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Thursday, September 26, 2013
September 26, 2013 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 5:16 PM :: 3897 Views

Gay Marriage: “Let the People Decide” Rally October 28

Gill: "Lazy Democrats Might Support Other Parties" After we Close Primary

Lawsuit: Ratepayers Challenge Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative

ECrim: Hawaii Political Criminals Now Protected by $1000 Paywall

HI lawmakers spend campaign cash on mannequin, Pathfinder and other oddities

Lerner’s out at IRS, but Hawaii tea parties still want answers

Par Petroleum Completes Acquisition of Tesoro Refinery

Molasses Spill Hype Orchestrated to Boost Schatz Campaign

CB: Brian Schatz reacted quickly to news that a molasses spill in Honolulu Harbor was turning into an environmental disaster.

Just four days after the Sept. 8 spill, Schatz's office revealed that he had already been in contact with NOAA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers to get briefed on the situation and to ensure that "swift action" was taken.

The very next day, on Sept. 13, Schatz announced that the EPA would be sending two on-scene coordinators to Oahu. Later that same day the senator declared that more federal aid — including money — was on its way.

"Senator Schatz has mobilized the federal response from agencies including NOAA, the EPA, and the United States Coast Guard," trumpeted a press release from his office.

There was more to come: The Coast Guard would send a Pacific Strike Team to assist the state with the spill, said Schatz, who also hosted a constituent call on the federal response and demanded a federal review of the disaster.

The media paid attention. "Schatz" and "molasses" appeared in a flurry of articles, including in The Huffington Post, POLITICO, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, ABC News, Maui Now and many others....

But some observers of Hawaii's congressional delegation rolled their eyes over what they saw as showboating. The federal government would have responded to the molasses mess whether or not Schatz was involved, wouldn't it?

read ...  Brian Schatz, Hawaii's Super Senator?

Dems Argue Case for Closed Primary

SA: The Democratic Party of Hawaii has brushed aside the state's defense of the open primary, describing a system where all voters, regardless of their political affiliation, can select the party's nominees as a "blunt instrument that wreaks broad constitutional damage by negating freedom of association."

In a filing Monday in federal court, the party argues that open primary elections have the dual flaws of being all-inclusive and anonymous. The open primary, the party contends, grants every voter the privilege of choosing the party's nominees without any of the responsibilities of party membership....

The open primary, the party contends, places a "severe burden" on the party's First Amendment right to free association, the legal threshold that courts weigh when deciding whether election laws are constitutional....

"The ‘open' primary prohibits DPH from either knowing or choosing," said Gill, referring to the Democratic Party of Hawaii. "The ‘open' primary strips DPH and its members of discretion about whether to associate with vast numbers of anonymous persons.

"It is not even possible for DPH to locate these people and engage them in conversation, yet these anonymous people have been granted full rights to select DPH standard bearers and thereby define DPH policy, without any of the responsibilities of membership. This diminishes DPH's ability to build true political community, based on mutuality and the free choice to associate."

Several top Democrats have opposed the lawsuit and worry that it sends the wrong message to voters, who have overwhelmingly preferred Democratic candidates in elections since statehood. The party has only 65,000 members among the state's more than 700,000 registered voters.

But Democrats behind the lawsuit say that because most voters choose to participate in Democratic primaries, the nomination process is influenced by independents, Republicans and others who may not share the party's platform or goals.

Related: Gill: "Lazy Democrats Might Support Other Parties" After we Close Primary

read ... Closed Primary Coming

Teachers, Students to Rally for AC in ‘Hot, Cramped’ Classrooms

CB: Roughly nine out of every 10 of the 287 public schools in the state lack AC even though classroom temperatures in some of the hottest areas — Oahu’s Leeward Coast, for example — can reach degrees in the high 90s.

Press releases sent out by Campbell High School teacher and rally organizer Corey Rosenlee have pictures to prove it. One shows a thermometer at 96 degrees.

The “cinderblock-oven” condition of classrooms is antithetical to student learning, according to Rosenlee, who cites a slew of studies showing that temperatures above 78 degrees make it difficult to concentrate, absorb information and stay alert.

Department of Education officials say they’re working on projects to cool down classrooms as part of a sustainability master plan, which promotes technology such as solar-powered ventilators and solar lights. Efforts are also underway to put ceiling fans in schools on the Leeward Coast and the southeast coast of the Big Island.

