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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, March 18, 2002

Letters to the Editor

Another look needed at oil firms' collusion

I wince when I read your March 3 editorial "Gas lawsuit documents raise major questions," especially the part about the state "going to do something" about the obscene profits of these colluding suppliers.

The state loves high prices — they are a hidden tax. Why would the state take money from its own pockets? That's why the state doesn't oppose the Aloha and Hawaiian merger, though everyone knows it will lead to higher prices.

I wonder why The Advertiser doesn't see it as its mission to expose how greedy these entities are? Reporter Frank Cho could start by running the numbers. Crude oil was selling for well under $20 a barrel last summer when gas prices were over $2 per gallon here. A barrel of oil generates 42 gallons of refined product.

I informed Cho and the state's attorneys that a marine department vice president at one of the state's two oil importers bragged in 1989 when I worked there that "the cost to push a barrel of oil (from Indonesia) to Hawai'i is half a penny a barrel." How much could it be in 2002 — a full penny? So remoteness isn't an issue — it's farther from Riyadh to San Francisco than from Indonesia to Hawai'i.

Refining and distributing the product should be the same as on the Mainland. Then add on taxes and you find ... gas prices generally 50 percent higher in Hawai'i than they ought to be.

Don't think these two energy suppliers aren't in cahoots. They routinely cooperate and swap energy commodities when one or the other is low. So where is the problem? The problem is with obscene profits for stockholders.

Michael Cashman


No report completed on high gasoline prices

Frank Cho's Feb. 28 story, "State's gas price-fixing case weak from the start," contends that I completed and submitted a report on Hawai'i's gasoline market to the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Unfortunately, this contention is incorrect.

DBEDT asked me to stop work on the gasoline research project before I had finished drafting any chapters, or completed the report, or drawn conclusions concerning whether Hawai'i's high gasoline prices were due to oligopoly or collusion.

Cho's "report" is probably the draft of a background paper on the oligopoly theory that a junior researcher had submitted to me. That paper was only submitted to DBEDT because they asked me to send them any written materials pertaining to the gasoline project.

Cho reports that Marjorie Bronster testified she was surprised to learn from defense attorneys that I had finished a report on Hawai'i's gasoline market for DBEDT. Her surprise was clearly justified — no such report was ever completed or submitted.

Sumner La Croix


Harris shutting election bid is good for Hawai'i

Jeremy Harris has finally done something in the best interests of the state: He has closed his gubernatorial campaign office. Let's just hope it stays that way.

Harris, who thwarted Mufi Hannemann's attempt to unseat him in the last mayoral race, has made it clear he really had no intention of serving the term for which taxpayers elected him. It was merely a political necessity to hang on to his "springboard" until he could enter the governor's race.

The costs — direct and indirect — of electing a new mayor are no small matter, even in a good economy, but Harris obviously didn't care about that when he asked Honolulu voters to keep him in office.

But Harris has been in the governor's race for a long time now, and the state Constitution is very clear in its "resign-to-run" amendment.

Harris has proven to be challenged in many ways, misleading voters, running shady campaign fund-raising operations and controlling the news out of his own office and city departments in a style reminiscent of the old Chicago and New York political machines.

If Harris fails to revive his campaign for the governor's office, it's very likely that his career in Hawai'i politics is over. That would be a good thing for Hawai'i's citizens, who truly don't need any more plantation-style political bosses.

Ken Armstrong


'Vendetta' beginning to make political sense

Your March 13 editorial, "Electorate deserves quick resolution in Harris case," is right on.

You are absolutely right when you say "that rather than change common understanding and past practice midstream in an election year, it would be better to keep things as they are for this cycle and then clean up the entire mess before the next election season."

Judge Sabrina McKenna's ruling was based on the "apparent objective" of the Constitution. If the law is unclear, it would appear that the judge could have dismissed the case until the law is rectified.

It would be interesting to know how many individuals since the law was enacted did in fact violate the law and continue to work in an elected public office before filing official papers. If there is more than one, then the next question is, who dropped the ball and allowed the practice to continue? Does the word "vendetta" make any sense?

John P. Gallagher
'Ewa Beach


Ruling against Harris unbelievably flawed

The recent ruling by Judge Sabrina McKenna against Mayor Jeremy Harris is unbelievably flawed. It certainly looks to me that our legal system has sunk to kindergarten levels.

As I understand it, the issue before the court is what action triggers the "resign to run" mandate of the Constitution.

I would think the clerk's office is the proper agency to determine when a candidate for office is an "eligible" candidate. I am not a lawyer, but I am sure the election laws of our state would help to determine this issue and not the court.

A person cannot be an "eligible" candidate by filing an organizational report. I guarantee you that if Mayor Harris does not file nomination papers with the clerk on the deadline date, his name will not be on the September ballot.

When you peruse election laws, it is clear when you become an "eligible candidate." Explanations in a brochure do not replace our Constitution, state statutes, ordinances or rules.

