Disappeared News

The Office of Information Practices issued a decision today (October 30, 2006) requiring the Board of Education to release redacted minutes of the closed-door meeting at which it fired Jim Shon, the Executive Director of the Charter School Administrative Office. The OIP decision also requires that

Because of the upcoming general election on November 7, 2006, OIP directs that the portion of the minutes that cannot be withheld...must be disclosed no later than the close of business on Wednesday, November 1, 2006.

This requirement will allow the public to understand which of the incumbent BOE members moved to have Shon removed and will reveal their votes on the motions to the public.

The Board of Education went into executive session at its meeting on 7 September 2006. The meeting notice described the purpose of the secret session only as: "Evaluation of the Executive Director of the Charter School Administrative Office."

With the public excluded from the room, the BOE went beyond the matter that was officially noticed (evaluation) and fired the executive director, Jim Shon. By doing this in secret, the public was denied access to the process and lost the opportunity to provide comment and information to the Board prior to its action.

Adding an action item to the agenda that is not in the public notice is a violation of the Sunshine Law to begin with--dealing with the item in secret session compounds the problem.

The announcement the next day (Honolulu Advertiser September 8, 2006: BOE fires charter schools' Jim Shon) that the BOE had summarily dismissed the respected head of the Charter School Administrative Office shocked the charter school movement and its advocates and parents (Advertiser, September 9):

An outpouring of support and dismay from many of the state's public charter schools followed news that the Board of Education had dismissed Charter School Administrative Office executive director Jim Shon.

Of course, a great deal of the anger came as a result of the way the action was taken: behind closed doors and without the notice to the public required by law. The public felt excluded from the process (Star-Bulletin Sept. 9: Schools want charter director to be reinstated).

The BOE violated the Sunshine Law again by not responding to the information request within ten days. They then informed the OIP that they "had responded to, or if it had not, would be responding to" my request. In fact, they have never communicated with me on my request. This is reminiscent of a request I made a number of years ago for BOE information that parents needed in order to prepare testimony for Judge Ezra's final status conference on the Felix Consent Decree. In that instance, the BOE delayed forwarding the information, despite the intervention of the OIP, until it was too late for the hearing.

The question now is whether the BOE will comply with the OIP decision. Certainly, individual Board members who voted to fire Shon may face the wrath of the public in next week's election. The public has a right to know how they voted since the voting was improperly conducted in secret.

Let's see if they comply with the OIP decision on November 1.

The Hawaii State Legislature, responding to testimony by advocates and health care organizations hoping to reduce the high cost of prescription medications, passed a law creating the Rx Plus program. Between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2005, the state was to have collaborated with other states to negotiate bulk-purchase discounts. The Lingle administration did not do this, claiming that the wording of the law was "may" rather than "shall" or "will."

Senior citizens having to pay the full price for medications as well as persons with disabilities and those below 350% of the poverty level lost the benefit they were supposed to receive. Many are having to choose between food and medications.

What a crock. The legislature passed that law with clear intent. But of course it wouldn't go well for Lingle's national ambitions if her Republican mentors were able to chastise her for doing such an un-Republican thing as negotiating lower drug prices with their pharmaceutical company buddies.

See the sequence of three letters in the Advertiser to learn all about it:

Larry Geller, September 18
Lillian Koller, September 26
Laura Manis, October 21

Michael Moore, on the other hand, seems to be able to deliver real benefits to those facing high medical bills. Those interviewed for his current movie are reported have a 100% rate of getting free medicines after being interviewed and making it known.

I suppose it's a good thing for Hawaii, but still wonder if the flood of FEMA folk might just possibly stop off in Louisiana since there's not much for them to do here. They should be able to wrap up quickly, take a few dips in the ocean or the hotel pool, and still have time to see what they can do to help restore New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward.

What the Big Island needs is federal assistance to rebuild. Few people had earthquake insurance. But according to Big Island Mayor Harry Kim (see below), that may not be FEMA's responsibility.

First it was 50, then 75, then 90, then 100. FEMA folk keep coming, yet Mainland newspapers report FEMA storms Hawaii, finds no catastrophe

Federal experts flown to the Big Island on a rented jet see minimal earthquake damage.

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii -- The earthquake that jolted the Hawaiian Islands over the weekend set off one of the biggest FEMA deployments since Hurricane Katrina, including a planeload of about 100 federal experts who arrived here to find no catastrophe

I suppose it doesn't make sense to complain about the flood of FEMA executives. It's better that they learn to respond promptly.

But Big Island homeowners may discover that there's no repair money for them from FEMA--they will likely have to take out loans to carry out repairs. For infrastructure needs, let's hope that FEMA comes through for the state.

Tonight's Town Square program on Hawaii Public Radio featured a 20+ minute interview with Big Island Mayor Harry Kim. In the interview, Kim cautions that those without insurance, which is most everyone, shouldn't expect that their losses will be covered by FEMA or any other agency. It was a clear, direct explanation. I so wish that Harry would have run for governor this year... [The HPR link may go dead in a couple of weeks, if you'd like to listen to the program, download it somewhere on your hard disk for safekeeping.]

