04-04-2016, 01:03 PM
"...HiloPuna, I've asked this question before, and I'll ask it again. How do you explain the charges for the surfboard and his state bar association dues? Who was he with at the hostess bar that made it legitimate county business? These are simple questions that you (and Kenoi) obfuscate about.....
chunkster,
actually I think you've participated in the Kenoi threads going back to the beginning. The total numbers are out there: $130k in total charges over 6+ years, $23k paid back in real time, presumably on monthly or quarterly reckonings, and $9k+ paid back after the sh*t hit the fan. In earlier threads I speculated the obvious, namely that he used the P-card for his ongoing activities and staff sorted out what was personal and what was related to his being the Mayor. What's so obfuscatory about that? If bar association or surfboards, or liquor, or hostess bars were illegal they would have shown up on the indictment. They didn't . I made the argument months ago that they wouldn't, and they haven't. Their were obvious ambiguities in the interpretation of the P-card, and after the storm hit he clearly made the effort to resolve those areas. Don't know which purchases fell in that $9k hopper so perhaps all of the hot button issues that so upset some of the PW observers fell into that batch. Perhaps none did.
"...Well, this morning's HNL daily says that the charges for the bike, the surfboard, the bar association dues, and the hostess bar(s) are not covered in the indictment...." Yes, see above.
TomK
"....it was Kenoi's inappropriate use of his pcard. Whether he's found guilty or not doesn't really matter in the end...."
I've been arguing the counter, it does matter whether he's found guilty or not guilty. His use of the P-card obviously offends many people, at least those here and who write to the Editor of the Trib. In my social groups it's look at as an embarrassment that he was so careless not to task a higher level staffer to resolve the issues monthly. I don't think many of my friends consider him corrupt or venal. He's the Chief Executive of a very large "business", the largest employer on the Island. He has a lot of people seeking him out, hands extended, with pleas for help, and I'm not talking just subdivisions and county contracts. I'm talking athletic teams, social organizations, schools, communities, business's, and especially individuals in need. He has overseas guests, out-of-town interests visiting, lots of parent company executives coming in to oversee local decisions. He's the Mayor, and he's got a lot going on.
For all the good he's done, managing the County through a bad economy for the first 5 years, after inheriting Harry Kim's version of the Augean Stables, showed discipline and savvy. Not bad for a lawyer who had never managed before. The latest hoopla that the paper is trying to sell is his alleged mismanagement of the bond issues and how it negatively affects the Countys budget. It was a classic in misguidance of the casual reader. The headline, on the front page, and the first few paragraphs, above the fold, were all chicken little hysteria. Deeply buried on page 7 were the facts, but only for the disciplined and critical reader.
Here's Ms Lauers lead;
"A big bond sale last month by term-limited Mayor Billy Kenoi and the County Council will leave the next administration with a heckuva tab to pay....the new bonds will drive up the County's annual debt payments by 19.8%..."
Here's the facts;
The $235.8mm bond was both to cover refinancing of previous bonds as well as the new issuances. This was not reported and could only be inferred. That amount $235mm is app. 65% of our total bond debt of $375mm. This bond issue, when approved by the Council, was originally slated to take the Countys percentage of the budget for debt service from 7.9% to 13.8%. Accepted guidelines (GFOA) suggest prudent levels of 15%, or less. When the Mayor's finance team was finished the percentage of the budget for future debt service will now be just 8.98%. Now thats a headline! So, whoever is the next Mayor has a lot of bonding authority to consider for infrastructure and general improvements, belying Ms Lauers histrionics (as well as some PW'ers).
