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Letters for Friday, June 19, 2009
• No more taxes
• Crime and more crime
• Checks and balances
No more taxes
Gov. Lingle has a tough job trying to be responsible and accountable for the finances of the state. Yes, the governor is faced with furloughs in order to keep from firing thousands of government employees.
But she also has a responsibility to see to it that the private sector is not unfairly burdened with carrying the cost of government employees. The union leadership and some legislators are advocating taxing the private sector more in order to save the government employees from furloughs.
The fact of the matter is, Hawai‘i small businesses employ more than 70 percent of the workforce in the state. The employees of Hawai‘i small businesses are already having their hours reduced and many are being temporarily laid off until the economy picks up.
In other words, small businesses and their employees are being burdened enough in these difficult economic times. It is time for the union leadership and our state legislators to step up and have their constituents do their part in carrying their fair share of the burden of all of our economic woes.
The situation is only temporary. Please, no more taxes! To all small business owners and their employees, it is time for you to put your destiny in your own hands. In 2010, vote for Republicans and Democrats who will look out specifically for small businesses and their employees.
Ron Agor, Lihu‘e
Crime and more crime
After reading the article the other day about the Kilauea Bakery being robbed for the fourth time this year, I had to stop and remember that I was also robbed at my own property in April 2008.
The bakery even has pictures of the bad guys that the Kaua‘i Police Department is allegedly looking into. I hope the owner of this bakery is not thinking that KPD will do anything about it, because odds are they will not.
I had a one-of-a-kind custom motorcycle stolen from my place and spoon fed KPD with all of the information that anyone would need to prosecute these thieves, but nothing has been done about this crime for nearly 15 months and nobody has even been questioned, except for me of course, the victim of this crime.
These crimes are continuing to multiply here on our island and the perpetrators are usually the same suspects who never seem to be caught or prosecuted. There have been dozens of break-ins here on the North Shore this year alone, and to date, none have been solved and nobody has been brought to justice.
I know that Chief Perry has a busy job and is certainly an improvement from past chiefs, but the bad guys seem to know that they can get away with just about anything these days and will continue to destroy our way of life here on Kaua‘i.
The bad guys are winning unfortunately, which must change soon.
Jim Gair, Kilauea
Checks and balances
I totally disagree with Walter Lewis’ suggestion that a county manager, hired by the County Council, is the best way to govern Kaua‘i (“A better system of government,” Forum, June 13).
The separation of the executive and legislative branches is as important to state, municipal and county government as it is to our national government.
In my opinion, a strong mayor, elected by the voters of the county, is the best and most efficient way to run Kaua‘i. I speak as one who is personally familiar with this principle. I served as director of civil service for the City and County of Honolulu for 12 years under Mayor Frank Fasi. I also served as Director of Personnel Services on the Big Island under Mayors Herbert Matayoshi and Dante Carpenter.
Our right to vote for the people who are responsible for running local government is too important to give up by letting the council do it for us. Here is how a strong mayor system generally works:
The mayor appoints a managing director responsible for directing the activities of heads of departments such as Parks and Recreation, Public Works, and others.
Department heads are appointed by the mayor. This is most important, because people who are highly qualified in their respective fields of endeavor are the key to a successful administration.
People will remember that Mayor Fasi brought the bus to Honolulu. He also had a van, painted in bus colors, which was called “the mayor’s bus.” He used this vehicle to cover city installations and projects throughout the island.
Every Monday morning, we had a coat-and-tie department heads meeting with the mayor in his office. The questions that Mayor Fasi asked individual department heads were based on information that he had gathered in his travels around the Island.
It sure did keep them on the ball.
If the council appoints the county manager, who will appoint the department heads? Therein lies a basic weakness of this system, because it will be very difficult to keep department heads from being political appointments.
Harry Boranian, Lihu‘e
• Crime and more crime
• Checks and balances
No more taxes
Gov. Lingle has a tough job trying to be responsible and accountable for the finances of the state. Yes, the governor is faced with furloughs in order to keep from firing thousands of government employees.
But she also has a responsibility to see to it that the private sector is not unfairly burdened with carrying the cost of government employees. The union leadership and some legislators are advocating taxing the private sector more in order to save the government employees from furloughs.
The fact of the matter is, Hawai‘i small businesses employ more than 70 percent of the workforce in the state. The employees of Hawai‘i small businesses are already having their hours reduced and many are being temporarily laid off until the economy picks up.
In other words, small businesses and their employees are being burdened enough in these difficult economic times. It is time for the union leadership and our state legislators to step up and have their constituents do their part in carrying their fair share of the burden of all of our economic woes.