Tune in to Hawaii Public Radio's Town Square tonight, Thursday 10/19/06, from 5- 6 pm for a program on what Hawaii must do before the next disaster comes our way.

Guests include Mayor Harry Kim, Senator Norman Sakamoto and General Robert Lee. Also Doug Carlson who has just started a blog "Citizens helping officials respond to emergencies", or CHORE. Host is Beth-Ann Kozlovich.

The show airs 5-6 p.m. on 89.3 FM. It's also available on digital Oceanic Cable channel 842, and streaming from hawaiipublicradio.org .

--Larry
 


 

The Big Island has come through the two Sunday morning earthquakes quite well. Read a Star-Bulletin summary here. Another Star-Bulletin article notes that hospitals are in good shape and ready. Perhaps the best way to review the situation is through the photos and comments posted on the West Hawaii Today website.

Big Island state representative Josh Green emails the following report:

Emergency Update

6.5 Earthquake off the Kona Coast

No fatalities or serious injuries have been reported at this time even though this was an earthquake with a 6.5 magnitude.

As your representative, I want to make you aware that the Kona Hospital  has suffered structural damage but is still administering assistance or safe transfer to other medical sites. If you have a medial emergency call 911. The phone number of Kona Hospital is 322-9311 and they can update you on the level of their operation at this time. Civil Defense is on the scene and working hand in hand with the Kona Hospital administration.

ALL PATIENTS ARE SAFE and EMERGENCIES ARE BEING TAKEN CARE OF.

I have contacted the highest level of the state government office including Governor Lingle's team, as well as the Hawaii Air Ambulance to make sure they are operational and to apprise them of the situation.

The state's Disaster Medical Assistance Team has arrived in Kona and is helping to coordinate emergency care during this disaster.

Please stay tuned to Big Island Civil Defense for updates...importantly keep your families as safe as possible by avoiding unnecessary travel until all is clear.

I will keep you updated as necessary.

In the face of these non-problems, FEMA has escalated its support and has increased its delegation to 75 people:

Some 75 Emergency Response Team Advance members of the the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency are scheduled to arrive on the Big Island today from Oakland, California.

All of this is good news, including FEMA attention to our problems. I, for one, was afraid that Hawaii was just too far away for FEMA to notice when disaster did strike. The weather is not so bad and I guess they suddenly decided to heed Governor Lingle's declaration of a state of emergency to come over and check out the Big Island.

Why would anyone even question the arrival of this growing delegation of FEMA officials? The contrast in their response to the four 2004 hurricanes that swept through Jeb Bush's Florida and their neglect (up to this date) of New Orleans has already been noted (here, for example).

Could Hawaii governor Linda Lingle's close relationship with George Bush have anything to do with the attention FEMA is paying to the Big Island today? That's great for Hawaii but sad for the New Orleans diaspora who remain in exile from their homes. And of course, who mostly vote Democratic.

Hawaii's governer Lingle is running for reelection in just a couple of weeks from now. Indeed, she has made points by being able to summon federal aid so quickly. I can't get New Orleans out of my mind, though. Perhaps she could put in a few good words for them while FEMA is here.

There's something right but not quite right about this, snipped from an Associate Press article datelined Oct. 15, 2006, 11:25 p.m.

More than 50 federal officials were en route to the Big Island to assess damage and begin recovery work, [Bob Fenton, FEMA director of response for the region] said.

I'm not sure what time zone the dateline refers to. The two quakes hit the Big Island of Hawaii at 7:07 a.m. and the second just a few minutes after. Thank goodness there was no loss of life. Evacuations of the hotels and a hospital that were damaged seem to have proceeded smoothly. For most of us not located in the damage area, the power outage was an inconvenience but not life threatening.

I repeat: no one died. There were only some minor injuries reported. Thank goodness Hawaii came through it this well.

So can it be true that 50 FEMA officials hastily packed their bags and are on their way to this prime vacation destination?

The question I (and I hope others) cannot help asking is: Dear FEMA, WHERE WERE YOU AUGUST 29, 2005 WHEN KATRINA DEVASTED NEW ORLEANS?

Please, turn around and go back to Louisiana, where your work has hardly begun. People died there and we haven't forgotten. Alright, a couple of you should come to Hawaii. But 50???

On Thursday's "blogfest" on Town Square we touched a little bit on citizen journalism. Well, I'm behind in my reading and just learned that Reuters has given a no-strings-attached grant to NewAssignment.Net about a month ago. Watch that web page, big things are sure to happen.

Bloggers may or may not be journalists. I found myself in the Hawaii Public Radio studio sharing the mikes with three professional journalists who happen to be among the most-read bloggers in the state. I don't claim to be a journalist even if sometimes I might report some news. I had fun as managing editor of the college newspaper and even learned to operate a Linotype machine and a Ludlow headline setter. I know what type lice are. But that was long ago and far away and mostly just a lot of fun.

The fact is that anyone can start a blog. Statistics vary, but I recall a claim that 15,000 blogs are started each day. There's also a thriving Indymedia movement producing multimedia reports, documentaries and entertainment of all sorts. The technology is not a barrier to these mostly young filmmakers and producers.

The Citizen Journalism movement is a couple of notches up from that. As newspapers cut back staff and radio and TV stations conglomerate, everyone is looking to the Internet for the Next Big Thing in journalism. Whatever that might be. It just might be Citizen Journalism.

