The following testimony by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii was considered by the Maui County Salary Commission on Jan. 20, 2023.
______________
Jan. 20, 2023
9:00 a.m.
Mayor’s Conference Room and Videoconference
To: The Maui County Salary Commission
Chair, Scott Parker
Vice Chair, Grant Nakama
From: Joe Kent
Executive Vice President
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
RE: Item 5.A, Discussion and consideration of the Salary Commission’s 2023 strategy and approach regarding the salaries for the Mayor, County Council members, Directors, Deputy Directors and County Auditor.
Comments Only
Dear Chair and Commission Members:
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii would like to offer its comments on the Salary Commission’s 2023 strategy for determining the salaries of the mayor, County Council members, department directors and the county auditor.
In April 2022, the Commission voted to give the mayor, County Council members and department directors a 5% pay increase. This was the first raise the Council had received since 2013.[1]
Going forward in 2023, the Commission should consider the following:
>> The Maui County Council is the highest paid Council in the state.
Because of last year’s pay raise, members of the Maui County Council now receive a salary of $80,298.75 a year; the Council chair receives $86,336.25.
On Kauai, the Kauai County Council voted in September 2022 to give itself, the mayor and the department heads 15% raises. By 2024, Kauai’s Council members will be making $78,672 a year, and the Council chair $88,502.[2]
In Honolulu and Hawaii counties, the mayors and county councils did not receive any pay increases last year.[3] Their council members are paid $68,904 and $70,008 per year, respectively.[4]
>> Many city and county council members across the U.S. work for less.
Across the United States, there is great variation in how city and county council members are compensated.
In Texas, Austin City Council members make $116,688 per year while Dallas Council members earn only $60,000 per year — even though both councils are full-time.[5]
Meanwhile, many smaller localities across the country are led by council members who receive much lower compensation.
For example, Sandy Springs, Georgia, a town of about 100,000 people, pays its mayor $47,000 per year, and its council members $21,000, adjusted for Hawaii’s cost of living.[6] The city is consistently ranked as one of the best places to live in America,[7] and is home to several Fortune 500 companies.[8]
Maui lawmakers are not necessarily full-time employees
Maui County officials are neither part-time nor full-time employees, according to the Maui Corporation Council, which stated on April 8, 2019:
Elected officials are a unique class of public servant who are neither full-time or part-time. While the county council may designate its members as full-time, the benefits accorded to elected officials are not based on that designation. The benefits available to elected officials are established by statute. We make no opinion whether the Salary Commission should consider the full-time or part-time status of elected officials.[9]
The fact that the mayor and council have in the past worked long hours does not necessarily mean that they should work so much, nor that spending so much time on their jobs is a “public good.”
For example, in some instances, the laborious creation of legislation that puts barriers in the way of housing or business activity, or infringes on the property rights of citizens, could actually be considered a “public bad,” and should not be encouraged.
Above all, as the Maui County Salary Commission works on its strategy for 2023, it is important to remember that creating a great place to live does not require paying the mayor and County Council members high salaries.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Joe Kent
Executive Vice President
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
[1] Lila Fujimoto, “Panel awards pay raises to mayor, council,” The Maui News, April 9, 2022.
[2] Guthrie Scrimgeour, “Kaua‘i county council approves raises for mayor, department heads, councilmembers,” The Garden Island, Sept. 8, 2022.
[3] Ashley Mizuo, “No salary increase this year for Council members, mayor and department heads,” Honolulu Star-Advertiser, April 19, 2022.
[4] Richard Wiens, “Which County Pays Its Council Members The Most? (Hint: It’s Not Honolulu),” Honolulu Civil Beat, Oct. 17, 2021.
[5] Bridget Grumet, “Grumet: Austin City Council’s big raises came with too little explanation,” Austin American-Statesman, Aug. 21, 2022.
[6] Based on Grassroot Institute of Hawaii calculations, Jan. 19, 2023, using the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis cost-of-living adjuster, and Sandy Springs base salaries of $40,000 for its mayor and $18,000 for its council members. See “Real Personal Consumption Expenditures by State and Real Personal Income by State and Metropolitan Area, 2021,” U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Dec. 15, 2022; and “Running for Office and Qualifying for the Municipal Election,” SandySpringsGA.gov, 2021.
[7] “Awards and honors,” SandySpringsGA.gov, 2021.
[8] John Ruch, “Sandy Springs Is A Magnet For Fortune 500 Headquarters,” Sandy Springs magazine, Sept. 21, 2021.
[9] Letter from Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, Maui County Council vice-chair, to Gary Murai, Maui deputy corporation counsel, April 8, 2019, p. 6.
