HONOLULU — Fed up with the state’s ethics chief over advice they haven’t liked about whether they can accept certain gifts, a handful of Hawai‘i lawmakers recently decided to go over his head. They lobbied the Ethics Commission chairwoman behind
HONOLULU — Fed up with the state’s ethics chief over advice they haven’t liked about whether they can accept certain gifts, a handful of Hawai‘i lawmakers recently decided to go over his head. They lobbied the Ethics Commission chairwoman behind closed doors.
The unusual appeal highlights the disdain some lawmakers have had for the past year with Executive Director Les Kondo’s hard-line stance on accepting meals and gifts. Some legislators have not been shy about sending emails to lobbyists or otherwise voicing their annoyance about how Kondo’s rulings are affecting their customary way of doing things.
“You have done nothing illegal!” one lawmaker wrote to a lobbyist after having to give back a gift-pack of wine valued at $55.
Read the whole story at Civil Beat.
