• Council investigations Council investigations The Office of Information Practices has thrown back to the County Attorney a decision on whether the County Council has the power to set up procedures state to investigate county departments. The practice is being
• Council investigations
Council investigations
The Office of Information Practices has thrown back to the County Attorney a decision on whether the County Council has the power to set up procedures state to investigate county departments.
The practice is being questioned by council “nitpicker” Raymond Chuan and other council watchers.
Those speaking before the council in such investigations would take an oath and might face perjury type charges if they were shown to be lying.
Telling the truth is important, whether it’s under oath or just in casual conversation. If council investigations are set up correctly – according to the County Attorney’s office and state law – those proven to be not telling the truth while under oath should be prosecuted.
While holding council-held investigations might sound heavy handed, apparently the existing County Charter allows for such investigations. It’s easy to see that investigations of theft and other illegal actions within a department need to be handled in some kind of a public fashion, with possible criminal charges being referred to the state court system.
Leslie Kondo, the head of OIP based in Honolulu, clarified an earlier letter to the Council, making clear that any member of the public who wants to testify before the Council need not take an oath. That’s clearly covered under the state’s Sunshine Law. Such comments aren’t testimony per se.
Now council pundit Chuan is accusing the OIP of flip-flopping on the issue. He has a point there.
However, the bigger point he’s trying to make is that the Council needs to limit what they investigate and not make it a common practice.
We agree. County government needs to stick to their core assignments as we’ve been outlining in our weekly “Your Government” section. Playing police officer before the cameras of Ho‘ike on a regular basis would be a waste of the Council’s time and yet another distraction from the Council’s work at hand.
