Kauai’s newspaper posts “Ohana amendment decision the result of classic Hawaii politics,” a commentary by Walter Lewis, one of the Kauai homeowners who intervened in the County vs. County lawsuit, an effort by county officials to strike down a voter-enacted property tax relief charter amendment.
The typical lawsuit involves a realcontroversy between the plaintiff and the defendant or defendants withactual or threatened injury to the plaintiff. These fundamentalconditions did not exist in the Ohana measure case. Ever. The plaintiffand all the defendants wanted the same result and, as we all know, hadno dispute among them and prosecuted this lawsuit with over $250,000 oftaxpayer money to get political cover. And the County was unable topoint to anything in the Ohana measure that was or would be injuring it.
Complete commentary here. [Note: I represent the homeowners.]
Sunday update: Charley Foster’s letter to the editor responding to the commentary.