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Editorials
Wednesday, December 6, 2000Using state facility
to hide gambling ringThe issue: A retired state employee has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for operating a sport bookmaking ring in the Kahului, Maui, office of the Department of Accounting and General Services.
FEDERAL Judge Alan Kay has sentenced a retired state employee to 18 months in prison and fined him $20,000 for operating a sports bookmaking operation that used state resources. It was bad enough that Francis "Moody" Kahoohalahala was involved in an illegal gambling ring. But the fact that he used a government facility paid for by taxpayers -- the Kahului, Maui, office of the state Department of Accounting and General Services -- made the crime more egregious.
Nor was this a first offense. Kahoohalahala is a former police officer who was arrested in 1981 on gambling charges. These were thrown out on a ruling that it was illegal to search his trash, which had been placed at the curb.
Meanwhile Kahoohalahala left the Police Department for a state job that eventually got him assigned to DAGS.
Ten years later he and his wife were arrested on new gambling charges. Both pleaded no contest. In 1993 they were sentenced to fines of $30,000, 12-month suspended jail terms and five years' probation.
While still on probation, Kahoohalahala was arrested in 1994 following a search of the DAGS office where the gambling operation had moved. This time, more severe punishment was warranted.
KAHOOHALAHALA is the second former Maui police officer sentenced in the case. Gordon Cockett, a retired lieutenant, was sentenced to three years' probation last month.
In addition, Shigeru Sano, who had been Kahoohalahala's supervisor, was sentenced to a year's probation and fined $10,000 on two counts of failing to pay a wagering tax.
Citizens have a right to expect that government employees will respect the law they are paid to administer. When they don't, they should be punished. Using a state office as a means of avoiding detection compounds the offense.
Netanyahu may
stage challenge
to Barak
CONSERVATIVE Benjamin Netanyahu was elected prime minister of Israel in 1996 as voters responded to the assassination of the centrist Yitzhak Rabin by rejecting his liberal partner, Shimon Peres, the chief architect of Israel's peace initiatives.
Netanyahu's tenure was stormy. His center-right government collapsed under the strain of his efforts to resist pressures from the Clinton administration to make more sweeping concessions to the Palestinians. In May 1999 Netanyahu was decisively defeated by Ehud Barak, like Rabin a former general, who vowed to conclude peace agreements with Syria and the Palestinians.
But the failure of last summer's peace talks at Camp David, with Yasser Arafat rejecting a compromise over the status of Jerusalem, followed by weeks of Palestinian rioting, have severely damaged Barak's political standing and left him with a minority of supporters in the Israeli parliament. Barak has been forced to agree to early elections, probably next May.
His opponent may be the charismatic Netanyahu, who is enjoying a resurgence of popularity. The former premier was under a cloud for months, a target of investigation on allegations of bribery, theft and obstruction of justice. He and his wife were accused of receiving $100,000 worth of private services from a contractor in return for political favors, and of keeping hundreds of valuable gifts that had been given to the state while he was in office.
But in September the attorney general announced he had decided not to prosecute Netanyahu because the evidence against him was insufficient for conviction.
That decision appeared to open the way for Netanyahu's return to politics and a possible challenge to Barak. Current opinion polls suggest that Netanyahu would easily defeat Barak if the election were held today. Netanyahu returned to Israel this week after a trip to the United States and said he would soon decide whether to challenge Barak.
Although the current prime minister vows to continue his efforts to achieve a peace settlement with the Palestinians, the outlook is bleak after the disappointment at Camp David and the bitterness generated by the current violence.
President Clinton, who has pushed both sides hard to achieve a peace settlement, will almost surely leave office without one. His successor may be far more cautious about committing the United States' prestige to this cause.
Israelis may have concluded that a harder line against the Palestinians is needed now that Barak's offer of concessions has been answered with rioting. If so, they may turn again to a figure whose political career seemed to have ended -- Benjamin Netanyahu.
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
