Troubles knock Leopold off the menu

When things go really bad, the menu changes.

Or so it is at Chick and Ruth’s Delly in downtown Annapolis, Md., whose menu will no longer attach its chicken noodle soup to one-time Hawaii politician John R. Leopold, who sadly apologized for misconduct in office and resigned as Anne Arundel County second-term executive and faces 30 days of home detention, fines and community service.

Leopold, 70, served on the Hawaii Board of Education from 1968 to 1970 and served eight years as a Hawaii state representative and senator until 1978 before moving to Maryland, where he served 20 years in the House of Delegates. He was convicted Thursday of forcing members of his security detail to perform campaign work and another county employee to empty his urinary catheter bag.

There’s good money in protesting

Who says the Legislature doesn’t know how to encourage the business community? Local T-shirt makers, for one, seem to hit the jackpot each year while the body is in session, as protest group after protest group goes out and buys T-shirts emblazoned with their slogans to help them make their point. Just this week we had crowds of demonstrators at the Capitol in red T-shirts, another crowd with white T-shirts and lot of little keiki in blue T-shirts. Looks like a cash bonanza for somebody!