Hawaii considering law to ignore Obama 'birthers'

In an article related to Transparancy...

HONOLULU – Birthers beware: Hawaii may start ignoring your repeated requests for proof that President Barack Obama was born here.

As the state continues to receive e-mails seeking Obama's birth certificate, the state House Judiciary Committee heard a bill Tuesday permitting government officials to ignore people who won't give up.

"Sometimes we may be dealing with a cohort of people who believe lack of evidence is evidence of a conspiracy," said Lorrin Kim, chief of the Hawaii Department of Health's Office of Planning, Policy and Program Development.

So-called "birthers" claim Obama is ineligible to be president because, they argue, he was actually born outside the United States, and therefore doesn't meet a constitutional requirement for being president.

Hawaii Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino issued statements last year and in October 2008 saying that she's seen vital records that prove Obama is a natural-born American citizen.

But the state still gets between 10 and 20 e-mails seeking verification of Obama's birth each week, most of them from outside Hawaii, Kim said Tuesday.

A few of these requesters continue to pepper the Health Department with the same letters seeking the same information, even after they're told state law bars release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible interest. Responding wastes time and money, Kim said.

Both Fukino and the state registrar of vital statistics have verified that the Health Department holds Obama's original birth certificate.

The issue coincides with Sunshine Week, when news organizations promote open government and freedom of information.

"Do we really want to be known internationally as the Legislature that blocked any inquiries into where President Obama was born?" asked Rep. Cynthia Thielen, R-Kaneohe-Kailua. "When people want to get more information, the way to fuel that fire is to say, 'We're now going to draw down a veil of secrecy.'"

Nobody at the hearing questioned the fact that the president was born in Hawaii.

Attorney Peter Fritz asked why the state would pass a law punishing repetitive requests for open records. Instead, the state could simply say it would only answer each person's question once.

If the measure passed, the state Office of Information Practices could declare an individual a "vexatious requester" and restrict rights to government records for two years.

The committee will schedule a vote on the measure, said Chairman Jon Riki Karamatsu, D-Waipahu-Waikele. The measure is SB2937.---------------------------
By MARK NIESSE, Associated Press Writer Mark Niesse, Associated Press Writer – Wed Mar 17,
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Mike Ford's Perspective...
If "state law bars release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible interest", but the People have been asking for the proof to be made public for 18 months, there are two simple issues here:

1. While the state of Hawaii cannot release the info to the public, Barack Obama CAN order his records released. That would be the TRANSPARENT thing to do! The guy has been on my TV, running my bank, in charge of the warranty on my Chevy and trying to control my health care for over a year. It's not like he has a need for privacy!

2. The constitutionality of a presidential candidate, nominee or elect's qualification certainly seems to be "a tangible interest" to me. It is obviously an issue with many Americans. Why would any legally elected president who is being questioned about this not immediately provide an end to the debate by releasing the documents? If they do indeed have the actual original document on file, releasing it to the public would nip this "conspiracy" in the bud.

Logical question: "What does he not want us to see?"