“Birther Nation” lawsuit filed in Hawai’i court on Tuesday

Law professor Andy Martin has filed a second “birther” lawsuit in the Hawai’i courts, seeking to expose wholesale violations of Hawai’i law by the Hawai’i governor and attorney general. Martin says efforts by Hawai’i officials to impose secrecy on Barack Obama’s birth records have boomeranged and fed speculation that Obama was not born in Hawai’i. Martin is asking Hawai’i judges to open all of Barack Obama’s Hawai’i records to public inspection as de facto historical archives of the United States. Martin has written the definitive book on Obama, as well as producing the first movie on Obama’s years in Hawai’i. Martin’s lawsuit was assigned to Circuit Judge Rom Trader. Martin will hold a Honolulu news conference Wednesday to discuss his lawsuit. ,


ANDY MARTIN, J.D.
Post Office Box 1851
New York, NY 10150-1851
Toll-free tel. (866) 706-2639
Toll-free fax (866) 707-2639
Temporary Hawai’i
tel. (917) 664-9329
Plaintiff pro se

CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT
STATE OF HAWAII

CIVIL NUMBER: 10-1-969-05 RAT
(Declaratory Judgment)

COMPLAINT FOR
DECLARATORY JUDGMENT;
EXHIBITS 1-5: SUMMONS

ANDY MARTIN, J.D.,

Plaintiff,
vs.

MARK J. BENNETT, in his
official capacity as
Attorney General
of the State of Hawai’i,
LINDA LINGLE, in her
official capacity as Governor
of the State of Hawai’i,

Defendants.
_________________________________

COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY JUDGMENT
Plaintiff ANDY MARTIN, J.D., (“Plaintiff”), pro se, alleges in this Complaint for Declaratory Judgment against the Defendants as follows:
COUNT ONE
I.
PARTIES, JURISDICTION AND VENUE
1. Plaintiff ANDY MARTIN is the author of the definitive book on President Barack Obama (“Obama”), “Obama: The Man Behind The Mask.” Plaintiff is also the producer/director of the first film concerning Obama’s Hawai’i years, “Obama: The Hawai’i Years.” He has also been writing columns and commentary about the president for nearly six (6) years and he is currently planning a second book on President Obama. Plaintiff holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law.
2. Defendants MARK J. BENNETT (“Bennett”) and LINDA LINGLE (“Lingle”) are the Hawai’i Attorney General and Governor respectively. Governor Lingle supervises and controls the actions of the executive department and in particular supervises Dr. Chiyome Fukino who is the Director of the Hawai’i Department of Health.
3. This Complaint for Declaratory Relief and these proceedings are instituted pursuant to § 632-1, Hawai’i Revised Statutes.
4. Venue is proper in this Court pursuant to § 603-36, Hawaii Revised Statutes.5. The defendants are sued in their official capacities for the reasons set forth in the exhibits accompanying and attached to this Complaint.
II.
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS

