So the State and the county both entered into individual contracts for representation. I have submitted a UIPA request for the County's and am waiting on their response.



Joseph Kamelamela
County of Hawai‘i’s Corporation Counsel
Hilo Lagoon Centre,
101 Aupuni Street,
Unit 325,
Hilo, HI 96720

Under the Hawaii Open Records Law § 91-1 et seq., I am requesting an opportunity to obtain copies of public records. The records I am requesting are in relation to the retainment of Gogan Lovells US LLP and/or the individuals Neal Katyal, Colleen Sinzdak and Mitchell Reich for legal services with regards to representing the COUNTY in Young vs Hawaii. I am requesting you provide a copy of the retainment agreement and/or contract including any/all payment terms conditions and agreements.

If there are any fees for searching or copying these records, please inform me if the cost will exceed $25.  However, I would also like to request a waiver of ALL fees in that the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to the public’s understanding of the contracts and agreements your office enters in to on their behalf. This information will be distributed freely and openly via various electronic platform, including but not limited to news articles, blog posts and via our nonprofits website. This information is not being sought for commercial purposes.

The Hawaii Open Records Law requires a response time within ten business days. I would ideally like these documents to be transferred digitally via e-mail if this is not possible please let me know so that we may make other arrangements. If access to the records I am requesting will take longer than ten days, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies or the ability to inspect the requested records.
If you deny any or all of this request, please cite each specific exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under the law.
Sincerely,

After I testified before the council imploring them not to let the Office of the Corporation Counsel off the hook after spending years claiming they knew what they were doing by denying us all, and Mr. Young in particular, our right to bear arms outside the home, the council passed the resolution anyway. The only questions they asked were to the staff attorney who presented the oral "arguments" (and in his and the county's case I use that term loosely, as judge O'Scannlain confirmed in the opinion) before the Ninth panel, and all they asked him was if he was absolutely sure that the state was going to pay all the costs. He assured them yes.

After that I wrote all the council members lengthy letters asking them, among other things, if they were sure that the state was going to pay for not just the fees to hire outside counsel, which is how the resolution seemed to be worded, but also any monetary damages/rewards/attorney compensation that could be assessed against the county should the county lose the case in the future, including at SCOTUS. I told them I was certainly hoping it would get to SCOTUS and that the county's clock would get cleaned there, and they'd be on the hook for a substantial sum of money, but that I realized that they didn't care since none of them would likely be in office any more by the time that happened. I asked them for further details but they didn't respond.

So I'll be curious to see their response to your request.

I wonder if this was the purpose of the 50% discount on the State's contract.

In the end and the bottom line is, YOU and I will be paying for the state’s continuing to fight for the right to deny us our constitutional rights.  That is about as screwed up as a situation could possibly be.

In the end and the bottom line is, YOU and I will be paying for the state’s continuing to fight for the right to deny us our constitutional rights.  That is about as screwed up as a situation could possibly be.

Yeah, tyranny sucks. That's not exactly how the Founders put it, but sorta the same. At least they haven't quartered troops in our homes... yet.

Yeah, tyranny sucks. That's not exactly how the Founders put it, but sorta the same. At least they haven't quartered troops in our homes... yet.

 rent control is coming