Over on the left side of the NewAssignment.Net site is a blogroll with some of the key players. OhMyNews International, for example, is the English language site of a major experiment in citizen journalism in Korea. Check it out. There are several others.

At the same time, newspapers are moving to the Internet. The Advertiser's new blogs are part of that. Traditional media are moving onto the blog and podcast scene very quickly, and of course with big bucks.

One interesting approach is the New York Times Reader. I keep it on my tablet PC. It updates itself with the free content from the NY Times which I can read whenever and wherever I like. I think the tablet must weigh less than a genuine print copy of the NY Times. Maybe this is the way newspapers will be distributed in the future. I'd sure prefer to get my morning paper this way. Plus, it keeps a week of archives. All inside this flat little computer that goes where I go, eats what I eat. The text reflows as I select articles or re-size the font. It's actually an amazing piece of software.

If the citizen journalism movement intersects with this kind of software in the future, we'll truly be able to do it ourselves. Our way. The MainStreamMedia will have to justify their very existence. Beat reporters will find teenagers with cellphones or tiny computers sitting next to them at press briefings. They will have to get used to the fact that articles posted by that pimply kid will be on the web in moments, and theirs won't see print until the next day. By which time, for those who surf the web for their daily news fix, it's already old stuff.

Citizen journalism will become popular not because the untrained and unwashed are better than the pros--of course not. It will grow because the amateurs are more nimble, more innovative, and more in touch with what really interests readers. Some are pretty good writers and experienced advocates.

And the movement will grow because many will work just for the fun of it. That's hard to beat.

The battle for votes in Hawaii's upcoming elections has moved to cyberspace, with reporters and candidates moving to websites, blogs, email campaigns, and other electronic ways to reach their constituents in real time. This year, television and newspapers have some real competition for voter attention.

Tune in tonight, 5-6 p.m. on KIPO, 89.3 FM for Town Square, hosted by Beth-Ann Kozlovich. Guests will include, Jerry Burris, David Shapiro, and Ian Lind, all veteran newspaperpeople who bring their wealth of experience and skills as journalists to the blog world, and little 'ol me.

If you can't pick up the wave, try Oceanic Cable, channel 842, or the streaming audio at hawaiipublicradio.org.

The program takes phone calls at 941-3689 on Oahu or 1-877-941-3689 toll-free from anywhere else. If you've contributed comments to any of the blogs and would really like to have your voice heard, please call in this evening.

David Shapiro ran a live commentary during both the Lingle/Iwase debate and the primary election, with huge reader participation. These were almost certainly firsts for Hawaii, and were truly something new--neither TV or newspapers provided that level of interaction. Plus, of course, it was David doing both the live analysis and replying to visitor's commentary. In my view, you can't ask for better.

Jerry Burris has been observing and writing about politics and much more as a key editor of the Honolulu Advertiser. It's good to have his experience unleashed on the blogosphere.

Ian Lind's investigative reporting is badly needed in this town. I've read him in print for years and know that when I see his byline on a story, something or someone is going to be set straight. And I know I can trust what he writes, which is increasingly important these days both in print and in cybermedia.

So tune in, call in, and speak for yourself tonight 5-6 pm on Town Square.

Imagine that you're in a hospital bed and the call of nature comes, so you push the button for help--and don't get any. A letter writer to the Kauai Garden Island News described exactly that nightmare situation and more:

One bedridden patient was left lying in his feces for over an hour. Another patient fell and was lying on the floor for over an hour before anyone found him. There are other situations like this; enough issues that Medicare has been notified of the unsafe conditions at Wilcox Hospital.

Hawaii Pacific Health and its nurses have been involved in a 100+ day dispute involving the number of patients to be assigned to a nurse. Nurses remain on strike and HPH is flying in replacements at minimum staffing levels. Along the way, according to an article in that paper today headlined Broken promises and broken trust:

Some 24 physicians, three midwives and a nurse anesthetist have left the Kauai Medical Clinic, a subsidiary of HPH, in the past three years, according to Dr. Peter Kim, the founder of the Kauai Medical Group. This represents more than a third of the 64 physicians and eight nurse practitioners in the medical group, a medical group which has served Kaua‘i'’s healthcare needs for the past 40 years. Four of the physicians who left were the only board-certified specialists residing on Kaua‘i in the fields of cardiology, oncology (cancer) and gastro-enterology; Kauai is now without local board-certified coverage for these important specialties.

In addition to the loss of these specialists, it appears that HPH has fired its licensed professional nurses, all of them, according to this letter yesterday:

I am a Licensed Practical Nurse. I gave 28 years of excellent care to my patients at Wilcox Hospital.

Now, Hawaii Pacific Health has rewarded my loyalty by firing me and all the other LPNs.

This is bad enough for the citizens of Kauai while the weather is good, but what if another Iniki strikes or a tsunami or other disaster hits? With already inadequate staffing in the absence of a disaster, what will happen when even more doctors and nurses are needed in extraordinary circumstances?

