STATE WATER DEPUTY RETURNS TO COMMISSION ON WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
News Release from BLNR, Oct 9, 2023
(HONOLULU) – Dawn Chang, Chairperson of the Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM), announced today that Kaleo Manuel, 1st Deputy to the Chairperson of CWRM, will return to his post effective immediately.
(IQ Test: Are you surprised?)
On August 15, 2023, the Attorney General had requested that Manuel be deployed to another DLNR Division until her (pretend) investigation of certain personnel events related to the August 8, 2023, Maui wildfires was (pretend) completed.
“I was informed today, that the Attorney General has (pretend) completed her review of this isolated issue. I would like to thank Dean Uyeno for stepping in as the Acting Deputy Director of CWRM and appreciate his steady leadership of CWRM during this unprecedented time,” Chang said.
(TRANSLATION: We got the Maui Council to back Manuel 7-2 so we are good to go.)
* * * * *
Lawsuit over Manuel Continues
MN: … The attorney general’s office did not provide any details about the nature of the investigation…
Attorney Lance Collins, who is representing Keahi and Mather in the lawsuit, said in an email Monday afternoon, “Everyone is relieved that common sense and the law have prevailed.”
“At this time, the lawsuit will continue since the administration has not repudiated the unlawful actions of Dawn Chang — which could be repeated,” Collins said.
“In addition, we filed a motion to have the attorney general disqualified from representing the commission after commissioners stated during the last CWRM meeting that the commissioners were being blocked by the attorney general from putting this issue on an agenda for discussion,” Collins added.
Both the lawsuit and the motion are scheduled to be heard in court in November.
An official with West Maui Land Co. could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday afternoon....
SA: Collins said even though Manuel got his job back, the suit will likely go forward because underlying issues remain.
HNN: State re-instates commission leader ‘wrongly accused’ (wow) of withholding water for firefight
read … Water deputy reinstated after probe, public backlash
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