Monday, November 3, 2008

Andy Martin Lawyer's Letter On Fukino's Public Statements Re BOCOLB

I just received the following copy of Andy Martin's letter:

Hon. Mark Bennett
Department of the
Attorney General
425 Queen Street
Honolulu, HI96813
via fax (808) 586-1239

Chiyome Fukino, M.D.
Director of Health
1250 Punchbowl St.
Honolulu, HI96813
via fax (808) 586-4444

Re: Barack Obama Certificate of Live Birth (birth certificate) Circuit Court litigation

and

Uniform Information Practices Act demand for inter-office correspondence by your offices with each other and contacts with persons/media outside state government

Dear Governor Lingle, General Bennett, and Dr. Fukino:

As you are no doubt aware, I have filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court for the First District in Honolulu seeking access to the original 1961 files concerning Barack Obama's Certificate of Live Birth ("COLB")(birth certificate).

This letter is meant to address three matters:

1. I am formally renewing my request for access to the original, typewritten 1961 COLB/birth certificate, so that there is no question that a formal request has been made and received by your offices. If that document as amended in any way, I demand access to the complete file. Michelle Obama has been quoted (I don't know how accurately) as saying her husband was "adopted" at some point.

2. This letter is meant to place you on notice that I believe Dr. Fukino's statements to the media on Friday, October 31st concerning the original, typewritten 1961 COLB waived any secrecy concerning the original COLB because she specifically invited or solicited news coverage and invited commentary and attention on the document.

3. I am also submitting a request pursuant to the Hawai'i Uniform Information Practices Act ("UIPA"), HRS § 92F-1 et seq. for communications to and from your offices concerning the COLB with persons outside your offices and media, as well as your inter-office communications concerning the matter of the COLB.

I.

FORMAL REQUEST FOR ACCESS TO THE FULL AND COMPLETE AND ORIGINAL 1961 OBAMA COLB AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS

I sent a request for this file several months ago. My request and my check were returned with a form reply that I was not entitled to access. This letter formally and legally renews my request. (The $10 will be submitted by overnight mail as soon as you notify me the document(s) is available.)

I seek access for the reasons set forth in greater detail in my pending lawsuit: namely as an author, scholar and writer concerning Mr. Obama. I am writing a second book on him.

I believe that Hawai'i officials have misconstrued the terms of the relevant statute, asserting that some sort of blood relationship is required before disclosure is permitted, when the statutory language clearly does not pretermit that interpretation. In fairness, the Attorney General has not yet made public such an unfounded assertion. (The AG, however, appears to have issued "guidance" to the Department of Health, which would be discoverable under Part III, infra, see Chicago Tribune, October 30, 2008 [attached] that is palpably in conflict with the statutory language.)

II. DR. FUKINO'S STATEMENTS ON OCTOBER 31ST

October 31st Dr. Fukino made a number of public statements concerning the COLB documents I am seeking to access. I use the plural because the original COLB may have been amended; we don't know, which is why access is essential: to end the speculation and establish the facts.

In my opinion, Dr. Fukino's public statements about a secret document (the original 1961 COLB) may have waived the confidentiality provisions of the statute. I don't think a public official can play gotcha with secret information and make public references to a document while denying access to the same document so the public can make an independent determination and comparison, see e.g. "The scope of a statutory privilege, however, is tempered by the principle that " 'privileges preventing disclosure of relevant evidence are not favored and may often give way to a strong public interest.' " State v. L.J.P., 270 N.J.Super. 429, 637 A.2d 532, 537 (1994) State v. Peseti, 101 Hawai'i 172, 65 P.3rd 119, 127 (Hawai'i 2003).

Therefore, I would ask that you reconsider your original refusal to release my requested information in light of Dr. Fukino's public statements and de facto waiver on Friday.

III.

ADDITIONAL REQUEST PURSUANT TO HAWAI'I UNIFORM INFORMATION PRACTICES ACT FOR INTER-OFFICE AND EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS CONCERNING THE COLB/BIRTH CERTIFICATE ISSUE

On Friday, when Dr. Fukino issued a statement, did she coordinate with the Attorney General before she made her claims?

I would like all correspondence or e-mails or other forms of communication between the Attorney General and the Governor's office, Dr. Fukino's office or any other Executive Department office.

I would also like copies of all records of contacts between your offices and persons or media organizations outside Hawai'i state government. For example, and not by way of limitation, Governor Lingle apparently received a request from Jerome Corsi and denied it; I would like all correspondence to or from Jerome Corsi and any other media or individuals and either the Governor, Health Department or any other Executive Department.

Janice Okubo has apparently disseminated great deal of information in her capacity as a media relations contact. All of these contacts must be produced under the UIPA.

Dr. Fukino communicated with the media, and possibly the Governor and Attorney general, about these issues. I am asking for the records of any and all such contacts. I am requesting all such correspondence in any form. This request should be deemed to be all-inclusive: as to contacts or communication between Corsi or any and all other persons or media, and the Executive Departments.

Dr. Fukino issued a statement on Friday. I would like a copy of her formal statement, as well as an indication to whom it was issued. I would like any correspondence between Dr. Fukino's office and the Governor's office or Attorney General's office concerning any aspect of the COLB or the pending birth certificate lawsuit.

There also appears to have been some media manipulation going on. Janice Okubo stated that "it looks exactly the same as my own birth certificate," Chicago Tribune, October 30, 2008 [attached]. That is a misleading statement. Does Obama's 1961 original look exactly like Okubo's? Or does her facsimile look like his?

I am just digging for the facts and the truth about Mr. Obama. I hope you will join me in this enterprise. Mr. Obama has a unique way of discrediting himself, and Dr. Fukino may have inadvertently helped Obama create new suspicious about his behavior involving the COLB. When I was in Honolulu last month with my investigative team, and Obama suddenly appeared, many people thought he was reacting to my investigation of his past and parentage. Others scoffed at that interpretation. Today, after the miraculous recovery of his grandmother, almost everyone believes Obama used his grandmother as a beard to engage in manipulation concerning his COLB and related issues involving potential embarrassment. Your own integrity and behavior has now been clouded by Obama's apparent manipulation and your subsequent conduct in seeking to assist him in orchestrating vital information about his birth.

Thus, I hope the forgoing are a comprehensive series of requests for everything that exists concerning Hawai'i state government and the Obama COLB. Let's stop manipulating the facts and truth, and put all of them in the public arena where they belong.

Because we are dealing with public offices, and public trusts, I do not believe any correspondence may be exempted on the grounds that it leads to an invasion of privacy or that any common law privilege applies to the requested communications. Mr. Obama has publicized a form of his COLB, so he himself has also waived any privacy concerns concerning comparisons with the original material. Obama can't manipulate the facts any more than Dr. Fukino can make partial, self-serving and incomplete statements concerning vital documents [see attached "Fox News"].

Dr. Fukino has openly discussed the document and invited widespread interest in the 1961 material. She solicited attention for Hawai'i government materials on the eve of the national election. A clearer case for waiver of privacy/secrecy would be hard to conceive.

In other words, in this letter, in addition to access to the original 1961 document itself (Part I) I am also seeking access to records of contacts which each of you has had with (i) the outside world (news media, citizens, etc.) and (ii) among yourselves concerning either my lawsuit or the issue of the Obama birth certificate itself (this Part III).


Respectfully submitted,

ANDY MARTIN

Attachments:

1. Chicago Tribune, October 30, 2008 (James Janega)
2. Fox News leads the disinformation parade (ContrarianCommentary.com)

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