BY JIM DOOLEY – After consulting with the state Ethics Commission, the state film office “disinvited” a number of state employees who were on the guest list for a special “mahalo screening” of the new Pirates of the Caribbean film at the Dole Cannery cinema complex.
Free tickets to the event were provided by the Walt Disney Company, producer of the latest installment of the Pirates film franchise, “On Stranger Tides,” which premiered nationally Friday.
The “mahalo screening” took place May 18.
“We’ve been doing a lot of training of state employees on the ethics code,” said Les Kondo, executive director of the state Ethics Commission.
“We got a couple of calls from people who attended training” about the propriety of attending the movie screening event, Kondo said.
“We met with the state film office people and they disinvited guests as appropriate,” Kondo said.
During this year’s legislative session, Kondo riled some lawmakers by advising them that they could not accept free passes to certain events unless their job duties gave them protocol standing as official representatives of the state at the events.
Georja Skinner, head of film office, said the screening invitation list originally included “fellow employees from our department and other state departments” but was pared down after she met with Kondo.
The film office is part of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Attendees included “cast and crew and members of the community” who were involved in the film production, which starred Johhny Depp and was shot on location in the Islands.
“There were no major stars. It was a low-key event,” said Skinner.
“We had a great meeting with the Ethics Commission folks,” Skinner said.
“What’s really good is that this shows we have an effective Ethics Commission that is pro-active,” she said.