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Commentary, Community
Commentary, Community Saturday
16Jun
Who's paying for those lawyers?
Saturday, June 16, 2007 at 09:33AM Tim Wright's photo in Thursday's Tribune-Herald showing Emily Naeole behind her attorneys has drawn several comments, among them questions about who's paying for all that legal power.
Naeole, who listed no high-paying employment history on her campaign Web site, who has "experienced poverty," has a family to support and, according to Barbara Hale's recent accounts, has solicited personal loans from her staff, can hardly afford a high-powered personal legal team on her County Council salary, I would think.
But Naeole does stake her claim to a wealth of aloha, and maybe it's being returned in kind.
Gerard Lee Loy said Friday that he's not billing Naeole for his services, and will not petition the County for payment either, which could be an option if she gets off the hook with the Ethics Board. Lee Loy also said attorney Stanley Roehrig is serving as a "personal adviser" to Naeole and also is not billing her for his work.
It ain't right" what's happening to Naeole, Lee Loy explained. She's being "flogged for nothing. I feel sorry for her."
The colorful Lee Loy is perhaps best known for his criminal defense of Tetsuya "Grizzly" Yamada, who admitted shooting his ex-wife and step-daughter in 1996 after police found him holding the gun at the scene of the crime. But after Yamada was convicted, a technicality invalidated the verdict. Lee Loy entered the case in Yamada's defense at a second trial in 2004 and convinced the jury that Yamada was only taking the rap for the woman he was married to at the time of the slayings, who had died by the time the second trial occurred.
Roehrig, a well-known veteran Hilo attorney, is a former elected state representative and one-time appointee to the University of Hawaii Board of Regents.
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Response: ReadedTelling the future by looking at the past assumes that conditions remain constant. This is like driving a car by looking in the rearview mirror
Reader Comments (4)
Let’s get real here, have you ever heard of a lawyer feeling sorry for anyone? You have to love the lawyer double-talk like “flogged for nothing” A funny thing about a lawyer is that they will take ether side of any issue, all one has to do is pay that mouthpiece for their time and effort. Now the lawyer says that he is working for free. Auntie Emily should know and understand by now that after Tim Gardner picked up the tab at a restaurant, AIN’T NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH. What's in it for the lawyers? Only time will tell, but remember that these lawyers are pro’s and very slippery about hiding the actual intent for their actions. We may never know, but it will be an E-Ticket ride all the way.
The Lack
Also, if in the future Lee Loy or Roehrig seek her vote on a Council matter that will benefit them personally, she will have to recuse herself from voting. If they ask her for any personal favors in her role as a councilperson she will also have to decline. If not, there will be a conflict of interest. As long as neither of those events take place, or as long as she does the proper thing, there is nothing illegal happening. If Emily, for example, chooses to thank either lawyer personally by, for example, making lots of leis for them, then there is nothing wrong with that as long as she does not do it from her Council office or on Council time or have her paid staff assist her.
These "Chicken Little" emails containing allegations of potential illegal behavior that have not even taken place are uncalled for and irresponsible, because some people will read them and then pass their misunderstanding along to others as though this wrongdoing has already happened. Let us hope that it will not.
There is a definate misunderstanding by many of Hawaiian culture. People here do still do things for each other with no expectation of payment and out of Aloha. A practice so lost in american culture. So please don't place your mistrust where it does not belong!