Editorials
Tuesday, May 18, 1999Ethics decision shows
need to broaden codeWHEN two officials of public worker unions voted as trustees of the state Public Employees Health Fund to award a life insurance contract to a company that had their bosses on its board of directors, Governor Cayetano suspected favoritism and asked the board to reconsider.The issue: The decision of the trustees of the state Public Employees Health Fund to award an insurance contract to a company with ties to public worker union leaders
The state Ethics Commission looked into the case and found no evidence of favoritism. But the commission decided to consider amending the ethics code to take into account situations in which subordinates take actions that can be perceived to be linked to interests of their superiors.
Certainly there was reason to suspect favoritism in this case. Keith Ahue, deputy director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, who died last week, and Clifford "Chip" Uwaine, a division director of the United Public Workers, sat on the board of the health fund. Uwaine had an interim appointment to the board. Cayetano withdrew his nomination to the board near the end of the last session of the Legislature.
Their bosses, HGEA Executive Director Russell Okata and UPW State Director Gary Rodrigues, are on the board of directors of Royal State National Insurance Co. Ahue and Uwaine voted to award a life insurance contract for 72,000 government workers and retirees to Royal State although another company submitted a bid that would have cost less and offered better benefits.
However, the four trustees who voted for Royal State said they believed it would provide better service because it was a local company and that hiring the company would provide local jobs.
Those arguments are dubious but the Ethics Commission found them plausible enough to reject the charge of favoritism in the absence of evidence to the contrary.
Still, the commission in effect frowned on the contract award. Its executive director, Daniel Mollway, said, "Certainly, public confidence in government decision-making may be undermined in such situations." We agree.
Even though Ahue and Uwaine had no direct financial interest in Royal State, the fact that their bosses were directors of the company gave them an incentive to award it the contract. If they had voted to award the contract to a rival company, their bosses wouldn't have been pleased. The ethics code should take such situations into account.
Yeltsin survives impeachment
BORIS Yeltsin has survived another challenge to his presidency and is likely to complete the last year of his term. A Communist-led attempt to impeach the ailing leader failed in the Duma, the lower house of parliament. But Russia remains unstable, both economically and politically. Yeltsin remains an abysmally unpopular president presiding over a sinking economy that many Russians blame on failed Western reforms.
Those seeking Yeltsin's impeachment needed 300 votes in the 450-seat Duma on any of five motions, but the most they could achieve was 283. Scores of members walked away from the chamber rather than vote either way. That was hardly a testament of support for Yeltsin, whose approval rating has fallen to 2 percent.
However, the failure of the impeachment effort was a stunning rebuff for the Communists. Gennady Zyuganov, who has been repeatedly humiliated by Yeltsin, assailed those who voted against impeachment for having "betrayed their country." Even Yeltsin's disastrous decision to suppress the revolt in Chechnya failed to win enough votes for impeachment.
The Duma reportedly is willing to confirm Sergei Stepashin, who has been in charge of the nation's police, as prime minister. Yeltsin nominated Stepashin on the eve of impeachment proceedings after firing Yevgeny Primakov, the one-time Soviet spymaster who had good relations with the Duma.
Stepashin is seen as politically neutral. His chance of being confirmed is enhanced by Yeltsin's authority to dissolve the Duma if it rejects his nomination three times and to install an unabashedly liberal economist in the job.
The ruble, which has fallen to one-fourth of its previous value since Russia's financial meltdown last August, wobbled further after Primakov's sacking. The Duma's confirmation of Stepashin could stabilize the ruble while providing reassurance to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, whose loans would have been jeopardized by suspension of economic reforms.
The failed effort to impeach Yeltsin is a serious setback for the Communists. It should lead to continued support by the West for Russia's movement toward market reforms through the end of Yeltsin's presidency next summer. By then, Russians hopefully will have found a more popular figure to lead them to better times.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert 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