I've written about the danger of allowing the attrition of doctors to continue: Disappearing Doctors: Hawaii looks for quick but questionable fixes, Hawaii's medical infrastructure deteriorating, unready for disasters and the followup: Update: Lights out in the ER--Hawaii's deteriorating medical infrastructure. I'm concerned that we are simply letting this problem roll on, which it will, unless some government entity intervenes for the public good.

Every once in awhile--not nearly often enough--the nurses strike on Kauai breaks into the news on Oahu. This morning there was a short letter to the editor in the Star-Bulletin, Wilcox nurses deserve respect, a better deal. To learn about the situation in Kauai and find out what you can do to assist the nurses, check out the many letters and articles in the Garden Island News. The Hawaii Nurses Association has a website here.

Oahu advocates should pay close attention to the situation in Kauai. If HPH succeeds there, this island is probably next. We also have a stake in keeping doctors in the state and in keeping hospitals on each island fully staffed. Should a disaster strike Oahu, we would have to count on other hospitals to share the load.

Right now, we are headed in exactly the wrong direction. We are not building the capacity and flexibility we will need in the face of disaster, quite the opposite. We're setting ourselves up for real trouble.

If it takes government intervention to settle this strike, we the people may have to join the nurses in calling for action.

Even in fair weather, patient safety needs to be preserved. Think, it could be you, your spouse, your child or your older relatives pushing that call button but getting no response because of understaffing.

We know that we are supposed to feel the chill of fear down our spines as we enter the voting booths in November.

The fear is intended to erase memories and make us vote Republican so we can be saved from utter destruction. Destruction from exactly which quarter is merely something to establish this month during the countdown to election day. Forget Foley, forget Abramoff, forget Valerie Plame, forget the mid-East fiasco and just feel the fear.

We are supposed to have internalized by now that Democrats will wait for the US to be attacked and then carefully respect the terrorist's human rights, by which time we'll all be reduced to atomic ash. So if we are to be saved, it will be by Republicans, in exchange for just a few unimportant civil rights.

So now that North Korea has demonstrated it does have nuclear weapons (or had one, which it blew up, who knows if it has more), how will this be spun to create that desired chilling, memory-erasing effect which will save Republican hides?

For years, North Korea has been trying to negotiate with the USA. They have been rebuffed by several presidents. At least they hadn't been threatened. Now that Bush threatened them (instead of agreeing to bilateral talks) they've gone and done it. Nutso or not, they've built and demonstrated a bomb, showing the world that they can defend themselves.

Korea's Great Leader has outsmarted even our arch-enemy Saddam Hussein. Saddam never had weapons of mass destruction, so he was trampled and reduced to hiding in a spider hole. No spider holes for Great Leader. Even Iran claims only peaceful uses of their nuclear refining capacity. No peaceful uses for Great Leader.

It's unlikely that sanctions will work against a country so poor. What can be taken away? The UN, the US and other countries will wail and wring their hands, but they can't take away North Korea's big deterrent.

It was not only predictable, but was predicted by a whole slew of editorial cartoonists. If Bush had replaced his closest advisors with a few cartoonists, our country would be much safer now.

Bush was (maybe still is) thinking of invading Iran, which he says is building a bomb just like Iraq was. At this point, they can probably scrape together enough material for a few radium dial watches. Americans (not to mention Iraqis) are being killed in record numbers. Iraq is lost, in the throes of civil war and anarchy. In Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden wanders the poppy fields with his newly resurgent Taliban buddies.

Hatred of the long and brutal occupation and the ongoing Palistinian oppression makes a US victory anywhere in the mid-East unlikely. Terrorists now breed like flies in the open wound that is Iraq.

These are all things we are supposed to forget before election day.

The greatest brains in the Bush administration are now working day and night to figure out how to make us do that. Standby.

Hawaii must seem to visitors to be quite a lawless place. At least, if one observes the behavior of many of its residents. Oh, it's not that we don't have laws--each year the legislature passes plenty more of them. We have no actual shortage of laws here.

What we have is a lack of enforcement that makes a mockery of the laws. I've commented on this before.

I'm sure everyone in the hearing room rejoiced when the pedestrian crosswalk safety law passed--after all, it's unconscionable that seniors and other pedestrians were being killed as they crossed the streets even in marked crosswalks. But the law seems pretty useless because it is just not being enforced. Sure, when police do go to an intersection they can easily give out tickets one after another. The trouble is, police are seldom found at intersections ticketing motorists and so the law is ignored. Then when they do step out, perhaps when local pressure is applied, they have no trouble giving out tickets because, basically, motorists are used to getting away with breaking the law. I'll bet many of them are surprised to see a cop actually enforcing the traffic laws. (Let me say that I have also observed many drivers waiting patiently, and I wave thanks to them. I'm grateful and feel a bit safer when that happens.)

I walked to a meeting of the legislature on Friday, crossing Beretania Street at the corner of Alakea. Several cars turned and zoomed in front of me as I walked, even when I was more than half way across. One after another. I had to stop mid-way for them. Probably four or five cars. As I continued across, several passed right behind me. Where exactly are the police on this? You see plenty of police cars parked within a block of that intersection because of the courthouse nearby.

