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Council needs to
let the sunshine in

THE ISSUE The Office of Information Practices has determined that the City Council violated the state's open meeting law.

SHIFTING political alliances aren't uncommon within the City Council as members horse-trade to reach their goals and as one or another gains or falls out of favor of the majority for whatever reason. Changes in committee chairmanships and other leadership roles -- the Council's currency of power -- usually follow, but politicians are reluctant to carry out these matters before public eyes.

So wheeling and dealing goes on in hallways and corners sotto voce, then after agreements are worked out, members return to chambers to put their yeas and nays on record. The problem is that they are violating the state's open-meeting law that limits the number of members who may engage in discussion of Council business outside of a formal meeting.

Les Kondo, director of the Office of Information Practices, which oversees compliance, determined that members cannot get around the law by having a succession of one-on-one private conversations in a kind of "pass-on-the-message" fashion.

Members deny that they have done anything wrong. Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz -- whose leadership was challenged by Nestor Garcia, resulting in Garcia's losing his post as Transportation Committee head -- contends the Council has been more open than in the past and that Kondo's ruling is "incorrect."

Charles Djou, who became chairman of the executive matters panel in the shuffle, says Kondo is misinterpreting the law and that Council organization is set by members' rules, not by law. In any case, Djou says, the Council's internal organization has no effect on public policy.

Not so. Committee heads are able to steer pending legislation; that's why chairmanships are coveted. Further, the reason the so-called Sunshine Law directly addresses the Council is because of similar actions by members of previous Councils.

Kondo calls into question the validity of a resolution that set up the new assignments. This isn't an insurmountable problem. All the Council needs is a do-over, this time in the proper public forum.

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‘Ice’ ingredient should
be controlled substance

THE ISSUE Oregon might require prescriptions for medicines containing an ingredient used to make methamphetamine.

OREGON is on the verge of becoming the first state to require a prescription for cold medicines containing an ingredient that also is used in manufacturing crystal methamphetamine, the illicit drug that has become a national epidemic. Hawaii has a new law limiting the sales of those medicines, but federal legislation is needed to steer pharmaceutical companies away from use of the potential ingredient of "ice."

A requirement signed into law by Gov. Lingle last year limits the quantity of drugs containing iodine and red and white phosphorous and requires manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers to keep track of the chemicals, also used in crystal meth. In May the governor signed into law a limit of any over-the-counter sale of products containing pseudoephedrine to three packages or nine grams.

The Oregon measure, approved overwhelmingly by the Senate and expected to gain House approval and Gov. Ted Kulogoski's signature, would require prescriptions for such sales. Oregon already requires that tablets containing pseudoephedrine or two similar substances be sold only in pharmacies and behind the counter.

Hawaii's Legislature considered requiring record-keeping of purchasers' names and putting the cold tablets behind the counter but settled on the lesser measure. The new law does require retailers to display the tablets in plain view of a store clerk, behind the counter or in view of a security camera to reduce thefts.

A more effective strategy would be a federal law classifying pseudoephedrine on Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act along with other drugs that have a potential for abuse but also have accepted medical uses. That would pressure pharmaceuticals to use substitutes.

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