R. Medina
Wailuku


New Hilo courthouse should not be in mall

A new Hilo courthouse is needed, but not at the expense of struggling small businesses in Kaiko'o Mall. The businesses (sole source of income for most) would be forced to close.

The cost would increase to over $70 million. That alone would make this another over-budgeted project. The mall would have to be demolished and asbestos would have to be properly removed and disposed of.

Even if it is argued that the placement of the courthouse is to make that area a civic center, Hilo is the exception.

The community and residents of Hilo had no opportunity to publicly air their concerns. The community would best be served if the courthouse is built at an alternate site — the Ponahawai site. The parcel is a lot larger, with room for the Judiciary to expand as necessary and have adequate parking. That complex would be closer to the police station, fire department, the Hilo jail and law offices. Detainees would not have to be transported three miles, and security costs would be held to a minimum from the jail to court and back.

Building the complex on raw land is far more economically sound than to destroy and rebuild.

Drew E. Kosora


GOP is out of touch on political gifts bill

Brennon Morioka's March 4 letter opposing campaign finance reform on behalf of the Republican Party reveals a misunderstanding of campaign finance legislation.

The House Democrats have pressed for fundamental campaign finance reform for the last four years, and we're glad to see the Senate Democrats are now on board. The bipartisan reform moving this year, endorsed by the Campaign Spending commissioner, would do the following:

  • Ban contributions from corporations.
  • Ban contributions from unions.
  • Ban contributions from government contractors.

This will level the playing field to give regular people a voice in the system and ensure that Hawai'i's people don't become buried by big money. We must give the people confidence that lawmaking and the awarding of contracts are decided on the basis of merit, not on the basis of contributions to political campaigns.

This would be the most significant campaign finance reform since the 1970s, when the Legislature reduced contribution limits. Hawai'i Clean Elections, The League of Women Voters, Common Cause, Advocates for Consumer Rights and many others support this reform.

With the Enron and Geolabs scandals in the news, it seems that the finance chairman for the Republican Party is out of touch.

Brian Schatz
Majority whip, State House of Representatives


Education overhaul threatens careerists

The description by Advertiser reporters Lynda Arakawa and Kevin Dayton of efforts to reformat public education in the March 10 article "Unclear how replacing board will fix schools" is a cautionary tale for those in power.

Devolution means spinning the power of a centralized system out closer to the people who pay for it. Although Arakawa and Dayton refer to it as an "unlikely alliance," it should surprise no one that my union, the Hawai'i State Teachers Association, and the governor (whom HSTA endorsed in my name in 1994 and 1998) are on the same side — again. Both agree breaking up the state-level Board of Education — and, please God, the Department of Education — is a bad idea.

Those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo would be immediately threatened if the people who pay taxes were to take closer to themselves power now residing at the state level, in this case power to call the shots in public education.

Not coincidentally, those who enjoy the perquisites of the centralized system would be hardest hit by an educated, aroused, well-informed electorate.

For team-player careerists now riding a gravy train called Inertia across the backs of children, it's best not to take the chance. Some honest, no-kidding change may finally be at hand. No wonder they are terrified.

Thomas E. Stuart
Kailua, Kona, Big Island


Aloha Stadium control should be in UH hands

Regarding the March 10 Coach June Jones article: If the people of Hawai'i want to see UH athletic programs taken to the top level, UH needs to have management of Aloha Stadium.

Given the history of the Legislature with respect to the stadium, why not give UH a management contract for a set period of time — say, five years — to prove itself? And, if UH produces as envisioned by Coach Jones, provide an option to extend the management contract indefinitely.

Given the poor financial support it has received over the years, it seems a near miracle that the UH athletics department has been ranked in the "Top 20" best sports programs in the country by U.S. News & World Report (March 18 issue). It boggles the mind to imagine where UH athletics would be with solid financial support and authority to do what needs to be done to achieve its goals.

Please, don't study this to death (as is usual) and then perform an autopsy (to study it further). Do something about it before it's too late and we lose Coach Jones and settle for less than the best.

H. Winston


Hawai'i's high taxes mean fewer tourists

When this former O'ahu resident returned to the Islands last month for a short vacation, I immediately saw why tourism is in decline: high taxes.

The room tax each day at our hotel on O'ahu was about $47. On the Big Island, the daily room tax was about $26. Multiply those daily rates by five days on each island and you get $365 in room taxes. Add car rental taxes and "airport fees," and the tax bill zooms to over $400 for a 10-day vacation. Then add regular old sales taxes on food, clothing and entertainment.

Earth to the Legislature: When you tax something, you get less of it.

Doug Welty
Arlington, Va.


Enough with taxes

If Gov. and Mrs. Cayetano want my family to help pay for a long-term-care plan with more taxes, they are welcome to transfer our portion of the Hawai'i Hurricane Relief Fund tax to the new long-term-care plan tax. But, really, I think we've all been taxed enough.

Patrick DeBusca Jr.
Waipahu