Posted on: Tuesday, July 22, 2003

ISLAND VOICES
City liquor panel is doing its job well

This was submitted by John Spierling, chairman of the Honolulu Liquor Commission; Clyde Eugenio, vice chairman; ChuLan Schubert Kwock, vice chairwoman; and commissioners Dennis Enomoto and Danny Kim.

We take issue with a recent Advertiser editorial concerning the management of the Honolulu Liquor Commission.

The city is well served by the current management at the commission. While certainly not perfect, the conduct of regulation of alcohol beverage licensees is fair and efficient, and the commission is always striving to improve its customer service, education and enforcement.

Your editorial seems to rely on past events to which corrective actions have already been taken. It is unfair to paint management with the responsibility for such misdeeds.

We as commissioners, along with the commission management and staff, have worked closely with the managing director and other city agencies (e.g., Honolulu Police Department) to hire and train new investigators, to strengthen first-line supervision and to increase ethical awareness through training.

The managing director's task force has explored the possibility of an internal affairs unit for the Liquor Commission where licensee bribery and liquor investigator extortion would be a main focus.

The editorial also focused on the three-year delayed opinion of the Honolulu Ethics Commission reminding the Honolulu Liquor Commission that the 40-year-old practice of permitting the liquor industry to bring its products to the annual conference to share with conference attendees created an appearance of impropriety (i.e., a conflict of interest for the government attendees). The Ethics Commission did not find any ethical misconduct by any commissioner or individual employee, and no discipline was called for.

We are concerned that you assume there was a party atmosphere and that the conference was not businesslike. The fact that there were social activities for Mainland guests and Neighbor Islanders staying at the hotel did not detract from the business and value of the conference.

Finally we worry when you worry when people in public service begin expecting entitlements. Please be assured that we as volunteer commissioners do not expect entitlements. We have been self-auditing, and your call for an audit by the newly instituted city auditor is presumptuous and uninformed.