Renegades, Risks and Rewards of the Napali Coast
How Protesters cause decline in Hawaii agriculture
MN: …Uncertainty amongst farmers and prospective investors has also risen with the fall of HC&S, increased regulations and the growing influence of protesters on Maui. This has caused uncertainty about the future, which affects the overall willingness to invest in otherwise good projects. As protesters on Maui promote initiatives that would violate property rights, the potential investor becomes hesitant about the future and decides against taking a risk.
The unfortunate fact is that many of the policies that groups promote to save agriculture are the very policies that may end up hurting agriculture even more. For example, a new initiative that would seize agricultural lands via eminent domain and redistribute these lands for exclusively organic farming is a clear violation of property rights, and would likely destroy Maui's agricultural economy.….
read … Kelii Akina
SB3024: Lobbyist Ethics Task Force Killed off in Smoke Filled Room
ILind: …At the Congressional level, lobbyists are supposed to register if they spend 20% of their time lobbying for a client, or make two or more contacts with legislators, their staff, or certain executive agency officials.
The article refers to this 20% criteria as “reasonably easy to get around.”
The same seems to be true of Hawaii’s lobbying law, which defines a lobbyist as someone who is paid and spends at least a certain amount of time and/or money lobbying.
It’s widely recognized that Hawaii’s lobbyist law is a mess. The State Ethics Commission has publicly discussed the problems of enforcing the law’s requirements on several occasions. Unfortunately, SB3024, which would have provided funding for a task force to review the lobbyist provisions, appears to have died in conference….
read … Sunlight Foundation looks at unregistered lobbyists
Honolulu Ethics Commission: And Then There Were None
SA: And then there were none. That seems to be the course we are on with respect to the staff for the Honolulu Ethics Commission, and frankly I can’t blame any of them for leaving.
The Ethics Commission is woefully understaffed, underfunded and micromanaged, and while it performs a vital city service, it’s mostly a thankless job….
Chuck Totto has been the commission’s executive director for nearly two decades, but the relationship with the city administration started changing after the commission investigated Mayor Kirk Caldwell and his inaugural celebration….
Last fall Caldwell refused to renew the contract for the commission’s only investigator. While the reason for the nonrenewal is understandable (the contract had been rolled over beyond one year), it seems the commission has been singled out in this treatment — one notable example of a contract that continues to be renewed is the mayor’s informational affairs specialist, who has been working under a personal service contract that started in October 2013.
On other fronts, the Honolulu police chief sued the commission last fall to stop an investigation against him and his wife; and several City Council members, who were being investigated with respect to gifts and ties to key rail votes, were defended by Colleen Hanabusa, who also happens to be a member of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board overseeing rail.
Add in the fact that the commission’s average caseload is three to 10 times higher than other city departments that handle investigations, and one can begin to understand the pressure-cooker-type of situation in the office.
Most recently Totto was suspended without pay for a month as a result of an “independent” investigation. The investigator appears to be a supporter of the mayor, as evidenced by a political donation she made to his campaign….
It should be noted our current Ethics Commission has one vacancy and one holdover.
Today, the commission will discuss filling staff vacancies, including the position of associate legal counsel and the commission’s only investigator, who gave his notice April 25. It will likely take weeks to fill these positions. In the meantime, Totto and the two remaining staff are required to fill out timesheets and put together written procedures and office policies.
read … No Ethics
HGEA Too Busy Playing Solitaire on Computer to Certify New Dialysis Facility
SA: Question: There is a dialysis facility in the Koko Marina Center that has been open for more than six months. … However, until the state Department of Health certifies the facility, Medicare patients are not allowed to receive dialysis there; only privately insured patients may be treated. … I have called the Health Department to find out what is taking so long and received no reply. … The Hawaii Kai Community needs action on this. … Can you find out what’s going on?
Answer: It’s likely to be a few more months before the Office of Health Care Assurance inspects Liberty Dialysis at Koko Marina Center, according to the state Department of Health, which blames the delay on a lack of resources….
read … HGEA
Lawsuit Alleges Kauai’s Monopoly Pot Dealer is a Thief
CB: A Hawaii businessman selected Friday to run medical marijuana dispensaries on Kauai is being sued in civil court for allegedly stealing more than $375,000 from a business partner last October.
On Friday, the Department of Health named eight licensees across Hawaii, including Justin Britt, of Green Aloha Ltd., (and a partner in HawaiiLife) as the winner of a single license to grow and sell medical cannabis on Kauai.
Britt beat four other Kauai applicants for the coveted permit to open two medical cannabis cultivation centers and two dispensaries this year.
But in a complaint filed in February, Britt’s business partner, Winston Welborn, contends that Britt illegally took $375,638 from their privately-held marketing and advertising firm Wasabi Design Inc. on October 7, 2015….
The state required applicants to prove that they had $1.2 million in the bank 90 days before applications were submitted in January.
The $375,000 was part of $1.9 million that Britt and Welborn received in settlement of a separate lawsuit against Trilogy Excursions, a sailing company, that allegedly breached a contract with Wasabi Design.
In his February complaint, Welborn said he expected each of them to receive about a half a million dollars after paying taxes and attorneys’ fees, but that Britt withdrew an additional $375,638 while Welborn was off island….
The applicants who failed to win Kauai dispensary licenses include: HK Medicinal LLC, which is run by Charles Kawakami, the father of Kauai state Rep. Derek Kawakami and former president of Big Save Markets; Benjamin Paryka of 11th Street Partners LLC; James York of Hawaii Equity Partners LLC; and Thayne Taylor of Kauai Green Kokua LLC.
Background: DoH Announces Eight Marijuana Dispensary Licenses
CW: Kids Are Allowed to Smoke Weed; is Cocaine Next?
read … Dopers are as Dopers Do
Homeless Transportation Plan: Attack Bus Driver, Break in to Car, Steal Bicycle
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