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June 11, 2009 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3
Let the legal parsing begin. After ordering work furloughs for all state employees—which will amount to a 14 percent across-the-board pay cut—Gov. Lingle is arguing she had the right to do so under a law concerning emergencies. But, you see, she's not really calling this an emergency, except in the "informal sense," according to an AP report. Lingle is quoted as saying she has "implied authority" to order the furloughs without approval from the legislature. As House and Senate leaders and union lawyers come charging, that's a pretty weak reed.
THURSDAY, JUNE 4
On the same subject: An interesting wrinkle in this unfolding drama is buried near the end of that same AP report: "In February, Deputy Attorney General James Halvorson wrote House Speaker Calvin Say that Lingle has 'unclear'…authority to furlough workers…But in a second letter to Say last week, Halvorson [wrote] that [f]urloughs 'are not subject to any type of mandatory negotiation.'" There are three possibilities here: 1) Halvorson genuinely believed both opinions at the time he wrote them and changed his tune because of new, independently obtained information or interpretation; 2) Halvorson genuinely believed the first opinion but was influenced by, ahem, someone when he issued the second opinion; or 3) both opinions were written with an ulterior motive to serve, cough, a specific interest. I'll leave it to the discerning reader to choose which scenario they think is most likely. NOTE: While searching for more info on this issue, I found my way to Hawaii government/media watchdog Doug White's blog www.poinography.com In an entry posted yesterday, he addressed the Deputy AG's divergent opinions, and did a good job of concisely elucidating what seems to be a deft bit of political trickery. He also provides a link to a Hawaii House Blog post where you can read both opinions for yourself.
FRIDAY, JUNE 5
We didn't endorse Mike Molina or Mike Victorino in the last election and have taken swings at both, but that doesn't mean we can't give credit where it's due: kudos to the councilmen for introducing bills that, if passed, would ban plastic bags and Styrofoam takeout containers in Maui County beginning in 2011. The arguments against the bills will be eye-rollingly familiar to anyone who's followed similar efforts elsewhere. They mostly center on the notion that it's an undue financial burden on restaurants. In anticipation of that objection, Victorino's bill—the Styrofoam ban—offers an exemption to companies that can't afford to make the switch (and can prove it). Really though, this is about more than money. Our landfill is close to overflowing—officials estimate it'll be stuffed to capacity in less than two decades if we keep throwing things away at the current rate. Maui stands at a crossroads: we can be a microcosm of sustainability and innovation, or we can be the canary in the coalmine.
SATURDAY, JUNE 6
In honor of the soldiers who bled and died on that beachhead in France 65 years ago: "It is my earnest hope—indeed the hope of all mankind—that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past…a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance and justice." - Gen. Douglas MacArthur
SUNDAY, JUNE 7
Whether the arrival of a Target store on Maui would be an economic boon or another nail in the coffin depends on your vision of the island's future. With people out of work and the economy on life support, the issue gets even more muddled. "Muddled" is exactly the word to describe the big box ban that's still under consideration by the county council some two years after it was introduced. The bill was recently kicked back to the Planning Committee, which just four months ago unanimously voted to send it to the council. (Dizzy yet?) Wal-Mart, Costco and other retail behemoths are of course fighting the bill—which would put a cap on the square-footage of new stores built in the county—and two dozen people who may or may not have been influenced by those companies voiced opposition at a recent council meeting, which also featured an appearance by a Target representative. This is something that warrants further coverage and examination as it develops, but for now visit sprawl-busters.com for a crash course on the anti-superstore argument. Oh, and remember how I praised Councilmen Victorino and Molina up there? Well, both look to be coming down on the big box side. In a weird way, it's almost comforting.
MONDAY, JUNE 8
For obvious reasons, there's been a lot of discussion around the office about how (and how much) the Internet is changing the newspaper business. The biggest shift, we all agree, is in the way readers consume news, and more specifically how they expect it to be delivered. It's a conversation that's happening in newsrooms of all sizes from Maui to Manhattan to Mumbai as print journalism wrestles with a troubling paradox: revenue is declining (recession or no) even as readership is at an all-time high. Anyway, if you care about this stuff at all I'm sure I haven't told you anything you didn't already know, and if you don't care about this stuff, well, what are you doing using a newspaper for something other than a birdcage liner? The reason I mention it is to set up an interesting tidbit from the May/June issue of Columbia Journalism Review, which is an underappreciated publication. The issue features a story, titled "Identity Crisis," about the changes that have taken place at The Wall Street Journal since Rupert Murdoch's too-evil-sounding-to-be-true News Corp. took over. The story quotes a number of current and former Journal reporters, most of whom understandably chose to remain anonymous, who say the paper has shifted away from long-form investigative pieces that offer context and analysis and placed a stifling emphasis on shorter, more nuts and bolts breaking news. The most interesting quote came from editor Robert Thomson, a Murdoch man, who defends this approach by saying the Internet has instilled in readers "a ruthless functionality." While I disagree with the conclusion that newspapers should slavishly cater to this tendency by providing only easily digestible bites that deemphasize nuance and shun the slow windup or informative digression—there's got to be a way to do both—I think Thomson's three-word description of the average 21st century media consumer is spot-on.
TUESDAY, JUNE 9
Are you still reading this, or did your "ruthless functionality" lead you elsewhere?
Jacob Shafer is also available in Twitter form. Visit www.twitter.com/jacobshafer or text "follow jacobshafer" to 40404.
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