Posted on: Friday, April 8, 2005

Let's get mad about corruption

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

The judge was outraged at the crime. Sadly, he might be the only one.

U.S. District Judge David Ezra called it "clearly the most open and notorious case of public corruption" he had ever seen in 17 years on the bench.

Eight former Honolulu Liquor Commission inspectors were charged with extortion. All either pleaded guilty or were found guilty of some or all of the charges against them. Four have already been sentenced to prison.

Basically, these guys were getting paid with our city money to go out and enforce liquor laws. They took advantage of their positions of power to shake down bar owners and strippers for money and "favors." They felt entitled to it, like a gang of schoolyard bruisers jacking lunch money in the halls. It was a privilege that came with the job. It was a good way to let the bar owners know who was boss and have a little fun on company time.

Judge Ezra wondered aloud why no one seems to be very upset about the whole mess.

Good question.

This is what happens when a community gets so distracted and frantic just trying to get by and pay the bills that no one has the energy to get mad about government corruption.

This is what happens when we've heard so many stories of bribes, kickbacks and campaign spending violations that the shock value has worn off.

And this also points to the separation of the underworld of strip clubs and naughty bars from the majority of our population, those who live out our lives in the daylight hours and bookend our days by rush-hour traffic jams.

The jerk who cuts us off in traffic is more of a villain to us than taxpayer-paid thugs shaking down bar owners for bribes. After all, who's really getting hurt? Pretty-colored clams at the Waikiki Aquarium make more sympathetic victims than the folks who run strip bars.

Even the local legions of the religious right have been quiet on these cases. It's much easier to tell the flock just to stay away from such dirty places and to leave sinners to pay for their sins.

But we should absolutely find the energy to work up a lather over what those eight men did and how the organization in which they did it allowed it to go on for so long. Extorting bar owners is just the beginning, the gateway to a kind of lawlessness and disregard that starts with law enforcement and spreads like a cancer through the town.

Our leaders and lawmakers take their cues from us. If we let stuff slide, they're happy to let it slide. They're as busy and frantic and distracted and tired as the rest of us. It takes work to care.

Judge Ezra asked, "Where are the people who were supposed to be watching?"

He was speaking of state and city officials but, really, it's our kuleana, too.

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