Ethics

"...very difficult and demanding challenge,” said Mayor Rick Blangiardi....

... A Bank of Hawaii officer oversaw major UH investment management contracts after dropping a $1000 contribution into Governor David Ige’s 2018 reelection campaign ....

... analysis of county procurement records shows that since 2012, Choy’s firm received more than 40 non-bid Maui County contracts valued at around $20 million ....

... many government watchdog entities appear to have been willfully ignoring, or even tacitly approving, some of Hawaii’s most egregious corruption scandals, according to Randy Roth ....

... there is a line item for renting four 480-square-foot units from the Four Seasons for nearly $300,000 a year ....

... Here are some examples of “Red Flag” disbursements by OHA and the concerns raised by CLA ....

... in excess of $579,000 once fringe benefits are factored in ....

... ZAED lost the majority of its supervisory personnel in 2021, and only one has been filled as of January 2022 ....

... According the a July 18, 2022 letter from the US Department of Education, EGCC was illegally looting Pell Grant money to provide ‘free’ tuition ....

... defendants misappropriated a significant portion of the funds to pay for psychics and recreational drugs ....

... information about a candidate’s sources of income; business ownership interests; officer or director positions in businesses; debts; real property interests; clients represented before state agencies; and creditor interests in an insolvent business ....

... The University of Hawaii Manoa invited at least two CI staff to remain on campus ....

... Where did this money come from? ....

... the indictment alleges Rudo solicited and accepted multiple bribes and kickbacks from Sulla, Zamber and Budhabhatti ....

... Taxpayer losses are in the billions.  Now they are grabbing for public employees’ retirement fund.  How much will retirees lose? ....

... District 21 incumbent state Sen. Maile Shimabukuro, District 44 incumbent state Rep. Cedric Gates and District 44 challenger Darius Kila ....

... A number of talented staff have left the museum in recent months, many citing a toxic work environment ....

... Hawai‘i Small Business Capital Program (HI-CAP) Collateral Support Program, designed to assist borrowers in obtaining financing that might otherwise be unavailable due to a collateral shortfall ....

... Over the course of two minutes, the defendants punched and kicked the inmate in the head and body while he was lying face-down in a pool of his own blood. The inmate suffered a broken nose, jaw and eye socket ....

... tip of the iceberg ....

... Bodycam video of Matt Lopresti getting arested for DUI (again) ....

... HB 1147 originally started out as a capital improvements project bill in 2021, but this year lawmakers removed the projects and replaced them with operating appropriations for HTA ....

... the Commission hereby recommends to the Board Member’s Appointing Authority that the Board Member should be removed from the Board ....

“...Rajesh Budhabhatti is a subject of a public corruption/wire fraud case....”

... Kaneshiro was on paid leave for two years ....

... is the protection of ‘FOP’ (friends and family of the police) so ingrained in the force that they need not hear directly from Joe Logan to know that they should let his meth addict son off the hook again and again? ....

... Securities fraud, insider trading, $26.7 M in hidden executive stock awards?  Yes.  Hawaii’s high-tech tax credit schemers are at it again ....

... Council Dist 2: Makua Rothman vs convicted cocaine dealer Chad Tsuneyoshi ....

... How much money will Hawaii private school boards be willing to pay lawyers for the ‘privilege’ of pushing this latest pseudo-intellectual academic fad on their students? ....

... “Symbolic of Widespread Corruption in Hawaii” ....

... overtime cards, which document overtime requests and approval for payroll purposes, are managed manually, increasing the risk for human error, abuse, and fraud ....

... Governor David Ige re-appointed Wesley Fong to a new four-year term on the Hawai‘i State Ethics Commission, and appointed Dr. Robert Hong to fill a seat soon to be vacated by outgoing Commissioner Melinda Wood ....

... According to an on-line biography, “Neguse and his wife Andrea live in Lafayette, CO, where they are raising their young daughter, Natalie.” ....

... 8 of the 14 bills identified by Commission were adopted by 2022 Legislature ....

... Common Cause Hawaii 2022 Legislative Wrap-Up ....

... The Hawaii State Legislature has passed the following bills and resolution concerning the Uniform Information Practices Act (UIPA) and Sunshine Law ....

... Kahele was picked for the Senate by the best friend of a double murderer.  A bribery convict helped him "transition to the State Senate", a friend of Katherine Kealoha works for him, and Honolulu's unindicted mayor made way for his Gubernatorial campaign ....

... Is there a public safety hazard?  DPP’s Michael Silva can’t say ....

... the draft report upon which our comments were based was missing findings, had numerous placeholders, and was missing complete sections altogether ....

"... to provide valuable data on the purchase of residential real estate by persons possibly involved in various illicit enterprises ...."

... What do these three multi billion dollar failures have in common? ....

... OHA LLCs make hundreds of payments to Amazon, Best Buy, Home Depot and other retail outlets and hundreds of payments directly to named individuals ....

... a statutory exemption to Hawaii’s open records law ....

... Two Leaders Of ‘We Build The Wall’ Online Fundraising Campaign Plead Guilty To Defrauding Hundreds Of Thousands Of Donors ....

... Federal Jury Convicts Big Island Pain Doctor Rudolph B. Puana of Conspiracy and Distribution of Oxycodone and Fentanyl ....

... Kahele is cosponsoring legislation and taking action as a committee member that directly affects his outside employer, which is further evidenced by Hawaiian Airlines lobbying on the bills Kahele cosponsored ....

... FDIC-supervised institutions’ prices equal or surpass payday lenders’ in Hawaii ....

... When a couple of penny-stock touts, one of whom is listed in the Panama Papers, team up to sell timber futures and carbon credits what does the Legislature do? ....

... Karamatsu Bonds have been a legislative perennial ever since he got two DUI’s while spiraling down from Vice Speaker of the House to working in Keith Kaneshiro’s corruption-riddled Honolulu Prosecutor’s office and promoting rave parties ....

... auditors found 20% of case files where the state, FBI, and/or child abuse and neglect clearances were missing ....