The Public Health Threat of Toxic Sperm
Heads up, ejaculators! The way to prevent prostate cancer is at hand.
Prostate researchers at Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health have been working hard, and the payoff has come. Men who have wondered how many times to ejaculate in order to protect their prostate from getting cancer can now heave a sigh of relief. The magic number has been determined, and it’s over 21 times per month, presumably not all at once.
Researching ejaculation as a prevention of prostate cancer takes a lot of spunk. But the world’s ejaculators want to know how to prevent prostate cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer in men. And decades of sperm and prostate research has shown that the prostate is sensitive to environmental toxins, including pesticides and heavy metals. According to Harvard experts, “One possible explanation for why frequent ejaculation might protect against prostate cancer is that it may help clear potentially cancer-causing substances from the prostate”.
This is welcome news to the millions of men who like to ejaculate, and to the porn industry. But there is a major problem, which is the elephant in the room. If ejaculation helps to eliminate toxins in the prostate, then what do you do with all that toxic sperm?
Masturbation seems benign enough. The toxic sperm can be easily discarded. But what about sex? More specifically, what about the recipients of that toxic sperm, which is usually women?
Harvard has nothing to say about women in their discussion. Despite touting frequent sex as a preventative of prostate cancer by eliminating toxins from the prostate, there is no consideration of the impact of eliminating these toxins into women’s bodies.
Of course, if these toxins can cause prostate cancer, it begs the question of what they do to women. Many women suffer from reproductive and lactational problems, which are associated with heavy metal poisoning. Could frequent exposure to toxic sperm be an important source of heavy metal poisoning in women?
Many women develop cervical cancer. Much of the time, the cervix is the target for toxic sperm. While cancer of the cervix is theorized to be caused mainly by the human papilloma virus (HPV), over a third of cases have no known cause. Sperm-delivered toxins may not only explain these cases, but may also irritate the cervix and make it more susceptible to the HPV virus.
Harvard ejaculation experts clearly know that ejaculation can take place in the vagina, so they have recommended “safe” ejaculation. According to the Harvard public health article,
Ejaculation has many benefits and few risks if done safely. “Sex can be a wonderful part of healthy relationships, and sex and masturbation can have positive psychosocial effects,” she (Dr. Mucci) said. “So, there is no downside to increased sex—or masturbation—as long as it is protected sex.”
That advice is music to the ears of the condom industry, which will have to stretch itself to cover the millions of men who are told to eliminate toxic sperm around 5 times per week. Condoms are excellent disposal bags for toxic sperm. But what man likes to wear a condom?
It is also not clear from the Harvard statement whether the protected sex is to prevent STD’s, or to prevent cervical cancer and other contamination of the female body. However, given that the discussion of toxic sperm never mentions women, and given that all public health sex recommendations encourage condom use to prevent STD’s, as well as avoiding unwanted pregnancies, it is safe to assume that the condom use was not to protect women, but to protect the ejaculator from STD’s and child support.
Women always get the short end of the stick when it comes to health issues, especially sexual ones. For example, when a man wants to have sex but is having a hard time getting hard, he can pop a Viagra and get an erection; women who have a hard time getting interested in sex can get the drug Bremelanotide (Vyleesi), and, according to WebMD, “It’s a shot you give yourself in the belly or thigh 45 minutes before you have sex. You take one in a 24-hour period, and doctors recommend only eight shots per month.”
Of course, it is different taking a pill than taking a needle to the belly or thigh. Men would not put up with a needle. Imagine a man getting a woman aroused by taking out the syringe as he pops a Viagra.
Amazingly, the doctors, mostly male, warn women to only take eight shots per month. That’s getting injected twice per week to please her ejaculator. If you do the math, that means men will only get to ejaculate 8 times per month, which is below their needed 21 orgasms, which obviously puts men at risk.
This means the needs of the ejaculator and the needs of the recipient of that ejaculate are sometimes in conflict. Men need to cleanse their prostates of toxins, and some women, who are not interested in sex otherwise, are only willing to provide a sperm removal service about 8 times per month. What’s a health-conscious man to do?
Clearly, some women are not sexual enough for men to properly cleanse their prostates. Men need more opportunities for cleansing. This shows how porn and sex dolls are the health products of the future.
Meanwhile, as men follow the advice of Harvard scientists and happily climax to improve their reproductive health and prevent prostate cancer, women will have to hope that someone finally wonders what happens when toxins are transferred from a male’s prostate to their vaginas. For many women, this is a lot to swallow. But unless we start considering women’s health as important as men’s sexual gratification, expect men to continue dumping their toxic waste in whomever, or whatever, they can.