New disclosure law will help build trust

Senate Bill 2682 increases transparency for the state’s most powerful boards and commissions by requiring members of those boards to file public financial disclosures, thus allowing the public to determine whether a member may have a conflict of interest when businesses she or he is involved in come before the board or commission she or he serves on.

We’re pleased to see that the governor has decided to let SB 2682 become law, even without his signature. However, the governor’s press release still reflects his misunderstandings.

Medical records and credit history are not required on these financial disclosures. Other reports indicate concerns over one’s home address being released. This information is not required either.

Hawaii has suffered from the lowest voter turnout in the nation. Much of this is attributed to low public confidence in our government. By letting SB 2682 become law without his signature, we are taking a step toward restoring that public confidence.

John Bickel
Americans for Democratic Action/Hawaii

Carmille Lim
Common Cause Hawaii

Henry Curtis
Life of the Land

Ann Shaver
League of Women Voters of Hawaii

Prosecutors are why defense cost so much

Your headline is irresponsible in its unilateral focus on the defense and defendants ("Taxpayers foot $4.3M defense bill," Star-Advertiser, July 1).

Associated costs flow from choices made, from an array of alternatives, by the prosecutorial side, in this case by members of the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division.

Your paper would do well to bring readers’ attention first to the choice made by the prosecutors to seek a death penalty in our venue with the attendant costs this choice then entailed.

And contrary to your closing sentence, which said, "(Williams) was tried under federal law because the actions that led to his daughter’s death occurred at Wheeler Army Airfield," the locus of the acts underlying this case made it possible — not "because" or necessary — to bring the case to federal court.

Federal charges were filed to facilitate prosecutorial zeal and grandstanding in the death penalty phase of the trial. Prosecutors set in motion the need for the costs that your headline so pointedly decries.

Cassandra L. Pinnick
Waikiki

Online businesses not paying fair share

It is important for Congress to pass the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) for fair competition in today’s world of commerce.

The MFA would allow every state the authority to have online and catalog retailers collect a tax when the transaction is completed. Hawaii does not have a sales tax; however, it does have a general excise tax, which applies to almost all sales, including goods and services.

Currently, online-only retailers are not required to pay the Hawaii GET, while local businesses must.

Whalers Village has about 90 brick-and-mortar stores and restaurants that employ more than 1,000 full- and part-time employees.

The annual sales and property taxes (not counting GET) generated from Whalers Village of approximately $1.2 million help pay for services such as law enforcement, firefighters and other governmental and civic services.

Whether you shop at a mall or online, taxation should be fair.

Corinne R. Arquero
General manager, Whalers Village

Common sense missing in action

Where is common sense when:

» The military invites China,the only formidable potential Pacific enemy, to RIMPAC. That’s like inviting Germany to D-Day rehearsals.

» The president forfeits the Iraq war victory, pulling all soldiers out. America helplessly watches as hard-won cities fall.

» The president announces to the world (and the Taliban) our Afghanistan pullout date.

» The state proposes $47 million to help400 homeless;$100,000 each.And a ticket home, thinking they won’treturn. Sure.

» Homeless are allowed to sleep, urinate, defecate and smoke pot on Waikiki sidewalks, as tourists gawk in disbelief.

» The indispensable plastic bag is banned to save a few fish.

» The Superferry is sunk by one judge, but cruise ships and Matson and Young Brothers vessels sail willy-nilly.

» The state pays lawyers $2.9 million in legal fees in a single murder case.

Common sense is missing in action.

Ray Graham
Waikiki

Submit your views on federal recognition

In the absence of passage of the Akaka Bill, Native Hawaiians have a 1-year window under island-born President Barack Obama to achieve a form of federal recognition.

Therefore, I urge interested isle residents, especially Native Hawaiians, to provide input on proposed rulemaking for a government-to-government relationship between the United States and a future Native Hawaiian governing entity.

Some 566 sovereign Native American Indian nations already have such a relationship with the United States.

For more information, go online to www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/index.cfm and input "government to government Hawaiian" in the website search engine.

Then, submit by Aug. 19 your specific, substantive comments and explanations online at the federal eRulemaking Portal at website www.regulations.gov.

Holomua kakou.

Kekoa Enomoto

Kula, Maui

Sovereignty details need some explaining

I’m not for or against Hawaiian sovereignty, but for a non-scholar like myself, I don’t understand how it would work.

How will they determine who will be leader of this government?

Would those under this rule be exempt from paying state and federal taxes?

Would they then have to build their own hospitals, schools, sewer and fresh water systems?

Would they have to create their own police and fire departments?

There must be many advantages to having this sovereignty, but I do know there are many advantages of living in the United States of America.

