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I fear that I might be dating myself too often in my Civil Beat articles. Or – I’m at least confusing readers on why I bring up things from the distant past. In either case, the old becoming new again seems to be timely (pun intended), especially with all the buzz this week about the newly reborn sitcom – Hawaii Five-O.

A few weeks ago, in Can’t Miss Comments, Sept. 11 – Four Day Weeks Fill Up Fast, I recalled the popular show from the 60’s and 70’s, . This week, my title refers to the common misconception that “Just the facts, ma’am” was from the popular television crime drama . Regardless of how many gray hairs are on my head, shades of gray and Fact Checks are exactly the type of discussions I was interested in this week.

Fact Checks – What’s True, What’s False?

In Aiona: Republicans on the Rise, Civil Beat’s Robert Brown investigated James “Duke” Aiona‘s statement that the Hawaii Republican Party has been growing since 2002. Duke Aiona made his claim in an interview with KGMB after winning his primary race on election night. Our “False” grade stirred some discussion:

• Member Mo Radke began the discussion by questioning the accuracy of the Fact Check:
  

  “Are you sure? Was that the topic to which he was referring? Shouldn’t an article be more accurately described as an “Assumption Check” if you don’t know what the actual fact is that you are checking?”

• Civil Beat’s Michael Levine chimed in with an opinion:
  

  “Maybe he meant emotional or personal growth? In all seriousness, I think what the numbers mean is that there were, at minimum, 15,000 members of the Hawaii Republican Party in 2002. If nobody left, the addition of 5,000 new members in that time would bring us to the 20,000 there are today. So Nonaka’s math is a little funky as well — there’s no way the party could have gone from 10,000 to 20,000 by adding 5,000 new members. Right?”

• Members like Olin Lagon thought the check was dead on:
  

  “Great fact check. Does the Democratic Party maintain records of members over the years?”

Some of the discussion lived on :

• felt the check wasn’t accurate:
  

  “You might want to change the fact check to “unverifiable” from “false” though.”

• shared a similar sentiment:
  

  “I can’t agree with “false” but do understand your investigative view. “Intention is nothing, perception is everything”

• After looking at all the discussions, Civil Beat Editor John Temple chimed in with his closing argument:
  

  “Thank you for your comments regarding whether Duke Aiona’s claim should be given a ‘false’ or ‘unverifiable’ grade. We’ve been listening and have given this a lot of thought. The grade will remain false. The public should be able to expect that when politicians make basic statements about topics they should know about that they’re not just making things up. Clearly, in this case, Mr. Aiona had not done his homework. When asked about the basis for his claim, he referred Civil Beat to the party itself, which said that it did not have the data to back up what he had said. In such cases, the public has a reasonable expectation that a leader knows of what he speaks. When it turns out that a statement is essentially entirely hot air, hot air that has only one purpose, to create a certain positive impression in the minds of listeners, one unsupported by any facts, then Civil Beat will use the grade of false.”

More on Fact Checks – Did He or Didn’t He?

Fact Checks continued to raise questions throughout the week, this time when Djou: “I Have Never Voted For a Tax Increase” was published. The claim was made on U.S Rep Charles Djou‘s website, but on this occasion it seemed to hold true.

• Member Dave Kozuki liked what he read:
  

  “Did you really go through every single Djou vote? Outstanding. Vehicle taxes are taxes too. Schwarzenegger is the governor of California because Gray Davis tried to raise vehicle registration fees. I’m glad to see a politician who does what he says.”

• Another member, Roderick Becker, saw things differently:
  

  “On 6/7/06 Resolution 06-079 CD1 was adopted by the City Council with all council members voting yes. The resolution set the tax rate on hotel and resort, commercial, and industrial property at $11.97 per $1,000 of assessed value for the period July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007. The rate for these property classes was set at $11.37 per $1,000 of assessed value for the previous year by Resolution 05-075. Further, the rate proposed by the Mayor for these classes for the period July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007 was $11.37.”

• Civil Beat’s Robert Brown appreciated Roderick’s note, and pursued the claim further:
  

  “First, thank you for the find. You’ve raised a definite question in our Fact Check. I am still going through the numbers here, but wanted to let you know that we called Djou’s campaign, and they claim the resolution was ultimately a tax cut. A rep for Djou told me: ‘The bill altogether is a net tax decrease. What happened was, basically, the residential tax rate was reduced… I don’t know exactly how much it was… and there was a small increase in the hotel tax rate… There was no option for him to vote for only the residential tax rate and not the hotel rate. He had to vote for a whole measure. And in terms of picking them together, it was a net tax cut.’
  So, as soon as I am finished verifying this, I will get back to you. Thanks.”

Shades of Gray

As I write this conclusion, Robert Brown is attempting to finalize the Fact Check on Djou’s tax record. That’s what I love about Civil Beat – our stories are living things. They change and grow the same way our site does.

We utilize data and public records to present truth and transparency to our readers, and we are always willing to go further to get the outcome right. In this particular example, Civil Beat member Roderick Becker did his own questioning – this time about our work. I want to see more of that. I want to see Hawaii citizens asking questions and not being content with an immediate answer. Let’s agree to never stop asking questions. Let’s agree to pursue the facts.

I quote great American poet :

“You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through
the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.”