Many of our state’s costliest mistakes come from an unwillingness of public officials to admit them and learn from them.

So it’s refreshing to see one of our highest state officials, acting Supreme Court Chief Justice Sabrina McKenna, quickly and clearly own up to a mistake and fix it.

McKenna took sharp criticism — including from this column last week — for questioning whether three city officials who pleaded guilty to federal misdemeanor conspiracy charges actually broke the law.

The case involved a controversial $250,000 retirement payout to former Police Chief Louis Kealoha engineered by former city Corporation Counsel Donna Leong, former Police Commission Chair Max Sword and former Managing Director Roy Amemiya Jr.

Federal prosecutors accused them of violating a requirement to get

See Full Page