Liquor group should not accept free gifts

This one goes into the category of: "What could they possibly have been thinking?"

The "they" in this case are liquor commissioners and others who took part in a statewide conference of liquor commissioners in September. The conference was lubricated with the gift of thousands of dollars worth of donated liquor and other gifts from businesses regulated by these commissions.

Officials of the Honolulu Liquor Commission, which served as host for this conference, point out that the liquor and other items were:

A) Actually donated to the statewide conference, not to the liquor commission itself.

B) They did not come from the regulated liquor sellers directly, but rather from the Hawai'i Hotel Association.

It is also no doubt true that a good liquor commissioner or staffer will not be compromised by a couple of free drinks or a souvenir T-shirt handed out at an annual conference. This surely felt more like Island-style hospitality than anything else.

But organizers should have stepped back and asked themselves if this is the picture they wish to present to the public and the industry they regulate.

The City Ethics Commission is currently investigating events surrounding the conference to see if any ethics laws were violated. Whether they were or not, this was a bad idea. It should not happen again.