The candidate who won't raise taxes

In his recent column, Jerry Burris wrote that unless Frank Fasi becomes mayor, the next mayor of Honolulu will raise your taxes. He quoted both Mufi and Duke about raising taxes to fix the city and pay for services and also wrote that "like him or not" Mayor Harris never raised taxes. For a political writer, Burris is too gentle.

He should have written that Bainum and Hannemann are raising taxes to fix problems they helped create. That Harris, Duke, and Mufi allowed 1,750 miles of city streets to deteriorate with repairs estimated at $100 million. That Mayor Frank Fasi repaired 240 miles every year with not a single cent of borrowed money. That Harris repaired only 50 percent of those 240 miles in his first year and followed with simply filling potholes until just this year. That council members Duke and Mufi approved borrowing money to buy buses, fire and police vehicles (a no-no). That they gave $6 million to 19 neighborhood boards creating debt and interest of over $250 million (remember the sign debacle?). Is it any wonder that Mufi and Duke talk about raising taxes as if it's inevitable?

The fact is, the only candidate who has a record of operating and fiscal responsibility is Frank Fasi. He's the only candidate who promises not to raise taxes. Even I'm wondering how he's going to do it, but if his 22-year record as mayor is any indication, he will do it.

What did he leave behind at UH?

Now that the Dobelle era has ended at the University of Hawai'i, we can try to assess what he left behind.

Partly because the reasons for Dobelle's firing remained murky from the beginning, much speculative rhetoric poured forth from a multitude of sources and even both dailies demanded that the regents fully explain why they let him go. Then followed a triumphant announcement by the regents of a settlement with Dobelle but still without an explanation of the firing.

As a taxpayer, I would like to know what president Dobelle has done for the University of Hawai'i during his three years as its head. I know that he initially came upon the Manoa campus like a rampaging arsonist and started setting the place on fire, causing more than the termites to start jumping.

After it clears we may perhaps be able to see whether President Dobelle, during his short stay, was able to burn off enough terrain and get some seeds planted which might possibly yield some fresh new growth. We will know in due time.

In the meantime, my granddaughter mentioned to me the other day that a person would want to be remembered for what he left behind, more than for what he took with him. What a refreshing utterance from a lovingly fresh kid.

Ag Department: Our 'over-charge police'

Hats off to Dianne, Larry and the crew of the Department of Agriculture Measurements Standards Branch for protecting us consumers and keeping retailers on their toes.

When I called to report being over-charged by two separate retailers — a drug store and a copy shop — they went right to work the next day. Larry made one retailer scan 100 items to verify the standard of 98 percent no-over-charge accuracy, while Dianne paid a visit to the other store to investigate their pricing disclosure practices.

And they both actually called me with their findings: No violations. But I'm sure the inspections alone put these retailers on notice to charge their customers properly.

Keep up the good work.

Beautiful scenery can't disguise this turkey

A turkey masquerading as a TV crime drama flew into Ho-nolulu several years ago called "One West Waikiki" or something (I tried hard to forget it and may have succeeded). It was such a stinker that several active and retired law enforcement types, myself included, wrote reviews.

As a result, it flew back to Mount Olympus or where the old elephants and TV shows go to die.

Now it appears the same sources have begotten a son called "Hawai'i" that recently hit the TV circuit.

The new lemon tries to cover up the zeros by being super politically correct, having one of every stereotype (less maybe a gay character to be added later), gratuitous sex scenes having nothing to do with solving any case, shootouts with the bad guys who are not smart enough to take protective cover and thus are killed in one exchange more than the HPD killed in several generations, comedy that is not comedy but silly, local people appearing as bumpkins but with beautiful scenery to make up for the negatives.

The best solution would be to "Get out of Dodge" in the middle of the night and cut losses.