It's not just an Oahu thing. A couple of weeks ago on the Big Island I stopped at an intersection of Rt. 11 right at the corner where Borders is located. I was in the leftmost of two left-turn lanes, the first car to stop after the yellow light. Probably after the red had been shining for two seconds or more, a car to my right (in the rightmost turn lane) just flew through the intersection, making his turn despite the fact that the light had been red for some time. The day before, near Volcano, we were passed by a pickup that must have been doing 80-100. It came rapidly up behind us and passed our car despite the double yellow line.

Big Island lawbreakers make our Oahu speeders look like wimps.

Back on Oahu I visited a stationery store to pick up some stuff. There were at least three empty parking spots, yet a purple van without a placard pulled into the one handicap spot and the driver went in to the store. I called it in to the police and did my own shopping. When I came out, a blue Toyota was in the space, also without a placard <sigh>.

So what is to be done? Above I have written basically a report, or a rant, about situations I have noticed. Others have written letters to the editors about their observations of motorists and others breaking the law. It's not like this is a big secret.

Nor is it just an automobile issue. The same week we were on the Big Island, the Campaign Spending Commission decided it would suspend enforcement of limits on Mainland political contributions. How can they just do that?

Then there is the ongoing dispute about illegal vacation rentals. See this compelling op-ed by Kalana Best in today's Star-Bulletin. I don't believe there is any dispute that these vacation rentals are illegal, yet the problem goes on and on. I am familiar with a similar situation with regard to illegal "Ohana" additions to existing homes that are rented out. When we moved to Hawaii we rented a house, and just after we moved in, an addition was stuck onto the back of our garage and rented out.

It was illegal. The property manager knew it, presumably the owner knew it, but SO WHAT.

Speeding is illegal. SO WHAT.

Entering a crosswalk in front of a pedestrian is illegal. SO WHAT.

Operating a tourist business in residential Kailua or Lanikai is illegal. SO WHAT.

Maybe our tourist official should advertise the true freedom that visitors can experience if they come to Hawaii. Forget about laws, speed limits, stay where you like, practice your tailgating skills at 70 miles an hour on our highways. Enjoy playing chicken with pedestrians in crosswalks. Go through as many red lights as you like. Yes, even two, three, five, or more a day! No one will catch you. You'll never even see a cop. Maybe not for your entire stay. Enjoy.

There oughta be a law.

In the debate yesterday, Linda Lingle claimed credit for turning a deficit into a large surplus.

The State of Hawaii has no surplus. The extra money in the general fund is not surplus, but the profit earned by neglect.

Our schools are in disrepair physically and functionally. To correct this neglect alone would use up the surplus.

We have no workable disaster plan. We've saved money by not arranging for shelters, by not repairing sirens and other facilities. By not inspecting dams. When the storm or the tsunami comes, we'll wonder why we didn't prepare.

There is nothing meaningful being done by the state to provide affordable housing for its increasing homeless population. We have not spent what's needed to repair, maintain and make available what public housing exists nor have we built new housing. We've left development to the developer's greed. Greed will not provide affordable housing. Nor are shelters the answer, they are a band-aid on a festering wound.

You get the point.

Will Iwase have different priorities should he be elected? We can't tell from the debate.

If you enjoy political blogs, treat yourself to Volcanic Ash over at the Advertiser's blogsite.

David Shapiro has created a place in cyberspace filled with insightful commentary, humor, and even poetry. I find that his weekly take on the news often reveals truths the papers don't quite bring forward, though they should. For example, in this week's flASHback:

The number of food stamp users in Hawai'i dropped by 19 percent over the past five years, partly because of red tape involved in applying for the assistance. We know we're in trouble when people would rather starve than deal with the bureaucracy.

In the past it was the Med-Quest medical insurance program which was so hard to join that people just gave up. David is on to a deep truth here, and one that hurts. We need to do better than to deny our own people benefits they are entitled to.

David has become an expert in live commentary, most recently during the primary election. He invites comments and jumps right in to respond. His blog is a multi-party conversation. He's created a sense of community around his blog that so fits the genre it is as though he were born to it.

Maybe it's his perennial good humor. For example, he could have blasted Bob Hogue for a dumb campaign remark, but instead made his point thusly:

Congressional candidate Bob Hogue accused his opponent Mazie Hirono of "negative campaigning" for questioning his voting record, saying he'll run a "nice guy" race. We hope he enjoys his reign as "Mr. Congeniality" while Hirono serves in Congress.

I'll bet that Volcanic Ash generates more traffic than the rest of the Advertiser blogs combined.

It's kind of a mosh pit of a blog. Dive on in, it's informative and fun.

Government needs to be accountable to the people. It would be hard to find anyone who would disagree with that. Yet Hawaii's state government is handing out huge bundles of cash--money which is badly needed for other purposes--and remains totally unaccountable so far. This needs to be changed. Any of us can think of better uses for this money. I'll give some suggestions at the end of this article, although anyone could come up with a similar list.

