Posted on 09/25/2009 8:58:29 AM PDT by Danae
A report published today by the Post and Email’s John Charlton, chronicled that a citizen, having read and understood Part 1 of the Terrik investigation, requested that Hawaii Department of Health (DoH) Communications Director, Janice Okubo, forward to him “index data” pertaining to vital records of Barack Obama, citing Haw. Rev. Stat. 338-18(d). Okubo’s illegal and evasive response shows a continuing offensive pattern of misdirection:
Subject: RE: Dear Dr. Janice Okubo Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:09:29 -1000 X-MS-Has-Attach: yes X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: Thread-Topic: Dear Dr. Janice Okubo Thread-Index: Aco9LwEBdvqZvY6wQAmINB4Ua3X91gAGRdkg From: “Okubo, Janice S.” To: XXXX X-Antivirus: AVG for E-mail 8.5.409 Aloha Mr. XXXX, State law prohibits the Department of Health from disclosing any information about a Hawaii vital record unless the requestor has a direct and tangible interest in the record. This includes verification of vital records and all the information contained in a record. Direct and tangible interest is determined by HRS §338-18(b) which can be found at: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol06_Ch0321-0344/HRS0338/HRS_0338-0018.htm…
This concludes our responses to your questions, no further response will be provided.
Janice Okubo Communications Office Hawaii State Department of Health 1250 Punchbowl Street Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Phone: (808) 586-4442 Fax: (808) 586-4444 email: janice.okubo@doh.hawaii.gov
Okubo cites 338-18(b) while completely ignoring 338-18(d), which states:
(d) Index data consisting of name and sex of the registrant, type of vital event, and such other data as the director may authorize shall be made available to the public.
Index data is information. And as I pointed out in yesterday’s report, various OIP Opinion Letters state that this information must be made available to the public, no exceptions apply.
Yet, Okubo’s response tells the citizen that “State law prohibits the Department of Health from disclosing any information about a Hawaii vital record…”
That’s a direct lie.
Okubo’s continuing pattern of misdirecting citizens from appropriate statute sections is reprehensible.
It states in the UIPA Manual at page 10:
The UIPA requires agencies to disclose all “government records.” This term is defined broadly to include any information maintained by an agency that is recorded in any physical form.
So, when Okubo is asked for “index data” pertaining to vital records under 338-18(d), and she responds that state law prohibits the release of “any information” pertaining to vital records, please understand that she is lying in direct opposition to the UIPA as well as Haw. Rev. Stat. 338-18(d).
Do not despair. Okubo is employed by the DoH, but the Office of Information Practices (OIP) is a separate office which exists to police and advise the actions of other state of Hawaii agencies in their compliance with the UIPA.
Part 2 of the TerriK Investigation will document official responses to TerriK by OIP staff attorneys which appear to indicate that an ideological struggle – between the DoH and the OIP – may be in play behind the scenes in Hawaii. (I will publish on this issue no later than tomorrow, September 26, 2009.)
I believe the OIP understands that the UIPA laws are being purposely frustrated by the DoH. And the continuing misdirection by the DoH reflects poorly on the OIP who is being made to look like a rubber stamp for the DoH.
While the OIP has certainly been more helpful to TerriK than the DoH, the OIP has also granted the DoH far too much deference. One can only imagine the immense pressure involved. Regardless, the OIP is supposed to advise agencies on their public duty to release information when the law demands such information be released.
Haw. Rev. Stat. 338-18(d) is a law which demands information be released.
Okubo has not only failed to release the index data, she’s told various citizens that state law prohibits the release of “any information” regarding vital records to the general public.
The OIP must address this continuing wrongful statement. They are the authority charged with official review of Okubo’s activities with regard to the UIPA. Although the OIP has been much more forthright than the DoH, the OIP is now called upon to exercise its statutory purpose under the UIPA manual, which states at page 7:
The Hawaii State Legislature enacted the Uniform Information Practices Act (Modified) (the “UIPA”) based upon this premise that a democracy vests the people with the ultimate decision making power and government exists only to aid the people in the exercise of that power.
State of Hawaii, take notice – the people will be exercising their power. The people will be made to understand their power under the UIPA. The people will receive all information due to them under the UIPA. And the people will prevail.
