10-23-2012, 05:01 AM
I've been trying to sort through all this for some time, and Cat's timeline does help . . . some. What I don't understand is why the "blue flu" element was not brought forward sooner. If the County Clerk and the other officials now on the hotseat knew this, it would seem helpful to have both made it known at the time and to have dealt with it more effectively. Instead, we hear about it now.
One doesn't have to be a cynic like me to imagine some of the old-guard election employees making the jump from a passive form of resistance such as "blue flu" to more active acts of outright sabotage. I have no evidence of this, of course, but surely I'm not the only one who sees the possibility. The firings threatened to upset the carefully nurtured power structure that the government employees have in place. Like so many unions, I think they were justified in the beginning, but have lost their way in recent times. What began as a necessary movement to protect government workers from politically based firings is now an entrenched part of the good old boy Hawaii power structure designed to make it nearly impossible to fire anyone.
And that brings me back to where all this started . . . the firings. When Dominic Yagong and the clerk fired those workers, they displayed an amazing and alarming lack of understanding of how the system works and how the cards were stacked. I remember thinking, "This is going to backfire. Just wait." Based on what has been disclosed about the firings, it sounded like they were justified. Where Yagong went wrong was in making a dramatic, sweeping gesture that appeared to be designed to make him look like some sort of hero to those who question the power of the unions. Since he was running for Mayor, we can safely assume that some sort of political calculus was involved. Didn't work out, did it? He deservedly, IMHO, came in third place. There is, believe it or not, a process for removing bad County employees. It takes forever and requires meticulous docementation, but it is how Yagong should have proceeded.
It will be interesting to see what the investigation shows. I hope it is thorough and objective, but that is expecting a lot in these parts.
One doesn't have to be a cynic like me to imagine some of the old-guard election employees making the jump from a passive form of resistance such as "blue flu" to more active acts of outright sabotage. I have no evidence of this, of course, but surely I'm not the only one who sees the possibility. The firings threatened to upset the carefully nurtured power structure that the government employees have in place. Like so many unions, I think they were justified in the beginning, but have lost their way in recent times. What began as a necessary movement to protect government workers from politically based firings is now an entrenched part of the good old boy Hawaii power structure designed to make it nearly impossible to fire anyone.
And that brings me back to where all this started . . . the firings. When Dominic Yagong and the clerk fired those workers, they displayed an amazing and alarming lack of understanding of how the system works and how the cards were stacked. I remember thinking, "This is going to backfire. Just wait." Based on what has been disclosed about the firings, it sounded like they were justified. Where Yagong went wrong was in making a dramatic, sweeping gesture that appeared to be designed to make him look like some sort of hero to those who question the power of the unions. Since he was running for Mayor, we can safely assume that some sort of political calculus was involved. Didn't work out, did it? He deservedly, IMHO, came in third place. There is, believe it or not, a process for removing bad County employees. It takes forever and requires meticulous docementation, but it is how Yagong should have proceeded.
It will be interesting to see what the investigation shows. I hope it is thorough and objective, but that is expecting a lot in these parts.