What she does not tell us is what her agency does and why it exists and why we should pay them any money at all for what they think they need to do to keep ethics going here.

Frankly, it would be better for them not to exist at all because they are draining the public till for no good reason, if all they do is spy into other people's business, if only to keep those folks honest with the public's money, too.

So the watchers are watching each other with our tax money and you are watching them watch everybody?

Tell the Legislature to repeal the statutory provision for this useless agency, whose job does nothing to protect the public from useless taxation. They're just spending more money, like every other government agency filled with takers and abusers.

Let the Legislature empty out its coffers completely, and give us an honest tax break, for goodness' sake. Who needs government ethics, anyway? Go make an honest living.

Rubellite K.K. Johnson

Mufi Hannemann would have been good mayor

Frankly, I wish Mayor Harris were running for governor because then the mayor's race would still be on.

We need some fresh ideas — like fiscal restraint — in Honolulu Hale. Of all the candidates, Mufi Hannemann impressed me the most and would have gotten my vote for mayor of Honolulu.

Mufi was one person who stood up to Mayor Harris when the mayor started spending money like a kid with his parents' credit card. We needed someone to cancel that credit card, and now we need someone to patch up our city's finances.

Wendell Faria

Mink showed us real cause of our problems

As one long frustrated by nonresponsive, defensive and stonewalling state and local government officials, I want to thank Rep. Patsy Mink for enlightening me as to the reason for this prevailing attitude with her recent screaming "we have the right to rule" speech.

I don't know if she was using the royal or editorial "we," but I suspect it was the former.

I get it now: I'm the real problem. I'm not only supposed to pay public officials but serve them as well. If this is true, the existing oligarchy and their cronies have lost sight of the fact that our government is one "of the people, by the people, for the people," not a means to further personal political and economic agendas.

Wake up, fellow citizens! You are a major part of the problems facing this state as long as you remain uninvolved in finding solutions.

As George Schultz once said: "Democracy is not a spectator sport." Start playing the game, participate in political action, vote your mind or forever hold your peace.

Richard W. Griggs
Makakilo

Career politicians should get pink slip

Hawai'i needs change. Politics us usual cannot remain where it is today.

Aren't we sick of Gov. Cayetano yet? If we are, why vote for Mazie Hirono? It's time to give career politicians that pink slip.

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is one definition of insanity.

I will vote for either Linda Lingle or Ed Case. A vote for either Hirono (same old politics as usual) or Andy Anderson (turn Velzyland into yuppie housing) is the primrose path away from change and vision.

Todd C. Wetmore

If you want change, you have to ensure it

Sen. Fred Hemmings' letter regarding the Democratic Party machine is well-intentioned, but I have heard it all before.

I hope Fred is right, but unfortunately, with every election year in Hawai'i, it is always the same old story. People claim they want change, and this is the year that change will take place. Yet, mysteriously, it seems that the Democratic Party is legitimized every two years by the people of Hawai'i.

If Fred Hemmings and the people truly want change in Hawai'i, I say more power to them. But it is time that they walk the walk instead of just talking the talk.

Sean P. Porter

Look at the individual, not party, when voting

Raj Kumar Bose's logic to his son, Taz, to the reason behind the two political animals need not have proceeded further than a brief look at the cartoons of Thomas Nast.

Nast created the GOP elephant and popularized the Democratic ass. Before that, when a critic called Andrew Jackson an ass, he took it as a compliment, since the ass is the animal of the working man. There actually was no rationale for Nast's use of the elephant.

Taz's question and Bose's answer are actually quite frightening. A person does not do anybody a favor by simply voting for a single party. One must look at the individual person.

For example, former KKK member Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia and convicted Rep. James Traficant of Ohio are labeled Democratic, but they actually tend to vote conservative. To vote for a king to make all politicians think and do things a certain way would equate our system to nothing more than a rubber stamp similar to that of major corporations, and I'm sure everyone wants that.

B. Isao Imamura

Politicians responsible for their sign holders

Does there have to be a serious accident or incident regarding sign wavers?

Most of these sign wavers stand on the street corners in the early morning when the public is going to work. While making a right turn, I have had several wavers lean out into the path of the car. Many near misses, no hits. This created a situation where I was angry for a good part of my day at the stupid situation I could have been placed in, fearing that I was going to hit the waver or the sign.

