Pro bono help failed to materialize

Looks like all those promises of pro bono legal help didn’t pan out on Kauai, and now it will be up to the taxpayers to foot the bill to defend the county’s anti-GMO law.

When Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. vetoed the measure in October, he said it was so legally flawed that he could not in good conscience sign it. The Kauai County Council overrode his veto, buoyed in part by assurances that lawyers would line up to defend the county — for free — against inevitable claims that the law unfairly singled out a few companies and overreached county authority. The county put the call out for free legal help last month, but found it lacking.

So now the Council has approved spending up to $75,000 to retain special counsel in the case, which centers on the regulation of pesticides and genetically modified crops. That cost to taxpayers will surely grow before the case is resolved. Carvalho was right, and the Council should have listened.

Another brouhaha involving Hanohano

The jury isn’t in, so to speak, but this much is clear: State Rep. Faye Hanohano is not covering herself in glory.

Again.

State House leaders have said they will name a panel to investigate Hanohano, who got in hot water last year for making racial and ethnic remarks in a discussion about art installations.

This time the complaint comes from a 22-year-old environmental studies student who complained about being berated after giving remarks favoring a bill protecting sharks and rays in state waters.

Without attempting to sort out the issues or the he-said-she-said, we have an elected public servant and a young voter who took the House invitation to testify. Who has the heavier burden for showing some common courtesy here?

Hint: It’s not the student.