LIHUE, Hawaii — Matilda “Mattie” Yoshioka said a county Board of Ethics opinion left her no other choice but to resign her volunteer position on the Kauai Charter Review Commission.

Yoshioka was informed by the board in August that since she was on the commission, she could no longer appear before the Kauai County Council in her role as president and CEO of the nonprofit Kauai Economic Development Board.
“That’s part of my job,” she said. “I would not be performing what I was paid to do here at KEDB, which is to bring up certain matters before Planning (Commission) or council on behalf of KEDB and our membership. I would be derelict in my duties as president and CEO of KEDB if I was forbidden to do that.”
Yoshioka said she had asked the ethics board for an opinion.
The ethics panel based its decision on a section of the county charter that says, “No officer or employee of the county shall ... appear in behalf of private interests before any county board, commission or agency.”
“Essentially I am (in violation), but for the benefit of the entire island of Kauai,” Yoshioka said. “I think (the Board of Ethics) didn’t see that.”
KEDB’s Web site says its members include Kauai businesses, community organizations, legislators and government officials. The nonprofit said it is improving the quality of life on Kauai by developing partnerships to diversify the economy.
Earlier this year, county attorney Al Castillo told the Board of Ethics that forbidding board and commission members to appear on behalf of private interests before other boards and commissions could have a chilling effect, causing a mass exodus of county volunteers and “absurd results.”
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Information from: The Garden Island, www.kauaiworld.com/