The neutral arbitrator presiding over the binding arbitration hearing today between the Lingle administration and the Hawaii Government Employees Association has closed the proceedings to the news media.

Philip Tamoush, a labor negotiator from California, said the proceedings are a continuation of contract negotiations, which are private.
A spokesman for Gov. Linda Lingle and a spokeswoman for the HGEA had said previously that they did not object if the news media attended, as long as it was allowed by the neutral arbitrator.
Linda Smith, the governor's senior policy adviser, said that she believes it was the HGEA and the neutral arbitrator who voted to close the hearing to the media.
"We certainly feel because members of the collective bargaining association and negotiating team and management is permitted in, that it would be helpful for the public to understand what's going on because we're really talking about taxpayer dollars and how the state is going to make up the budget gap," Smith said.
"So the more that the public's aware of what's going on, we think the better that the community will understand the sacrifices that are going to have to be made."
Randy Perreira, the HGEA's executive director, said the union did not direct its representative on the panel to vote to close the hearing and could not confirm whether he did.
Perreira said, however, that he argued that if the media were allowed to attend, so should rank-and-file union members.
Tamoush told reporters after the hearing broke for the day that he had
strong feelings that the media should be excluded and said the panel
deferred to his opinion.
The Lingle administration has presented a 14 percent pay cut to the panel while the union has countered with no pay increases over the two-year contract.
The panel includes a representative from the state, the union and a neutral arbitrator. The state representative is Stan Shiraki. The union representative is Larry Ishimi.
The panel has until late December to make a decision.