The situation is only temporary. Please, no more taxes! To all small business owners and their employees, it is time for you to put your destiny in your own hands. In 2010, vote for Republicans and Democrats who will look out specifically for small businesses and their employees.
Ron Agor, Lihu‘e
Crime and more crime
After reading the article the other day about the Kilauea Bakery being robbed for the fourth time this year, I had to stop and remember that I was also robbed at my own property in April 2008.
The bakery even has pictures of the bad guys that the Kaua‘i Police Department is allegedly looking into. I hope the owner of this bakery is not thinking that KPD will do anything about it, because odds are they will not.
I had a one-of-a-kind custom motorcycle stolen from my place and spoon fed KPD with all of the information that anyone would need to prosecute these thieves, but nothing has been done about this crime for nearly 15 months and nobody has even been questioned, except for me of course, the victim of this crime.
These crimes are continuing to multiply here on our island and the perpetrators are usually the same suspects who never seem to be caught or prosecuted. There have been dozens of break-ins here on the North Shore this year alone, and to date, none have been solved and nobody has been brought to justice.
I know that Chief Perry has a busy job and is certainly an improvement from past chiefs, but the bad guys seem to know that they can get away with just about anything these days and will continue to destroy our way of life here on Kaua‘i.
The bad guys are winning unfortunately, which must change soon.
Jim Gair, Kilauea
Checks and balances
I totally disagree with Walter Lewis’ suggestion that a county manager, hired by the County Council, is the best way to govern Kaua‘i (“A better system of government,” Forum, June 13).
The separation of the executive and legislative branches is as important to state, municipal and county government as it is to our national government.
In my opinion, a strong mayor, elected by the voters of the county, is the best and most efficient way to run Kaua‘i. I speak as one who is personally familiar with this principle. I served as director of civil service for the City and County of Honolulu for 12 years under Mayor Frank Fasi. I also served as Director of Personnel Services on the Big Island under Mayors Herbert Matayoshi and Dante Carpenter.
Our right to vote for the people who are responsible for running local government is too important to give up by letting the council do it for us. Here is how a strong mayor system generally works:
The mayor appoints a managing director responsible for directing the activities of heads of departments such as Parks and Recreation, Public Works, and others.
Department heads are appointed by the mayor. This is most important, because people who are highly qualified in their respective fields of endeavor are the key to a successful administration.
People will remember that Mayor Fasi brought the bus to Honolulu. He also had a van, painted in bus colors, which was called “the mayor’s bus.” He used this vehicle to cover city installations and projects throughout the island.
Every Monday morning, we had a coat-and-tie department heads meeting with the mayor in his office. The questions that Mayor Fasi asked individual department heads were based on information that he had gathered in his travels around the Island.
It sure did keep them on the ball.
If the council appoints the county manager, who will appoint the department heads? Therein lies a basic weakness of this system, because it will be very difficult to keep department heads from being political appointments.
Harry Boranian, Lihu‘e
Related headlines
- Bulletin Board for Friday, June 19, 2009
- Obituaries for Friday, June 19, 2009
- Letters for Tuesday, June 2, 2009
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Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of kauaiworld.com.
JKDownDaMiddle wrote on Jun 19, 2009 8:26 AM:
" Harry, your 'check' has lost it's balance & bounced...
As you stated..."people who are highly qualified in their respective fields of endeavor are key to a successful administration"...ok so should not the/our Mayor be "highly qualified" enough to be able to appoint these afore mentioned folks? A Deptment Head must be "qualified" for the position to even be nominated....many of our current AND past Deptment Heads have been as you call them..."political appointments" by our various Mayors.
A County manager is 1st, a highly qualified administrative professional. A Mayor.....is not. Starting with our current Mayor, check our track record! We have an elected Mayor who is in office based on popularity....certainly not based on qualifications! Our County Govt. and Dept. heads are totally entrenched and fairly ineffective because for the most part...they are there based on the 'buddy system'. Take this a step further and check each of our Dept. Head's qualifications....hmm?! Now, go back and look at the previous Mayor's appointments. System's broke brah....Kauai's too messed up to be 'repaired' by this administration....new black top and stripes on the road look nice...but that's a cosmetic patch 'for now' , "smoke and mirrors" if you like, not what we need to move this Island outta da past and into the future!
I don't always agree with Mr. Lewis. This time I am in agreement. He is spot on!
Aloha "
As you stated..."people who are highly qualified in their respective fields of endeavor are key to a successful administration"...ok so should not the/our Mayor be "highly qualified" enough to be able to appoint these afore mentioned folks? A Deptment Head must be "qualified" for the position to even be nominated....many of our current AND past Deptment Heads have been as you call them..."political appointments" by our various Mayors.
