Disappeared News

by Larry Geller

Doug White comments in his article on Poinography! earlier this week,  Honolulu Prosecutor (instead of an independent counsel) asked to consider hydrogen fund allegations, on Attorney General Mark Bennett's passing the buck to Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle to investigate allegations against DBEDT director Ted Liu. The article links in turn to Bob Jones' article in MidWeek, Governor Lingle And The Liu Ruse.

Jones says pretty much what I said earlier (If HTA chief had to resign over improper emails, shouldn’t DBEDT head resign after procurement irregularities?). He writes:

Any reasonable person must conclude that upon reading the Senate Investigative Committee findings on how Liu awarded management of the state’s $8.7 million Hydrogen Investment Fund.

Remember how quickly Lingle called for the head of Tourism Authority chief Rex Johnson, an ally of Hawaii Democrats, when he screwed up? In the Liu case - sheer misdirection of state money rather than a mild e-mail indiscretion - you must conclude that Lingle or one of her top operatives was complicit in the ruse. Or else Liu would certainly be out the door.

Why spend money on this investigation at a time when both city and state are looking for services to cancel because of the economic downturn?

The Senate Investigative Committee findings appear reasonable, so the governor might expedite things by having a word with Liu about his imminent resignation.

I suppose that even if Liu resigns, the question of whether he broke the law will have to be investigated. But resignation sounds like a good first step to me, given the Senate findings, and the governor might speak to him about it—if for no other reason than to save us all an expensive legal process.

That money could go to children's health insurance, for example, or to any of the other services that the administration is busy cutting.

Permalink posted by Larry @ 11/08/2008 09:16:00 PM