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Councilman Calls For Liquor Commission Leaders To Resign

Commission Leaders Say They Will Not Step Down

POSTED: 4:43 pm HST April 13, 2005

A Honolulu City Council member is calling for the termination of two managers from the Honolulu Liquor Commission.

Councilman Charles Djou said commission chief Wallace Weatherwax and investigator John Carroll should get the axe.

Eight Liquor Commission investigators have been convicted of criminal corruption. The FBI is now investigating the commission for possible ongoing criminal misconduct.

A city audit scheduled to be officially released Thursday said the commission is mismanaged.

"Mr. Wally Weatherwax and Mr. John Carroll, who are the chief administrator and chief inspector of the Honolulu Liquor Commission, have presided over the most corrupt, most mismanaged, most unaccountable liquor commission in the history of the city and county of Honolulu. It is time for these two men to go," Djou said.

Carroll and Weatherwax said they have no intention of stepping down.

"We are part of the solution and we are looking forward to implementing the various recommendations to come to a solution to try to prevent the failures that did occur," Weatherwax said. "We will go forward with the plans that we have and the plans that we are working on."

The city audit found "oversight and management of the liquor commission inadequate." Weatherwax said the concerns are already being addressed with a strategic plan.

Djou says the problem is that it is difficult to hold anyone accountable in the commission, an agency created by the state yet run day-to-day by the city.

"I might be this skinny, pake, Chinese kid, but I happen to be extremely stubborn, extremely tenacious and very determined to clean up this very troubled agency," Djou said.

Djou said if concerns in the audit are not addressed the council can impeach commissioners and cut the commission budget.

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