It's not as though we don't know about what's going on. The question of whether the so-called "high-tech" tax credit (Act 221/Act 215) is working has been well covered, for example in today's Star-Bulletin article No way to tell if tax credit is doing its job, consultants say. The Advertiser makes a stronger negative evaluation: Isles' tech jobs drop despite tax credit. Well, gosh, if the consultants can't tell, with better access to information than you or I have, then one thing is clear: accountability for this huge spending black hole (so far $185 million and counting) is woefully absent. And look, we're not getting the jobs we were promised, either. From the Advertiser article:

"It does seem that the total number of (technology) jobs has gone down and the relative share of technology jobs has gone down," said University of West Georgia professor Bruce Bird, the report's co-author.

For this amount of money a large number of people should be employed, but that doesn't seem to be the case.


No way to trace the money? Yikes!

If the money was spent by the government, or even if someone stole or embezzled it, we'd know where it went, but the beneficiaries of this corporate welfare remain shrouded from public view.
We also can't tell if they are "paying back" legislators or the administration with campaign contributions or in other ways, because we don't know who they are. That this tax incentive can create a "pay for play" racket should be self-evident.


Tax credits, in the absence of individualized long-term plans, don't work

While the newspapers reveal the extent of the damage, they don't explain how we can go about discovering the information we need in order to decide whether even more money should be dumped in this hole.

Why am I so negative about this program? It's because I am aware of how programs have worked successfully elsewhere. Other programs are not simply giveaways to companies in the hopes that they will stay local and so create jobs and tax revenues, or even attract further tech businesses to join them. There is much more that has to be established before tax incentives are paid out, unless we just want to waste our money (as we are probably doing at present, but who can know? Even the consultants couldn't say).

Any program needs to be measured and refined, not only for public accountability, but to adjust it if necessary and to test if its objectives are being met.

From the Star-Bulletin story:

Under Acts 221/215, Hawaii grants 100 percent tax credits for investments in qualified high-tech companies, which include things like firms that make computer software and alternative energy fuels, as well as performing arts productions, such as movies and television shows. The credits are paid out over five years.

The inclusion of performing arts productions is problematic in itself: there should be a seperate "performing arts" tax credit so that it can be measured properly and evaluated. Performing arts and high-tech are being lumped together for some reason and should be separated.

Computer software is a commodity business. Software is certainly an industry in itself, and it is also part of almost any other business. Software is incorporated into business systems, banking, manufacturing, and so on. Giving tax credits for that is silly. A bank that needs a few programmers either just hires them or contracts out. Tax incentives are not needed because software creation is part of their business.

The credits are presumably intended to encourage software development as a standalone industry. The problem is that it's unlikely that very much of a software industry would migrate to a little island in middle of the Pacific, far from a customer base, where the educational system is lacking and cost of living is high. Of course there would be some software firms here, just as there are elsewhere.

Even as DBEDT was beginning to pump money into software in the late 1980s, the industry had begun to flee the Mainland for low-wage, low-cost locations such as Ireland. At this point, having established itself in India, we see the beginning of outsourcing from India to Bangladesh.

By its nature, a software development industry is highly volatile. You can't nail it down very easily in isolation. Due to the ubiquity of the Internet, it can migrate to places where the workforce is educated and salaries are low, compared to anywhere in this country.

Or it will move to where its customers are, so that (for example) they can get together after work over drinks and talk business. So even if a firm sets up in Hawaii because of the tax credits (or because the CEO likes to surf, or because someone believed the hype that Hawaii is going to be a "high-tech center of the Pacific," or that being between the time zones is an advantage of some sort), sooner or later the company bean counter comes knocking and reality sets in: move to Silicon Valley or you're fired. Or to Wall Street, or to Hollywood. Wherever, but not here.

What does work is to create plans for the lifetime of an industry. Singapore is arguably the best example of a centrally planned economy in the world, and that's one thing they did consistently. In the 1970s Singapore began attracting manufacturing, low-tech and later high-tech manufacturing, in earnest. When General Electric established itself in Singapore, one reason was tax incentives. But Singapore planners knew that if that was all they offered, GE would simply pack up and move in the future to another location where the total environment was better. Planners got together with GE and with other companies to assure them of their long-term success in the country. For example, Singapore was going to upgrade the education of its workers, and this would mean paying higher wages in the future, but for increased productivity. Singapore planned to upgrade its ports and strengthen its financial institutions. It could tell companies that the medium- and low-tech industries that support high-tech manufacturing would be available to them as suppliers. All this was up-front, so CEOs could make plans to stay.

Companies knew what to expect, and what benefits they would gain over time. If they were going to leave in the future, they (and the Singapore government) probably understood the mutual benefits that would accrue in the meantime. This isn't rocket science, the factors that lead to business success are most often calculable and largely predictable, even in the face of unexpected changes in manufacturing or technology.

Singapore will thrive because of its planning.

If all Hawaii offers is tax incentives, it's unlikely that corporations will stay. Of course, they'll stay as long as we taxpayers offer them a handout. Who wouldn't? Turn off the money spigot, and what will keep them here? This question has to be answered for each and every company, or they should not receive the tax incentive in the first place.

DBEDT has a history of spotlighting new high-tech companies at the beginning of their life cycle. The latest wunderkind is splashed across the daily papers. Down the road the bean counters do come knocking, and the company leaves, or their stock sags. One after another. Recall all the hype around that real-estate project dubbed the "Mililani High-Tech Park." The bean-counter knock came for one star tenant after another.


Suggestions: Get real, start planning, become accountable

There are certainly areas of technology where Hawaii's unique location, climate or other factors would enable some kind of high-tech to flourish. There are plenty of examples today, although none yet can sustain an island economy. Biotech, for example, comes to mind. But not the building of electric cars (this is not Detroit, and even there, auto companies are now laying off workers). We should use electric cars, but it's not clear why we would succeed in building and marketing them.

What are some of the things we can do with those millions in corporate welfare currently passed out under the table? Your suggestions are probably as good as mine.

1) We the people should get together and pool our suggestions. Then vote for those who will support them. I doubt very many of us want to continue to pay out secret tax incentives to just any corporation.

2) Some of the tax largess could be spent instead in developing quality charter magnet schools. New York City has three tech schools: Bronx Science, Stuyvesant, and Brooklyn Tech. I graduated from Stuyvesant. The alumni of these schools include many technology leaders.

Our poor educational system is often cited as one reason why high-tech companies won't consider setting up here. Employees want their children to succeed too! So let's fix it.

And I don't suggest giving the money to the DOE to develop these schools. Find and hire educators who know how to make it work. Quit starving our existing charter schools also. Help them to do better.

3) We can put in free city-wide high-speed data networks to enhance our appeal to tech businesses, but we should do that anyway because our own existing businesses are being hampered if they don't have access to infrastructure that other Mainland cities now offer. In other words, we should first be users or consumers of high-tech to better our economy without worrying about being the center of anything or a "hub of the Pacific."

This country has fallen way behind others in speed of broadband data, cost of access, and availability to individuals and companies. We pay far more and get far less, and many of us can't get speedy broadband access at all. So how can we compete? Hawaii is behind other areas in some important measures. We can spend some money and fix it.

4) Chives and parsley thrive on my lanai. There's not enough sun to grow other things that I'd like, or my soil doesn't have the right pH, or something. So for the moment, my plan is to grow chives and parsley and figure out what else might prosper in my pots or what else likes the conditions I have.

We need to figure out what kind of industries and which companies can succeed in Hawaii. Do the math for each of them or with the officers of some target corporations. If they need access to the university, plan where they can set up nearby (no use waiting for Mufi to lay train tracks to UH, he doesn't see the connection between transit and economic development). Or gosh, put in the tracks if that's what it takes. One mayor may be confounding state-wide prosperity with small thinking. But have a sound reason for what is done. If the numbers don't look like they can make a profit long-term, forget about bringing them here or starting that kind of a business. Tax credits which run out eventually won't help unless the overall equation comes up profitable for the target business. Even then, will they be more profitable elsewhere? If so, they won't stay for that reason.

5) With the 12 1/2% increase in excise tax set for 2007, any company, high-tech or not, will think twice about doing any business here. Not only will direct costs go up, but the cost of living can be expected to ratchet up. Housing will be even more difficult to find or afford. In order to keep the labor force fed and housed, salaries will increase, further bumping up costs for goods and services produced here. You know, and companies know, that costs here are going up, not down.

The question of ballooning costs must be addressed. It simply must. Or just be happy with tourism and its risks.

6) Learn to plan successfully. The current fiasco in transportation planning simply demonstrates to outside observers that we don't know the first thing about planning. Does cutting off a train line on both ends demonstrate foresight and perspicuity?

7) For goodness sake, drop the hype, get real, become accountable, stop the payout of tax money without evidence that companies will stay and create long-term, well-paying jobs. Just say no to secret tax payouts. Demonstrate responsibility in government.

CEOs know that the tax incentives are not part of a long-term plan for their company, so they don't make long-term plans to stay.

It took Guy Kawasaki to point out (in one of his talks at UH) that the time-zone advantage long hyped by DBEDT was junk, and that there is a world of difference between Hawaii and Silicon Valley. His talk should have inspired our economic planners to try something different. We need to recognize that there are a number of businesses making a good living promoting high tech, and either get some results, or set them a different task. Promoting high-tech should not itself be allowed to become a black hole into which we just throw taxpayer money.

We need to get real, and to make realistic, achievable plans. Paying out secret tax incentives makes no contribution to our long-term success nor enhances our government's reputation as competent economic planners.

I'm not sure how House Majority Leader John Boehner pronounces his last name, but it could enhance how this line, at the very end of an editorial from the newspaper The Hill, is interpreted:

Hastert and Boehner need to get on the same page or Republican troubles will continue to mount.

(This was on yesterday's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, in a bit by Bradley Whitford.)

As we inch closer to the start of the next legislative session in January 2007, legislators ought to think twice before agreeing to hire corporate executives as "interns" to work in their offices.

Following the release of today's Ethics Commission opinion on the subject of interns, it will be easier for clean government advocates to shine the spotlight on any legislator taking in corporate execs seeking influence or access in their offices.

The opinion mentions (on page 4) that

... a legislator might be in violation of the "Fair Treatment" section of the State Ethics Code (HRS section 84-13) if the legislator uses an intern, who is well versed in legislative matters, for the purpose of giving a company that employs the intern preferential access to legislative business. ...

