Pubdate: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 Source: West Hawaii Today (HI) Copyright: 2000 West Hawaii Today Contact: P.O. Box 789, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96745-0789 Fax: 808-329-4860 Website: http://westhawaiitoday.com/ Author: Keith Kosaki, West Hawaii Today MAYOR, COUNCILORS AGAIN FACE IMPEACHMENT HILO - A Pahoa marijuana activist said Tuesday he plans to bring another impeachment petition against Mayor Stephen Yamashiro and six County Council members for continuing to accept funding for the marijuana eradication program. "Legal action is a certainty," said Roger Christie, who tried to impeach the elected officials in October. "I have an experienced and well-known Honolulu attorney researching potential impeachment or other legal options." Christie has hired Jack Schweigert of Honolulu. Schweigert could not reached for comment Tuesday and Christie declined to specify the other options. The council recently approved accepting a $265,000 federal grant for the eradication program, also known as "Green Harvest." Before the funds can be spent by Big Island police, however, a public officials liability insurance policy must be obtained. The policy would pay for legal counsel if an impeachment action is brought against the council members for accepting the funds. "The whole point is, this is a notification to insurance companies, you will lose money if you provide coverage to the council," Christie said. Christie previously attempted to impeach Yamashiro and Council Chairman James Arakaki, Vice Chairman Al Smith, as well as Bobby-Jean Leithead-Todd, Aaron Chung, Dominic Yagong and Leningrad Elarionoff. He alleged the officials were guilty of "malfeasance" for not conducting a mandatory program review of the eradication program. Under the County Charter, any elected official may be impeached if 100 registered voters sign a verified petition listing the charges. Christie said he consulted with an attorney for this effort to make sure things are done properly. He said he expects to begin circulating the petition within two weeks. He said he spent about $3,000 in the last petition. This time, he's hoping to get funding from a national drug policy reform foundation to help pay legal costs. The first petition was dismissed Oct. 8 by Circuit Judge Riki May Amano because of a technicality. Yamashiro said Tuesday he would take a "wait and see" approach. Yamashiro had proposed resigning from office and running for a third four-term as mayor when the first impeachment petition surfaced. He said he would rather spend an $20,000 on a special election than defending the impeachment in court. However, the deadline to file to run for office has already passed, eliminating that possibility. "We will respond when we receive his petition," Yamashiro said. "We'll see what he has to say." Elarionoff, a retired police captain, said he will continue to back the eradication funds. "We can not buckle to the marijuana growers," he said. "We have to do what's right for the safety and the children of Hawaii." Although the council approves the funding, Christie said Yamashiro still signs off on it and also is Police Chief Wayne Carvalho's supervisor. Christie contends Carvalho, who was found liable in a civil promotion-rigging lawsuit, signed the grant application form without properly notifying federal officials about the civil lawsuit. County officials since have informed the federal government of the lawsuit and have been told it is OK to accept the funds. The $4.2 million jury verdict against Carvalho, county and another co-defendant also hasn't been filed officially in Circuit Court. "There is no judgment filed," Yamashiro said. "There's been disclosure to the feds and the feds are well aware of the situation." Christie said although Smith, who represents lower Puna, recently voted against accepting the funds, he still would be subject ti impeachment because of his previous votes. Although the county has not done a program review of "Green Harvest," the Legislative Auditor's office did conduct a special study, which concluded the county has no jurisdiction over the program. Although county law enforcement personnel participate, funding for "Green Harvest" comes from state and federal law enforcement agencies. Christie said the study was "flawed by design" and didn't look into the unintended consequences of the program. He claims continued marijuana eradication leads to hard drug and alcohol use and higher poverty rates. "Green Harvest is illegal and County Council members have spent taxpayers money and harmed beyond measure, the people and the ecology of the Big Island," he said. "The damage is so huge that they don't want to look at it." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake