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Common Cause Hawaii is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. Transparency in government is key to a healthy and strong democracy. Common Cause Hawaii provides comments regarding the transparency of the April 2, 2020 General Business Meeting of the Board of Education (Board) and specifically Agenda Item III, Board Action on temporary rules of operation to conduct virtual board meetings.

Below is a letter from Sandy Ma, executive director of Common Cause Hawaii to the Maui County Council about ethics and transparency while emergency rules issued by Mayor Victorino to stay at home and work from home until April 30, 2020, similar to the entire State of Hawaii.

Whether true or not, Hawaii has a perceived ethics problem among government employees and elected officials. The most obvious are the former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his city deputy prosecutor, soon-to- be ex-wife Katherine Kealoha, who were both convicted in 2019 of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. The Kealoha corruption investigation embroiled the Honolulu Corporation Counsel Donna Leong and Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro, who have both been on paid leave since early 2019. Common Cause Hawaii strongly supports passing bills addressing these kinds of ethics issues.

Vote-by-mail is coming to Hawaii in 2020, due to a law passed by the 2019 Hawaii State Legislature. Hawaii’s registered voters will no longer be voting at traditional polling places, such as schools and community centers on primary and election days. Ballots will be automatically mailed to all registered voters starting with the 2020 elections. Common Cause Hawaii advocates for more Voter Service Centers to make this voting process go smoothly.

A spirited group assembled near the Hawaii State Federal Building on the eve of President Trump's impeachment in support of this much needed constitutional action. Photos from this event can be found on the Common Cause Hawaii Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/search/top/? q=common%20cause%20hawaii&epa=SERP_TAB. Highlight the URL above and right click on it and scroll down on the pop-up menu and click on Open URL. Also on the Media Center tab above, click on Articles of Interest and scroll down to Ethics & Accountability for some photos from this event.

For more information on this event, please contact Sandy Ma, the CCHI Executive Director, at sma@commoncause.org.