A County manager is 1st, a highly qualified administrative professional. A Mayor.....is not. Starting with our current Mayor, check our track record! We have an elected Mayor who is in office based on popularity....certainly not based on qualifications! Our County Govt. and Dept. heads are totally entrenched and fairly ineffective because for the most part...they are there based on the 'buddy system'. Take this a step further and check each of our Dept. Head's qualifications....hmm?! Now, go back and look at the previous Mayor's appointments. System's broke brah....Kauai's too messed up to be 'repaired' by this administration....new black top and stripes on the road look nice...but that's a cosmetic patch 'for now' , "smoke and mirrors" if you like, not what we need to move this Island outta da past and into the future!
I don't always agree with Mr. Lewis. This time I am in agreement. He is spot on!
Aloha "
hulali wrote on Jun 19, 2009 11:59 AM:
" I agree with Mr. Boranian.
Why do we even need a County Manager if the Mayor is doing his job? We pay the Mayor a hefty salary (plus benefits) to govern this island so why should he get this salary and then spend big bucks to hire someone else, someone the public knows nothing about, to do his job. Its a waste of money. I've looked into what the County administrators are paid and it is outrageous. (With the exception of the Planning & Building Dept.) They get paid 2 to 3 times the average professional salary for Kauai and really do very little. They don't return calls and it you are actually lucky enough to get a meeting they just smile and agree that you have a point, but do nothing!
Times are tight and our local tax dollars are going to be significantly less in the next couple of years. It's time for fiscal responsibilty in our local government. If they want to wast money, lets spend it on the schools!
And a big Mahalo to Ron Agor! Hawaii over taxes small businesses to the point of extortion. These are the companies that provide the most jobs and should be encouraged. Just look at how many restaurants and other small businesses we lost in just the last year. I would like to abort the Excise Tax in its entirety and replace the tax revenue with a modifed sales tax. "
Why do we even need a County Manager if the Mayor is doing his job? We pay the Mayor a hefty salary (plus benefits) to govern this island so why should he get this salary and then spend big bucks to hire someone else, someone the public knows nothing about, to do his job. Its a waste of money. I've looked into what the County administrators are paid and it is outrageous. (With the exception of the Planning & Building Dept.) They get paid 2 to 3 times the average professional salary for Kauai and really do very little. They don't return calls and it you are actually lucky enough to get a meeting they just smile and agree that you have a point, but do nothing!
Times are tight and our local tax dollars are going to be significantly less in the next couple of years. It's time for fiscal responsibilty in our local government. If they want to wast money, lets spend it on the schools!
And a big Mahalo to Ron Agor! Hawaii over taxes small businesses to the point of extortion. These are the companies that provide the most jobs and should be encouraged. Just look at how many restaurants and other small businesses we lost in just the last year. I would like to abort the Excise Tax in its entirety and replace the tax revenue with a modifed sales tax. "
kuaina wrote on Jun 19, 2009 12:50 PM:
" Right on Ron! The only politician brave enough to hold the line on no new taxes and willing to suffer the wrath of the public worker unions is Linda Lingle. The rest of the politicians including Inouye, Akaka, Abercrombie, Hirono and all the County Mayors and the vast majority of our legislators are in the union's back pocket. They refuse to support furloughs so either they must be in favor of layoffs or tax increases. Bravo Linda! "
JKDownDaMiddle wrote on Jun 20, 2009 9:24 AM:
" My dear hulali,
I have 2 questions for you.
1.)Is the Mayor 'doing' his job?
2.)Have you "Experienced" the County Manager system personally?
Years ago I live in a town of 260,000 folks. That town switched over to a 'Manager' system after the townsfolk had enough of the Mayoral/Departmental misconduct, nepotisim, political appointments to Dept. head positions, graft, corruption, and the bankrupting of the town coffers. Sounds kinda like home yeah? 3 years and a lot of changes later, that town was back in the black and outta da red....
As for salary....what would you be willing to pay someone to take fiscal responsibility of your home/community/county? Shouldn't that person make more money than say...the CPA, lawyer, or bank manager down the road? After all the County Manager is actually 'responsible' for the financial wellbeing of the county amounst many other things!
As you said.."It's time for fiscal responsibility in our local Govt."....ok, so common sense tells me that when it comes to the running of our Island home should we, the hard working tax paying voters of this Island not elect a Mayor who has 'real life' qualifications, experience, education, and for the sake of arguement...a 'plan' , to lead Kauai thru these tough times and take us to the next level? Talk about a waste of taxpayer dollars! Let the Mayor cut the ribbon on the next section of the bike path, kiss da babies, etc....let a PROfessional run this county...that makes fiscal sense to this voter!
