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UPDATED 6/14/11, 9:20 a.m.

Welcome to Off the Beat. News is breaking across the islands, and the Civil Beat newsroom is buzzing. Here’s what we’re talking about in Kaimuki.

Today’s notes:

• When Are Facebook Messages Public?
• Lobbyists Spent Money on Hawaii Lawmakers…Somewhere
• If China Foots the Bill, Who Sets the Agenda?
• Keeping Politics Out of Rail?
• Restricting Freedom of Movement
• Honolulu Drags Its Feet — When It Doesn’t Need To
• Voted For Your Neighbor Lately?
• Walking and Chewing Gum…err, Texting
• Sunshine Too Bright at City Hall?
• Are Criminals Furloughed, Too?
• Why Hide Disclosures Offline?

When Are Facebook Messages Public?

In an age where everyone from lawmakers to police departments increasingly use social media to communicate with the public — and each other — what should be considered public?

Kudos to the Hawaii Office of Information Practices for posing the question. This represents the first time the open records and open meetings laws have undergone a serious review since their enactment in 1988 and 1975, respectively.

Here’s the reality. There isn’t much difference between a constituent sending a government official a “direct message” on Twitter (contained in 140 characters and seen only by the Twitter user it is sent to) and an email or letter to the city.

And while there is a difference between a government social media account and a personal one, those lines blur as soon as a public official Tweets or posts to Facebook about what is obviously government business.

If the spirit of the public records law is openness, then government officials ought to get used to the fact that many of their Twitter and Facebook communications are public.

Share the full post: 9:20 a.m., June 14, 2011 | Top

Lobbyists Spent Money on Hawaii Lawmakers…Somewhere

Civil Beat reported Monday that organizations spent more than $1 million to influence Hawaii lawmakers in the first two months of this year.

But the number paints an incomplete picture: Hawaii law doesn’t require lobbyists to say what, or who, they’re spending money on.

Another way to try to find out how lobbyists spent money would be to look at lawmakers’ gift disclosures.

But we found the vast majority reported few, if any, gifts.

The spirit of the disclosure law is openness.

But it sure seems like under current law too much is being kept in the dark — including the public.

Share the full post: 12 a.m., June 12, 2011 | Top

If China Foots the Bill, Who Sets the Agenda?

Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle’s is in China and Taiwan until June 20, and took a shorter trip to South Korea last month.

The governments of those countries all helped pay for his travel, lodging, meals and transportation. How does who pays affect what happens on a business trip?

The mayor’s spokeswoman told Civil Beat Monday that the goals of Carlisle’s trip include:

• Strengthening “sister city” relationships with multiple cities in Asia
• Discussing of long-term and short-term investment opportunities
• Expanding tourism to Honolulu
• Promoting the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, which Honolulu will host in November

That’s a lot to accomplish in two weeks, especially when the mayor and his delegation are guests of the Chinese government. When someone else is paying, they usually call the shots.

The Chengdu Municipal People’s Government and the Qinhuangdao Municipal People’s Government are chipping in to cover the cost of Carlisle and company’s local transportation, room and board.

The Seoul and Incheon metropolitan governments paid for Carlisle’s trip to those cities in May.

Carlisle is not the first to travel this way. In 2006, former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann visited Shanghai, Zhongshan and Beijing at the of China’s government (the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii also chipped in).

When former Gov. Linda Lingle traveled to China in 2009, state funds covered the cost of her plane ticket but China’s government paid for transportation, room and board, according to a .

If the goal of these trips is to advance Honolulu’s economic interests, but other governments are footing the bill, how can we be sure our elected officials are setting the agenda?

Share the full post: 5:40 p.m., June 6, 2011 | Top

Keeping Politics Out of Rail?

Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle has emphasized getting “politics” out of the rail project as a priority.

It’s one of the reasons he’s so adamant about removing the City Council’s authority over the new rail agency’s budget. Carlisle has said he will veto the council’s bills setting the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s spending plans. He even says he is willing to take the council to court over the matter. City Council members, too, say the dispute is heading toward litigation.

And yet, the mayor had no problem inviting reporters and TV cameramen into his office Wednesday afternoon to hear him announce the results of a poll about the public’s attitude toward rail. Carlisle stayed in the spotlight on rail instead of asking PB Americas — the city-contracted company that paid for the poll — to talk about it.

Think about that for a second: The mayor — the city’s best-known politician — held a news conference where he reiterated how badly the public wants politics removed from the rail conversation.

(By the way, City Council Transportation Chairman Breene Harimoto — also a politician — stood at the mayor’s side throughout the news conference. Nobody from PB Americas or polling company Qmark spoke at the event.)

“If you put this to the people who are more expert, rather than those of us who are not, I think we’re going to get a better result,” Carlisle said. “And I think that’s really what we promised people.”

The new rail agency officially starts its work on July 1. At that point, will the mayor stop making major announcements about rail?

We also have to ask: What will that mean for his re-election campaign? Some of Carlisle’s biggest successes as mayor have been rail-related. When the project is off his plate, how will Carlisle prove himself?

Share the full post: 6 p.m., June 1, 2011 | Top

Restricting Freedom of Movement

Our congressional delegation is asking the federal government to consider screening unhealthy Micronesians before allowing them to fly to Hawaii or the mainland.

There’s good reason for concern about the health-care costs Hawaii is asked to bear. But what kind of solution is it to limit the free movement of people who have a legal right to travel to the U.S.?

