August 11 Hawaii Primary Election Results
Hawaii County: "Kona Ballot Cans Arrived Unsealed, Disorganization Looks Purposeful"
After Complaint from Gabbard Campaign Abercrombie Orders Extended Hours for Big Island Polling Places
Live Webcast: Lingle to Comment on Primary Results
Lingle: Abercrombie, Schatz Should Apologize for 'Birther' Remarks
Lingle: Hirono Has Failed Hawaii
Inouye, Abercrombie, Chong Look to Alaska for Natural Gas
Hanabusa: Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid -- it is all at stake
Denying Responsibility for Tax Loss Just Typical Legislative M.O.
Cayetano Counting on High GOP Turnout to Put Him Over Top in November
CB: Caldwell, Carlisle and others immediately began laying the groundwork for the Nov. 6 general, saying that it would be tough for Cayetano to win because they expected Carlisle's votes would switch to Caldwell.
But Cayetano wasn't buying that.
"I think our 44 percent is solid, we're not going to lose any of that," he said. "I don't think Kirk is going to go up very much, I think it's really a stretch for anyone to say that all of Peter Carlisle's votes are going to go to Caldwell."
Cayetano believes a larger turnout in November will benefit him, especially with all the Republican support he says he's been getting. He said he thinks more Republicans will turn out in the general election than did in the primary because there weren't any hotly contested Republican races on the ballot.
According to the State Office of Elections, Republican turnout in the city and county of Honolulu was 37,552. While the Office of Elections didn't provide a party breakdown in the last presidential general election in 2008, more than 88,000 ballots were cast for Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin.
read … Cayetano vs Caldwell
Progressives to Union Bosses: You Can’t Beat Us So Fall In Line
Takeaway point from Dem Primary results: Progressives are telling union bosses that they must fall into line behind progressive-approved candidates or lose. Union backed Hannemann loses, union-backed Hirono wins. Obey the new masters. Sure they are fruitcakes, bizarro obsessives, and dilettantes, but they are the arbiters of approval and rejection in the Democratic Party. Get with the program: Gay marriage, legal dope, assisted suicide. That’s what the unions must be for to win. Oh, and we’ll destroy your health insurance while we’re at it.
Ed Case Quote: “That (middle) road I talked about earlier tonight, that road just ended…. I’m going to start partying because I don’t have to do anything anymore!”
Progressive Activist: “What I hope comes out of this Senate/CD2 election is that the union leaders realize they can’t go it alone – that they need to join forces with the people who care about the environment, decent community planning, corporate regulation and pick candidates that both support working people AND support these other important positions. This election clearly showed that when the union leaders ignore these issues, they cannot win. When they join with progressives, as in the case of Mazie Hirono, they prevail.”
read … Ed Case Concedes the Race
Maui Democrat Denounces Ing
MN: He had come under criticism from some of his opponents and their supporters who felt he was too inexperienced for the job, and hadn't spent enough time as a South Maui resident….
Netra Halperin, who finished second with 26.5 percent of votes, said she was disappointed, not only because she didn't win, but because Ing did.
"I'm disappointed that someone would come here with no relationship at all to the community, yet, very slick marketing, and that he would get the most votes," Halperin, 53, said. "He put up the most yard signs, he did the most sign waving. I did go door to door just as much and connected with the voters. I think he's just totally inappropriate for our district. I think he can't beat Fontaine….”
Fontaine, a retired Maui Police Department captain and businessman, said he was somewhat surprised that Ing won the Democratic race. "Kaniela is somewhat a newcomer. He doesn't have a lot of track record within my district," he said. "He's never really been involved with the South Maui community.”
As for the general election, Fontaine said "what it will come down to is who has the most experience, who's actually been involved in the community over the last 20-plus years and who has actually represented the community."
"Looking forward, I just hope that the voters in the general election will look at the person that has been most representative of the community, that has been most involved in the community," he said. "I'm running on my voting record, my experience of what I have done for South Maui. We'll see how it plays out in the general election. May the best man win."
read … Fontaine vs carpetbagger
Lorraine Inouye Likely Filing Election Protest
BINC: Lorraine Rodero Inouye says she is considering filing a formal challenge to Saturday’s election results. After the final calculation was done, Inouye lost her bid for State Senate Seat 4 (Waimea, Kohala) to incumbent Senator Malama Solomon by only 69 votes, 4068 to 3999.
Inouye said Sunday morning she’s taking the action because of reports that many Hawaii Island precincts did not open for voting on time, and turned voters away. Saturday morning, County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi was only acknowledging one opening late, due to “equipment problems,” when there were more than five in West Hawaii alone known to have opened up to 90 or more minutes late. Saturday evening, in an interview with Keoki Kerr on Hawaii News Now, Elections Chief Scott Nago said he believes more than half of the Hawaii Island precincts opened late.
Inouye’s concern is that people who may have voted for her, could not. Although State Senator Josh Green prevailed upon State Elections, the Attorney General, and the Governor to leave Hawaii Island polls open late, the Governor’s proclamation did not come until mid-afternoon. The question is how many voters knew of the extended hours, and whether they actually returned.
read … Protest
Chaos at Kona Polling places
WHT: Multiple Hawaii Island polling stations opened later than scheduled, with delays varying from a few minutes to almost an hour and a half, according to the governor’s office.
Tricia Kailiwai arrived at 7:45 a.m. to vote at Kona Vista Recreation Center, but when poll books hadn’t arrived by 8:20 a.m., she left. Kailiwai had to because her tennis team was counting of her to make a match in Kohala and she had other obligations that couldn’t be rescheduled. This is the first time the 64-year-old Kailua-Kona resident hasn’t voted since she came of age. She said it was “disheartening.”
Kailiwai said many voters became fed up and left. She described the scene as “a mini evacuation.” Kailiwai, who is active in local politics and has served on the Board of Ethics, always looks forward to Election Day excitement and doesn’t like early voting. This year, she’s “frustrated by the whole picture,” which will “most likely have a ripple effect on the county’s traditionally low voter turnout.” The 2010 primary election had just a 39.5 percent turnout. Kailiwai said she fulfilled her responsibility by showing up on time and ready to vote, and the county should have done the same.
Kailua-Kona resident John Spitzenberger called the situation at Kahakai Elementary ridiculous. He said poll workerrs gave him inaccurate information. There were promises of a 15-minute wait here and another five minutes there, but in reality it took more than an hour. Still Spitzenberger didn’t let it deter him from voting.
“If you don’t vote, you can’t (complain),” he added.
Spitzenberger was one of 41,247 residents who voted. About 41 percent of registered voters cast a ballot during the primary election. Of the 101,728 registered voters, 20,246 voted on Election Day and 21,001 cast an absentee ballot beforehand.
Several voters at Kahakai Elementary expressed concern about this election and the county’s election office, saying the delay caused further suspicion to emerge. Kailua-Kona resident John Repasky Sr. and his wife, Barbara, arrived at 7:10 a.m. to cast their ballots there. They waited roughly 90 minutes to vote. They heard five people explain that they only had an hour from their employer to vote. After the five were told by poll workers to wait or come back, the Repaskys watched all five people leave, clearly upset because they didn’t get to vote.
“They put the election in jeopardy,” John Repasky said. “For the people running, they lost about two hours of votes.”
Barbara Repasky has been following the news regarding the county election office, including the firing of employees. “With the debacle and shakeup,” Barbara said she couldn’t help but wonder if this was just another opportunity to prove that an election could not be run smoothly without the former elections administrator.
“You can’t help but think if they’re trying to prove something. All the while, people’s right to vote is being quashed,” she said. “Now it’s even more important to vote and to continue voting.”
Arriving at 7:15 a.m., Kailua-Kona resident Charlene Graciidis was surprised to see more than a dozen of people lined up outside Kahakai. While she and her husband, Donald, had time to spare, they witnessed many voters leave after waiting more than an hour and not reaching the polling booth.
Graciidis said people were frustrated and could not understand how the election office could be so ill-prepared.
“It’s not fair. They came here on time, looking to vote, and they should get to vote,” Graciidis said. “Now the candidate they wanted to vote for might not get into office.”
Dru Kanuha, unopposed for the County Council Central Kona district seat, spent hours calming frustrated residents down, easing their distrust of government, and motivating them to vote. Some family members and friends had showed up at Kona Vista Recreation Center at 6:30 a.m. to vote — a right they didn’t exercise for about two hours.
read … Old Boy Sabotage
2002 Redux: Hirono, Lingle Advance to General Election
NJ: Hirono easily defeated former Rep. Ed Case, 58 percent to 41 percent, according to the Associated Press. Case, who unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Daniel Akaka in 2006, ran to the right of the congresswoman on fiscal issues and foreign policy. But Case struggled to keep pace with Hirono's fundraising, and the Democratic establishment lined up behind Hirono.
Lingle did not face serious competition in the GOP primary. She won the nomination with 92 percent of the vote, while former state senator John Carroll finished with 6 percent.
Democrats wasted no time tying Lingle to the national Republican Party.
"Yesterday's results in Hawaii present a clear contrast in November between Mazie Hirono, a leader who works with President Obama to build a stronger and more sustainable Hawaii, and Linda Lingle, the hand-picked candidate of national Republicans who will stand with them in blocking President Obama's agenda," Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee executive director Guy Cecil said in a release.
Lingle has distanced herself from the national party and pitched her candidacy as a moderate alternative to the liberal Hirono. Her two statewide gubernatorial victories, including a defeat of Hirono in 2002, give Republicans hope that she can pull off an upset in the traditionally blue state.
