WE NEED MORE FINNEGANS, PLEASE.

The commission, in an informal advisory opinion, found that state Rep. Jerry Chang, D-2nd (S. Hilo), should not have represented the company that owned the land before the state Legislature because he was a company director and had a 25 percent ownership interest. Chang also should not have represented the company on an issue that he worked on as a lawmaker.



Chang had described Finnegan's complaint against him as "frivolous" and an "appalling use of state resources." He also claimed that he had legislative immunity and that the complaint was "invalid on its face."


NOW SAY, CAN SAY


State House Minority Leader Lynn Finnegan, R-32nd (Lower Pearlridge, 'Aiea, Halawa), asked House leaders in April 2006 to form a special committee to investigate Chang's actions. State House Speaker Calvin Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo Valley, Wilhelmina Rise), declined, informing Finnegan in a letter that Chang had "at most, a potential and not an actual conflict of interest." Say also said he told Chang that he should "take care, as we all should, to arrange his finances in such a manner as to minimize potential conflicts in the future."

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