Kenoi not guilty

[flogger1]

And this so different Than what we having running for the Whitehouse...

[ElysianWort]

We had it coming. We picked him. I guess not all of us were aware of his shady history or maybe some of us that were aware, just looked the other way. Story says that our boy was a strong arm, a funds collector for someone powerful that would loan money and had lots of goons working for him. Powerful people like that make other people "disappear" sometimes. Other times they just have a baseball bat taken to a knee cap or a pinky toe hedge clipper job or whatever. That was our boys job. Only speculation there but one can only imagine what goes on during some of these collections when the poor drugged up, gambling fiends cannot pay their debt. Then a bit later our boy gets in trouble with the law, "turns his life around" gets a law degree and runs for office. Boom! Our good ol' boy. We had it coming.

[HiloPuna]

Jeez EW, I think you may have killed this thread with that last insane post. You did have one revelatory ( and honest ) moment though, in the 8th sentence when you wrote;
"...Only speculation there...". By then though you had already jumped the shark.

This "Kenoi is a criminal" is worse than the crap that plagues the national contest for President. Instead of a loony/sick "alt-right" doggedly opposed to Democrats here on the BI we have a hysterical/illogical "all-wrong" convinced that the Mayor and everyone in the County building is corrupt.

Get over it. The whole P-card hot mess was an extended disinformation process foisted on us by our local press and readily feasted on by those too ready to assume the worst and some others incapable of critical reading. Damage done. Let it go.

I'll "speculate" that before too long the County will long for the relatively efficient and competent Kenoi administration. I remember when Steve Yamashiro was reviled as Mayor, in hindsight he did a helluva job. Harry was carried in on a wave of name recognition but accomplished little and squandered the resources Steve delivered to him. Billy was first loved, which he then lost , then eventually loathed by some. I think though that time will treat him more kindly than the other two.

[2liveque]

Hawaii politics can be best captured in the following question:

Did your guy win?

In many ways, this is politics in general. But the island-based ecology we live in amplifies it a bit further.

Now go vote for your guy. Or Gal.

[ElysianWort]

lol funny. Sorry Hilopuna if I killed this thread with my previous post.....NOT! Go ahead and resurrect this stinky thing.

[HiloPuna]

No EW you were too over the top with your fabrications and slander....though it may have recently worked on the national level I think it's a little too stinky for local style....now if your moniker reflects your craft maybe you were drunk on home brew....but bullsh*t is bullsh*t and I called bullsh*t on your lies.

Wanna revive this thread ?

Back it up....or shut it up. It's a slander you are fabricating.

[leilanidude]

My only wish is that the exposing of the unpaid, personal charges had not been brought forward until after he was out of office. That would have made it extremely unlikely to have any sort of innocence proved. As it were, 15 months to pay back personal charges should have been reason enough to prove guilt.

[kalakoa]

Let's assume that the Mayor has special exemptions and can use his pCard as he sees fit, "because he's the Mayor".

What about the other pCard abuse by department heads? No charges filed, no ethics investigation. Can the Mayor just handwave that too?

[Chunkster]

To put leilanidude's excellent point another way, paying back the charges (after over 800 days in one case) seems to have been a "get out of jail free" card. Does restitution before trial make it OK? Not in my world. To answer kalakoa's question, apparently the answer is "yes," at least from the perspective of the officials offered immunity. For immunity to be offered, there had to be some presumption of wrongdoing on the part of the prosecutors.

Once again, from my coldly cynical point of view, the purpose of the prosecution of Kenoi was not justice, but to torpedo an up and coming folksy political threat to the current controlling faction of the Democratic party. Google "Byzantine" as an adjective, and you will see what I mean.

[HiloPuna]

Chunkster

I've read your opininions on the likelihood that internecine warfare amongst party factions was what likely led to the leak from the Finance Dept to Cook Lauer.* I agree this is a distinct possibility, and it surely had an effect on the subsequent prosecution of the case. Ultimately truth won out but at what cost to each of the factions (3, in my opinion)?

However I disagree on the value of lelanidudes point;

"My only wish is that the exposing of the unpaid, personal charges had not been brought forward until after he was out of office. That would have made it extremely unlikely to have any sort of innocence proved. As it were, 15 months to pay back personal charges should have been reason enough to prove guilt."

I believe that what came out in the testimony is that all of the charges paid well after the normal period (seemingly 30-90 days) were the result of excessive caution by the Mayor. Testimony from Bill Takaba was that those charges were appropriate as far as the Mayors public use of his account. He advised the Mayor not to pay them. Billy (or his attorney ) overrode the former Finance Directors position and advice.
Remember it was Takaba who established the Pcard rules during the Kim administration and who was also Billys Managing Director who oversaw the initiating of Pcard practices by that incoming administration.
#criticalreading #analysis

*the other possibility (probability?) was a retained loyalist from the previous, and returning, administration.