Don’t muzzle ethics officials

The Honolulu Ethics Commission should revoke its misguided new media policy and leave it at that.

The policy, only a month old, muzzles the commission’s executive director and effectively prevents him from explaining the commission’s advisory opinions.

Rather than replacing that muzzle with a slightly looser one, as is under consideration, the commission should acknowledge that this egregious attempt to control the flow of public information is flawed at its core.

It should rescind the policy outright and allow the executive director and other commission staff to do their jobs, in the public interest.

Military recruiters face safety issues

It’s a delicate balance the military must achieve, which is not something usually in the wheelhouse of the Department of Defense.

However, in the case of recent domestic terroristic attacks on military locations, the safety of its armed forces members is at risk.

So it’s a good thing that some recruitment offices in Hawaii are boosting security measures, because they could be targets these days.

Most of these recruitment offices are in public places such as shopping centers — recruiters also need to be accessible. The safety of the public is a worry as well. So allowing recruitment office personnel to carry firearms, now being debated, may cross that fine line between safety and greater risk.