Lingle's "Police State" Next ?

George Peabody see's it this way:

The fascist Police State of Hawaii will advance if Republican Linda Lingle is not dumped by Voters in the Primary Election: last week Lingle was endorsed by Hawaii's largest police union SHOPO, and, Howard Tagamori, Lingle's Chief of Police when she was Mayor of Maui is now head of federal DEA in Honolulu pushing the War on Drugs and prosecutions and police raids on medical marijuana patients and preventing farmers from growing commercial hemp, putting non-violent drug offenders in jail. Millions of dollars from New York City have poured in to fund Lingle's campaign, while John Carroll, her only Republican opponent in the Primary, fundraising in Hawaii is languishing as is the local economy. In April, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani hosted a fundraising event for Lingle at the Sheraton Towers in New York City, 6000 miles from Hawaii. "I am truly honored Mayor Giuliani would take time out of his busy schedule to host this fundraiser for me, " said Lingle. John Carroll said he believes the Voters will not be fooled by Lingle's big money advertising campaign. Meanwhile, Lingle's record is catching up to her from other sources not directly involved in competing with her for political office. Incumbent Mayor of Maui Kimo Apana's executive summary of budget initiatives refers to "...that first difficult year in office" because of the fiscal mess he inherited from Linda Lingle's term as Mayor of Maui: "....the strength of Maui County today stands in stark contrast to the situation that existed ...three years ago....Maui County was spending more money that it took in and our savings account was nearly depleted. We were without sufficient surplus to meet emergency needs. We were unable to invest in needed projects such as street paving and other necessary programs...," the report says. Apana's report obviously contrasts sharply with Lingle's dreamy anecdotes about her term as Maui Mayor. And court records show that Lingle violated Maui County Charter Section 3-6(6) and cost Maui Taxpayers nearly $140,000 in legal fees paid to her lawyer husband Wm. Crockett to defend her in a lawsuit alleging racketeering and unfair employment charge, and an additional $460,000 to lawyer Dan Bent. The Court ruled that "...the executive branch of Maui County exceeded its authority by employing special counsel with public funds to represent the personal interests of county officers and employees accused of committing intentional torts falling outside the scope of their official duties." It appears this ruling was a complete victory for the Council for challenging the unauthorized hiring of outside attorneys by Mayor Lingle and other County officials in the William Carroll case, but she never paid the money back to Maui Taxpayers. It also appears she committed perjury in that case when she stated under oath with the assistance of her lawyer that she had never been convicted of any crime, though the Plaintiff was able to provide an arrest and conviction record showing Linda S. Lingle was arrested and convicted of Criminal Contempt of Court.

Lingle is now talking about how state government corruption is rampant, but there many other skeletons in Lingle's closet: the Makawao Highlands subdivision zoning mess and subsequent purchase without authorization during the 1996 election year which avoided her embarrassing questions then; the unpaid loan of about $462,000 Lingle made to th Hale makana O Waiale development which is just now being written off by the County as uncollectible; special treatment favoring Molokai Ranch; several past and present charges of Campaign Spending Law violations are documented, and she apparently just loves police protection way beyond what average citizen gets. If we get a Police State it will be Lingle's. Yes, Lingle is now talking about how state government corruption is rampant, but there are many skeletons in Lingle's closet: Lingle's Sludge Debacle, excerpts from Marc Merritte, M.S. report, which exposes Lingle's bleak environmental records, and questions her credibility as a candidate for governor.

Linda Lingle, Maui Mayor and Republican candidate for Governor must know that the privatization of critical health and safety related operations such as Maui's wastewater sludge disposal requires that the private contractor take the responsibility for insuring the safety and protection of the general public.

Marc Merritte was originally selected by the County of Maui Solid Waste Division because of his background in the biological sciences and experience building pilot plants in an academic setting. He has a Master's Degree from Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, in Agricultural Sciences and worked for the state of California, the University of Hawaii and the federal Department of Energy in researching and developing a wide variety of biological systems, including waste to energy systems. Merritte was asked to assist the Recycling Coordinator Hana Steel and the Solid Waste Division engineers in the evaluating of responses to a request for qualifications for a planned sludge co-composting demonstration project. "Even though their qualifications were highly suspect, Hana Steel got the $450,000 co-composting contract to the Maui Composting Company right through the system, despite clear objections from the engineering staff and myself," he reported. Although all of the other legitimate bidding co-composting company's proposals came in at twice this amount, Lingle's chosen Maui Composting Company's bid was almost exactly what the County had budgeted for the demonstration project!

Solid Waste engineer Elaine Baker objected to this strongly and took issue with the Maui Composting Company's lack of experience and credentials, as did Merritte. She was summarily removed from the project by the Solid Waste Chief after she took her concerns to Corporation Council. Merritte also was removed, but then was offered a County contract to supervise the construction of the co-compost pilot project at the landfill, a three acre, $500,000 facility. I was also awarded a County Council approved consulting contract to begin research and report to them on co-composting issues.

The first 1-acre phase of the co-composting construction was completed on time and handed over to the contractor. They immediately began accepting sludge at the site, mixing it with chipped greenwaste and forming windrows which were turned with the Scarab machine. In the process, sludge was tracked everywhere. The co-composting process consistently breached the containment facility, with sludge winding up on private vehicles entering and leaving the landfill. Sludge was everywhere. Having worked both as a lab microbiologist and fermenter technician in California, Merritte was quite familiar with the requirement of certain materials and microorganisms for strict containment, and he soon learned that the sludge delivered by the County Wastewater Division was such a material, full of live pathogens and that the composting space requested by the contractor was grossly inadequate, and the Scarab machine turned the co-compost into an aerosol of spores and organic odors daily.

