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Sunday, August 5, 2012
August 5, 2012 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 3:28 PM :: 5415 Views

Dependency Creates Apathy, the Beginning of the Downward Spiral

Union Leaders Seeking Candidate to Oppose Abercrombie

Borreca: Call it the Abercrombie Conundrum: How does someone amass $2.1 million in campaign donations while earning thumbs down from a majority of the voters? (Simple: Pay for Play. Even though they hate Neil, they pony up because if they don’t they’ll be out of business.)

The veteran Democrat is moving into the second half of his first term as governor with the solid disapproval of 51 percent of voters, according to the new Hawaii Poll, taken by Ward Research for the Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now.

Abercrombie's smallest disapproval rating is 43 percent, coming from those who usually vote Democratic. But he has also earned the hostility of union voters, as 59 percent say he hasn't done a good job.

Last year, a mainland-based polling firm, Public Policy Polling, had Abercrombie as the least-liked governor in the nation with a 56 percent disapproval rating, and only 30 percent of those surveyed approving of Abercrombie's leadership.

The new poll reports that just 43 percent approve of Abercrombie's job performance….

ALTHOUGH he turned 74 in June, Abercrombie has given no indication that he won't run for a second term. The money raised in the last two years is listed as being for the 2014 governor's campaign.

Union leaders privately have said they would like to put up a candidate against Abercrombie in two years, but have been frustrated in their attempts at recruiting someone with the ability to win against an incumbent.

Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz has been a big team player and is not considered a likely opponent….

Abercrombie's supporters understand that their candidate is not winning any popularity contests, but understand that a big bank account builds the strong castle walls.

read … Least liked Governor raises Millions

Environmental impact assessment begins after battery storage fire

KITV: Department of Health emergency response team has been assigned to assess the environmental impact of a battery storage fire in Kahuku. The 9,000 square foot warehouse owned by First Wind burned early Wednesday morning. The fire has since been contained….

DOH will require the company to conduct tests to see if any contamination may have occurred from the fire and if so, work with the company on a remediation plan.

"The first step would be to characterize the site, which would require sampling, throughout the area or wherever there may have been an impact," said Gary Gill, with the Department of Health. "Then we identify if there has been a contaminate."

Gill says it is still early in the evaluation process and there is no deadline on when the clean up will need to be completed.

KITV Video: Green Energy Company goes up in flames

KITV VIDEO: “Lead–Acid Batteries

HNN: Kahuku wind farm fire spreads concerns over future projects

As Predicted in 2010: Xtreme Power: A Pig-in-a-poke For Hawaii Wind Farm

Read … Danger to Our Communities

Biofuel: Led by Crackpots, Inouye, HECO, Landowners Grab for Ratepayer Dollars

SA: Hawaii's U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee chairman, who said on Tuesday that "we do have funding" for the Navy's biofuels program…. (Only Solution: Republican majority next year.)

The House voted 326-90 last month to cut $70 million requested by the Obama administration for domestic development of biofuels production for use in submarines and Navy destroyers. Just Thursday in the Senate, though, Inouye's Appropriations Defense subcommittee approved legislation to continue the Pentagon's use of biofuels…. (Will it survive conference? Doubtful.)

"We think that the much more reasonable future for ground transportation is in electric vehicles rather than in trying to convert the American automobile fleet from gasoline to diesel so that biodiesel could be used in those cars," said Peter Rosegg, HECO's spokesman on the subject. (CRACKPOT IDEA #1)

However, the use described by Rosegg essentially consists of providing electricity to recharge the batteries of electric cars during periods, such as overnight, when other sources of electricity may be unreliable.

Jeff Mikulina, executive director of Blue Planet Foundation, said use of biofuel in that fashion would get in the way of the long-term effort to replace oil as Hawaii's major source of electricity with wind, hydro, solar and geothermal energy.

"Having a policy preference for biofuel produced in Hawaii," Mikulina said, "the first use should be transportation and, if there are leftover products, use that for electricity. If a utility gobbles up that supply, we're going to be up a creek for the transportation side." (CRACKPOT IDEA #2)

Mikulina added that a state policy to clarify a "preference for biofuels would help prevent solving one energy problem at the expense of another. (They finally decide ‘do everything’ is not policy. How predictable.)

"That actually has been our position. We support that concept," said Mark Glick, director of the state Energy Office…. (This means that wind and solar have got their fill and a new group of scammers is coming.)

HECO completed construction two years ago of the 110-megawatt Campbell Industrial Park Generating Station, touted as the world's largest commercial generator fueled entirely by biodiesel. The biodiesel is processed from cooking oil and waste animal fat from slaughter houses by an Iowa company. The electric company pays more than what oil costs, Rosegg said….

The venture is important for Hawaii, Rosegg added, because of a "near-term goal" of using only local biofuel in the plant, "and that keeps the money at home, it avoids paying these huge shipping charges and all the rest." HECO has signed three local contracts and expects to be signing more.

And just Thursday, Hawaiian Electric Light Co., a HECO subsidiary, asked the Public Utilities Commission to reconsider its rejection last year of a surcharge of Oahu and Maui customers for the expense of using biofuel to feed a power plant on Hawaii island. The proposed 20-year contract is with Aina Koa Pono, a new company (with old cronies) that would convert a variety of plants and crops into a liquid fuel to replace fossil fuel at HELCO's power plant near Kailua-Kona.

The electric company also is under a 20-year agreement with Maui Land & Pineapple Co., Grove Farm Co. and Kamehameha Schools to use biofuel crops from Kauai land to burn at HECO's Kahe power plant along Oahu's Farrington Highway. The price for the biofuel goes up "a tiny bit for inflation" over the length of the contract, Rosegg said, adding, "We know we can get that product at a fixed price for the next 20 years. Now, if you could do that with oil, you would be a very rich man." (Or bankrupt, if the price of oil drops.)

…"The ideal biofuel project would not be too dissimilar from a regular refinery," Mikulina added, "where you put in crude oil and you get out gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and the stuff that the utility burns. A project that would produce all those products would be ideal, but when they start designing only to produce biodiesel, only for use in the power plant, then I think there's an opportunity cost in doing that." (The Biofool Scammers Want to take Tesoro.)

Related: AKP Demands $1/month from Oahu, Big Isle Ratepayers

Gonna get worse: UH-Hilo utilities cost nearly $5.5M

read … Complete list of criminals with hands in your pocket

Abercrombie Admin Renews Pledge to Gut Prepaid Healthcare Act

(Skip two paragraphs about how bad Texas is)

(Then skip 7 paragraphs about how great Obamacare is. And finally, THE POINT!)

We recognize that there are some inconsistencies between the provisions of the ACA and Hawaii's Prepaid Healthcare Act. We are working with experts internal to state government and outside to compile the best thinking on reconciling the two. While federal law supersedes state regulation, we believe we have built up some best practices and gotten some protections for Prepaid that will help us succeed.

This administration is determined to ensure that every Hawaii resident receives the care that the ACA provides, and we are proud to be leading the great health care revolution currently under way.

(Translation: You’re gonna lose your insurance and be forced onto Medicaid.)

As Explained: Health Insurance? No need: Abercrombie promises to dump Prepaid Health Care Act

read … ‘Revolution

Licensed Pawnbroker Was Four-Time Convicted Felon, Burglar

KITV: Warner's Careful Concepts pawn shop is located inside the Hawaiian Monarch Hotel in Waikiki.

Warner was convicted of four felonies, including burglary. HPD says it will seek new legislation, similar to Florida's pawn shop laws, which require operators to input all pawn items into a computerized system.

Warner faces eight felony charges, each carrying a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Hilo: For some reason, Police raid Three Gambling Dens Operating Openly

Read … How did this guy get a license?

HSTA Position Makes no Sense

SA: The executive director of the Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) repeatedly claims that the state must now accept a contract offer that HSTA held a ratification vote on, after it rejected the same offer more than six months earlier.

As an attorney who has practiced labor and employment law in Hawaii for more than 30 years representing employers in many negotiations, I have tried to understand HSTA's position — but it makes no sense….

HSTA chief Wil Okabe acknowledges the teachers had rejected the same offer. As they teach you the first year in law school, "Offer + Acceptance = Contract." But "Offer + Rejection = No contract," and rejection makes that offer invalid. It really is that simple.

It is no different than if you try to sell your car for $1,000: someone offers you $800, and you say no, I want $1,000. That $800 offer is off the table; you cannot come back months later and "accept" it. I do not see any difference between that and what HSTA is doing here. HSTA knew before it held the vote that the offer was not on the table because the governor expressly said that its rejection acted to extinguish the offer.

read … Translation: Okabe is a moron leading an army of morons

Big Isle mayor's race could last until fall

SA: The Hawaii County mayor's race took a dramatic turn when retired mayor and civil defense chief Harry Kim, known for his voice of calm during impending disasters, made an 11th-hour bid against one of his former executive assistants, Mayor Billy Kenoi.

What had essentially been a two-man race — with the heavily funded incumbent pitted against Council Chairman Dominic Yagong, 52, of Hamakua — now is wide open, political observers say, likely with no clear winner in the primary, forcing a runoff in the general….

While Kenoi has the public worker union endorsements, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, Yagong has the support of pensioners.

One of the starkest contrasts between the candidates is in campaign contributions.

Kim has resumed his low-key style, limiting donations to $10, doing his own radio spots, and has dug out his 2000 campaign sign.

As of June 30, he received $1,420, compared with Kenoi's $388,249, which Kenoi acknowledges comes mostly from outside the county, from Oahu fundraisers and from friends in Hono­lulu and Washington, D.C.

Yagong, who has raised $15,060 as of June 30, says, unlike Kenoi, he is a political outsider, not beholden to anyone, and doesn't seek endorsements.

"I'm a forceful guy," Kenoi countered. "Nobody has walked in and exercised any influence on me."

Reality: Malu Motta: “I need one governor so he can pardon me.”

read … Runoff Forced

McDermott Faces Six Democrats for HD40

SA: Six Democrats are vying for their party's nomination and the right to challenge the lone Republican candidate, Bob McDermott, executive director of the Hono­lulu Council of the Navy League, in the general election.

Asked why so many are running in District 40 for the $46,272-a-year job, candidate Romy Mindo had an easy answer: "No incumbents."

The new District 40 lies to the east of Fort Weaver Road and includes the communities of Ewa by Gentry, West Loch and Iroquois Point. The Navy's West Loch ammunition area is farther east, along with undeveloped federal land.

The Democratic candidates also include Kurt Fevella, Chris Mana­bat, Rose Martinez, Sam Pule­tasi and Joseph Ratt­ner.

The city clerk's office says there are 11,230 registered voters in the district.

The district leans Republican and is seen as a chance by the GOP to maintain its presence in the Demo­cratic-dominated Legislature….

McDermott, 48, the Republican candidate, who served three terms as a state representative, said the biggest problem facing the district is its older schools, which are "in desperate need of renovation and detailed repair and maintenance."

He said the area needs the housing that Ho‘o­pili would provide.

"I support it," McDermott said. "I've got eight kids. I want them to live here."

McDermott said Hawaii should not have legalized gambling because of the state's efforts to brand itself "as the land of aloha and creating a Hawaiian sense of place as we celebrate the host culture and the spirit of our people."

Gambling would bring a "crassness" to that image, he said.

read … Mc Dermott

HD11: Fontaine vs Bush League Carpetbagger?

Keith-Agaran is ‘Underdog’ Because Opponent not Tainted by Union Endorsements, Contributors

MN: Pontanilla isn't just being outspent and left lagging behind in campaign contributions. He also has no union endorsements, he acknowledged last week.

Meanwhile, Keith-Agaran said he has the endorsement of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (agricultural and hotel workers); the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers; the Hawaii Government Employees Association; the Hawaii State Teachers Association; the United Public Workers, the Hawaii AFL-CIO; the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly (university professors); and the support of the plumbers union, operating engineers, iron workers, teamsters, laborers and the Building and Construction Trade Council. And, Keith-Agaran has the backing of the Sierra Club, as part of its "Green Slate" of candidates.

So, with an impressive collection of endorsements, an overflowing campaign war chest and the benefit of being a two-term incumbent, one might think Keith-Agaran would be confident of retaining his seat.

But, actually, he's worried.

"I'm definitely the underdog," he said in an interview last week.

Keith-Agaran said Pontanilla has better name recognition and is such a strong candidate that someone suggested the state lawmaker consider running for Pontanilla's Kahului council seat.

read … Albatross

UH should detail how it spends donations

SA: Much of the funding seems fairly straight- forward, such as nearly $17 million for student aid and $10.5 million for property, buildings and equipment.

However, more than $20 million — nearly one-third of this year's foundation contribution to the university — goes to "faculty and academic support" and research.

More than $10 million is funneled to "special programs" and "program enrichment."

How the money is specifically spent in those broad categories has been unclear in the past. …

The faculty Senate Executive Committee was "stonewalled" last year in trying to obtain that information, professor Amarjit Singh, then president of the engineering college's Faculty Senate, wrote a year ago.

The Star-Advertiser had found that engineering Dean Peter Crouch, overseer of his department's account, had used $42,000 in foundation funds over two years to take nearly 30 college-related trips to the mainland, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore and the neighbor islands.

Further, Crouch eliminated a long-standing policy allowing professors to use foundation funds to take annual academic trips….

A dozen athletic booster clubs, including Na Koa Football Club, raise money for various UH sports, and the UH Foundation's funding this year includes $5.6 million in athletic support.

Related: Broken Trust Freitas, Greenwood Use Wonder Debacle to Cement Control of Manoa Campus

Related: Executive compensation at UC: MRC Greenwood and the $871 million dollar secret

read … Donations

Hawaii forces in Afghanistan fly 3500 hours / wk

SA: Halfway through what is currently the largest deployment to Afghanistan by Hawaii troops, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade soldiers and helicopters are flying 3,500 hours a week as the United States continues a troop drawdown that will leave 68,000 American service members in the country by October.

Brigade commander Col. Frank Tate, recently back in Hawaii for rest and recuperation leave, said his soldiers are flying 3,000 hours a month more than the helicopter unit they replaced -- and that's saving lives.

"It means that there's infantrymen that are able to fly over the (improvised explosive devices) and land at the objective rather than have to walk or drive through potential IED (zones)," Tate said last week.

About 2,600 Hawaii-based soldiers are on the deployment.

According to one recent poll, two of three Americans believe the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting, and the United States is moving to conclude its combat presence at the end of 2014.

Hawaii Marines with the 3rd Marine Regiment at Kaneohe Bay have stopped deploying to Afghanistan and instead are concentrating on the Pacific -- the new center of gravity for the Pentagon.

read … Largest Deployment


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