Letters | 5-1-15

Mayor should not resign

Billy Kenoi should not resign as mayor for the County of Hawaii.

I preface my remarks, by saying that being an attorney, myself, for more than 30 years, attorneys, which include Mayor Kenoi, are well aware of the standard of conduct with regard to “Good Character and Fitness” under Rule 1 (c) of the Hawaii Supreme Court, Admission to the Bar. Good character and fitness include honesty, trustworthiness, financial responsibility, respect for the law, inter alia. Billy Kenoi has violated all of these compulsory attributes. His behavior was egregious — and contrary to the dictates of our profession.

That said, Billy Kenoi should not resign as mayor for the County of Hawaii for the following reasons:

1) That he made a commitment to Hawaii Island that he would serve us as our mayor until year 2016; further, it is incumbent on him to fulfill his responsibility to us, his constituents, because it would be extremely disruptive and expensive to have him replaced at this juncture;

2) That the ongoing investigation, which will likely include criminal, ethical, attorney sanctions would probably last for the duration of the remainder of his term; further, we, as taxpayers could continue to scrutinize the development of the investigation while he continues as mayor; further, we should ask him to author an administrative rule/ordinance to prevent such abuse of pCard use in the future and to possibly suggest that he do community service to ameliorate the wrongs caused to the taxpayers;

3) That it is undeniable that Mayor Kenoi has guided Hawaii Island through some tough economic years. Accomplishments: He managed to complete our Kailua Park Playground, Pahoa District Park, Mamalahoa Highway bypass from Kealakekua to Napoopoo (27.5 miles), was successful in assuming the management of Mauna Kea Park — which included extensive renovations, and did an incredible job for our Puna resident victims during Tropical Storm Iselle in 2014.

In summary, Billy Kenoi should not resign as mayor for the County of Hawaii for the reasons outlined above.

Lei Kihoi, Kailua-Kona

Democratic Party has major flaw

I can appreciate Hawaii County Democratic Chairman Phil Barnes remarks and frustration being a lifelong Democrat myself. But when he said, “This party takes action when we realize we have flaws” I think he missed a much more serious flaw of the Democratic Party nationwide.

The Democratic Party has lost its direction as “the party of the American working class.” The strength of the party has always been its support of working class issues. Yet for the last several decades, it has become a social agenda organization lacking any single unifying economic issue.

There has never been any follow through by congressional Democrats on the full-employment Humphrey-Hawkins Bill passed in the 1970s. The Obama administration spent more time bailing Wall Street out of the George W. Bush 2008 economic disaster than putting Americans back to work or saving their homes.

I am one of the “35 percent of white older guys” who still (and will always) vote Democratic. But the 65 percent listening to “Fox Noise” and who vote against their own interest, see the Democrats as offering no economic programs benefiting not just them but any American workers regardless of race, sex, etc.

Sadly, I see the leading candidate for our party’s nomination to be a lifelong Wall Street-allied “Democrat” who at this time of her “listening campaign” has said nothing indicating any realization on her part of the party’s major flaw.

William F. Johnston, Kailua-Kona

Mauna Kea lease comments flawed

In the April 25 issue of West Hawaii Today, the Mauna Kea telescope protesters are quoted as follows: “The group also said that it wants all existing telescopes to pay fair market rent for their subleases until their expiration date. TMT would be the first to pay more than $1 a year for their leases.” As with most of the protester’s claims, this statement is false.

All of the observatory subleases on Mauna Kea contractually provide substantial free observing time to the University of Hawaii. The actual cumulative cost of this observing time is worth millions of dollars a year. This free access has assisted the UH in building a world-class astronomy program and helped to win many federal research grants.

The protesters often make this claim that the observatories pay no rent although they surely know that it is not true.

Jerry Smith, North Kohala