The lack of adequate safety measures and proper equipment further complicated matters, and flies and a stench which spread 5 miles away to the airport soon made the conditions unbearable for neighboring Ameron. Formal objections were filed with the County and a round table discussion of the matter ensued. Hana Steel again defended the project and contractor, who now was under the scrutiny of the State Department of Health, but the project continued unabated thanks to DOH and Lingle. Although Merritte had built the co-compost facility to State Department of Health specifications which were ment to physically contain the co-composting process, it was now running wildly out of control under Lingle's chosen contractor. When their requests for safety measures and properly functioning equipment were rejected by the co-composting contractor, they brought them to the attention of Hana Steel. But their voices once again fell on deaf ears, noted Merritte. Steel unwaveringly defended the contractor and minimized the risks of sludge exposure, and emphasizing that this was "just a pilot project," even though the resultant co-compost was to go on sale to the general public ASAP. Soon, the contractor fired it's loudest critic, their own employee Tony Clow. Unisyn founder and biochemical engineer James McElvaney visited the site and publicly warned of it's poor design and operational procedure in a speech given to a local community association. Co-composting was suddenly became controversial.

Merritte wrote a report critical of the project for Mayor Lingle. Hana Steel informed him that the report first had to be reviewed by Dave DeLeon, special assistant to the Mayor, for "policy." "I was appalled that my report was to be edited by such a partisan, non-technical entity. Apparently, Steel did not like my report's final recommendations that were submitted to the Solid Waste Division, as they were what she regarded as harsh criticism of her co-composting pilot project,"said Merritte. Linda Lingle had pointed to the project as a cornerstone of her innovative recycling and environmental policies and Hana wanted no negatives brought out in this report to be reviewed by the Council. Later, Merritte was asked to sit in on a new group's discussions regarding the pending renewal of the Maui Composting Company's co-composting contract. Merritte was informally asked to be part of this new team. Conditions at the site had seen little marked improvement in any capacity and were still of great concern and as he had been asked to join this new team, he said he felt it imperative to express his views on the project's mismanagement in writing. It was ..... running wildly out of control under Lingle's chosen contractor. More objections to the current management practices, called their safety standards "abysmal" and warned of the real dangers of the project, recalled Merritte.

"I soon found myself on the outs with the Solid Waste Division and the Lingle Administration in general. I was then approached by several councilmen and asked to report to the County Council on my findings related to the co-composting project. The Council wanted information on the selection of the co-composting contractor, their questionable credentials and the mismanagement of the project in general. I was asked to testify in front of the Finance Committee in regards to the funding of the next contract. Lingle rallied her forces claimed that the project was a highly successful environmental program.

When the County Council discovered that the Maui Composting Company had falsified their credentials in order to get the contract, Goro Hokama tried in vain to remove them from the project. Solid Waste gave them a new contract in spite of the proceedings and they began so sell their "product" to the public. The entire affair ended in a last minute resolution by the Council agreeing with Merritte to have an independent consultant examine the co-composting operation. John Murk, an professional engineer and waste water treatment consultant and a bona fide expert in the field was selected and a contract was drawn up.

Murk was experienced and highly qualified, having helped design and build the Los Angeles facility often touted as the model for windrow co-composting followed by the Maui project, and he knew by the smell alone that the process was seriously faulted and dangerous. But after the new Council was sworn in, Murk's contract was nullified. Linda Lingle touts her Maui sludge co-composting project as a cornerstone in both her privatization and environmental accomplishments. However, sludge co-composting still presents a real problem here on Maui. A potentially pathogenic, disease carrying co-compost spread in our public parks and school grounds is a liability and a public health threat. As a recent Cornell University report states, the EPA's own guidelines for co-composting are seriously flawed and lack of enforcement of the existing regulations puts our community's very safety at risk. Even when done correctly, the final co-compost product can again become a disease carrier even after it is tested and DOH approved, since low levels of germs are tolerated in the product and regrowth of those germs to infectious levels has been documented and referenced in the Cornell Report. Sewage sludge co-compost product could be used safely as final vegetative cover for landfill closures, at considerable savings to the County Public Works Department as Merritte recommended in his Lingle Administration quashed 1994 report to the County Council on composting. But no, the Lingle Administration instead insisted on selling this highly questionable product to the general public and spreading in our public parks where our children play.

Lingle political history:

Gov. Ben Cayetano defeated Lingle by just 5,254 votes in 1998 when libertarian candidate George Peabody pulled almost that many votes from Lingle's pool of Voters.

Lingle says one problem with state government is the lack of a standard of work for the average government employee. She said: "How could you possibly come in and do a good job if you don't know each day what you are trying to achieve?" Lingle said she has worked to set standards [when she was mayor of Maui County], and that every employee of Maui County knows that their mission is to improve the quality of life by providing outstanding public service in partnership with the community. That is the purpose of government, she said, ignoring the reality. Isn't that interesting, given that when she was Mayor, she assigned Loui Hao to do nothing after demoting him from serving as Molokai County Supervisor and transfered him to Maui away from his home on Molokai. Actions speak louder than words!