The Honolulu Ethics Commission has reaffirmed an earlier informal opinion by its staff that said Mayor Kirk Caldwell and other city officials were acting within the scope of their duties when they used city resources in an attempt to rally the community behind an effort to stave off possible downsizing of military troops on Oahu.
When the city placed petitions opposing downsizing in its satellite city halls, Makaha resident Al Frenzel, director of the Oahu Council for Army Downsizing, challenged the move before the Ethics Commission. Frenzel argued that Caldwell was improperly using city resources because he was endorsing one side of a controversial issue over another.
Frenzel’s group supports the turnover of Army facilities and land to the state.
Laurie Wong, associate legal counsel for the Ethics Commission, told Frenzel in late December that the Keep Hawaii’s Heroes initiative, which the city is co-sponsoring with the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, falls into the realm of a "project with community-wide benefit," thus making it eligible for city resources.
On Wednesday the commission, in its formal opinion, said "the issue will affect the city’s budget and ability to provide services." As a result, the mayor "has the inherent authority to address this issue and implement a policy regarding this issue including asking for public support for the project."
The petition drive is over, and Caldwell presented petitions containing more than 42,000 signatures to military officials at the Military Affairs Council Army SPEA Listening Session on Jan. 27, Caldwell spokesman Jesse Broder Van Dyke said. (SPEA stands for Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Assessment.)
The city collected 2,434 of the signatures in all, including 247 from satellite city halls, Broder Van Dyke said. The Chamber of Commerce was the lead agency for the campaign, which was initiated by the organization’s Military Affairs Council, he said.
