Posted on: Sunday, November 28, 2004

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Maybe Rod Tam needs a nap and a snack.

What else could explain his inexplicable suggestion to create a garbage dump in Koko Crater nature preserve?

This, after an arduous yearlong evaluation of possible dump sites by an advisory panel and another year of "study" by the Honolulu City Council of the final five recommended sites.

It would be one thing if he were being sarcastic; if he were trying to make the point that a dump site would never be considered in a well-to-do neighborhood. But it sure doesn't sound like he was joking.

It was reminiscent of the bills he introduced in the 2000 legislative session when he was a state senator. Tam was miffed when people laughed at his measures to legislate naps into state workers' break times and to appropriate more than $600,000 for refreshments for state employees.

Back then, Tam said he was introducing the bills at the request of anonymous requesters and that he was trying to encourage all comers to participate in the legislative process.

"Remember in history when people ridiculed the Wright Brothers for their desire to fly in an airplane? Well, today we all fly," Tam said.

Inventing the airplane is one thing. Legislating naps and snacks is another.

Innovation is one thing. Discretion is another.

Now again, Tam is shirking responsibility for floating wacky ideas.

"All I'm trying to do is embrace the public hearing process," Tam said. "When people have suggestions, who am I to say the suggestion is good or bad? Would you tell your wife that her suggestion is good or bad? Then you must be brave."

Guess what, Mr. Tam? If you're in public office, you gotta be brave. Sometimes it takes even more bravery than marriage.

Part of responsible leadership is to have a measure of selectivity.

The job of an elected official is not to air every single dopey "what if" that crosses his desk or slips into his suggestion box. They should hear people out, cull from the best ideas and sources and present only what is intelligent, informed and prudent. And if there's a study done by an advisory panel that's been sitting in your in-box for a year, you should probably read it. Especially if it has facts and stuff.

But that's the easy part. The hard part is making unpopular decisions, decisions that might make people so mad that they won't re-elect you. If a politician's heart and soul are in the right place, the last thing he should be thinking about is whether he'll be re-elected.

If this kind of behavior continues from members of the City Council, the question that will loom larger than where to put O'ahu's trash will be how to dump the 'opala we elected to local office.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.