Pubdate: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 Source: West Hawaii Today (HI) Copyright: 1999 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 IMPEACHMENT GROUP TARGETS POT STUDY HILO - A Pahoa hemp entrepreneur leading an effort to impeach Mayor Stephen Yamashiro and six council members said Monday a special study on the marijuana eradication program is flawed because its focus is too narrow. The special study released Monday by the county Legislative Auditor's office concluded the Hawaii County Police Depart-ment metthe performance and financial reporting requirements specified by the federal grants. But marijuana advocate Roger Christie said the study also is an example of malfeasance by elected officials because it was designed to favor the police. The study says the eradication program isn't under the County Council's jurisdiction because it doesn't have a role in formulation or oversight of the program. The study also says program reviews would need to be done by state or federal agencies. "With respect to the operational activities of the Statewide Marijuana Eradication Task Force, the proper forum for public discussion is the Department of the Attorney General," the study concluded. The impeachment petition was filed in Third Circuit Court earlier this month. Christie said the group has hired Honolulu attorney Michael Glenn and a preliminary hearing is scheduled Oct. 8. He also said the group plans to file an injunction in state Supreme Court to stop marijuana eradication statewide. In his impeachment petition, Christie said, he is attempting to impeach the officials because the council violated the County Charter by not conducting a proper program review of the marijuana eradication program. Legislative Auditor Connie Kiriu said the program review issue is separate from the impeachment because the council does not oversee the eradication efforts. She said the council follows the charter when it does a budget program review of the Police Department, the county agency that receives the federal grants. "Even if it was part of the program review, it's not our program," Kiriu said. However, Christie said he is skeptical about the study's conclusion. "I don't trust any of that," he said. "What they're trying to do is avoid responsibility and they're good at it." Council members named in the suit are chairman Jimmy Arakaki, Al Smith, Bobby-Jean eithead-Todd, Aaron Chung, Leningrad Elarionoff and Dominic Yagong. According to the County Charter, a petition listing the charges and signatures from 100 registered voters is all that is needed to trigger a non-jury impeachment trial in Circuit Court. If the court accepts the charges, guilty officials are removed from office automatically. Christie said he wants a program review because he believes it will reveal the county created more criminal activity and hard drug use, a charge listed in his impeachment petition. "To pretend this is a program review is a fraud," he said. "This is not a critical mandatory program review. Otherwise, it would have been called a program review." The special study was requested by the council through a resolution adopted in December 1998. The study covered two federal grants spanning the period between January 1997 and June 1998. The first was a $108,294 grant from the U.S. Justice Department. The state Attorney General's Office served as the pass-through agency for the grant. The county agreed to contribute a 25 percent match of $36,098. A $245,000 grant also was received from the Drug Enforcement Agency and required no matching county funds. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea