Aloha

Today I attended my first county council meeting so it's a good day to start a blog about local government. For an island of under 70,000 population, small scale is both a blessing and a curse.

I have been following politics here for a couple years with an increasing level of interest and lately it has become a major interest. Locals often complain about the poor condition of roads, how expensive everything is, and one often hears expression of deep apathy that local government has always been and always will be inefficient and some would say incompetent or worse. Having moved here I have started paying taxes and using various county services and learning that these things matter.

Another reason may be that things are popping lately:

• we just had our primary election
• last year's pesticide/GMO ordinance 960 (a.k.a. 2491 or just "The Bill") was invalidated
• a more comprehensive pesticide/GMO charter amendment we not received by the council and is unlikely to be on the ballot
• earlier this year the county general obligation bond rating was downgraded (AA to AA-)
• and the latest tax bills have raised considerable ire with people reporting tripling of taxes

This year's general election will elect a mayor (every four years) and a new council (every two years). Kauai needs the very best government possible and this upcoming election is the best opportunity we have as citizens to effect that change. 

Yet almost all of the "public debate" that I have seen here have been virtually fact-free:

• the most prominent election activity here involves waving or planting of political signs
• the few candidate forums that have been help try to cover too many issues in too little time
• few candidates offer substantive policy positions, preferring to exude "aloha" and "protect the aina" and "cut waste, lower taxes" (without saying exactly how)
• opinion letters in the local paper almost always are shouting past each other, often making baseless claims

What I believe we need for a start is a large dose of transparency and factual data. Claims need to be backed up by evidence and references. People need to be more aware of what local government is doing on an ongoing basis, not just rising up in anger after the fact (as with this tax change, actually enacted almost a year ago).

Here are a few examples of what I think would really help and what I will try to promote by gathering what facts I can and providing the backing data.

• understand how property taxes are computed before complaining that they are too high
• learn the legal requirements charter amendments before decrying it not making the ballot
• look at the legislation council members propose and support or oppose, not who has the most signs
• in the GMO debate, both sides need to be more forthcoming and stick to the facts

I don't have a lot of experience in this domain, much less on this island, but I do know how to find information on the web, research (offline when necessary), and put together the pieces in enough detail to present solid information about these issues. I may not get it exactly right every time, but by "showing the work" it should be easy for others to identify flaws for correction, giving an accurate account based on feedback. That's the nice thing about basing what you write on data - everyone can see it and judge it, and if it's weak they can point to better data; or if you make an error, it's right there for all to see.

As the late great Daniel Moynihan once elegantly said:

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.