Posted on: Wednesday, March 10, 2004

EDITORIAL
Councilman Tam's ugly ethics tangle

Hawai'i is a place where friends do favors for friends and kokua is a way of life.

And some of that ethic may have driven City Councilman Rod Tam to appear before city permitting departments on behalf of friends and acquaintances.

But the councilman would have had to be nearly tone deaf on the matter of conflicts of interest, or even appearances of conflict of interest, to have done so.

That's particularly so since in at least one instance he was paid more than $3,000 for helping process building permits for a Mainland building contractor.

In plain language, it just doesn't look right for a sitting city councilman to appear before city agencies on behalf of private clients, paid or unpaid.

In fact, there is more than an appearance problem here. The City Ethics Commission has concluded that Tam violated city ethics laws for his work on behalf of friends and clients. The finding amounts to not much more than a slap on the wrist, however, since the commission did not recommend any further disciplinary action.

Tam said he appreciates the reminder from the Ethics Commission and, presumably, he will not take such action again.

In addition, the councilman says he didn't receive any special consideration from permitting officials in the cases cited by the Ethics Commission.

That may be so, but how would anyone know?

When a sitting member of the council appears before a city agency on behalf of others, he puts agency officials in an uncomfortable position and he places a shadow of doubt over himself.

In all such cases, the real concern should be the credibility and reputation of the council and of city agencies.

Councilman Tam should have recognized that from the beginning.