1. Plaintiff submitted a Uniform Information Practices Act (“UIPA”) request to the defendants on or about November 2, 2008. A copy of said request is attached as Exhibit 1.
2. Plaintiff further submitted a supplemental request to
Lingle on April 3, 2009, a copy of which is attached as Exhibit 2.
3. Defendants responded nearly seven (7) months later with a virtually blanket refusal to disclose any of their own internal communications. The UIPA materials for which defendants charged Plaintiff $600 were virtually worthless and made a mockery of the liberal UIPA principles applicable under both the UIPA statute and the decisions of the Hawai’i courts interpreting the UIPA. A copy of defendants' response is attached as Exhibit 3.
4. Plaintiff wrote to the defendants on April 14, 2010; defendants have not responded. A copy of Plaintiff’s request is attached as Exhibit 4. In a final effort to avoid a lawsuit Plaintiff wrote to the defendants on April 30, 2010, attached as Exhibit 5; again defendants have not responded.
5. There is great public confusion and national concern involving the issue of Obama’s birth in this state. Ironically, the secrecy and manipulation of the defendants, and their refusal to make Hawai’i state records available to plaintiff, have fueled intense speculation that Obama was not born in Hawai’i and may have been born in Kenya. Plaintiff himself has always stated Obama was born in Hawai’i, which is why he is suing to obtain Obama's Hawai’i birth and other public records here; nevertheless, tens of millions of Americans believe Obama was born in Kenya due to the secrecy and manipulation of Hawai’i state records by the defendants.
6. Unless and until Hawai’i executive branch officials and judges stop stonewalling and concealing historical Hawaiian archives concerning Obama, public speculation will continue to grow about the nature and extent of Obama’s origins in this state. The defendants’ secrecy and manipulation of public records have boomeranged: instead of quieting public concerns since 2008 and laying to rest questions about Obama’s “roots,” approximately 150 million Americans now harbor doubts in 2010 about the whereabouts and circumstances of Obama’s birth.
7. American media have coined the term “Birthers” to refer to the approximately 150 million Americans who harbor doubts about the circumstances of Obama’s birth. Plaintiff refers to these tens of millions of concerned Americans collectively as “Birther Nation.”
III.
LEGAL CLAIM
1. In the past, Hawai’i courts have interpreted the UIPA liberally.
2. The defendants’ current claim that any internal communications of Hawai’i executive branch officials involving Obama’s records are exempt from UIPA disclosure would gut the UIPA and make the statute worthless.
3. The refusal of the defendants to comply with the UIPA is part of an egregious (and misguided) partisan political manipulation of the Obama archives by the defendants. Defendants, using Fukino as their mouthpiece, have disseminated repeated statements and remarks about the contents of Obama’s state files; when challenged to produce the original documents to which they were referring the defendants responded with claims of secrecy.
4. The defendants have waived any secrecy of state records concerning Obama by Fukino’s repeated and continuing public discussions of the Obama files and by their constant and continuing efforts to obtain local and national publicity for their claims.
IV.
DECLARATORY RELIEF SOUGHT
Plaintiff seeks to have the defendants fully comply with the UIPA in good faith, and to provide all of their internal communications which they have refused to provide to Plaintiff for 1-1/2 years.
COUNT TWO
I.
PARTIES, JURISDICTION AND VENUE
1. Plaintiff repeats and realleges Paragraph One of Count One (¶ I).
II.
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
1. Plaintiff repeats and realleges Paragraph Two of Count One (¶ II).
III.
LEGAL CLAIM

1. Barack Obama is President of the United States. He is not by any stretch of the imagination a private citizen to whom normal privacy concerns are applicable. State and federal privacy statutes applicable to ordinary private citizens were never intended to impose a veil of secrecy over historical archives and records concerning the President of the United States.
2. Hawai’i state files, records and other local sources of information constitute historical archives both of this state and the United States to which privacy statutes and privacy concerns are either completely inapplicable or almost fully attenuated. Obama himself has stated he has released his “birth certificate;” therefore he has affirmatively waived any secrecy or privacy concerning the original, typewritten 1961 birth certificate.
3. Defendants cannot be allowed to play games and seek to advance a partisan political agenda concerning Obama by making public claims about state documents and records which they then refuse to make available for public inspection and copying.
IV.
DECLARATORY RELIEF SOUGHT
1. Plaintiff seeks declaratory and injunctive relief declaring that Obama’s original, typewritten 1961 birth certificate is a state and national historical record and archive which should be made available to the American people and to writers, journalists, scholars and researchers. This finding should also be applicable to any and all Hawai’i state and local government records concerning Obama wherever located including, but not limited to, his school and other records.
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff Andy Martin prays for relief as follows:
1. For a declaration by this Court that the attached record reflects defendants have failed to comply with the UIPA in good faith, and that Plaintiff as an author and writer and cinéaste is a person to whom the requested UIPA materials should be made available forthwith;
2. That because Obama is the President of the United States, he is not a “private citizen” to whom normal privacy considerations are applicable. Any Hawai’i state records or other medical and school records constitute historical archives of this state and the United States and should be made available to writers, journalists, historians and scholars such as Plaintiff.
3. For such other relief as this Court deems just and equitable.
Dated: May 4, 2010
Honolulu, Hawai’i
Respectfully submitted,
ANDY MARTIN, J.D.
Plaintiff Pro se