Lum remains positive, active despite losing job, election by Lester Chang – THE GARDEN ISLAND The one-time embattled, now retired Kaua‘i police chief K.C. Lum doesn’t let life’s problems get him down. This summer, Lum retired prematurely because the chief
Lum remains positive, active despite losing job, election
by Lester Chang – THE GARDEN ISLAND
The one-time embattled, now retired Kaua‘i police chief K.C. Lum doesn’t let life’s problems get him down.
This summer, Lum retired prematurely because the chief selection process was tainted in his favor.
Within the past two months, Lum, a self-proclaimed advocate of more open government, failed in his first bid for County Council seat.
But through the controversies and the highs and lows of campaigning, Lum remained steadfastly cool and calm — probably to the chagrin of critics, including police brass who served with him.
Lum has survived and is enjoying retirement and taking care of a small but successful family-owned coffee business in West Kaua‘i with his wife.
Lum’s star in government circles shone brightly Oct. 15, 2004 when he was sworn in as chief partly with the expectation of raising significantly the morale of the police department.
And he did the bidding of Mayor Bryan Baptiste, who declared a war on drug use at the start of his four-year term in 2002.
Lum responded in the affirmative with a sudden increase in arrests, especially drug arrests, drawing applause from the mayor, the Police Commission, drug rehabilitation agencies and residents.
But Lum’s good fortune began to go south after he overran his department’s budget by $320,000 in 2005, triggering disbelief and frustration by the county administration and County Council. It was the first time any department had ever gone over a budget by that amount.
Trouble mounted when Clayton Arinaga, then an assistant chief, filed a Whistleblowers’ Protection Act complaint against the chief. Now interim chief, Arinaga claimed retaliation for reporting three vice officers who flew to Maui on the county dime but did not attend the conference the went for. Lum dismissed Arinaga’s charges as baseless.
Lum earned more enemies by filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court alleging discrimination and conspiracy on the part of Kaua‘i police commissioner Leon Gonsalves and various county officials, including Baptiste.
Lum expressed outrage over an Oct. 14, 2004 e-mail Gonsalves sent that compared Lum with “Hop Sing,” the name of a Chinese cook in the popular 1960s television show “Bonanza.”
In the same e-mail, Gonsalves compared Ron Venneman with “Little Joe,” one of the fictitious brothers in the television series. Venneman was a deputy police chief under Lum before being reassigned.
Gonsalves said his characterizations were not ill-willed, and that while he served with Lum on the force, police officers routinely called him “Angus” because of his thick, black, wavy hair.
Lum further ran afoul of the system with an Ethics Board investigation into allegations police commissioner Michael Ching unethically but favorably positioned Lum for his new job, as did Venneman, who lobbied with a key member of the State of Hawai‘i Organization of Police Officers to support Lum as the next chief.
Venneman said he did most of his lobbying on his own time.
On a different tack, Baptiste pulled back on his support of Lum because he felt Lum was not leading the department effectively and had failed to raise morale.
This summer, Ching resigned, sanctions were proposed against Venneman and Lum retired June 7, one day before the county, citing tampering with the selection process for the new chief in Lum’s favor, terminated his contract.
Lum attempted to parlay his new-found reputation as a champion of open government into a County Council seat, but fell well-short of the top seven vote-getters.
In defeat, Lum says he won anyway.
He won the hearts of thousands of voters who felt like him — that the purpose of government is to serve the people.
• Lester Chang, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@kauaipubco.com.
