While members of the Kaua‘i Police Commission welcomed their newest member, the Rev. Thomas Iannucci, earlier this week, the fate of commission Vice Chair Carol Furtado remained in limbo. Iannucci was sworn in as the fifth member of the Police
While members of the Kaua‘i Police Commission welcomed their newest member, the Rev. Thomas Iannucci, earlier this week, the fate of commission Vice Chair Carol Furtado remained in limbo.
Iannucci was sworn in as the fifth member of the Police Commission, which oversees most areas of the Kaua‘i Police Department. He replaced Stanton Pa, a former commission chair who had a public falling out with Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste.
While Baptiste’s appointment of Iannucci was confirmed late last month by members of the Kaua‘i County Council, councilmembers refused to confirm Baptiste’s reappointment of Furtado at the same meeting, deferring a decision.
Furtado was one of three of 15 mayoral appointees whose commission spots were deferred at the meeting.
But the other two, Frederick Wells to the Salary Commission, and Gary E. Smith to the Public Access, Open Space, Natural Resources Preservation Fund Commission, are serving their initial terms and had their appointments deferred pending interviews. Furtado already went through a council interview in January.
Furtado said she has no idea why her reappointment was deferred. In fact, she has yet to be contacted by councilmembers after her midJanuary interview, including when they deferred their decision.
“I’m not happy with it,” Furtado said of the council’s deferment. “I don’t know the reason for it. If they still had questions or concerns, I’m more than willing to come in again.”
Furtado, who served her first threeyear term at the behest of former Mayor Maryanne Kusaka, said she was informed of the council’s decision by a member of the public.
“It’s a little disheartening when you are willing to volunteer your time and no one’s telling you what’s happening,” she said. “Personally, I think I’ve done a decent job. I’ve been fair and consistent in my decisions. I have no clue what’s behind the deferment.”
Councilmembers Mel Rapozo and Shaylene IseriCarvalho, chair and vice chair of the Energy and Public Safety Committee, respectively, did not return repeated calls for comment over a fiveday period.
Councilmember JoAnn Yukimura, also a member of the Energy and Public Safety Committee, did not return a call for comment yesterday.
Meanwhile, Furtado remains on the commission on a 90day extension at Baptiste’s prerogative.
Baptiste did not return calls for comment over the past few days, either.
One rumor that’s been floating around the historic County Building recently is that the councilmembers’ decision is related to a proposed investigation into the Kaua‘i Police Department.
While no investigation has yet been initiated, council Chair Kaipo Asing proposed a resolution adopting rules of investigation at the Jan. 26 meeting.
A decision on the resolution, which would give councilmembers subpoena powers and subject those held in contempt by the council to a misdemeanor charge, was deferred.
Commission Chair Michael Ching has already posted a letter to councilmembers, protesting the decision to go forward with a KPD investigation.
“It is my firm belief that all allegations of wrong doing of either an individual officer, the chief, or the department, falls under the authority of the Police Commission,” Ching wrote in the letter dated in midJanuary.
At this week’s special commission meeting, commissioners decided to draft a letter stating their position on a proposed council investigation into the KPD, Furtado said in a phone interview.
The letter has yet to be finalized but, according to Furtado would, in essence, ask councilmembers to keep the commissioners abreast of findings if an investigation is started, and state commission members’ wishes to work together with councilmembers to resolve issues.
Commissioners decided Monday to “let (Ching’s) letter stand as it is,” said Furtado, and to issue the second letter, which would reiterate the collective commissioners’ beliefs that, “at the time the letter was appropriate.”
Iannucci said commissioners’ duties are “welldefined.”
They are designated to investigate complaints against individuals or groups within the police department, put together the department’s budget, and hire and fire the police chief.
“That’s the job of the commissioner,” Iannucci said in a phone interview, “to work things out (for what we’re) responsible for.”
Iannucci, a senior pastor of Breath of Life Christian Ministries in Lihu‘e, is the second appointee Baptiste has named to the commission, after Leon Gonsalves Sr. last year.
Iannucci is a former Marine and a karate instructor with a black belt who was part of the elite Embassy Marines, responsible for the safety and security of those little pieces of American soil (embassies) in foreign lands.
Originally from New York, Iannucci moved to Kaua‘i after falling in love with a woman from the Westside, the former D’Lissa Wellington, he said. He’s been a Kaua‘i resident for 16 years.
Iannucci said he’s been involved with Baptiste’s AntiDrug Response Plan, and has spoken at drugprevention assemblies at schools on the island.
He’s also held free martialarts lessons across Kaua‘i, at the mayor’s request.
“I love Kaua‘i, and felt the need to do my part,” the commissioner said. “I hope to be a positive, productive part of the Police Commission.”
Tom Finnegan, staff writer, may be reached at 2453681 (ext. 252) or mailto:tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