Clark Himeda
Kaimuki

Military tries to keep helicopter noise down

I’m writing in response to Diane Anderson’s letter ("New helicopters no cause for joy," Star-Advertiser, June 25).

I am retired now, but was one of those Army helicopter pilots training over Oahu for about 51/2 years. Anderson used harsh words like "brutal attack," "horrendous noise," "cruel punishment" and "bordering on torture."

Pilots strive every day to be noise-sensitive to those we protect. The military developed rules for noise reduction.

In Haleiwa, where Anderson lives, we don’t fly below 3,000 feet mean sea level unless there’s bad weather.We have corridors to the ocean, which takes us over mostly non-populated areas, but still we are high in the sky.

I personally feel that if Anderson feels the way she does about the noise, she has the freedom to move to a more noise-free area. Sometimes people need to hear what freedom sounds like, lest they forget what sacrifices have been given in order for Anderson to have the freedom to give her opinion.

Randy Pauley
Kapolei

FROM THE FORUM

Readers of the Star-Advertiser’s online edition can respond to stories posted there. The following are some of those. Instead of names, pseudonyms are generally used online. They have been removed.

"Businesses may revive mainland repatriation initiative," Star-Advertiser, June 30:

>> If these ones had a family that would be willing to take them in during tough economic times, they probably would not have been homeless in the first place.

>> The number of homeless who have moved here from the mainland is too substantial to ignore, especially when you consider that state policy is probably a factor that incentivizes them to continue to do so.

>> Good idea. Give the non-island homeless a trip back home. We have enough already to deal with here.
——

"Roadside barriers remain standing on North Shore," Star-Advertiser, June 30:

>>  I used to avoid that area, choosing to travel through Kaneohe instead of through Haleiwa in order to get to work. Now, because of the barriers, I travel through Haleiwa to get to work and it saves travel time, money and frustration from being stuck in traffic.

>> Are the barriers a success? My North Shore friends tell me yes. When Laniakea is breaking well this winter, the surfers will have a longer walk. Good. Less crowded waves. The barriers are ugly but effective, but there is no reason to not pursue the highway realignment, the only logical solution.
——

"Taxpayers foot $4.3M defense bill," Star-Advertiser, July 1:

>> I guess this high price tag is to be expected when you take nine years to get this into a court room and allow lawyers to update and repackage his case time after time.

>> Wow, and it’s not over yet. Now we have to pay for his room and board for the rest of his life.
——

"End to lease shuts Buffett restaurant," Star-Advertiser, July 1:

>> I’m surprised it lasted this long. Caribbean motif in the middle of Waikiki never did make sense.>> This concept was more suited to Orlando, Fla., than Honolulu.
——

"Waikiki Landing project adrift after losing loan," Star-Advertiser, July 2:

>> Another boondoggle at the hands of a state agency. How does the state as a landlord expect anyone to pay rent, expend money, do improvements on land the tenant doesn’t own, over an extended period of time … without a penny of revenue? The state and county bureaucracies drag out the permitting process with no thought to expediting the process, as they could truly care less.

>> This was an utterly ridiculous concept to begin with. Natural selection is finally having its say now. The only blessing is that the project is dying before this silliness gets built.
——

"GMO bill risks millions in taxes and 600 jobs, companies warn," Star-Advertiser, July 2:

>> If GMOs are so safe, why are the companies fighting against labeling? Doesn’t the public have a right to know what is in our food and how it is grown?

>> Labeling harms business by alarming the customer. If environmentalists want to feel safe, then the solution is to label foods that do not have GMO food products. The average customer is not concerned with this issue.

>> If GMO really is that much better you’d think they’d be writing "Contains 100 percent GMO products" on their granola bars and children’s cereals instead of spending millions trying to hide it.

>> I don’t know why Hawaii even let these chemical companies on our aina in the first place. Oh, I forgot, to line the pockets of those that let them be here.
——

"Law bans minors from using tanning salons," Star-Advertiser, July 3:

>> A tanning salon in Hawaii is like buying a refrigerator on the North Pole.

>> I’m glad to see our state Legislature had another productive session.
——

"Hawaii isle echoes anger against feds," Star-Advertiser, July 3:

>> Activists keep bringing the past but offer no solution for sovereignty. Are there no Hawaiians left to find a solution?

>> Unfortunately, it looks like once everyone has had their chance to vent, the whole process will have gone nowhere and there will probably be no opportunity to revisit this issue again for another 100 years or more. Hopefully, the Hawaiian history, culture and language will continue to be preserved.

>> They should have gone with a list of negotiables. Instead they went in with a list of "historical hurts." What was gained? Zero. So far one person said let’s have Secretary of State John Kerry come. That implies one wants to set up a treaty relationship with the U.S. Who writes the treaty?