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From KOHALA BLOG: A Kohala point of view by one of its residents: Margaret Wille. In my opinion...
Council Committee Meetings suspended ...Corporation Counsel to meet with Council on the 22nd Regarding "Coup" Lawsuit
Submitted by margaretwille.com on 14 July 2009 - 8:16pm
As of today all County Council Committee meetings scheduled for Tuesday the 21st have been canceled and no agendas will be filed. Corporation Counsel will meet with the Council at the scheduled Wednesday the 22nd Council meeting regarding status of the lawsuit filed by attorney Robert Kim on behalf of West Hawaii Today. The Council will then decide how to proceed.
I expect that the relevant legal issue is that in the event the Sunshine Law was violated, then decisions of the Council are "voidable".
Assume the best and ask questions.
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It would appear that our County Corporation Counsel is blinking. After providing an opinion to the Council that any violations of the Sunshine Law would be taken care of my merely fessing up - this action of suspending counsel meetings would appear to highlight his reappraisal of the situation.
You have to remember that Lincoln Ashida, Corporation Counsel, is wrong about as much as he is right. 50/50. Flip a coin. He's lost some big ones.
The Sunshine Law violations under discussion are the leading edge of the Council Coup in which our most senior and competent council members were tossed out of their committee chairs by our neophyte and least experienced council members. Emily Naeole was also positioned as Vice Chair of the Council. A position for which she is eminently unsuited.
This whole mess could have been avoided with competent leadership from Council Chair Yoshimoto, an attorney himself, who seems to do things he should be smart enough to know better. And then our Mayor, another lawyer, was apparently unable to bring any leadership to the situation either.
It never ceases to amaze me how supposed "professionals" turn in amateur performances. This whole affair can't be helping Yoshimoto's hourly rate in his private practice.
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Assume the best and ask questions.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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Isn't this the exact same mess the Honolulu County Council got themselves in trouble for?
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It will be interesting to see how this plays out. The nearly toothless Sunshine Law does not have a history of strict enforcement or serious penalties on those occasions when it has been enforced. Somebody must be worried about some very deep doo-doo to be cancelling Council committee meetings.
As far as the Council Chair goes, I am sure the Mr. Yoshimoto is making arrangements for perfect attendance in order to avoid the near-certain embarrassment of Emily Naeole presiding over a full meeting.
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Rob, I think that is the biggest problem, the two attorneys! They all think they know better until it's up to the Judge to decide!
Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
808.989.1314
http://www.JohnRabi.com
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Three attorneys: Yoshimoto, Ashida and Kenoi.
More detail in the HTH today...
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/arti...ocal03.txt
Assume the best and ask questions.
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Why isn't this thread in the politics forum where it belongs?
setting my soul free....
setting my soul free....
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You're right. I'll move it over.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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Canceling all Council Committee meetings is no small matter.
http://records.co.hawaii.hi.us/weblink/P...8-2010.pdf
For Wednesday's Council meeting, the first item on the Agenda is Mr Ashida's Communication
dated July 14 2009 requesting to meet
with the Council on issues relating to the state of the current lawsuit discussions
with OIP and the possible consequences of the Council moving forward with its
business with the claims of the lawsuit not yet resolved."
Two hours, including public testimony, are allotted on the Council Agenda for this item, which "The Council anticipates convening an executive meeting" to discuss.
James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park
