get the commissioners together and call a meeting and discuss this thing. We have to really discuss this and talk about it. MR. OMONAKA: Mr. Chairman, will our counsel be here? Mr. Oda? CHAIRMAN SAKATA: The legal counsel will not be here and the corporation counsel will not be here. So when we come to the legal matters, we are really stuck here. MR. TRULSON : Mr. Chairman. It is perhapsnot necessary to have legal counsel here. Maybe we should hear the report from the publicity chairman. It is quite possible that legal counsel is not necessary. CHAIRMAN SAKATA: Mrs. Kobayashi , do you want to make a report on the publicity details? MRS. KOBAYASHI : I would like to make a report, yes. As faras the media campaign is concerned, the radio spots will be starting on Monday and we have changed the newspaper ads to read "vote Charter, vote. " So the format has been changed, the- radio- spots will say "vote Charter, vote. " The "yes" ha been dropped from the publicity. I haven 't seen today' s Tribune-Herald , but it should have this change in it. MR. TRULSON : Today' s Tribune-Herald did have an ad, and it says "vote." MRS. KOBAYASHI ' Along with the paid ads, we. have asked both papers, the West Hawaii Today- and the Tribune- Herald to have an objective editorial on the particular issue that is going to be advertised in the newspaper. I hope that -4-