OK, I have tried more things, but no difference:
i2cwrite idata,iclock,$2E,$06,[$00,$00]
pause 20

The idea is to force the R/W bit (0) to low for a write to the registers and telling the 23016 that both ports are outputs.

BOTH the clock and data lines from the proc are high and do not wiggle at all under I2C commands but still can be made to wiggle under the HIGH and LOW coomands for individual pins.

Still appears that no matter what I try to do with the I2C commands, the pins are silent.....