Testify Wed 10/22 at 12:30 pm Teams Link
Meeting ID: 267 711310634 3   Passcode: KD7SL6L

Aloha Chair and Members of the Board,

I’m here today as a citizen who’s deeply concerned about the continuing pattern of obstruction and lack of transparency that has plagued this Commission for far too long — the very conditions that led Maui’s voters to overwhelmingly approve the 2024 Charter Amendment to make this body truly independent.

That amendment was clear in its intent. The people of Maui wanted the Ethics Commission to have the power and authority to hire its own independent legal counsel — free from control or influence by any of Hawaii’s Corporation Counsels.

Why? Because for years, those same Corporation Counsels have repeatedly inserted themselves into Ethics Commission business, advising both the Board and the very officials under investigation. That is an undeniable conflict of interest — one that undermines public trust and defeats the entire purpose of having an ethics oversight body in the first place.

Now, less than a year after that voter mandate, we see a 36-page set of proposed rule changes being rushed through with barely a week of public notice — rules that appear to reverse the will of the voters by once again inviting Corporation Counsel back into the process. Even more troubling, these proposed rules would impose unconstitutional gag orders on citizens who file ethics complaints, prohibiting them from even speaking publicly about their own grievances under threat of dismissal. That violates the First Amendment and chills public participation — exactly the opposite of what the Charter Amendment was meant to protect.

Transparency isn’t a burden; it’s the foundation of democracy. Ethics only means something when it can withstand public scrutiny. These new rules, if adopted, would effectively seal off ethics complaints from public view, allowing staff discretion to bury them without explanation. That is not independence — that’s institutionalized secrecy.

The people of Maui didn’t vote for secrecy. They voted for sunlight. They voted for a system where no public employee, no councilmember, and no attorney from Corporation Counsel can interfere with ethical oversight. They voted for the Ethics Commission to stand on its own.

The 2024 Charter Amendment was a clear mandate from the people of Maui to restore trust, independence, and transparency to the Ethics Commission. Adopting these proposed amendments would betray that public trust and nullify the very reforms voters demanded.

I respectfully urge the Board of Ethics to:

Defer adoption of the proposed amendments to allow sufficient time for public review and testimony; and

Reaffirm the Commission’s independence by explicitly excluding all Corporation Counsels from any advisory role, in accordance with the 2024 Charter Amendment and the Hawaii Rules of Professional Conduct; and

Reject any rules that would silence citizens, conceal ethics complaints, or diminish transparency in government.

Mahalo for your time and for taking seriously your duty to protect both ethics and democracy in our county.