Editorials
Wednesday, October 28, 1998

Star-Bulletin’s views
on ballot questions

OVER the next three days the Star-Bulletin will announce our editorial positions on issues and candidates in next Tuesday's general election. Today we discuss the proposed amendments to the state Constitution, the proposed calling of a Constitutional Convention and proposed amendments to the Honolulu City Charter. The language of the questions is what will appear on the ballot.

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State Constitution

Shall a tax review commission be appointed every ten years, instead of every five years, starting in the year 2005?

The attorney general has announced that the question was improperly placed on the ballot.

Shall the Constitution of the State of Hawaii be amended to specify that the legislature shall have the power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples?

No. The right of homosexuals to equal treatment should prevail. Government should not impose the moral values of the majority when there is no evidence that society would be harmed if government did not discriminate against homosexuals.

Shall there be a convention to propose a revision of or amendments to the Constitution?

No. There is no compelling need to hold a convention, no constitutional change with broad popular support that requires action by a convention at this time.

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Honolulu City Charter

Combine the Department of Planning and Department of Planning and Permitting into one department.

No. City planning and permitting are separate functions. Combining the departments would achieve only minimal savings and could undermine the important role of planners.

Combine the Department of the Budget and the Department of Budget and Fiscal Services into one department.

No. The budget department serves as a check on city disbursements and should be kept separate from fiscal services to preserve its independence.

Combine the Office of Information and Complaint, the Municipal Reference and Records Center, Drivers Licensing and Motor Vehicle Registration functions into a new Department of Customer Services.

Yes. This merger could achieve greater efficiency, particularly in the satellite city halls, with no adverse effects.

Allow exemption of deputy directors of departments from civil service provisions.

Yes. This would give mayors more subordinates committed to implementing their policies.

Allow the Corporation Counsel to revise the Charter for purposes of reorganization.

No. This would give the Corporation Counsel -- the city's chief legal officer -- too much authority.

Provide for a five-year term for police chief with annual evaluations by the Police Commission.

Yes. This would require the Police Commission to examine on a regular basis the performance of police chiefs and make decisions on whether their terms should be extended.

Extend date on which City Council must pass executive and legislative budget ordinances from May 31 to June 15.

Yes. This would give the Council time needed to adjust budgets in accordance with decisions of the state Legislature.

Stagger terms of City Council members.

Yes. This is needed to avoid the possibility that all members could leave the Council at the same time, destroying continuity.

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Tomorrow: The Star-Bulletin's endorsements
for Congress and the Board of Education.

More right stuff

JOHN Glenn is said to have taken an interest years ago in any connection between gravity and the processes of aging. Returning to space tomorrow after being Earthbound for 36 years, the 77-year-old retiring Ohio senator will become the object of geriatric study by scientists in such areas as cardiovascular changes, immune-system alterations and loss of bone density and muscle mass. Call it politics or a publicity stunt, only the most jaundiced can seriously criticize this American hero's last hurrah.

In his five-hour solo flight in February 1962, Glenn orbited the Earth three times before Friendship 7 splashed down in the Atlantic, a historic achievement showing that America could meet the Cold War challenge of the Soviet Union.

This time, he will have seven crew members involved in 83 experiments aimed at finding explanations for a longer life as they orbit the Earth 144 times at twice the altitude over a nine-day period.

Glenn's flight aboard the space shuttle Discovery definitely will be a public relations bonanza for NASA. The agency can be assured to have taken every precaution to avoid the image of a septuagenarian senator being carried away by stretcher.

Glenn is unusually fit for his age and, as such, a perfect specimen to be studied. Researchers at the National Institute on Aging "felt that the most productive assessment will be done on somebody between 75 and 80," he says. "And I didn't suggest that -- they suggested that. I'm the oldest used astronaut, I guess."

Glenn's inaugural flight was hailed as a remarkable feat. His encore deserves to be celebrated for the progress made by NASA in the past three decades, the parallel political achievements of Glenn and their unique reunion in space that remains for the conquering.

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