ACLU bills city, state for ADB meeting

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

The city and state owe the American Civil Liberties Union about $87,000 in attorneys' fees after battling the organization over protest restrictions surrounding the Asian Development Bank conference in May.

The ACLU reached the settlement on the amount with the city and state on Aug. 20.

"We're satisfied with the settlement," said Brent White, ACLU legal director in Honolulu. "It's very, very close to what we were asking for. We're very pleased and we intend to use the money of course to help pursue other liberties cases."

The ACLU, representing ADBwatch, an umbrella organization of groups opposing the bank's policies, had filed a federal lawsuit in April to prevent the city and state from enforcing restrictions the group said would violate protesters' rights.

The protest groups said government officials wanted to keep protesters away from the Hawai'i Convention Center, where the conference was held May 7-11.

City officials had said the city and state had been working with the groups and that there was no attempt to infringe on protesters' rights. The city and the ACLU reached a settlement soon after, allowing protest groups to conduct a parade with an hour-long demonstration in front of the convention center.

About 500 people participated in the parade. Police had braced for as many as 5,000 protesters.

The city and state will equally split the payment of the $87,000 in attorneys' fees, which requires the approval of the City Council and the Legislature, White said. He said the city must pay the fees by Oct. 20 and the state will pay by August next year.

Deputy Attorney General Madeleine Austin said litigating the issue of attorneys' fees would have resurrected old disputes between the state and city and the ACLU. She said the state would have had issues to argue about, "but it seemed time to put it behind us."

"We settled the attorneys' fees issue because we didn't want to unnecessarily argue over attorneys' fees in a First Amendment case," she said. "As long as there is freedom of speech, there will be all other freedoms, because people will complain."

City officials declined comment.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.