the "ethics" "investigation"

[bluesboy]

that brings up a good point. why are you always singling out Ford? there are other members of the council that could speak up as well.

[Rene Siracusa]

Neither Ford nor any other council person will ever get a chance to sign wrongful termination or any other county checks. All county checks are signed by the Director of Finance - at present Nancy Crawford.

[Guest]

@Rene - You are correct. I only made the comment in that I hope they see the needless waste of money caused by the Chairman and his Clerk, as well as the remaining 8 Council members’ impotence to do anything about it.

@bluesboy - I am on Ford, as she ends up being one of the most senior Council members at this point, as well as what she would be if reelected. The remaining members who are either unopposed or opposed are to be quite frank - wimps and are more or less afraid of their own shadows

[Kapohocat]

You know, Ken, I too have watched this debacle with Dominic Yagong. I found (past tense!) it over and over again so hard to believe of him, although it is all pretty much there in black and white.

Back in the day, when he first ran for Council and I lived in Honomu, he got many things accomplished for us out there when we were the forgotten area "out in the country" and it was all about Hilo and Kona only.

I know people change, bad things can happen, it just makes me sad to see Dominic go out in a haze of dishonesty, and unethical behavior. Although we must clean up this mess and get us back to ethical elections, I hope Dominic is a lesson to those that follow that "power corrupts" no matter how small the pond.

[Rob Tucker]

Kat, Dominic has done some good things for Puna too. Fill me in on some specifics... exactly what dishonesty or unethical behavior are you referring to?

[Kapohocat]

Haze (from Wikipedia): Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon where dust, smoke and other dry particles obscure the clarity of the sky.

Rob - I am referring to this haze covering the elections.

It is the obscuring of the reputation, deserved or not. Which is why i called it a haze. His reputation is no longer sparkly.

You and Ken and others are in the thick of the smoke, out here at the edges it is just hazy, and the clarity of the issue is obscured.

[Rob Tucker]

I agree. It is way to hazy and obscure to cast judgement at this time... which is why I have stayed back and am so disappointed in some members of the community.

There are generally two or more sides to any story and from what I have been reading, especially on Big Island Chronicle, it is easy to think that there is only one side.

Dominic Yagong has a long history of good service to his district, to Puna and to the whole island. It is a record which deserves a some amount of respect. A little
bit of thought might lead one to conclude that there are legal reasons for the council members to be quiet as assorted investigations proceed.

There is another whole, very plausible, alternative theory to the election mess... as yet unexamined. I suggest that everyone wait for the smoke to clear
and facts, not rumors, come to bear.

[Guest]

Actually Rob, I do agree, and I can't wait.

However, that being said, one could say that Richard Nixon gave a lifetime of great achievements to the entire United States of America. Only that one small robbery ended it all.

I agree, legally, the Council may be ordered to be quiet. However, that would and could only be as to what happened, not as to what to do for the future. This could have been dealt with by the remaining 8 Council Members with respect to a go forward process that could have and would have kept the State out of this election.

As for Yagong himself, I do agree, he has done a lot of wonderful things. This whole mess started with 4 long time workers being terminated. Yagong and the Clerk never gave them the benefit of the doubt, never gave them due process of any kind, and never researched the matters thoroughly and completely. Now Yagong thinks he should get this benefit of doubt as to his actions. As well as for the Clerk. Perhaps those workers were guilty of committing clearly what would be considered employment terminating acts. We don’t really know exactly what happened, but it could not have been that awful as three of the four terminations were overturned, the fourth worker died, and the facts remain confidential. Why Yagong even got into that mess in the first place makes me shake my head. If it was really a bad thing going on, there were clearly much better and effective ways to carry out the terminations without the mess that has now been caused. And hang on a sec – there could still be a wrongful death lawsuit coming……..

As for the Clerk, we really can’t honestly defend her actions anymore. Too many words, or lack of words, actions etc., directly from her speak loud enough to prove that.

Had Yagong never stepped into this election mess, or if the election mess was that big, involve the State says a lot too. Then consider him being the candidate for Mayor at the time. And then his daughter running for his Council Seat. In politics, as well as business, the appearance of an impropriety is an impropriety itself.

Or at a minimum, stepped back and recuse himself once the $&%@ hit the fan.

He may be squeaky clean, but he sure splashed a lot of his own self-created dirt on his clean slate. The Ethics Meeting outburst made him look desperate.

But no matter what, the upcoming lawsuits, and hopefully a non-biased full investigation will show all the truth. Unfortunately as it stands today, we taxpayers got a 2 plus million dollar tab on our hands because of it.

And what did we get for that price? In the end?

[Rob Tucker]

In the end there may be a clear object lesson that people who dare to challenge Hawaiian unions will be in for a rough ride.

[Kapohocat]

quote:

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Originally posted by Ken...In politics, as well as business, the appearance of an impropriety is an impropriety itself...

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Yah, thats what I was roundabout trying to say! Thank you!