Press Club awards
laud and lambaste

Star-Bulletin staff

The University of Hawaii Board of Regents has the dubious honor of being chosen for the Big Island Press Club's annual "Lava Tube" award, recognizing offenses against open government and the public's right to know.

The regents were chosen for allegedly failing to follow open-meeting or "sunshine" laws when they approved a new Mauna Kea Science Reserve Master Plan last year.

The club also gave its honorable "Torch of Light" award to Hawaii County Clerk Al Konishi for pushing for the county's right to place legal advertisements in Big Island newspapers instead of the Honolulu-based publications as the Legislature requires.

Regarding the Mauna Kea plan, the club noted the regents adopted a draft plan with significant changes. The law requires a waiting period so the public can comment on proposed changes.

In an unrelated but similar case in 1998, Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra ruled that the county's zoning ordinance was illegally adopted because the County Council did not give the public enough time to comment on proposed changes.

Regents' attorney Walter Kirimitsu has denied that the regents did wrong. But he has also agreed to arrange a meeting in which the state Office of Information Practices will brief the regents on open-meeting requirements.

Others earning "Dishonorable Mention" from the club were the Hawaii County Police Commission, for holding a secret meeting discussing how to make its meetings more open; Kauai Mayor Maryanne Kusaka, for refusing to reveal the names of nine people she appointed to a county advisory committee; and, for the fifth year in a row, the state Legislature, for exempting itself from the open-meeting requirements.

The Press Club awards were revealed yesterday, Freedom of Information Day.