Of course health-care services should be provided by the federal government to the Micronesians at home. But the solution isn’t to keep them out of the U.S. It’s for the federal government to do what Gov. Neil Abercrombie has argued it should do: Pay the state for what is essentially an unfunded mandate.

Share the full post: 10:42 a.m., May 24, 2011 | Top

Honolulu Drags Its Feet — When It Doesn’t Need To

It’s puzzling to watch the City Council dwell on what to do with a recycling subsidy that primarily benefits one company — especially after it already voted last week to end it.

On Tuesday, the City Council kept alive a conflicting measure that would spell out a gradual reduction in subsidy, as opposed to its outright elimination.

At the center of debate is Oregon-based scrap yard Schnitzer Steel, which benefits the most from the subsidy. It saved about $1.9 million last year out of a total of $2.1 million in discounts benefitting private companies. (It’s telling that one local company that receives part of the subsidy told City Council members it should be repealed.)

The City Council already agrees the fee should be ended — they already voted for a bill saying so. Yet council members continue to hem and haw, and waste time. They appear more comfortable hiking property taxes, gas taxes and golfing fees than eliminating a corporate benefit the city can no longer afford.

Share the full post: 1:15 p.m., May 17, 2011 | Top

Voted For Your Neighbor Lately?

It’s sad the Neighborhood Commission is heartened by a “spike” in voter turnout — especially when it’s only 6.6 percent of voters. The numbers in 2009 weren’t much different: 6.3 percent of voters cast ballots.

There are 465 candidates running for 439 Neighborhood Board seats this year. But what good is an election when so few people vote?

The boards help magnify the average citizen’s voice. It’s an important way for lawmakers to connect with their constituents, too. While a City Council member represents a large district, it’s the neighborhood board that often helps council members set his or her priorities.

You’d think more people would care about who’s assessing what’s important in their neighborhoods. It doesn’t seem like it’s for lack of trying on the part of the Commission: People can vote in person, by phone and online. Voting is .

Share the full post: 6:42 p.m., May 16, 2011 | Top

Walking and Chewing Gum…err, Texting

Lawmaking 101: Introduce a bill, talk about it, then advance it so you can talk about it some more before deciding what to do.

But what kind of bill would it take for Honolulu City Council members to say “no” on the first go-round? We wondered about this when officials on Wednesday advanced a measure that would ban “holding” mobile electronic devices in crosswalks.

No cell phones while driving? Good idea.

No cell phones while walking across the street? Come on.

The measure would also prohibit holding a laptop, an iPod, a digital stop watch, an FM radio (in case anyone out there still uses one), electronic book readers and many other devices.

While they’re at it, City Council members might also consider prohibiting people from carrying books across the street. We’ve been known to walk and read from time to time.

We’ve also been known to walk and chew gum. But we wouldn’t want to give lawmakers any more ideas.

Share the full post: 3:42 p.m., May 11, 2011 | Top

Sunshine Too Bright at City Hall?

Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle took a shot at the state’s open government laws during a press conference Monday afternoon. He and City Council Chairman Breene Harimoto were in the mayor’s office to announce appointees and nominees to the new transit authority.

As he prepared to introduce Harimoto, the mayor lamented that more council members couldn’t be present.

“I’m sorry that we can’t have any other members of the council here,” Carlisle said. “They’re certainly a part of this process, but we would be violating the ever-brilliant Sunshine Laws. If they were just here listening to us, that would be unfair, which is one of the reasons why the Sunshine Law is basically flawed in some regards.”

Actually, if the mayor had wanted the council to be present, he could have made his announcement at a meeting of the council. Not only would all council members have been present to hear it, but the public would have had access, too. Because council meeting are broadcast on Olelo.

Share the full post: 2:03 p.m., April 19, 2011 | Top

Are Criminals Furloughed, Too?

If Thursday’s carjacking and shootout had happened today, how would we have gotten information from the Honolulu Police Department about what was going on?

Not easily, given that HPD’s public information officers are furloughed. Officials have made a big deal about the importance of furloughs not affecting people whose jobs affect public safety. That includes police officers and firefighters, but apparently not the police public affairs team.

Call its office, and this is the message you’ll hear: “The office will be closed on Friday due to city furloughs and reopened on Monday. Please leave a message and your call will be returned then.”

Send an email, and this is the response you’ll get:

“Aloha.  The Public Information Office will be closed on Friday due to city furloughs.  Emails and messages will be on [sic] checked on Monday.  We apologize for the inconvenience.”  

Are lawbreakers observing today’s furlough, too? Not likely.

Share the full post: 2:24 p.m., April 15, 2011 | Top

Why Hide Disclosures Offline?

Requiring elected officials to file financial disclosures is one way the electorate can keep tabs on them. We were surprised to find the City Council’s annual financial disclosures still aren’t posted to the Honolulu Ethics Commission’s . We couldn’t find them on the city’s information-rich data site, , either.

Ethics Commissioner Chuck Totto told us we’d have to pick up hard copies of the disclosures in order to inspect them. Totto immediately ran copies for us, and we were able to get the documents the same day, but what’s stopping the City Council from seeing to it that their disclosures are easily accessible to the public online?

Even Mayor Peter Carlisle — whose has not exactly been dynamic since its launch last month — saw to it that his financial disclosure is uploaded to that site, along with the financial disclosures of his Cabinet.

While we wait to see the City Council follow suit, we can at least read council members’ monthly spending reports. Links to those documents are on the city website, right below members’ contact information.

In fact, that information is so accessible, Civil Beat already wrote a story about it.

Share the full post: 12:01 a.m., April 4, 2011 | Top