Pete Hoffmann
Vice Chair Pete Hoffmann spoke of freshman council members’ proposal to reorganize the Hawaii County Council, including the pitch to replace him as vice chair with Emily Naeole.
“I’m perplexed as to why they think they need to make these changes,” said Pete Hoffmann on Sunday afternoon. Pete Hoffmann told the story of Council Chair J Yoshimoto and County Clerk Kenny Goodenow coming to Waimea to see him on Wednesday, June 10, 2009.
“What Yoshimoto was saying is he was asking for support to change chairmanship of Finance and Public Works (and Intergovernmental Relations) Committees. We discussed it for awhile, I said I thought it was lousy idea, and obviously would be seen as another effort of the Hilo boys to take over, that it would clearly have bad impacts on the credibility of the Council and why do it. We discussed that at length. I suggested that as Chair, he talk to Ford and Yagong ‘and discuss with them your problem,’ or ‘the problem with their council colleagues with having them as chairs, talk to them and work from there.’”
“I was told on a couple of occasions that Emily was interested in being vice chair,” Pete Hoffmann said of his conversation with Chair J Yoshimoto. “I said Emily can replace me if you wish… I understood Yagong and
J Yoshimoto
Ford were going to be removed, but never quite understood I was to be included in that. After they left, I was trying to figure that out after they left. It surprised to see the resolution from Onishi replacing me with Naeole when I saw it on board on Friday. As I understood it, J was going to go back and talk with the other council members who wanted to make these changes, and I honestly thought when they left that that was the way they were going to leave it. Perhaps they were not going to make that point if they were seeking my support, and maybe the introduction of that resolution could have been predicated on that support or not.
When I said ‘you can remove anytime you want’ I noted, ‘You’re going to really have to tell me why you think you would want me removed.’ I’m not quite certain what I did. It appears like ‘no good deed would remain unpunished.’ They’re going to remove Ford, Yagong and myself from positions of leadership and, correct me if I’m wrong, we’re the council members doing 90 percent of the legislation. It’s a power play I would imagine. They’re doing it because they can do it.”
Asked if he was surprised to see this coup d’etat coming about, “I’m not surprised that they might try something like this. I am a little surprised at J. In our discussion in my office Wednesday afternoon, I reminded him he’s the chair. ’Take charge of this crowd,’ I told him. He kept telling me he had five votes already (to remove Dominic and Brenda), which of course meant Greenwell is siding with them… and I don’t think that’s quite true from what I understand. It wasn’t clear to me… J is saying he is not the initiator of these resolutions, I don’t know what to think. That’s the way I saw it. I was surprised that it went ahead.”
Pete Hoffman said he has had no conversations with J Yoshimoto or County Clerk Kenny Goodenow since that Wednesday afternoon meeting. “ And I’m really unclear from my perspective, Tiffany. I will continue to work hard as long as I’m sitting on the Council in whatever capacity, as hard as I can for the best interest of the island. That’s the way I view all this… They want to take away the chairmanships, but I’m still chair of the Housing… I don’t think any one else wants to begin to understand Section 8 vouchers… It seems like no good deed goes unpunished. It’s the good ol’ boys want to make sure they have their power cemented, that’s all I can say, I don’t know.”
At that Wednesday meeting, while Yoshimoto and Goodenow talked about Yagong and Ford being removed, “I’m not sure we ever talked about consolidation of committees. It was a surprise to me, too. I hadn’t heard about it. I had heard about one or two other things, in which the committee structure would be changed to go back to the original structure we had several years ago, with five people on one committee, a change from everybody on committee now… The committee structure itself is not all that pertinent at the moment. Another change that came about, which I didn’t know about until recently, say it was the Food and Energy Sustainability Committee, to put an item on the agenda I thought I gave my request to the committee chair… I don’t anymore. Apparently it has to go through the Council Chair. If that’s true, why are we having committee chairmanships…?”
Does Pete Hoffmann think council members violated the Sunshine Law in coming with these reorganization and consolidation resolutions? ”I hope there were no Sunshine Law violations here… It could be somebody off the Council who could have fingers in the pie… I assume that in the course of the discussion, I’ll find out why I’m being replaced… “
As for Councilman Guy Enriques’ basketball analogy, “Enriques loves to talk and use sports analogies… the
Guy Enriques
whole thing about sports is entertainment. That is not the role of the County Council… Our role is to challenge position of the administration… We’re not supposed to be voting in lock step. Mr. Enriques’ analogy is not appropriate from the standpoint of our role as legislators and policy makers. Think about it for a moment… That would be no different from communist led governments… That’s not democracy… that is not what our whole system of government is about… What I think Mr. Enriques really means is that when we do discuss an issue, don’t blast each other personally. As for the idea of us as a team, we play with different abilities. We still work for the best interest of this island, even if we disagree. Mr. Enriques’ concept is, I think, wrong… Our role is to challenge the administration and then come to a decision… Clearly, I’m embarrassed for the Council. I’m embarrassed for the people of this island who have to put up with this. The people of this island deserve a lot more than this gamesmanship. I’m not a player. Maybe that’s what Mr. Enriques means. I’m not going to play games. Whatever I do, I will continue to work for the people of this island.”
June 16th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
The four ‘no’ votes today were Hoffmann, Greenwell, Ford, and Yagong.
These four Council members can be very proud for having taken the high road and done a very good job of trying to bring sanity to the Council.
They were not successful in preventing this folly.
While they may have been in the minority on this vote on this day, their consciences can be clear; and another day will come.
June 16th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
[...] best suited for them. It truly appears to be “no good deed goes unpunished,” as Pete Hoffmann said. As much as they challenged county government and the administration, we have known by mere [...]
June 16th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Mahalo Mr. Hoffmann.
Sounds like we have a secret, 10th council member, County Clerk Kenny Goodenow, two hats for the price of one.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
[...] Brenda Ford said. Her concern is that Chair J Yoshimoto, in a meeting with then-Vice Chair Pete Hoffmann in Waimea on Wednesday, June 10, 2009, said he already had five votes to support the reorganization [...]