Fiscal responsibility actually starts with you and me...the voters of Kauai and our electing "qualified" candidates to lead us. Oh, so what if none of the candidates in the next election are actually 'qualified' to manage a County(like last time....sorry Joanne)lets vote for the one with the nicest smile yeah!
Aloha "
I have 2 questions for you.
1.)Is the Mayor 'doing' his job?
2.)Have you "Experienced" the County Manager system personally?
Years ago I live in a town of 260,000 folks. That town switched over to a 'Manager' system after the townsfolk had enough of the Mayoral/Departmental misconduct, nepotisim, political appointments to Dept. head positions, graft, corruption, and the bankrupting of the town coffers. Sounds kinda like home yeah? 3 years and a lot of changes later, that town was back in the black and outta da red....
As for salary....what would you be willing to pay someone to take fiscal responsibility of your home/community/county? Shouldn't that person make more money than say...the CPA, lawyer, or bank manager down the road? After all the County Manager is actually 'responsible' for the financial wellbeing of the county amounst many other things!
As you said.."It's time for fiscal responsibility in our local Govt."....ok, so common sense tells me that when it comes to the running of our Island home should we, the hard working tax paying voters of this Island not elect a Mayor who has 'real life' qualifications, experience, education, and for the sake of arguement...a 'plan' , to lead Kauai thru these tough times and take us to the next level? Talk about a waste of taxpayer dollars! Let the Mayor cut the ribbon on the next section of the bike path, kiss da babies, etc....let a PROfessional run this county...that makes fiscal sense to this voter!
Fiscal responsibility actually starts with you and me...the voters of Kauai and our electing "qualified" candidates to lead us. Oh, so what if none of the candidates in the next election are actually 'qualified' to manage a County(like last time....sorry Joanne)lets vote for the one with the nicest smile yeah!
Aloha "
hulali wrote on Jun 21, 2009 9:55 PM:
" My dearest JKDownDaMiddle
Your sarcasm is delightful! Lets see.. what would I pay someone to be responsible for the management of our beautiful island community? Exactly what we pay the Mayor because that is his job. He's not there alone, he has multiple assistants, a few county attorneys, and as many well meaning citizens that he can stuff into his office to help him "figure out things". If he is not qualified for the job then we as voters should be more careful at election time. Either that or the opinion page at the Garden Island Newspaper can publicly hold him accountable so that the next mayor candidate thinks twice about his/her qualifications before running.
Its too soon for me to tell if our current Mayor is doing his job, but I watched Mayor Baptiste make an absolute mess of things! He never took a stand on anything. However, I have great faith in our new County Attorney, he is the most qualified & experienced lawyer we have ever had in that office. I also think Shayleen was an excellent choice as our Prosecutor. I felt she was too argumentative as a counsel member but I think she is well suited for her current position. When she worked in the prosecutors office before she had a phenomenal trail success rate. I pity the criminal that catches her wrath. So if these few examples are an indication of Mayor Carvalheo's ability I think he is heading in the right direction. If he is not the brightest berry on the bush (and I'm not saying he isn't) then at least he is surrounding himself with competent people. "
Your sarcasm is delightful! Lets see.. what would I pay someone to be responsible for the management of our beautiful island community? Exactly what we pay the Mayor because that is his job. He's not there alone, he has multiple assistants, a few county attorneys, and as many well meaning citizens that he can stuff into his office to help him "figure out things". If he is not qualified for the job then we as voters should be more careful at election time. Either that or the opinion page at the Garden Island Newspaper can publicly hold him accountable so that the next mayor candidate thinks twice about his/her qualifications before running.
Its too soon for me to tell if our current Mayor is doing his job, but I watched Mayor Baptiste make an absolute mess of things! He never took a stand on anything. However, I have great faith in our new County Attorney, he is the most qualified & experienced lawyer we have ever had in that office. I also think Shayleen was an excellent choice as our Prosecutor. I felt she was too argumentative as a counsel member but I think she is well suited for her current position. When she worked in the prosecutors office before she had a phenomenal trail success rate. I pity the criminal that catches her wrath. So if these few examples are an indication of Mayor Carvalheo's ability I think he is heading in the right direction. If he is not the brightest berry on the bush (and I'm not saying he isn't) then at least he is surrounding himself with competent people. "
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olehawaii wrote on Jun 19, 2009 7:51 AM: