Editorials
Tuesday, May 20, 1997THE Judicial Selection Commission was created by constitutional amendment in 1978 to take some of the politics out of the appointment of judges by screening candidates and presenting a list to the governor from which the final choice is made. The power to appoint the nine members of the commission is shared by the governor, the Senate president, speaker of the House and chief justice of the Supreme Court. Wrong appointment
for judicial selectionThe Constitution provides that no member of the commission can run for or hold any elected public office or take an active part in "political management or political campaigns."
The appointment of Gary Rodrigues, director of the United Public Workers union, is unacceptable in light of those restrictions. Senate President Norman Mizuguchi named Rodrigues to the commission last year, but the appointment was held up by a dispute regarding a 1994 constitutional amendment changing the number of appointments alloted to the governor and the Senate president. The way now seems clear for Rodrigues to join the commission.
This appointment contradicts the idea of keeping politics out of the judiciary. As the head of a major public employees union, Rodrigues is up to his neck in politics. The UPW endorsement is highly coveted by candidates and its members are out campaigning for those selected. To claim that Rodrigues is not engaged in "political management" would be disingenuous. What makes the appointment even worse is that Rodrigues' union is involved in the battle over privatization of public services that threatens to cause chaos on the neighbor islands. It was a lawsuit by the UPW that brought on this crisis.
The idea that Rodrigues would act impartially on the Judicial Selection Commission is laughable. He would politicize the commission and cast a cloud over its recommendations. To give him this power in addition to his already considerable clout in the Legislature and the governor's office is a flagrant abuse of the appointive authority by Mizuguchi.
But what would you expect? Mizuguchi kowtowed to Rodrigues in the last session by producing a bill to deal with the privatization issue that was tailored to please the labor leader. The neighbor island mayors rejected it, saying it would be worse than no bill at all.
Mizuguchi's defense of the appointment is that the commission is supposed to represent a cross section of the community and labor has been lacking representation. There are plenty of labor union members who could have been chosen who are not political power brokers like Gary Rodrigues. But that of course was precisely why he was chosen.
HAWAII'S version of Megan's law, which will go into effect on July 1, offers no guaranteed security blanket for residents concerned about convicted sex offenders in their neighborhoods. However, the law will give the public access to the current addresses of persons convicted of such crimes. This could put neighbors on their guard against more violations. The increased public awareness hopefully will outweigh the potential negative effects of the law. Hawaii's Megan's law
BEING wealthy means having the ability to provide substantial material help to those in need, but not everyone who is rich is also generous. Joan Kroc, widow of the founder of McDonald's, is both. She has been identified as the until-now anonymous donor who asked officials to distribute $2,000 each to families in Grand Forks, N.D., and East Grand Forks, Minn., who suffered in the recent flood. That added up to $15 million. Flood victims' donor
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
