The county Ethics Board yesterday decided attorney Jonathan Chun can appear on behalf of private interests before county agencies while serving as chair of the Charter Review Commission. His wearing “multiple hats” does not violate the County Charter or ethics
The county Ethics Board yesterday decided attorney Jonathan Chun can appear on behalf of private interests before county agencies while serving as chair of the Charter Review Commission.
His wearing “multiple hats” does not violate the County Charter or ethics code, board members said. The vote was 5-0, with Judith Lenthall abstaining and Leila Fuller absent.
Chun requested the board’s advisory opinion last month, but it deferred action pending legal advice.
The County Attorney’s Office issued a written opinion on the matter, but the board refused to release it to the public after discussing it for roughly an hour behind closed doors at the Mo‘ikeha Building.
The board will deliberate on this matter “without the benefit of the public having that opinion,” Ethics Board Chair Mark Hubbard said after returning to open session.
Kapa‘a resident Horace Stoessel asked the board to justify its decision to guard the opinion under attorney-client privilege.
“I do not intend to answer that, Horace,” Hubbard said. “It could be that I don’t know; it could be that I just don’t wish to answer that question.”
Chun said in a phone interview after the meeting that he believes the county attorney’s legal opinion should be made available to the public. He planned to inquire as to whether he has a right to read it.
“I’m happy that this has been resolved but I would want to get some kind of clarification because it’s a much bigger issue than myself,” Chun said. “I would want to know what the rationale would be. It’s an important opinion.”
The bigger issue, Chun said, is does a board member have to restrict any of his activities before the county just because he is a board member.
Charter section 20.02D states in part that “no officer or employee of the county shall appear in behalf of private interests before any county board, commission or agency.”
If the legal opinion is written narrowly, he said, it may only apply to Chun. But it could be written broadly to provide some guidelines for those in a similar situation.
Board member Judith Lenthall illustrated the point with a personal example.
On Wednesday, she appeared before County Council as executive director of the Kaua‘i Food Bank. Under a strict interpretation of the charter and ethics code, she said this would be impermissible.
Hubbard took it a step further by suggesting he, as a board member, would not be allowed to apply for a driver’s license if the law is inflexibly applied.
“It can be taken to the level of absurdity,” Lenthall said.
There could be a “chilling effect” on whether people decide to participate in government, Chun said.
“They would have to make a choice,” he said. “Under a strict interpretation, I can’t speak my mind before any other board. I was hoping that an opinion would clarify what was intended.”
Chun has represented real estate agents before the County Council and various private entities before the county Planning Commission.
He recused himself from the Charter Review Commission’s Jan. 28 meeting after Kapa‘a resident Glenn Mickens asked him to step down due to the apparent violation.
Chun was absent from the commission’s Feb. 25 meeting, but plans to resume his volunteer post on March 24.
“We’re not pointing the finger at Jonathan Chun. That’s not the point. We’re pointing the finger at that section of the charter,” Mickens said yesterday.
He, Stoessel and Kapa‘a resident Ken Taylor urged the board to advise Chun that a conflict of interest exists.
“Our charter is our constitution … to preclude any of this from happening, let’s just abide by it,” Mickens said.
“I don’t think there’s any wiggle room in the way that the charter is written,” Taylor said.
Lenthall said the ethics provisions should be applied “straight across the board.”
Hubbard noted another example with Mel Rapozo.
He appeared before the board’s most recent meeting as the owner of his private business, Hubbard said, not as a member of the County Council.
“Nobody in that room found that offensive. Nobody seemed to care that might be a violation of 20.02D,” Hubbard said. “Why can’t Jonathan Chun do that and Mel Rapozo can?”
After formally protesting the board’s decision on Chun, Stoessel asked when the charter’s ethics provision would ever apply if not now.
“I look at the charter, I look at the code because that’s what I’m supposed to go by,” Lenthall said. “I continue to be a little confused. I’m going to abstain because I can’t figure it out whether it’s a yes or no.”
From a list of 92 advisory opinions the board has accumulated since 1977, Hubbard said last month that six construe the law broadly and 12 maintain a narrow definition of 22.02D — including its most recent decision in December.
The board meets the second Thursday of each month at 9 a.m., Liquor Commission Conference Room, Mo‘ikeha Building.
• Nathan Eagle, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or neagle@kauaipubco.com.
