[ OUR OPINION ]
Legislators meddle
in city businessA BILL in the state House that exempts a health center and housing development in Central Oahu from all of the city's planning, zoning and construction laws subverts public participation in land use decisions and undermines the city's authority. The "fast-track" measure set for approval next week should be rejected as an improper use of legislative power.
THE ISSUE The House is poised to OK legislation that would ditch city laws for a Central Oahu health center and housing development.
The measure is being promoted by Rep. Marcus Oshiro, a member of the Wahiawa Hospital Association whose for-profit division wants to build the medical facility. The Pacific Health Center is planned for 210 acres of Castle & Cooke land where the housing developer hopes to build its Koa Ridge Makai project on 226 adjacent acres. The bill also grants exemptions for the housing development, which has been the focus of conflict in the Central Oahu community because of traffic, school-construction and environmental concerns.
The bill is structured specifically to circumvent city authority. Rodney Sato, chairman of Pacific Health Community Inc., said legislation was sought when it seemed that some members of the City Council were balking at approving the project. Oshiro contends that the effort to skirt city laws is his "fiduciary duty to my hospital and my community." But the measure will not benefit people in his community if it minimizes their voices in land-use decisions.
Castle & Cooke maintains that it was unaware that the bill included its project. Although Sato says he asked that the housing development be removed, the Koa Ridge tax key map number and the text of the bill clearly encompass the residential area. If Castle & Cooke did not intend to "piggyback" on the hospital's exemption, as its officials have said, the developer should demand the bill be amended.
City Council zoning chairman Charles Djou says the measure "usurps the city's authority and is a violation of the basic principle of law that rules should apply equally to everyone." The bill gives the projects automatic approval if the Council does not reject it within 45 days, which city officials say is not enough time to weigh such complex proposals. The limit may work against the bill's intent if the Council chooses to say no because the review period is too short.
Oshiro has no business pushing a bill to accommodate an organization to which he has such close ties, even if his position with the association is voluntary. Moreover, legislators have no cause to meddle in city affairs and do away with its laws.
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Cockfight fans wage
dishonest attackSTATE legislators beholden to enthusiasts of cockfighting are resorting to alarmist distortions as an explanation for defeating a proposal to increase penalties for engaging in the macabre blood sport. Claims that the bill would be unconstitutional and would criminalize perfectly legal activities are ridiculous and are a deliberate attempt to create fears about unrealistic consequences.
THE ISSUE The Legislature is considering a bill that would make animal cruelty a felony instead of a misdemeanor.
In a letter to the Star-Bulletin published on Tuesday, Rep. Blake Oshiro, vice-chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, called the bill "unconstitutionally broad, vague and ultimately unenforceable." He contended that the bill's provision making it a felony to commit acts against animals that are "especially heinous, atrocious, cruel and unnecessarily tortuous" would make pig hunting, roasting a pig and "even roping a calf at a rodeo" illegal.
That is absurd. Animal cruelty, including cockfighting, already is classified as a misdemeanor. The bill would make it a felony, putting Hawaii in step with 27 other states.
Oshiro distorted the issue by stating that the bill would make it a felony simply to "own, train, possess or sell a gamecock or other fowl known by nature to have a propensity to fight," failing to distinguish between owning a rooster as a domestic pet and owning one for fighting purposes. In his letter, Oshiro deliberately omitted the phrase following the one he quoted: "with the intent to engage in an exhibition of fighting with another gamecock or other fighting fowl."
Essentially, the bill would require that law-enforcement authorities provide evidence of the rooster owner's intent to use it for cockfighting. That is similar to other criminal laws that require the prosecutor to prove intent. Possession of gaffs -- the razor-sharp spurs used to mutilate competing roosters -- or steroids commonly used to make roosters more aggressive would be examples of such evidence of intent.
The arguments made by Oshiro and other opponents of the legislation are dishonest subterfuge to protect cockfighters and the related large-scale gambling activity in Hawaii. Oshiro contends that House Judiciary Chairman Eric Hamakawa recognized the unconstitutionality of the bill. Hamakawa's explanation for killing a similar bill in last year's session of the Legislature was slightly different and more candid: "I have a lot of cockfighting constituents."
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, Editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, Assistant Editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, Assistant Editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comMary Poole, Editorial Page Editor, 529-4748; mpoole@starbulletin.com
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