Food, Flowers, Furniture: Ethics Commission to Look at Legislators Million Dollar Slush Fund
VIDEO: Rough Seas for Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie's Obamacare Exchange
Will State Lose $800M in Fed Funding Due to Governor Abercrombie?
Hawaii Candidates: Beware of the Hawaii Center for Food Safety Questionnaire
Waitlisted patients cost Hawaii Hospitals $62.7M
NFIB Hawaii 2014 Legislative Wrap-up
Eligible? Hawaii Ranks 49th in Welfare Participation
Special Session Creates Opportunities in Politics
Borreca: The election needle twitched this week with a number of Republican candidates taking aim at legislators who were strong supporters of gay marriage during last year's special session.
And there was also at least one case of a Democratic incumbent against same-sex marriage picking up a bevy of pro-same-sex marriage challengers....
The arguments had a polarizing character. Opponents were not only against the bill, they felt that the end result was predetermined and the people's will was ignored.
Of course, one could argue that the end result was guaranteed: The Legislature did not go into special session because it didn't want to enact same-sex marriage.
Opportunities in politics are what you make of them. So if someone feels hurt, misunderstood and disrespected, politics will provide people to bind the wounds and spread the salve.
In this case, the EMTs are arriving in a GOP ambulance.
"The special session was a display of the larger issue of our state government not serving the interests of the majority of people in Hawaii," says Dylan Nonaka, a local Republican strategist....
It was Thielen's vote for gay marriage in the judiciary committee that guaranteed the bill would make it to the floor for a vote....
read ... Same-sex marriage issue draws primary candidates
Homosexuals Hope to Ride Hee into Lt Governor's Office
CB: The mis-named Equality Hawaii Action Fund, a nonpartisan political action committee “dedicated to electing pro-equality (sic) candidates in the state,” has lent its support to Neil Abercrombie for governor and Clayton Hee for lieutenant governor.
That’s not a big surprise. Abercrombie called the special session last fall to pass same-sex marriage legislation, and Hee introduced the bill that made it possible.
Equality (sic) Hawaii Action Fund said in a press release today, “No governor of the state of Hawaii has done more to advance the cause of equality dominance for the state’s LGBT community than Neil Abercrombie.”
As for Hee, here’s what Jacce Mikulanec, the group’s co-chair, had to say: “Clayton Hee deserves to be the next lieutenant governor. He has dedicated his life to public our service (and that Sandwich Isles thingy and Broken Trust) and in so doing, has found himself at the forefront of Hawaii’s civil rights history war on religious freedom.”
Meanwhile: Here's a handy mailer for anybody who wants to know the real Clayton Hee
read ... Bow Before your gay lords
‘Hawaii thinks it’s progressive, but it’s not’
CB: Geminiani loves Hawaii, but says that for all its beauty, the state mistreats its poor people.
“Hawaii thinks it’s progressive, but it’s not,” he said, rattling off statistics to underscore his point: first in the nation for homelessness, 48th as of 2011 for participation in the federal food stamp program by eligible residents, fourth-highest for taxes on poor people.
read ... ‘Hawaii thinks it’s progressive, but it’s not’
801: Abercrombie Admin Fails to Protect Historic Resources
SA: The state has earned a well-deserved slap from a state Circuit Court judge, whose ruling in a lawsuit Friday demonstrated that the Abercrombie administration has failed to grasp its obligations to protect historic resources, even with an extensive record of law and judicial decisions to inform it.
The lawsuit challenged the development of the twin high-rise residential towers dubbed 801 South Street, and was filed by the apartment owners' association from the neighboring Royal Capitol Plaza....
Two state agencies are bound to enforce the law: HCDA and the Department of Land and Natural Resources, through its State Historic Preservation Division. Neither of them did.
The court found that the partial demolition of the former Honolulu Advertiser press building happened without SHPD consultation, and the permit was issued without the archaeological inventory survey, a study mandated by law to minimize disturbance of Hawaiian burials.
What's most astonishing in the sequence of events laid out in court documents is the about-face by William Aila, DLNR director. In a letter sent to the developer Oct. 9, Aila said an AIS was required. But a few days before HCDA granted the permit on Dec. 4, Aila wrote to HCDA Executive Director Anthony Ching and said SHPD agreed to HCDA's plan to mitigate any archaeological impacts without doing the survey.
That kind of mixed signal casts doubt on the fairness and transparency of the process, further eroding public faith in two agencies that frequently come under fire.
read ... Star-Adv Editorial
Recertification visit stirs up residents' anger toward DOT
SA: During a public-comment meeting at the state Capitol on Thursday, Oahu residents vented long-standing frustrations with DOT, describing the agency as unresponsive to public feedback on various transportation issues and projects.
"State DOT has been a nonplayer in this process. They undermine the process and it's been very unfortunate," Al Frenzel, a member of OMPO's Citizen Advisory Committee, told the federal delegation Thursday of DOT's involvement with OMPO. The group's members include elected officials and transportation agency heads.
Frenzel said he would rather OMPO lose its certification because "the state needs ... a wake-up call. If this process certifies that everything is going great in Hawaii, then nothing is going to improve."
Waianae resident Rodlyn Brown said she and others on the Leeward Coast want to ensure that realigning Farrington Highway mauka of Makaha Beach Park by 2035 remains a transportation priority. However, Brown said, DOT hasn't responded to their concerns, and they fear the realignment might be undermined by an agency plan to build two new bridges at the site....
Oahu residents can provide written comments on the OMPO recertification until July 3 by emailing elizabeth.fischer@dot.gov.
Federal transportation officials say they'll have a preliminary report out on the recertification, featuring "action items" for various agencies and due dates to complete them, later this summer.
read ... Recertification
Gabbard: Obama Taliban Deal Puts Price on Head of American Soldiers
KHON: “The concern really lies in the deal that was struck. It is not a deal that I would have struck myself,” she said. “It’s sets a dangerous precedence to say that we, the United States, now negotiates with terrorists and it really puts the price on the head of Americans whether civilian or military around the world. So this is a very big decision that was made that will have longstanding impact.”
read ... Obama and Taliban are both Happy
Drug Dealer Complains About Police before Hawaii Supreme Court
HNN: A group of Big Island marijuana advocates will have a chance to argue before the State Supreme Court for more lenient pot laws.
The group, led by medical marijuana user (convicted drug dealer) Michael Ruggles, has filed suit claiming Big Island police are not following a voter approved initiative that makes pot possession the lowest law enforcement priority.
County attorneys have argued that state law trumps the Big Island ordinance, and several judges have agreed. But the State Supreme Court has decided to take up the case, which advocates already consider a big victory....
Video: Police, Ruggles, Weed
PDF: Michael Ruggles Criminal Transcript
read ... State Supreme Court to hear argument for more lenient marijuana laws
Health Insurance Confusion for Hawaii’s Small Businesses?
CB: We will answer questions from business owners, managers and human resource personnel about small business health insurance options at our upcoming “Let’s Talk SHOP” forum on June 6 from 12-1 p.m. Join us at the Department of Commerce and Consumers Affairs, located at 335 Merchant Street, or watch it live online at www.ustream.tv/channel/hawaiiidcca.
read ... Answers
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