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Dear Mr. Temple:

It’s been a few weeks since the Civil Beat first released the names and salary information of approximately 14,000 state employees. Then last week, Civil Beat followed with posting the information of 7,500 University of Hawaii employees.

In Civil Beat’s zeal to “do right” by providing this information to taxpayers – which, by the way, includes the very employees whose salaries were publicly shared – one has to question its value to our community. Civil Beat seems to have overlooked the thoughts and feelings of the thousands of employees who were affected by this exposure. These actions have made an impact — but sadly, the result is further demoralization of the public workforce. Already under siege because of budget decisions that forced layoffs, furloughs and pay cuts, not to mention the increased cost of medical premiums, these employees now face the indignity of having their clients and coworkers aware of their pay. In some rare cases, the release of names and salaries for regulatory and law enforcement employees has potentially compromised their ability to perform their duties. And, of course, the posting of this information has allowed anyone to search for friends and neighbors, for no substantive reason other than wanting to know.

Most of the people listed are everyday government workers — and just because they work for government, they should not be subject to the degradation, embarrassment and anxiety that this disclosure may cause. Let us not forget that these employees are our family, friends, and neighbors – and are entitled to dignity and respect, like any other worker in any setting, public or private.

I trust that Civil Beat released this information with the most noble of intentions, but in my view, such actions were inappropriate and unnecessary. Instead, I would suggest Civil Beat focus its future reporting on areas of greater value to our community — including wasteful spending on private contractors where government employees are already performing the same tasks; the cost of duplicative or unnecessary programs; and the excessive salaries of appointed employees whose functions are unclear. At a time when we need to scrutinize costs of government, such reporting would have a positive impact on our community and ensure that Civil Beat is providing a greater service to all of us taxpayers.

We realize that we can agree to disagree with you on what information under the law can and should be made public in this manner. However, satisfying a minority curiosity is rarely worth the effort when many others would be hurt in the process.

Sincerely,

Randy Perreira
Executive Director
Hawaii Government Employees Association