I bring this up for context, after TomK posited that the disposition of the "P-card affair" may not matter in the end. I think it does, and that, obviously, everything matters. Perception fuels reality. People think our governance is worse than it is, leading to a corrosive cynicism that results in Trumps, Sanders, and Kim's who promise simple solutions appealing to the base. Do I wish Billy Kenoi had been less careless in how the P-card was utilized. Yes, No question about it. Do I think he "betrayed the public trust". No, emphatically. With the ongoing "scandal" the Mayor has suffered, the County as well, and the publics trust most of all. Why? Because of selective release of inflammatory elements of a complex accounting system selected to present the most unflattering aspect that the reporter could manipulate. And well she did. The P-card articles were constructed similarly to the bond article, to everyones detriment.
chunkster,
actually I think you've participated in the Kenoi threads going back to the beginning. The total numbers are out there: $130k in total charges over 6+ years, $23k paid back in real time, presumably on monthly or quarterly reckonings, and $9k+ paid back after the sh*t hit the fan. In earlier threads I speculated the obvious, namely that he used the P-card for his ongoing activities and staff sorted out what was personal and what was related to his being the Mayor. What's so obfuscatory about that? If bar association or surfboards, or liquor, or hostess bars were illegal they would have shown up on the indictment. They didn't . I made the argument months ago that they wouldn't, and they haven't. Their were obvious ambiguities in the interpretation of the P-card, and after the storm hit he clearly made the effort to resolve those areas. Don't know which purchases fell in that $9k hopper so perhaps all of the hot button issues that so upset some of the PW observers fell into that batch. Perhaps none did.
"...Well, this morning's HNL daily says that the charges for the bike, the surfboard, the bar association dues, and the hostess bar(s) are not covered in the indictment...." Yes, see above.
TomK
"....it was Kenoi's inappropriate use of his pcard. Whether he's found guilty or not doesn't really matter in the end...."
I've been arguing the counter, it does matter whether he's found guilty or not guilty. His use of the P-card obviously offends many people, at least those here and who write to the Editor of the Trib. In my social groups it's look at as an embarrassment that he was so careless not to task a higher level staffer to resolve the issues monthly. I don't think many of my friends consider him corrupt or venal. He's the Chief Executive of a very large "business", the largest employer on the Island. He has a lot of people seeking him out, hands extended, with pleas for help, and I'm not talking just subdivisions and county contracts. I'm talking athletic teams, social organizations, schools, communities, business's, and especially individuals in need. He has overseas guests, out-of-town interests visiting, lots of parent company executives coming in to oversee local decisions. He's the Mayor, and he's got a lot going on.
For all the good he's done, managing the County through a bad economy for the first 5 years, after inheriting Harry Kim's version of the Augean Stables, showed discipline and savvy. Not bad for a lawyer who had never managed before. The latest hoopla that the paper is trying to sell is his alleged mismanagement of the bond issues and how it negatively affects the Countys budget. It was a classic in misguidance of the casual reader. The headline, on the front page, and the first few paragraphs, above the fold, were all chicken little hysteria. Deeply buried on page 7 were the facts, but only for the disciplined and critical reader.
Here's Ms Lauers lead;
"A big bond sale last month by term-limited Mayor Billy Kenoi and the County Council will leave the next administration with a heckuva tab to pay....the new bonds will drive up the County's annual debt payments by 19.8%..."
Here's the facts;
The $235.8mm bond was both to cover refinancing of previous bonds as well as the new issuances. This was not reported and could only be inferred. That amount $235mm is app. 65% of our total bond debt of $375mm. This bond issue, when approved by the Council, was originally slated to take the Countys percentage of the budget for debt service from 7.9% to 13.8%. Accepted guidelines (GFOA) suggest prudent levels of 15%, or less. When the Mayor's finance team was finished the percentage of the budget for future debt service will now be just 8.98%. Now thats a headline! So, whoever is the next Mayor has a lot of bonding authority to consider for infrastructure and general improvements, belying Ms Lauers histrionics (as well as some PW'ers).
I bring this up for context, after TomK posited that the disposition of the "P-card affair" may not matter in the end. I think it does, and that, obviously, everything matters. Perception fuels reality. People think our governance is worse than it is, leading to a corrosive cynicism that results in Trumps, Sanders, and Kim's who promise simple solutions appealing to the base. Do I wish Billy Kenoi had been less careless in how the P-card was utilized. Yes, No question about it. Do I think he "betrayed the public trust". No, emphatically. With the ongoing "scandal" the Mayor has suffered, the County as well, and the publics trust most of all. Why? Because of selective release of inflammatory elements of a complex accounting system selected to present the most unflattering aspect that the reporter could manipulate. And well she did. The P-card articles were constructed similarly to the bond article, to everyones detriment.