It's raining today in Hawai`i nei--a hazy shade of winter, as it were. But the weather has not dampened our spirits here at TVL-WCO&STS. The conspiracy grows well, and scotch tape sales are brisk now that the graduation season is upon us.
And speaking of graduation, have you ever noticed how the little things graduate into bigger things? What indeed has dampened our staff's spirits is this report in yesterday's HONOLULU ADVERTISER:
Attorneys for the State House and Senate have advised lawmakers that letters and other correspondence from their offices, including documents on official letterhead, are personal and do not have to be released to the public.
What brings about this curious pronouncement . . .
is an ongoing saga involving one of our State senators, Brian Kanno, and his interceding in
a case involving Norwegian Cruise Lines' firing of an employee, Leon Rouse, because of sexual harassment allegations:
State Sen. Brian Kanno, D-19th (Kapolei, Makakilo, Waikele), chairman of the Senate Labor Committee, met with Norwegian officials to try to get the man rehired and, when that failed, asked several of his colleagues to join him in a letter to the cruise line in an unsuccessful attempt to get him travel expenses and restitution.
The travel expenses mentioned here refer to the fact that Mr. Rouse was fired mid-cruise and deposited on the mainland. He, of course, lives in Hawai`i and needed to get back home.
This extraordinary helping hand, extended by Mr. Kanno, included not only his attempts to get Mr. Rouse reinstated with restitution, but, failing there, led our good senator to recommend Mr. Rouse "for a job as an office manager for Rida Cabanilla after she was elected to the state House in November."
Mr. Kanno's job recommendation turned questionable when it was discovered that Mr. Rouse had an undisclosed criminal record, causing him to resign on April 8th:
The office manager [Rouse] for state Rep. Rida Cabanilla resigned yesterday, explaining that he failed to tell Cabanilla he was convicted of a sex crime in the Philippines and wanted to spare her any embarrassment after the story spread through the state Capitol.
The article goes on to say that "Rouse was convicted of child abuse in the Philippines in 1998 for having sex with a teenage boy and spent several years in prison," and that Rouse:
had previously declined to discuss the conviction in connection with the help he received from lawmakers concerning Norwegian because it was not directly related and because he was still working for Cabanilla. But he said he was eager to speak publicly about the conviction now because he wanted people to know he was innocent.
Mr. Kanno's extraordinary effort on behalf of Mr. Rouse has prompted other senators to call for an ethics violation investigation:
Kanno also worked with other lawmakers on resolutions this session that would have required Norwegian to explain its sexual harassment policies and studied whether the cruise line should have to pay the state's hotel room tax. Norwegian complained to Senate leaders that the resolutions were punitive and seemed connected to Leon Rouse's firing.
Mr. Kanno says, "I look forward to assisting in bringing out all of the facts in this case." This bringing forward of all the facts, however, may become a difficult task, given that legal pronouncement yesterday, whereby any documents, even those on official tax-payer purchased letterhead, do not have to be released to the public.
And you know, it's one little thing like this particular case. And then it's the next case. This is quickly becoming a very BIG thing. Do we have the right to know what our elected employees are up to? Shouldn't full disclosure by elected officials be a given?
For the moment, apparently not.