February 7, 2010 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Sunday, February 7, 2010

February 7, 2010 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 1:26 PM :: 12337 Views

Running out of money, bully boy Ed Case now snivels because others “tear you down”

(Ed Case, running out of money, cries to his supporters at KITV, co-authors of the bogus Democrat-larded poll….)

HONOLULU -- Ed Case was front-runner in KITV-4-Honolulu Star Bulletin's recent poll, the first of the election year, which he said has made him a target in the race to fill the remainder of U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie's congressional term.

"The negative of being the front-runner (in the bogus poll my media friends did for me) is you are going to get attacked," he said. "People have to turn the campaign negative against you in order to advance. They are going to try to tear you down. I am not looking forward to that.” (Snif, tears rolling down eyes….First Ed Case was the first to go negative, calling Hanabusa “clueless” as well as ignorant and disrespectful—now he is crying and pretending to be a little angel… Good thing Charles Djou is standing above the angry and petty little fray.)

Political analyst Neal Milner said negative campaigning could hurt both Case and Hanabusa because voter studies show negative campaigning can make voters ambivalent.

"It isn’t so much that they switch to the other candidate," he said. "They don't vote. The turnout gets suppressed."

Milner said Republican Djou could benefit from voter ambivalence if his voters go to the polls in big numbers in the winner-take-all special election.

(Which disturbs one-party hack Milner immensely.)

Anti-Lingle furlough propaganda ads source identified

Voice for Learning was a co-sponsor of two ads that were broadcast on local stations the week of Jan. 25.

Bill Gaeth, vice president of sales for KITV-4, said that the 30-second ads that appeared on his station, primarily during newscasts, did name the sponsors at the end of each message: "Hawaii's Future Was Furloughed" and "Stop Furlough Fridays."

Save Our Schools Hawaii was a co-sponsor on both ads, while Hawaii Education Matters was a sponsor only on the "Stop Furlough Fridays" ad.

~~Bad economy~~ Rich lobbyist’s campaign contributions boosts interest in gambling

A massive state budget deficit and an ailing economy have inspired lawmakers to introduce more than a dozen bills that legalize gambling in Hawaii, revitalizing interest in what lobbyist John Radcliffe said "ain't a new idea."

What is new, however, is the variety and volume of the bills in the Legislature. There is also a new energy surrounding them, according to those who have tracked gambling bills for decades.

"We're in trouble with all of them," said Dianne Kay, president of the Hawaii Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. Since 2002, she added, "there hasn't been this kind of momentum." After two bills whipped through committees in the state House last week, she's "hoping the Senate won't be so enthusiastic."

Radcliffe, a vigorous proponent of legalized gambling and a lobbyist since 1976, also has noticed a difference.

SB: Just say no to gambling

Hawaii may delay payments to Quest health plan

The state Department of Human Services has warned health insurance companies that the state may not make payments for Quest — the state's health plan for low-income families — for the last quarter of the fiscal year, leaving insurers to absorb about $300 million in medical expenses until at least July.

The potential delay in payments has stunned insurers and alarmed health care providers, who worry a delay could jeopardize the ability of insurers to cover claims, which would cause cash flow problems and influence how some providers care for Quest members.

(Obamacare is modeled on Hawaii’s system. This is a mirror into the future Obamacare would have brought us. Thank God for the people of Massachusetts and Scott Brown.)

ADV: State needs push to get jobs on fast track

…when a congressional panel ranks Hawai'i low for speed of spending stimulus funds, the inescapable conclusion is: We're just too slow at this. In its November study of spending on highways and bridges, for example, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure ranked Hawai'i 48th….

…there is much room for improvement, and it's up to the leadership in this state to help Hawai'i clean up its act.

Here are two ways:

• Push sluggish state agencies to take full advantage of Act 150, which streamlined procurement procedures for ARRA contracts.

• Consider centralizing the state's procurement function to make it more efficient and professional — a key recommendation from a task force convened to "reinvent government" to cope with the fiscal crisis.

Environmental review: HRS 343 remains a legal quagmire

Some recent cases have changed the landscape. Ohana Pale imposed 343 on top of other state requirements. In Superferry, the Legislature sought to avoid 343. And in Koa Ridge, the state Supreme Court extended the use of government land as a 343 "trigger." The latest issue, in Turtle Bay, involves the shelf life of a 343 document.

These cases were catalysts for Act 1 in 2008, in which the Legislature appropriated $300,000 to the University of Hawai'i to do a comprehensive report on how to fix 343. This is the first time in 20 years that 343 will have been revised.

Karl Kim of the Urban Planning Center, Denise Antolini of the law school and Peter Rappa of the environmental center are the principal investigators. They submitted a report to the Legislature in January, along with a proposed bill. This was introduced as SB 2185 and HB 2398.

Some environmental planners are disappointed with the report and don't think it will solve the problems in 343. They also feel that the UH team didn't sufficiently reach out to developers, landowners and affected industries.

(It was handed off to UH and somebody is surprised to discover that this means the enviros have hijacked the process? Don’t these people know what UH IS?

Charter Conversion: Laupahoehoe school's fate mulled by parents, employees

Rural Hawaii school targeted for closure and failing under NCLB voting to liberate itself from its oppressors and become a charter school.

On Wednesday, ballots can be turned in at the Laupahoehoe public library between 12:30 and 7 p.m. Workers expect to have a final tally by 8 p.m., barring any irregularities….

Hawaii Senate cuts costs by reducing paper usage

Two years since the paperless project began, the Senate recently reported its first savings estimate: more than $1.2 million, nearly 8 million pages and the equivalent of more than 800 trees.

(So now they are going to ban plastic bags—thus forcing the use of paper bags.)

Hilo sort station: Late but not over budget (now all they need is a purpose for the $9.3M building)

HILO -- It's years behind schedule, but it won't be over budget.

That's what county officials say about a $9.3 million refuse reload facility slated to be completed this month near the Hilo landfill.

The facility was originally planned as a transfer station to load East Hawaii garbage to transport to the West Hawaii landfill in Puuanahulu.

But now that a method that allows higher and steeper filling has extended the life of the Hilo landfill, the facility is being considered for a recycling center for commercial waste. That use would be enhanced by a commercial recycling tip fee and a ban on commercial recyclables in the landfill, according to a staff report by Solid Waste Division Chief Michael Dworsky.

Design work on the 20,000-square-foot facility began in 2003, but changes mandated by the Hawaii County Council slowed completion. It was originally scheduled for completion in April 2007 and then May 2009.

Six Hawaii Co. Councilmembers pull re-election papers in first week

Puna Councilwoman Emily Naeole-Beason hasn't pulled her nomination papers yet, but she does intend to run for re-election, her staff said. Naeole-Beason already faces two likely challengers for her District 5 seat: Hilo resident Loren Logan Baker and Keaau resident James Weatherford. Naeole-Beason starts the year with a negative campaign balance of $309, according to her campaign finance report.

Freshman Councilman Guy Enriques, of Pahala, plans to seek re-election for his District 6 seat and faces likely competition from Brittany Smart, of Hilo. Enriques starts the campaign with $818 in his account.

Neither South Kona Councilwoman Brenda Ford nor North Kona Councilman Kelly Greenwell have pulled nomination papers for their districts, nor had any likely challengers signed up for papers by Friday.

Ford said she plans on running…

Greenwell had terminated his campaign account immediately following his 2008 election to the District 8 seat.

He said Friday that he's holding off pulling nomination papers to see if he can get his major goals accomplished before the end of his first term.

"I will probably stay in the game for a while longer," Greenwell said. "I feel a sense of obligation."

Wait list for Maui water meter is challenged

Most of the other owners obtained meters and built homes. Davis' lot is now assessed by the Real Property Division at $533,900. But without water, the suit says, the true value is only a fraction of that.

That's the basis of the claim that the government took part of the value of Davis' property by its "arbitrary and unfair rule-making and selective enforcement."

In an interview, Fosbinder said a recent 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision on takings concerning a Lake Tahoe development moratorium "seems to invite" a challenge. But because of the seeming uncertainties, this part of the suit would likely go to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, if he can get the District Court to recognize jurisdiction.

As for the other claims in the suit, Fosbinder believes the law is more firmly settled on the issues of procedural due process (the claim that the county's water regulatory process is a sham); substantive due process (the claim that there is no legitimate state interest in using water meters to limit growth Upcountry); and equal protection.

(It is amazing to see what happens when real laws are applied to common practice in Hawaii.)

The history of county water in Kula is one of shortages during droughts and controversy about who, if anyone, could have a meter. Fosbinder begins the regulatory history well after Davis bought his land in 1977.

Council OKs countywide plan, housing bills

Council Member Mike Victorino said the policy plan was amended Friday to include a provision that recognizes the importance of the tourism industry to the local economy.

The work force housing bill amendment is the first of perhaps several adjustments that the County Council will consider making to the 2006 ordinance.

Friday's bill reduces to at least 25 percent the number of affordable homes a developer would be required to build in a new subdivision.

That's down from the 40 percent requirement in the current ordinance. The amendment applies only to projects in which the planned market-rate homes are estimated to fetch $600,000 or less on the open market.

The average single-family home on Maui sold for $719,993 last year.

Families say they'll sue Kauai County over demolition

The Native Hawaiian land owners were not able to secure the TRO in time to prevent a county bulldozer from destroying one structure Thursday that has been on the property for years, said Eleanor "Lady" Haumea and Deilon Haumea.

Their families share ownership of the beach-front land, around a third of an acre, and said more legal action is forthcoming.

Beth Tokioka, executive assistant to Mayor Bernard P. Carvalho Jr., said Friday the county stands by its Thursday actions.

"We stand behind the due diligence we did," and the county is fulfilling its responsibilities to take care of its lands, she said.

"If we're in the wrong about where the (property) line is, our door is open to the Haumeas to show us otherwise," said Tokioka, adding that county surveyors determined the demolished structures were on county land, not private property.

Church leader may be deported

Although Villamor Yasay's 1993 conviction for forcibly fondling an 11-year-old girl was erased from state court records in 2007, Yasay is on the verge of being deported to the Philippines for the offense.

A husband and father of three children, leader of the Bible Baptist Church in Kalihi and a longtime employee of a Honolulu charity, Yasay has been held without bail in a federal jail cell here since October 2007 while the deportation proceedings have been pending against him.

He should become a gay rights activist. Then he could get a job at the legislature: Child molester back at work at Hawaii Legislature

American Samoa, after the tsunami

Villages were flattened in American Samoa, like they were in Haiti. But the magnitude, geography and death toll are big reasons why Haiti got so much attention, even though plenty of people in Samoa are still sleeping in tents.

The pleas are obvious. A homemade flag in a yard in American Samoa reads 'we need help'.

"They're still waiting, and they're living in FEMA tents. It's very sad," said Malia Chanel-Benjamin.