Posted on: Saturday, April 30, 2005

Kaua'i police panelist stays

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — After months of political wrangling, the Kaua'i County Council has denied a request by Mayor Bryan Baptiste to remove Police Commissioner Leon Gonsalves for remarks about the police chief that have been called racist.

The council also confirmed the nomination of Carol Furtado to a second term on the Police Commission.

The votes may diminish the pressure to launch a council investigation of the Kaua'i Police Department. The county charter allows the council to conduct investigations, but that provision has never been used.

The police department has been in turmoil for several years. The commission in 2001 suspended former Chief George Freitas while it conducted a wide-ranging investigation of many charges of alleged wrongdoings — charges brought by officers within the department. All but very minor charges ultimately were dropped. Freitas retired in a negotiated arrangement in 2003, accepting a $200,000 county settlement in the process.

The Police Commission last year selected K.C. Lum, a lieutenant from the department's Hanalei substation, as the new chief. The decision rankled some veteran officers, some of whom had been senior to Lum. The vote on Lum was 4-1, with only Gonsalves, a former police officer, voting against him.

Gonsalves turned up the heat when, in an e-mail announcing he would not attend Lum's inauguration, he referred to the new chief as Hop Sing. Hop Sing was the name of a Chinese cook in the TV show "Bonanza."

Gonsalves said it was a nickname that dates to when he and Lum served together on the force, but Lum said he doesn't remember it being used and considered it a racial slur.

Gonsalves said he personally apologized to the chief as well as to Deputy Chief Ron Vennaman, who in the same e-mail he referred to as Little Joe, another character on the TV series.

Gonsalves refused to resign from the commission over the written remarks.

Mayor Baptiste has asked the council to remove Gonsalves from the commission. Under the County Charter, police commissioners are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council, and their removal also requires the approval of both.

Baptiste sent the council a resolution removing Gonsalves. The council has put off for months taking up the resolution.

At Thursday's meeting, Gonsalves appeared with supporters who spoke on his behalf, and the council voted 6-1 to receive the resolution, a parliamentary move that effectively kills it.

Only council Chairman Kaipo Asing, a critic of the Baptiste administration and of the operation of the police department, voted against the move.

As for any investigation, Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura said that while the council has rules that would apply to an investigation of the police department, she is not aware of any recent moves to actually get one started.

"I sense that a definition from the county attorney's office of just what our authority is and what procedures would be followed is still something we want to understand," said Councilman Jay Furfaro.

Yukimura said she voted to keep Gonsalves on the commission because she felt he had made an error but had owned up to it.

"I think he showed remorse for his remarks and apologized not only to the chief and his wife, but to the Chinese community. A mistake was made, but he acknowledged it. Also, he has a lot of support in the community," she said.

The council was more evenly split, 4-3, in its vote to confirm Furtado for her second and final term on the commission.

On that vote, Asing once again was on the losing side, along with members Mel Rapozo and Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho.

Both Rapozo and Iseri-Carvalho have experience working with the police department, he as a former officer and she as a former prosecutor.

They suggested that some of the problems on the commission and in the department could be tied to Furtado's actions on the commission.

Council members Furfaro, Daryl Kaneshiro, Jimmy Tokioka and Yukimura voted for her.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.