Licensing woes
The Sept. 17 newspaper article (“Relicensing roadblocks,” Tribune-Herald) detailing the problems Hawaii residents are having renewing their licenses struck a major chord with me.
My wife and I are making multiple trips to do this. The documentation requirements are more extensive than the requirements of federal agencies seeking to prove the same things.
The licensing bureau can use as little as an expired passport and an expired license to prove identity, citizenship and residency.
Your current driver’s license should be enough for residency. An expired passport is only expired for use in overseas travel. It is still an original document that presumes the identity and name of the license applicant. It has the benefit of being a photo ID.
I provided a birth certificate issued by the town of Altamont, N.Y. It is a “local” record with an embossed seal. It was good enough to get a passport, but was questioned by the county licensing bureau.
The process is too hard on the public and too hard on the licensing bureau. We should try and simplify the documentation requirements to take advantage of work already done by other agencies, including the state of Hawaii.
Gregory Keating
Pahoa
Play by the rules
Why is it that of all the politicians from Hawaii Island that were fined by the Campaign Spending Commission were either listed as Democrats (nine) or Nonpartisans (four)? No members of Libertarians, Republicans or any other party were on the list.
Makes you wonder what those politicians were thinking if they can’t even follow the rules that were made by the state Campaign Spending Commission. These were the same people who will possibly make the laws that everyone is supposed to follow.
Some of the candidates who were fined pleaded, “I didn’t know what was happening.”
If you are a candidate, then YOU are responsible for what happens in your campaign.
How do all the contributors feel knowing that their contributions go to pay fines?
Michael L. Last
Naalehu