• Human perversity or systemic deficiency? • Government makes you pay more Human perversity or systemic deficiency? Several years ago two council members described for me the way county government operates. One of them told me that in the real
• Human perversity or systemic deficiency?
• Government makes you pay more
Human perversity or systemic deficiency?
Several years ago two council members described for me the way county government operates.
One of them told me that in the real world of county government lip service is paid to the charter but decision-making is always political. The second told me that the mayor can do whatever she wants regardless of what the charter says. In the intervening years I have seen little reason to doubt the fundamental accuracy of their descriptions.
I believe they were not simply describing human perversity but a systemic deficiency as well. If so, what is to prevent the politicizing of the entire range of government operations and is such politicizing desirable?
For example, there is nothing to prevent the mayor from usurping the appointing power of department heads and/or requiring them to subject their professional judgment to political aims. One department head told the Charter Commission in 2006 that his position was “so political.”
But, you may ask, what about department heads who are appointed by a board or commission? Well, these volunteers are also appointed and can be removed by the mayor. Controlling the appointment or removal of a department head appointed by a board can be more complicated and take longer than removing a department head appointed by the mayor. However, in the “real world” of county government, limits on the mayor’s power to control appointments of departmental personnel are virtually non-existent.
Boards and commissions are authorized to exercise countervailing powers in government. If their functions are to be politicized, their appointing powers and/or other powers must first be undermined. The undermining can occur by means of the selection process, by the failure of the council to exercise due oversight of the selection process (has the council ever refused to approve a mayoral appointment?), or by delegating the task of controlling a board’s decision-making to the county attorney.
A recent letter to the Forum defending the status quo correctly pointed out that county officials, including volunteers, pledge to do their best to perform the duties of their office but did not mention the most important part of their pledge; i.e. to support and defend the federal and state constitutions and the charter. No one questions the intentions of appointees, but especially in a politicized environment “good intentions” are no substitute for the pledge to uphold our basic governing documents.
As for the role of the county attorney, that office is filled by a political appointee. His job security depends on staying in the good graces of both mayor and council, who at times are at odds with each other. The situation opens wide the door to politically driven “legal advice.”
I believe that a county manager system which preserves the leadership role of an elected mayor while transferring the responsibility for managing the administration to a professionally qualified person, and which includes an elected county attorney, offers possibilities for correcting the existing systemic flaws. However, the success of such a system on Kaua‘i would depend on its being proposed, debated and adopted in good faith.
With the power brokers determined to restrict charter amendments to tweaks and with the current Charter Commission into its fourth year of dawdling over a county manager proposal, where is the good faith and what are the chances that a well-informed electorate will vote on a county manager proposal in the foreseeable future?
Horace Stoessel, Kapa’a
Government makes you pay more
I assume that everyone reading this knows what a “regressive tax” is. But just in case, a regressive tax is a tax that hurts the lower income people more than the upper income people.
Another way the state House of Representatives hides taxes is to place a 5-cent deposit on bottles and cans. We all know they have done that.
The reason I think it is a hidden and “regressive tax” is because I’ll bet that many people don’t even know that things like small as well as large cans of juice are HI-5 labeled. So if one doesn’t realize this and doesn’t bother to recycle these types of things that most won’t even know that they have paid 5 cents extra for each and every can or bottle that one would not expect that additional charge to be on.
Each of those cans or bottles that are thrown away gives the state an extra tax that is also a hidden tax, much like the regressive taxation that takes place when one pays taxes on food, doctor visits and care, prescriptions and I’m sure there are more of these types of taxes that many don’t even know about.
This message needs to be repeated and repeated so that everyone in the state becomes aware of how their government is making them pay more and more for the services that the people use on a daily basis.
Gordon Smith, Kapahi