A DOE spokeswoman told Civil Beat on Wednesday that the department is updating its school priority list as it continues to install AC at campuses across the state. Campbell is now no. 4, after Hickam Elementary, Ewa Beach Elementary, and Ilima Intermediate.

As many as 500 people are expected to attend tomorrow’s rally, about 460 of them Campbell students, Rosenlee said.

Speakers at tomorrow’s rally, which starts with sign-waving at 9 am and then an assembly at 10 am in the rotunda, include Rosenlee, teacher and former Civil Beat columnist Michael Wooten, Sen. Will Espero and Rep. Bob McDermott. 

read ... Need AC

Ex-aide charged in Blind-Deaf school sex assault

SA: An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday charging a former teacher's aide at the Hawaii School for the Deaf and the Blind with sexually assaulting a student at the school.

Alfie S. Lumabas is charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault. The alleged crimes happened in 2005 when Luma­bas was 29 and the female student was 14. Deputy Prosecutor Chastity Imamura said Lumabas moved to California later that year.

Lumabas is the first person to face criminal charges in connection with alleged sexual assaults at the only public school in Hawaii for deaf and blind students.

(Prediction: The homosexual child-rapists won't be charged until after the special session.)

Related:  Lawsuit: Adult counselor engaged in questionable activities with students at Blind, Deaf School

read ... Just the beginning

Star-Advertiser Starts Running Homeless Industry Propaganda Again

SA: A man and his teenage son (no drug addicts or mental cases here, eh?) who had been living in a tent on a King Street sidewalk packed their possessions in four duffel bags Wednesday to be ready when the city shuts down the Pawaa In-Ha Park sometime today.

Except they have nowhere to go. (Shelters all have open spaces but Star-Adv would rather lie)

Lea Hamakua, 62, a former schoolteacher and cancer patient who lives on the Young Street side, said (claims) she had about $1,000 in medical supplies when the city removed property on Tuesday. 

Hamakua, who has an artificial bladder and requires urostomy bags that cost $353.61 for a 30-day supply, said the city disposed of them because she doesn't have the $200 to retrieve them.  (And she refuses to accept a shelter space because?  Oh, don't ask that question.)

On Tuesday just under half a ton of items from 31 encampments at Thomas Square, Pawaa, Aala Park and Ala Wai were disposed, the city said.

A 53-year-old Pawaa resident who identified himself only as Clinton said, "It's kind of strange they pick on people who have no food, no money. We're trying to survive and they make us look like animals."

"If they can build a rail with $5.5 billion, why they cannot build a facility (to house the homeless?" he asked.  (We have built many, you just won't use them--yet.)

Charade Keane, 41, who is homeless and usually lives at Ala Moana Beach Park, said, "What they tell us is, we're an eyesore. We all may have problems, but people just need help. … I'd rather work than be homeless."

(And apparently neither she nor the reporter started laughing uncontrollably at that 'Charade'.)

READ ... Homelessness Industry Propaganda

Sierra Club launches ad blitz Supporting Kakaako over Koa Ridge

KITV: the Hawaii chapter of the Sierra Club will begin airing radio ads Friday that seeks to sway public opinion against Koa Ridge, a proposed development by Castle and Cooke that would add 3,500 tract-style homes to Central Oahu.

Sierra Club Director Robert Harris would not reveal how much the environmental group is spending on the ad blitz, but the spots will play on multiple radio stations (KSSK, KHVH and KINE ) and target Oahu residents during peak travel times.

"We want people who are sitting in traffic to recognize this is just going to get worse unless we start doing something about it (forcing people to live in  'kennels' in Kakaako)"....

read ... Sierra Club launches ad blitz against Koa Ridge

Electric Car $2000 Damage After Hitting 3" Pothole

KHON: He hit it one evening in March while he was driving his brand new Tesla on Lunalilo Home Road.

“Felt like a mini crash,” Fehlmann said.

He said the side walls of two tires were slashed and one rim was damaged. With parts and labor, it cost nearly $2,000 to fix.

“Imagine you have a brand new car, two months old, 1,336 miles on it, and this happens,” Fehlmann said.

He filed a claim with the city, but was denied.

In a letter, the city said it was his low-profile tires and rims that were to blame.

read ... Hawaii Kai man sues city after pothole damages new car

Maui Council Discusses How Best to Time Phony Scandal for Mayoral Election

MN: Maui County Auditor Lance Taguchi probably won't know until January if his office will be able to commit to an audit over the county administration's handling of the Old Wailuku Post Office demolition....

read ... Council discusses hiring third party for audit

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