Less than a week after the unofficial start of the election season, the first shot in the expected highly-charged run for Kaua‘i’s State Senate seat was fired from O‘ahu over the weekend. Former Kaua‘i mayor and Republican challenger Maryanne Kusaka,
Less than a week after the unofficial start of the election season, the first shot in the expected highly-charged run for Kaua‘i’s State Senate seat was fired from O‘ahu over the weekend.
Former Kaua‘i mayor and Republican challenger Maryanne Kusaka, speaking from the Republican state convention in Honolulu Saturday, said incumbent Gary Hooser, D-Kaua’i-Ni’ihau, has not been accountable to the residents of Kaua‘i regarding safety and drug-related crime.
“People have been talking to me about safety in their own neighborhoods, especially when it comes to drug-related crimes,” she said in a press release sent out by the Hawai‘i Republican Party of Hawai‘i. “Our present Kaua‘i senator has vetoed consistently against the ‘walk and talk’ and wiretap legislation, and he provided a weak drug paraphernalia proposal. All of this leaves our police officers without the proper tools to do their job.”
“We must do better to protect our children from this scourge,” Kusaka said.
Hooser, when reached for comment via phone yesterday at the Taste of Hawai‘i event in Wailua, said that Kusaka’s facts were incorrect. He said that he did not vote on the wiretap bill, since it never made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“What we’re hearing is political campaign rhetoric,” Hooser said in the interview. “The public should expect to hear more of it from the Republican Party. I never had the opportunity to vote on it.”
He called the statement attributed to Kusaka as “inaccurate.”
“I think we passed good legislation,” Hooser said. “Our ‘Drug Bill’ included numerous initiatives that increased the authority for police officers when dealing with Ice,” as well as measures pertaining to treatment and prevention.
The controversy stems from Republican Governor Linda Lingle’s proposal to amend the state constitution to allow for less restrictions to get phone surveillance, and for the ability of law enforcement to ask suspects for permission to search them without a court warrant or probable cause.
The procedure of “wire-tapping” phone lines to gain evidence has become almost completely unused in the state, said U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawai‘i, Edward H. Kubo, Jr., when he was on Kaua‘i speaking at a county-sponsored anti-drug event last November.
Prosecutors are reluctant to ask a judge for a wiretap, he said, because state law requires them to turn over their evidence, which can include confidential informants, undercover officers, places under surveillance, and other sensitive information, to the public defender’s office.
Any information obtained in federal wiretaps, which are obtained by presenting evidence to a judge, not a defense attorney, are inadmissible in state court as well.
“State wiretap laws are pilau. We need to make state law consistent with federal law or for the state courts accept federal wiretap evidence,” he said in November.
The “Knock and Talk” laws, judged unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court in 1992, are also accepted by the federal government.
“Knock and Talk” or “Walk and Talk” programs are the practice of asking someone if they would consent to a body or house search without any probable cause.
If someone calls the police, for example, saying that their neighbor is dealing drugs, a police officer cannot respond, he said.
“Police need evidence now; you just can’t knock on the door,” Kubo added.
Both wiretapping and “Walk and Talk” changes would require constitutional amendments, something Hooser said he does not support. He believes that as the federal Patriot Act continues to infringe on a person’s civil liberties, the state must protect the right of its citizens.
“I wouldn’t support a constitutional amendment that weakens privacy rights and civil liberties,” Hooser added. “I’m proud of the work we’ve done. I’m willing to stand by it.”
While both candidates also expressed support in police officers, the police officer’s union has not made a decision on who to support in the November election.
Bryson Poncé, Kaua‘i Chapter Chair for the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers (SHOPO), said that Kaua‘i Police Department members are divided in their support of the candidates, and that the union of 120 officers remains neutral at this time.
However, he added, an endorsement may happen later in the race, he said.
Staff writer Tom Finnegan can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 226)
