CHC 1979-04-17 PH - Laserfiche WebLink

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CHAIRMAN SAKATA: Another thing, you talk about the Charter Commission being elected. On this , you feel that commissioners should be compensated then? You say, elected body--and they get elected and go into this Charter Commission situation. Do you think they should be compensated? MR. PULHAM: I think that--aren ' t you allowed reasonable compensation? Nothing at all? No per diem? No travel allowance? Nothing? CHAIRMAN SAKATA: According to the charter, no, we cannot be compensated at all. MR. PULHAM: Well , yes , I would agree that they have to be. If you ask someone to do a job then you expect to pay them to do that job. By this, I don ' t mean an outrageous salary or anything of the kind. But, certainly they have to have per diem and expenses, this sort of thing if you expect them to do the job. MRS. KOBAYASHI : Your proposal was for an elected Charter Commission that would work for a period of two years. If it were compensated, say, at the rate that the contract and benefits f-or.=the government workers were compensated , you are talking about a fantastic amount of money. Do you realize that? MR. PULHAM: I realize that and that is exactly what I didn ' t say. I said the meetings could be inter- spersed over two years. By this , we are talking about compen- sation per time actually worked. MRS. KOBAYASHI : I think the previous Charter Commissions were paid. I think $1,000 or something like that. But the last ' 68 charter denies any payment to the commission. MR. PULHAM: I disagree with that if that is the case. I think that it has to be reasonable and it has to be justified, yes , but you people should not be expected, whether you are elected or appointed, as your case, to work for nothing or to take it out of your pocket. That is wrong. MRS. KOBAYASHI : I believe that however you would state it, I feel , that you would run into a problem with a special election. You are asking for an election on the Charter Commission and an election on the charter two years later. MR. PULHAM: My suggestion was that you hold it at one general election and that the results come out two years later at the next general election. It would not require a special election at any time, no. MR. CADINHA: Mr. Pulham, in the State Consti- tutional Convention, how many of the people that were there drafting and redrafting the constitution were either full-time politicians or connected very closely with resisting the change? Is there any kind-of feedback? - 21 -