Model UIPA requests, model OIP appeals and model judicial appeals are being drafted.
The state of Hawaii must know that attempts at evasion will not be successful. You have laws. The laws were written to command government.
Government will be commanded.
The public – previously a sleeping giant – is now awake. The giant is big and powerful. The government will kneel before the giant as the government is not separate to the body of the giant – the government is simply an intellectual limb extending from the body of the giant.
That limb is not a separate entity.
The giant may have suffered a bit of mental illness in thinking that the government limb was an overlord. But the giant is smiling in the mirror now as it recognizes – perhaps for the first time – that the limb is part of the giant’s anatomy.
The giant will command the DoH to issue all information due to the giant under the appropriate laws. The UIPA is such a law. As an attorney, I am very impressed with the UIPA. It’s easy to read, understand, implement and draft appeals under. Whoever drafted it was very skilled. They did the public giant justice. The UIPA was written to protect the eyes of the giant.
DoH Communications Director Okubo has placed her thumb directly in the eye of the giant. She never got the memo – “Giant is awake”.
Her thumb will be removed from the giant’s eye.
Leo C. Donofrio, Citizen Attorney, September 25, 2004.
Ping
September 25, 2004.
this date is puzzling. likely a typo.
OK, so what does this “index” information get for anybody?
Leo is a gem as is Terri K. The two are bulldogs and have busted the crooked Hawaii DoH.
Hopefully someone in the media like Beck will go after this coverup when Leo is ready with his lawsuit. Hopefully they can find a good and honest attorney in HI to assist.
I’m breathless! Leo you are a rock and a huge part of our giant. Thank you for your legal expertise and heart!
One possibility: whether any real COLB, born-here-in-Hawaii, record - as opposed to one of those generic, "yeah, there is a kid named Barack Obama" certificates - was ever filed.
Another possibility, if the index includes dates, when was a birth certificate filed (e.g., days later, right after BO was born in Hawaii; or months later, after BO was brought to Hawaii?)
Bottom line: We obviously know what BO & Hawaii DOI won't tell us, but one never knows what any given data could lead to until you see what is available.
One simple question. Does the race of the father say African ? If the answer is no, then the online COLB is proven to be a forgery.
The fraudulent COLB was released by whom? Was it Obama’s campaign?
I don’t know who actually “released” it, but the campaign did have it up on their site, thus vouching for it.
Good points. Thanks.
Pretty much everything that Fukino used to make her statement.
The interesting part is that although Hawaii says they have seen the origonal, and are convinced its genuine. They have NEVER stated that what is posted is what THEY have...Hmmmm
He sounds confident, and should.
We have a Man in the oval office being treated like a king on our dime.
The least we deserve is to see all his documents that determine his citizenship.
The suspense is killing me!
Yes Fukino’s silence on whether the COLB short-form images are accurate with regard to what Hawaii has on file is blaring.
If I try to give Fukino the benefit of the doubt and imagine her trying do her best to be neutral and helpful while not releasing legally protected privacy information, then I can imagine her failing to see the importance of specifically confirming the online COLB images as accurate in her first public statement, maybe . . .
But, after several months of additional questions, complaints and renewed inquiries, surely she knew that a key question before her was whether or not the campaign image claiming to represent a legal document released from her agency was accurate, complete and/or identical in appearance to an actual document issued to Obama.
That she never addressed this point at either time, is a fact that for me casts great doubt upon her neutrality.
Can you imagine the paper shredding circus that the Hawaii Department of Health must have become by now?
I hope that isn’t the case, but if people down there have paid attention to Donofrio, it’s hard for me to imagine that there aren’t alot of off-the-record conversations and or winks and nods and other charades to make sure emails are being deleted and paperwork is departing the faclities as if a New York ticker-tape parade was coming through.
Actually I think exactly the opposite. I think Fukino and Akubo were threatened and basically told what to say. I think they want OUT of the whole thing. I actually believe that Fukino said exactly what she did for a reason, to make someone LOOK closer, and take her off the hook. Literally.
I do not envy her in the least. People do NOT play nice in Hawaii. Obama does not play nice. Those pulling his strings do not play nice. I think Fukino and Akubo are going to be MORE than happy to get this 5000 lb gorilla off their backs!
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