HNN last night

[Obie]

The county is basically broke living from paycheck to paycheck.

Any politician who advocated for raising taxes to build a jail would be signing their own death sentence in politics.

[geochem]

There was a time when running for office was an opportunity to show leadership and forward thinking about the long-term security and success of the community that you were requesting an opportunity to represent. Those days are clearly long-passed....
ETA - but only because we as voters don't demand that of anyone running for office.

[Chunkster]

When I directly asked Mitch Roth in person why his office continues to make ridiculously easy plea deals and put career criminals on probation, he gave me that old "for every one I jail, one has to be released" song and dance. I then asked him why he was still sending marijuana growers and distributors to prison after the citizens voted for that to be the lowest law enforcement priority. The response was, "That's a felony, and I can't pick and choose which laws to enforce." He then refused to take any follow-up from me, which would have been, "But you do that every day!"

Also remember Roth is encouraging the governor to veto the legislature's reform of the state's asset forfeiture program. That program was found several years ago by the State Auditor to be lacking clear procedural guidelines and to violate some constitutional guarantees, but Roth wants to keep taking people's money and property without even getting a conviction for the alleged offense. The next time I encounter Roth, I'm going to suggest he take some of those forfeited assets and use them to buy prison beds in Arizona. I can't wait to hear the answer.

[Obie]

Most if not all of the marijuana convictions are because they were caught doing something else like driving a stolen car or they get caught with meth or heroin.
Prisons in Arizona aren't really going to help the situation on the Big Island.

[kalakoa]

leadership and forward thinking about the long-term security and success

Irrelevant so long as the existing machinery is populated by fossils insisting that "we must do things in the proper way" (for me and my family).

I'm hoping Kenoi comes back.