Hirono Vs. Kavanaugh

Let’s match rhetoric with laws

Here’s one response to Nick Grube’s Sept. 5 article (“Hirono To Kavanaugh: ‘I Think You Have A Problem Here’”).

Hirono’s rhetoric needs to be matched by a change in local laws: abolish statute of limitations for child sexual assault.

Hirono, according to CNN, has “weaponized” the #MeToo movement in her latest attempt to block Kavanaugh’s nomination.

I agree, there’s no place for bigots or perpetrators of sexual violence on the bench. As a survivor of sexual violence, I would like the Hawaii Legislature to take a congruent stand and end the statute of limitations that forces survivors to report within a short window, or risk losing access to justice.

While this may not remedy all claims or injuries sustained by survivors of sexual assault, it will do three things:

• It helps Hawaii’s national rhetoric to be consistent with laws back home.

• It allows survivors of abuse perpetrated after the law is passed to have confidence in knowing that they will have the ability to decide when (if at all) to file charges or claims.

• Most importantly, it sends a message to those who have abused and gotten away with it: Time’s up. You’re not going to be able to abuse anyone else, and get away with it, anymore.

To survivors of child sexual assault by your own ohana, please encourage Hawaii’s Sex Abuse Treatment Center to work with the state to develop a quasi-judicial process to help reconcile abusers/targets of abuse, when the assault is perpetrated by a family member.

Much like the system of hooponopono applied when families face Child Welfare Services interventions, hooponopono could be a way to help heal and reconcile family dysfunction evidenced by the ripple effects of sexual abuse.

— Ilima Nakapuahi, Hawaiian Acres

Don’t ruin a man’s life and reputation

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh passed six FBI background checks with no signs of a single case of sexual harassment. On the word of one woman, Sen. Mazie Hirono and other Democrats declare him “guilty.”

Christine Blasey Ford is a political activist who has made dozens of donations to left-wing causes. Perhaps Hirono could ask her, why did you scrub your social media before letting your name be published?

Meanwhile, every mother, sister, wife or female relative of a male will be watching the Democrat committee members to see if simply being accused of harassment is enough to ruin a man’s life and reputation.

— Carol R. White, Honolulu

Government Transparency

Hooray for UIPA.org

Transform Hawaii Government applauds the cumulative efforts behind UIPA.org, recently launched by Code for Hawaii and The Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest as a free service (“New Service Helps Public Access Public Records,” Sept. 18).

Frustration over Hawaii’s Uniform Information Practices Act public records request process are well documented. The reasons for challenges range from sometimes legitimate privacy concerns, to the often infuriatingly inefficient processes and the limitations of technology, or lack thereof, in local and state government.

UIPA.org goes a long way to help reduce barriers to accessing records so the people can keep government accountable — one of the core principles of our UIPA law.

Sometimes that takes the private sector taking the lead when the public sector is unable or unwilling to step up to help improve cumbersome processes and inadequate resources. It’s our hope that the state Office of Information Practices will recognize the public service UIPA.org provides and encourage all agencies to build upon this third-party model of transparency and convenience.

We agree with the law center’s Brian Black that democracy only works if the government operates with reasonable transparency. But it also requires an engaged citizenry and, in this case, an innovative one.

— Christine Maii Sakuda, Transform Hawaii Government

Con Con

As Maine goes, so goes Hawaii?

Aloha, I am a former longtime resident of Oahu, currently residing on family property in Maine where we have both term limits for legislators and citizen initiatives (“State Constitutional Convention: Let’s Have The Conversation,” Sept. 18).

Term limits curb but do not eliminate long-term influence of certain legislators since they can return after a time has passed, but are a good check, nonetheless. As for citizen initiatives, they are employed vigorously in Maine, notably our recently passed ranked choice voting, which some in the Legislature, along with the Trump-like governor, now term-limited and will be out after this year, bitterly have opposed, and found cover in the discrepancy between “plurality” and “majority,” on constitutional grounds.

So, due to this concern, we only got a partial victory — RCV for primaries and federal offices OK, but not (where it counts the most) for governor and legislators in the general election. Now our effort centers on electing legislators who will amend the Maine Constitution to replace “plurality” with “majority,” and let RCV be used in all races.

Good luck to Hawaii voters in making these progressive changes! Imua, onipaa (an no fo’get da manapua).

— Jon Olsen, Jefferson, Maine

Cops And Guns

Headline workshop

Your Sept. 21 headline read: “Armed Drug Suspect Is Fourth Person Fatally Shot By HPD Since June.”

I suggest that will be interpreted as: “Our Police Are Shooting Too Many People.”

Better would have been: “Armed Man Shot And Killed By Police During Drug Raid.”

— Bob Jones, Honolulu