03-19-2018, 12:03 PM
My request to investigate Council member Eoff went before the Ethics Board today. All 4 members present voted that they saw no conflict of interest in Eoff introducing legislation which exempts her vacation rental from paying a $500 annual fee, while banning them elsewhere. They did this despite her being caught failing to disclose income from this rental as required of her since 2012, and putting in writing that she'd never owned any rental of any kind. The Board's lawyer was a friend of hers who she worked closely with for years, which he disclosed. A Board member was a friend of hers who disclosed he's received a gift of art work from her which he has up in his home.
There will likely be an article about it in the paper tomorrow. I wasn't exactly surprised that her friends and other people appointed by the mayor and approved by Council members like Eoff refused to take any stand against her actions. One of them actually told her that now that she's disclosed she really had $10-50,000 per year on this condo that she doesn't have a mortgage on but somehow allegedly has never had a profit on, she's ok. Of course if the mayor can steal $10k, pay it back once caught, and have no consequences for that, I guess it was unrealistic to think they'd do anything to penalize her.
Also interesting when she stated her case, she lied to the Board 3 times. She stated that her vacation rental is regulated by the bill, when in fact she'll be required to register it. She stated that rentals outside of resort zones that get grandfathered will be able to able to retain the permit for the rental upon sale, when in fact her bill only allows that in resort areas like the one she has. Finally, she said that her bill doesn't regulate rentals where the owner lives on site, when in fact they too have to register and anyone renting out more than one room or an ohana on the property they live on will be banned from doing so. Those were some of her arguments as to why there was no conflict of interest. When I pointed out those lies, they didn't care.
I see Rob Tucker had a complaint in the past against the Board itself. http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2018/01/1...st-itself/
Here is the West Hawaii Today editorial calling for Ms. Eoff's recusal. http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2018...on-rental/
Perhaps the Board of "Ethics" should change their name!
There will likely be an article about it in the paper tomorrow. I wasn't exactly surprised that her friends and other people appointed by the mayor and approved by Council members like Eoff refused to take any stand against her actions. One of them actually told her that now that she's disclosed she really had $10-50,000 per year on this condo that she doesn't have a mortgage on but somehow allegedly has never had a profit on, she's ok. Of course if the mayor can steal $10k, pay it back once caught, and have no consequences for that, I guess it was unrealistic to think they'd do anything to penalize her.
Also interesting when she stated her case, she lied to the Board 3 times. She stated that her vacation rental is regulated by the bill, when in fact she'll be required to register it. She stated that rentals outside of resort zones that get grandfathered will be able to able to retain the permit for the rental upon sale, when in fact her bill only allows that in resort areas like the one she has. Finally, she said that her bill doesn't regulate rentals where the owner lives on site, when in fact they too have to register and anyone renting out more than one room or an ohana on the property they live on will be banned from doing so. Those were some of her arguments as to why there was no conflict of interest. When I pointed out those lies, they didn't care.
I see Rob Tucker had a complaint in the past against the Board itself. http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2018/01/1...st-itself/
Here is the West Hawaii Today editorial calling for Ms. Eoff's recusal. http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2018...on-rental/
Perhaps the Board of "Ethics" should change their name!