[ OUR OPINION ]

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Ethics violation more
fundamental than
Lingle admits

THE ISSUE The governor has apologized for allowing a private lobby group to use her office.

WHEN a lawyer speaks of a legal technicality, the reference usually has to do with the Constitution. In the same respect, Governor Lingle's begrudging acknowledgment of a "technical violation" in situating a private lobby organization in her office fails to adequately describe a fundamental misuse of public resources for political purposes.

The Star-Bulletin's Rob Perez first reported in April that Lingle's Citizens Achieving Reform in Education, or CARE, was a private organization operating out of the Governor's Office to lobby for education reform. Lingle suggested the activity was acceptable because it was done in public and was not hidden. "We thought it was a great public-private partnership," she said in a thin-skinned denial of the accusation.

After a stalwart Democrat from Pearl City filed a complaint about CARE's use of public resources, the governor called it a diversionary tactic by Democrats to deflect attention from their "fake reform" of the state's school system. A short time later, Lingle severed ties with CARE and showed it the exit from her office "out of an abundance of caution."

Finally, the governor at her own expense properly hired a private lawyer, Kenneth Robbins, who wrote to the state Ethics Commission that his client was incorrect in her belief that CARE's use of state resources was proper. Lingle seems to have got the public good mixed up with CARE's goals, believing they were one and the same.

"The governor and her staff now understand that the state resources were being utilized to assist in promoting the purposes of CARE and, thus, constituted an ethics violation," Robbins wrote to the commission. Lingle submitted a CARE check for $29,843 to compensate taxpayers.

The commission found the Lingle administration to be in violation of the state ethics code, noting in its opinion that Lingle should have "perceived an ethics issue" once CARE became registered as a private, nonprofit corporation. The ethics laws prohibit state resources from being used for private purposes, including "a private organization that lobbies or is engaged in political activities."

State Senate Republicans cited the complaint as an aggravating motive behind a Democratic bill to require top state officials to undergo two hours of ethics training. The bill was approved by the Legislature and Lingle is expected to allow it to become law without her signature. We questioned the need for such legislation, but the ethics training might be useful after all.

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Too many teens let
life pass them by

THE ISSUE A study has found increased numbers of young adults who are neither employed nor in school.

ALTHOUGH the lives of Hawaii's children have improved in several areas in recent years, the number of teens and young adults who are neither employed nor in school has risen. Child advocates note what appears to be a national trend reflected in results of an annual state-by-state survey. School and community leaders need to recognize the problem, especially the vulnerability of children and young adults from low-income and minority families.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation study, the 2004 Kids Count Data Book, showed that nearly one in six young adults -- 3.8 million Americans from 18 to 24 -- were not in school or the workplace last year. Since 2000, the number of non-engaged young adults grew by 700,000, a 19 percent increase in just three years, according to the foundation. In Hawaii, 15,000 young adults, representing a similar percentage, were estimated last year to be "disconnected."

Trends presaging those figures suggest the problem may be worsening in Hawaii, despite improving prospects nationally. While the percent of 16-to-19-year-olds who were high school dropouts increased in Hawaii from 5 percent to 7 percent from 1996 to 2001, the national percentage of teenage dropouts declined from 10 percent to 9 percent. Also, Hawaii teens not attending school and not working rose from 9 percent to 10 percent, while the national percentage dropped from 9 percent to 8 percent.

Hawaii's only positive trend related to teenagers becoming disconnected is a reduction in the percentage of teens giving birth, from 27 births per 100,000 females aged 15 to 17 in 1996 to 20 births in 2001. The national rate also declined. The foundation's research has shown that many teenage mothers drop out of high school and are more likely to enter juvenile justice facilities.

"These data are warning signs that we need to pay closer attention to our youth," said Marika Ripke, project director for Hawaii Kids Count, coordinated by the University of Hawaii's Center on the Family. "Many are already experiencing difficulty finding a productive role in society. They are not in school and not working. These disconnected youth will find it hard to successfully navigate the transition to adulthood."