Court praised for LUC decision
Thank you for the article regarding the state Land Use Commission’s decision being overturned by the state Supreme Court. Frankly such disgraceful and disrespectful abuses of power have been going on at the Land Use Commission and Department of Land and Natural Resources/Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands for many years.
Hawaii Administrative Rules were developed by our elected representatives and put into kaw. They are the laws that protect the people of Hawaii. The boards and departments are supposed to administer the laws with neutrality. It is not the authority of these administrative bodies to take on a role of protecting anyone or enforcing any stretched and misapplied interpretations of their authority. Unfortunately, these boards and departments have become their own authorities often going far beyond their legal authority and imposing sanctions, interpretations and decisions that do not reflect what the laws ever intended. I refer to their apparent attitude as “The God Complex.”
The article is simply a prime example of how these authorities are misguided and out of control and are acting against the law and the people of Hawaii. Clearly the plaintives had every right to appeal the decision of the LUC to the courts. Furthermore the LUC had no business appealing the lower court decision to the high court. If the LUC is acting as a neutral authority it ought to have respected the court’s decision in the first case. After all, who is better equipped to interpret the law than the courts vs. a commission or board that has no particular skills in law and whose job is to apply the law with neutrality.
Consider the damage the LUC wrongfully inflicted on the plaintives in the case that was reported on in your Thanksgiving day newspaper. Now the plaintives are entitled to damages and every taxpayer in Hawaii will now pay for the arrogance of the LUC.
DLNR/OCCL is another example of an administrative body that is way out of control and just like the LUC needs to be reminded by its bosses and our elected representatives that its authority is to administer the law with neutrality and not as its own private dictatorship and thief-dome.
Ken Church
Hilo