Lingle signs law
to put top officials
in ethics class
Republican Gov. Linda Lingle has signed into law a bill mandating a one-time ethics training class for all top state officials -- including the governor, her office announced yesterday.
Classes provided by the state Ethics Commission will begin in January.
Lingle previously had said she probably would let the bill become law without her signature, saying it was "obviously a political ploy on behalf of the Democrats" who control the Legislature.
That was before complaints that a citizens committee she formed last October to lobby for education reform appeared to have violated a second part of the state ethics law.
In early June, Lingle suggested the bill, which was introduced in 2003 and carried over to the 2004 session, was aimed at drawing attention to a "very inadvertent, innocent violation of the ethics code on my part."
That referred to her allowing the education reform lobby group to operate out of her office after it became a private nonprofit group, something the State Ethics Commission ruled had violated the law.
Early this month, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported that Citizens Achieving Reform in Education, or CARE, apparently also violated the law requiring organizations to report lobbying expenses to the Ethics Commission. That prompted a call by state House Majority Leader Scott Saiki (D, Moiliili-McCully) for another commission investigation.
Asked yesterday if she still felt passage of the measure was political, Lingle said: "I guess my feeling was that it couldn't hurt for everybody to go and get ethics training. I think it's probably good for everyone and went ahead and signed the bill."
As for Democrats trying to capitalize on Lingle's ethics missteps this year, Ethics Commission Executive Director Daniel Mollway said he had supported the bill last year, long before the education reform group was created.
Rep. Jon Karamatsu (D, Waipahu-Waikele), who introduced the bill in 2003, said he was pleased the governor signed it into law.
"A mandatory ethics training course will help guide Hawaii's elected and appointed officials in their decision-making and clarify the distinction between support for community activities and campaigning."
State Ethics Commission:
hawaii.gov/ethics