Poor Hawaii, Getting Sued Again By Birthers

A PUMA-Birther known as “MissTickly” or “TerriK,” who has been on a personal quest for Obama’s records in Hawaii, will be represented by Leo Donofrio in a new lawsuit.

On July 27, 2009 Hawaii Department of Health Director Fukino issued a press release which stated:

“I, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, Director of the Hawai’i State Department of Health, have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawai‘i State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawai‘i and is a natural-born American citizen. I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago.”

TerriK requested all information “collected and maintained” for the purposes of preparing the public statement made by Director Fukino as such information must be released according to the statute.

TerriK was interested in knowing how Director Fukino came to the conclusion that the President was a natural born citizen. She was familiar with Section 92F-12(15) which demands that all information collected and maintained for the purposes of making such a public statement be made public. She was denied that information despite the clear wording in the statute. Furthermore, the case law from Hawaii clearly demands production of the records TerriK requested.

Section 92F-12(15) of Hawaii’s public records law, the Uniform Information Practices Act: under §92F-12 Disclosure required: Information collected and maintained for the purpose of making information available to the general public.

This would mean, so the thinking goes, that by Hawaii state public records law, any documents on file which may be searched by state employees for the purpose of making information available to the general public, must be disclosed upon request. Obama’s birth record, of course, was not collected for that purpose, it was to simply record his birth in 1961. But Donofrio seems to say that the birth record may come automatically attached to the processing of the request for another record. For example, if Obama were legally adopted by his stepfather, as many Birthers claim, but he denies, the birth certificate would have been amended to reflect that change; and someone seeking the adoption record, provided that person had “direct and tangible” interest, might be entitled to the birth record showing the adoption amendment. Or in MissTickly’s case, that which formed the basis for the DOH’s statement that he is a natural born citizen.

But there are exceptions to the Uniform Information Practices Act:

§92F-13 Government records; exceptions to general rule. This part shall not require disclosure of:

(1) Government records which, if disclosed, would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(2) Government records pertaining to the prosecution or defense of any judicial or quasi-judicial action to which the State or any county is or may be a party, to the extent that such records would not be discoverable;

(3) Government records that, by their nature, must be confidential in order for the government to avoid the frustration of a legitimate government function;

(4) Government records which, pursuant to state or federal law including an order of any state or federal court, are protected from disclosure;

[L 1988, c 262, pt of §1; am L 1993, c 250, §1]

Donofrio is claiming the public interest in government records overrides privacy protection.

But the statute defines what is not a government record this way:

“Personal record” means any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by an agency. It includes, but is not limited to, the individual’s education, financial, medical, or employment history, or items that contain or make reference to the individual’s name, identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual, such as a finger or voice print or a photograph.

That’s even before you get to the law on privacy of vital records:

§338-18 Disclosure of records. (a) To protect the integrity of vital statistics records, to ensure their proper use, and to ensure the efficient and proper administration of the vital statistics system, it shall be unlawful for any person to permit inspection of, or to disclose information contained in vital statistics records, or to copy or issue a copy of all or part of any such record, except as authorized by this part or by rules adopted by the department of health.

(b) The department shall not permit inspection of public health statistics records, or issue a certified copy of any such record or part thereof, unless it is satisfied that the applicant has a direct and tangible interest in the record.

There follows a list of those considered to have a direct and tangible interest and MissTickly is not on it, along with the rest of the general public.

While Donofrio’s blog title is, “Pending Litigation: Hawaii Confirms That Obama’s Vital Records Have Been Amended,” I don’t see where Hawaii has confirmed that anywhere, but Donofrio says he will be releasing all of MissTickly’s communications with the state of Hawaii, which presumably will show something or other.

Assumptions are being made that President Obama’s birth certificate was at some time amended, in some way unknown; by releasing his COLB in 2007, he may have waived his right to privacy; Obama’s request for the COLB is itself a record covered by the Freedom of Information Act; the records Hawaii Department of Health officials accessed in order to confirm that Obama was born in Hawaii are also public information.

All somebody has to do, I guess, according to this thinking, is ask for any public information related to private information, and they get to have the private information they are really looking for; and this gets them around Hawaii’s privacy laws, which the state has relied on throughout this time of legal Birfoonery. If it were that easy, one has to wonder why all of these Birther lawyers needed MissTickly to think of it for them.

Dr. Orly Taitz, Esq., meanwhile, is making public demands of Donofrio:

Important
September 22nd, 2009

Whatever documents I have, I make public immediately. This is important for the whole country. When I got the registrar and hospital birth certificates from Kenya, I made those public. Leo Donofrio claims that he has information from HI, that Obama’s birth certificate was amended. He should make this information public, he needs to post the document with the statement that it is amended together with the declaration of the person, who obtained this record, testifying under penalty of perjury that it is the true and correct copy of the document . It is too important not to be disclosed. We can include it in the second amended complaint.

He obviously intends to take it all public, but she is, after all, Queen of the Birthers: Off with his head. By the way, her threatened Second Amended Complaint was knocked down today by Judge Carter.