MARIJUANA ADVOCATE SEEKS TO IMPEACH MAYOR, SIX COUNCIL MEMBERS

A marijuana advocate has formally requested the removal of the mayor and six
council members because they insisted on approving eradication efforts of
the illegal substance without a mandatory program review.

At least one council member said he's happy he is listed, while another says
the lawsuit is frivolous and she'll ask the court to require those who
signed the petition to share in her court costs when their claims are
rejected by the court.

The petition drive, being conducted by Pahoa hemp entrepreneur Roger
Christie, includes 112 signatures of voters who call for the impeachment of
Mayor Stephen Yamashiro, Council Chairman James Arakaki and Co-Chairman Al
Smith and Council Members Dominic Yagong, Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd, Aaron
Chung and Leningrad Elarionoff.

According to the Hawaii County Charter, all that is needed to trigger a
non-jury impeachment trial in Circuit Court is a petition listing the
charges and 100 registered voters' signatures. Should the court accept the
charges, the guilty officials automatically are removed from office.

Christie's petition charges the mayor and council members with willful
violation of the charter and of their sworn oath of office by authorizing
and funding the marijuana eradication program known as "Green Harvest"
without any program review.

"Their actions have resulted in massive and sustained personal, familial,
social, economic and cultural damage to the inhabitants of the county, and
the state as a whole," the petition states.

The petition also charges the politicians with denying justice, destroying
domestic tranquility, creating crime and encouraging the use of hard drugs
through the continued approval of Green Harvest operations.

It also charges the officials with conspiring to deceive the public by
approving a limited "special study" to keep the taxpayers of Hawaii County
in the dark about the program's effects.

Finally, it claims appropriations are not "duly made," and are therefore in
violation of the charter. The petition says a proper program review would
have produced enough evidence to end Green Harvest years ago.

"I call this a shot across the bow of the ship of state," Christie said.
"This is a healing measure because marijuana prohibition is society at its
most unhealthy level. It's gone way too far."

But Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd said she believes Christie and others who
signed the petition have gone too far. She said Christie will not be
satisfied until the county stops enforcing state and federal laws
prohibiting the cultivation and use of marijuana.

"I also find the timing very bizarre," said Leithead-Todd, "because we are
within weeks of an in-depth review from the auditor about the marijuana
eradication efforts."

In addition to the upcoming review being assembled by the county's
Legislative Auditor, Leithead-Todd said fiscal reviews of funded programs
are conducted each year during the budget process.

Hamakua Councilman Dominic Yagong said he was glad his name is on the
petition because it shows his support for the Green Harvest program and
continued prohibition of marijuana use.

"No elected official wants to be the subject of impeachment," Yagong said.
"But considering the petition, I'm glad my name is on the list - and I don't
see three names on there."

The three council members not named are Kona's Curtis Tyler and Nancy
Pisicchio and Ka'u's Julie Jacobson. At least one of them - Tyler - has
expressed his opposition in the past about the use of marijuana, but voted
to suspend funding for Green Harvest because a program review had not been
finished.

Christie said that's precisely why he left the three off the impeachment
petition.

While four of those named - Leithead-Todd, Chung, Yagong and Elarionoff -
have not been on the council for more than two and a half years, Christie
said they have been given proper and constructive notice that marijuana
eradication is illegal and immoral.

"On their watch they have waged war on the good people of Hawaii," Christie
said. "They went through the budget process and agreed that no program
review was necessary."

Leithead-Todd said assuming Christie's argument is correct, every program
funded by the county is illegal because virtually none of them have been
accompanied every four years with "bound and stapled audits like those
provided by the state auditor."

"We have not had a review of HIPAL; we have not had a review of DARE; we
have not had a review of the county band; we have not had a review of county
aquatics; we have not had a review of our elderly activities and aging
programs, which are models for the rest of the country," Leithead-Todd said.

"If you're talking about that kind of audit then we'll need to budget a
million dollars a year - and that's a conservative estimate - to hire people
to do those types of reviews," she said.

"That's why prior councils have carried out the review process during budget
hearings."

Leithead-Todd also said she will explore the possibility of pursuing
attorney fees and costs against those listed on the petition.

"I suspect you can get 100 unhappy people to sign anything," Leithead-Todd
said. "But we're going to research this and if we can, we'll ask for court
fees."

Leithead-Todd said she believes the court awarded the defendant legal fees
in the last believed impeachment proceeding. That was in 1985 when the
Hawaii County Taxpayers Association tried to remove then-Council Chairman
Stephen Yamashiro over a conflict of interest in a civil rights lawsuit.

While the impeachment petition was thrown out of court, then-Third Circuit
Judge Paul de Silva later dismissed Yamashiro's claim for legal fees against
the taxpayers association.

At the time, taxpayers' attorney Craig Cornell proclaimed to voters that
"the courts are open to impeachment actions."

Al Konishi, County Clerk, said Christie's petition had yet to reach his
office. Christie said he would file the petition by Friday.

Yamashiro was out of state and could not be reached for comment.