City leaders are caught between giving forgiveness and begging for it as we “flASHback” on the week’s news that amused and confused:

» City Council Chairman Ernie Martin admitted he signed papers forgiving $1.2 million in loans to a company that gave $4,200 to his political campaign, but said he did nothing wrong because someone else made the decision to forgive. It’s known locally as the Stevie Wonder excuse.

» Martin, who was the city’s acting community services director while running for the Council, said he had to sign off on the canceled loan that has received a sharp federal rebuke because “I was the only executive left.” The buck stops at his campaign fund.

» Mayor Kirk Caldwell, who was acting mayor at the time and also received a campaign donation from the loan recipient, has hired a private investigator to look into the matter. We’d find out more from a private cesspool excavator.

» The City Council gave preliminary approval to a bill that would apply the city ethics code to employees of the private company that runsTheBus. They should be able to ignore sound ethical practices just like other city officials.

» The state school board is mulling pay raises for top Department of Education officials. Drawing inspiration from previous school reforms, this initiative is a cross between “No Bureaucrat Left Behind” and “Race to the Bank.”

» Hawaii U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono are among 13 senators calling for an investigation of the National Security Agency’s surveillance of millions of Americans. I hope they didn’t make the investigation call from their Verizon phones.

» New reports say Hawaii is the most expensive U.S. state for residents to live and Honolulu is the most expensive U.S. city for travelers to stay. We pride ourselves on treating our visitors like family.

» Microsoft, seeking to boost its cool factor against Apple, gave away 2,500 tickets to a hip-hop concert to draw a crowd to the opening of its Ala Moana store. It was the retail equivalent of tying a pork chop around your neck to get the dog to play with you.

» NASA is giving the University of Hawaii $1.2 million more for a Mauna Loa-based study of what foods astronauts might eat during a future manned mission to Mars. It’s costing more than expected to perfect freeze-dried Spam musubi.

And the quote of the week … from Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui on his job expectations: “Quite frankly, I didn’t want to come up here and just be a 49 percent shareholder and, no matter what I say, have absolutely no effect on some of the decisions that were made.” The only cure for that is surgery to remove the word “lieutenant” from his title.

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Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.