The Honolulu Advertiser reported this morning on the release by Rep. Bev Harbin of a Hawaii State Ethics Commission opinion regarding the use of legislative "interns" who in reality are corporate executives. These are not students learning how laws are made, they are often senior people dispatched by companies to work in legislator's offices during session. You read about this first right here on Disappeared News in an article dated March, 2006 which also first applied the term "embedded lobbyists" to these so-called interns.

After initial reports by Disappeared News and Pacific Business News, the issue exploded briefly into the press and TV. See this Google search for a variety of articles on the subject.

The complete Ethics Commission opinion can be found here.

The Ethics Commission isn't done with this matter. There were specific complaints asking what role, if any, an HMSA Foundation "intern" might have had in the derailing of Hawaii's health insurance rate regulation law. Mark Forman was working in Rep. Bob Herkes' office while serving as Executive Administrator of HMSA Foundation (he was listed on their website as still holding that position). While he was there, a complex amendment was introduced by Rep. Bob Herkes, chair of the Consumer Protection & Commerce Committee, that appears to have been prepared in advance of public testimony and ultimately killed rate regulation.

(Under the original law, the Insurance Commissioner reviewed rate filings and determined whether they were reasonable. In his testimony, the Commissioner estimated that the law saved Hawaii $18 million in premiums. This is money that individuals and small businesses were able to spend on other things--for example, gasoline! Now that the law is gone, HMSA and Kaiser can set rates as they like. Not only can they raise rates, they can set them artificially low to drive out competition.)

If the Ethics Commission investigation continues to specifics, Rep. Herkes may be placed in the uncomfortable position of having to say where the language in his amendment came from. He does not have the special expertise to have worded that amendment himself. So I imagine that in his defense against the ethics complaint he may confirm that he let the industry write that language for him. In other words, he will have to effectively admit that we citizens (and small businesses) were sold out. This is speculation, since no details of an Ethics Commission investigation are revealed to the public while it is ongoing.

Ultimately the result will come out. There's a strong public interest, I suggest, in learning how that whole thing happened (the corruption of the bill to remove the sunset on rate regulation).

During the next session activists will continue to demand change. The petition asking for procedural reforms at bringsunshinetohawaii.com is still active, although somewhat dormant between sessions (please sign the petition if you have not done so already). With all the publicity, legislators would be wise to refrain from employing corporate executives as "interns" from this point onwards.

It rained every day during our trip to Kilauea Volcano and Hilo on the Big Island last week. They always get a lot of rain, so we were prepared. But we also drove around more than usual to find closer parking places and so forth. Normally we love to walk, but it was just too wet.

We didn't see a single pothole the entire four days we were there. Not one. Nope. I'm sure there could be potholes somewhere, but we consciously looked and didn't see any.

There were a few patched spots. The patches were perfectly flat.

Then we came back to Honolulu. What a mess! Not only are there still unrepaired potholes, but many streets are in terrible shape after ugly patch upon ugly patch. And not only that--white lines and pedestrian crosswalks aren't repainted when potholes are fixed, so some streets lack necessary markings for pedestrian safety.

It seems that Harry Kim can do what Mufi Hannemann cannot. Too bad Harry wouldn't run for governor, maybe he could have accomplished something over here.

Mufi shouldn't be too proud to ask Harry how he does it. Please, Mufi. We'd all appreciate it if you'd learn the secret.

If it's true that corporations run our government, then it may be time for them to unite and demand regime change.

According to an MSNBC report,

Farmers of all types of specialty crops, from almonds to roses, have seen the immigrant labor supply they depend on dry up over the past year.

. . .

Other industries that depend on immigrant labor, such as landscaping and construction, "are also concerned about the overall availability of labor given demographic trends," he said, adding: "But agriculture is the warning sign, if you will, of structural changes in the economy."

The problem is now reaching crisis proportions, food growers say. As much as 30 percent of the year's pear crop was lost in Northern California, growers estimate. More than one-third of Florida's Valencia orange crop went unharvested, Regelbrugge said. In New York, apples are rotting on the trees, because workers who once picked the fruit have fled frequent raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, said Maureen Marshall, an apple grower in Elba.

The problem is the hatred for immigrants that the Republican Party has fostered and turned into restrictive legislation.

According to articles in the NY Times and elsewhere, tourism is down:

San Francisco's tourist industry, the lifeblood of its economy, is in dire straits. Even before Sept. 11, the dot-com bust had put a damper on business travel, causing hotel occupancy to drop 11 percent in the first eight months of the year from the same period last year. But since Sept. 11, tourism in San Francisco, as in every destination that depends on air travelers, has been seriously affected.

It's no longer a pleasure to fly to or within the United States. The recent crackdown on liquids and gels was only the last straw.

The high price of gasoline Bushites have bestowed on small and large businesses throughout the country so that their oil company buddies can prosper is hurting the economy in umpteen ways.

So if corporations indeed run Washington (and last night's Bill Moyers documentary confirms that they do:

Once upon a time the House of Representatives was known as "the people's house." No more. It belongs to K Street now. That's the address of the lobbyists who swarm all over Capitol Hill. There are 65 lobbyists for every member of Congress. They spend $200 million per month wining, dining and seducing federal officials. Per month!

... so if they really run things, when are they going to get together and decide that this administration is really hurting their business?

CEOs of America, Unite!