• County Council • ACLU letter County Council The arrogance and mendacity of the Kaua‘i County Council know no bounds, as demonstrated by its massive efforts in recent weeks to thwart the will of the people in demanding control of
• County Council
• ACLU letter
County Council
The arrogance and mendacity of the Kaua‘i County Council know no bounds, as demonstrated by its massive efforts in recent weeks to thwart the will of the people in demanding control of the property tax through a highly successful Charter Amendment. Having been dealt a humiliating and resounding repudiation by the people the Council went to court in an action that is both bizarre and somewhat amusing – such as the Council suing itself.
What is even worse is that the Council tried to appropriate money, in secret, for hiring Honolulu lawyers to advise it on this dumb lawsuit against itself. Fortunately, an alert citizen took the matter to the Office of Information Practices, an interesting name of the stage agency set up to monitor the government’s compliance with the state’s Sunshine Law. The OIP said in uncertain language that the hiring of outside lawyers and consultants with public money cannot be done in secret in an Executive Session of the County Council.
Ironically, a copy of the OIP ruling had been sent to the County Attorney on the day the County had on its Agenda an Executive Session to do just that! As a result, the Council, in a rare action, deferred that particular Executive Session. One wonders how those Honolulu lawyers will be paid, without the Council appropriating the money in an open session. Which brings up the question: “What about all those other dozens of Executive Sessions this Council has held this past year in connection with all manners of lawsuits? Including, for example, how much was spent, secretly, in connection with the eight-year old leal in the Kilauea Gym?”
Raymond Chuan
Hanalei
ACLU letter
I would like to respond to the letter published on the ACLU in the November 29 issue of The Garden Island. This letter is just another sign of the frightening direction this great country has been heading over the past several years.
The ACLU is not “obsessed with doing away with the rights of the majority.” Instead, they are attempting to protect the rights of the minorities from the majority who wish to deprive them of those rights. The writer says that the ACLU is trying to “…(do) away with any mention of God.” This is, of course, ridiculous. What they are trying to do is to stop the majority (in this case, Christians) from forcing their religion on everybody else. Why should I, as an atheist, be forced to subsidize their religion with my taxes? The writer further charges that the ACLU “…would like to do away with any song in schools or public places that would mention God.” I see no reason for our public schools, which are open to children of all religions, to be a forum for one particular religion to the exclusion of all others. Similarly, “public places” are just that…public. They are for all the citizens…not just the Christian ones.
Taxpayers fund the building and maintenance of all government buildings. Those buildings should not be used as billboards for a particular religious belief.
While I am not conversant on the court case the letter writer mentions, I did find it interesting that he said the ACLU “…is defending for free two pedophiles who murdered a young boy.” Notice how the letter writer has already convicted the defendants? Apparently he is unaware of the fact that, in the United States, one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. No matter how heinous the crime, the accused is entitled to a defense. a narrow-minded bigot is high praise, indeed.
Brian P. Christensen
Lihu‘e