Politicians are responsible for the actions of their sign holders. I called the politician's office to complain, and three days later, the same thing happened again. Thank you, politician, for caring, and of course you didn't get my vote.

J. Park

Finally, developers must be responsible

Congratulations, Mililani residents. Possibly, because of your overcrowded, multitrack schools, some responsible decisions will finally be made between state government and local developers.

As an early resident of upper Makakilo, I was given the promise of a good school for my child. Now, because of over-development in the area, our children are bused to a school that's 5 miles away.

The developers and the state have offered no solution. Schuler wants to build more homes and walk away with its profits. The Department of Education says Makakilo's needs are, basically, on the back burner. The area library can't even get books.

Developers, with their promises of money and jobs, have been given free reign to make their profits and walk away, leaving neighborhoods overcrowded, streets log-jammed and students crowded into under-financed schools.

Something is very wrong with this scenario, and I'm glad to see the Land Use Commission is finally moving toward some solutions.

Marilyn Walsh

Estate tax position stigmatizes paper

Congratulations! Your editorial advocating that the estate tax repeal should stay dead, in addition to your sustained superior support for governments seeking to crush the American work ethic, hopes and dreams, have placed your newspaper firmly in the lead in the competition formouthpiece of this great Democratic People's Republic of Hawai'i.

May I make a few suggestions to help you sell more newspapers? Make "Workers of the World Unite" your slogan and place it prominently in the front-page banner every day.Also, portraits of Marx and Lenin would be a nice touch.

William Smith
Kapolei

Our public education must lead the way

There are several issues of importance to the people of Hawai'i this election year. But none can be considered of greater importance than that of the education of their children.

It is an issue often placed on the back burner because of economics — economics of business of the Department of Education and economics of the state's operating budget.

Education is not a product of good economics. Good economics, however, is a product of a good, sound education, an education gained by virtue of interested, caring, loving, knowledgeable adults.

Recently, a letter and an outline of a plan to build an enthusiasm for education among Hawai'i's children equal to the enthusiasm demonstrated for sports were mailed to business and community leaders throughout Honolulu. I strongly urge these influential adults to lead the way in making Hawai'i the education capital of America.

I also urge all other adults, regardless of their educational background, their position in private industry or within the community as a whole, to get involved with a child, and help our overextended teachers working within the Hawai'i public school system in guiding and assisting that child toward the goal of enthusiastically striving to achieve a good, solid education.

Arnold M. Bitner

Give us an incentive to reach the summit

The recent decision to charge visitors a buck a head to get off the tour bus inside Diamond Head is pupule.

Perhaps the park administrators could smooth things over a bit by offering the visitors their dollar back if they make it to the top. Getting your dollar back might be a nice incentive to climb those steep, endless steps and squeeze through that tiny opening in the bunker wall to reach the windy summit.

Peter Brooks
San Francisco

Feed birds at parks, create more droppings

The real question on feeding the wild birds at the city parks is not about if they are clean or not. The real question should be the droppings they produce.

Nobody needs to experience bird dropping on the back of his shirt while using any of our parks. These birds can feed themselves in the wild and can maintain a regulated population in the process.

Michael Nomura
Kailua

Driver's ed schools are ripping us off

Regarding the new law the state passed last year, that if you are 16, you have to take driver's education: That is a stupid law.

The driving schools are ripping us off, charging us $400. Driver's ed through the schools is only $10.

Why doesn't the Department of Education hire instructors and charge $150 for a driver's ed course? That's how schools on the Mainland do it.

Derek Stephens

Filipino-American film is highly entertaining

"The Debut," currently playing in selected theaters in Honolulu, is an impressive independent Filipino-American film. It is highly entertaining, with high production values and a great soundtrack.

The filmmakers should be congratulated for embarking on an ambitious grassroots campaign to distribute the film themselves. It is a lesson all aspiring filmmakers can learn from.

I've heard that their efforts have been quite successful and even profitable, contrary to what distributors would like people to believe. However, due to arbitrary methods, success is measured by the theaters — i.e., only counting weekend totals, "The Debut" is in jeopardy of being pulled early unless it sells more tickets.

Therefore, I encourage you, if you haven't already, to see and support this independent film.