But Lingle faces steep odds: Hawaii has only elected one Republican -- the late Sen. Hiram Fong -- to the Senate in its history, and he retired in 1977. Obama, who remains very popular in his home state, won Hawaii by 45 points in 2008.
In a poll released last month by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Hirono led Lingle, 58 percent to 39 percent.
read … 2002 Redux?
Djou-Hanabusa Head for Third Contest
CB: With nearly all the vote counted in the Democratic and Republican primaries Saturday, Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and former Rep. Charles Djou are on track to face each other in November for the third time in 30 months.
They split the previous two matchups, with Djou, a Republican, winning a three-way, mail-only special election to represent Hawaii's 1st Congressional District in May 2010 and Hanabusa, a Democrat, unseating him in a one-on-one matchup six months later. Now, Hanabusa's the incumbent for the rubber match after two years in Washington, D.C.
In the Democratic Party primary, Hanabusa secured 76.4 percent of the vote, easily outpacing Roy "Sky" Wyttenbach's 14.4 percent. On the Republican side, Djou's won with 89.8 percent of the vote, besting C. Kaui Jochanan Amsterdam (2.8 percent) and John Raghu Giuffre (1.3 percent). Both Amsterdam and Giuffre also ran against Djou in 2010….
Reality: www.TheRealHanabusa.com
read … Djou
After Decades of Lying, Gabbards are Suddenly Hindu!
For decades the gay-atheists have bashed the Gabbards for their affiliation with the ‘Chris Butler Cult’, a Hari Krishna offshoot. Now that Tulsi Gabbard claims to join the gay atheists in their quest to reshape the nuclear family suddenly all mention of the cult is banished from the media, Gabbard is ‘a Hindu’, and anybody who challenges her is a bigot. They simply deem it so, the media obeys and night becomes day. Orwell is utterly amazed at how easily information and perception is manipulated by those who have set themselves up as the arbiters of approval and disapproval following the strategies of Gramsci and Marcuse.
And the hated Mufi is vanquished. That too.
Related: To Stop Mufi, Mrs Abercrombie Joins the Chris Butler Cult
Mufi Blames ‘Special Interest Money’ For Latest Election Defeat
CB: Mufi Hannemann has just conceded the 2nd Congressional District race to Tulsi Gabbard. The music stopped here (at Gabbard HQ) for a few minutes and the volume was turned up so Gabbard supporters could listen in.
Hannemann said he ran a positive campaign, and made a reference to the “special interest” money that help Gabbard get her name out. His words were met here with a mix of groans and derisive laughter.
read … Special Interest
Crowley Easily Beats DiGeronimo for GOP 2nd CD Nomination
CB: Republican nominee David Kawika Crowley in the general election in November. Crowley beat Matt DiGeronimo after the fourth printout, 45.1 percent to 28.9 percent. Less than 20,000 Republican ballots were pulled in the district versus more than 110,000 Democratic ballots.
read … Crowley
Turnout 41.7% down slightly from 2010
With most of the vote counted late Saturday night, 41.7 percent of registered voters had cast primary ballots. That means that of the 688,000 people registered for the primary, less than 267,000 ended up voting.
That's better than the 2008 primary, when 36.9 percent of registered voters participated in the election. But it's down slightly from two years ago when 42.8 percent of voters cast ballots in a race that included a fight for governor as well as competitive congressional races.
In this year's primary, Democrats represented 34 percent of registered voters who cast ballots, while Republicans produced a turnout of 7 percent.
Absentee voting was strong, with about half of all voters — 138,000 — casting absentee ballots, according to Hawaii's Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago.
read … All About the Contested Races
Mixed Decision on Polling Results
ILind: Civil Beat’s robo poll got the closest to predicting Tusli Gabbard’s large margin of victory over Mufi Hannemann in the 2nd Congressional District. The traditional methodology used by the Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now came very close to predicting the final numbers in Mazie Hirono’s landslide over Ed Case in the U.S. Senate primary. And both polling methods were in the ballpark in predicting the outcome of the Honolulu mayor’s race.
read … Mixed
Legislative, Council Results:
2012 Senate Polls Match 2002 Gubernatorial Polls
NM: …observers note Lingle beat Hirono in the 2002 race for governor, after Hirono defeated Case in that year's Democratic primary to seek the state's top office.
"Because Lingle has already defeated Hirono in a head-to-head match-up, many observers see a Hirono victory today as a Lingle victory in November," said University of Hawaii Law Professor Randy Roth.
Polls showing Lingle trailing the two Democrats in a hypothetical match-up were similar at the same point in the 2002 race for governor, which Lingle ultimately won, Roth said….
Milner predicts outside Democratic money will start to pour into the winning Democratic camp once the primary is decided….
Read … Lingle Gives GOP Hope of First Hawaiian Senate Seat Since 1977
Abercrombie Decision Helped Hirono?
CB: The extra 90 minutes of voting on the Big Island is likely to help Mazie Hirono’s bid for U.S. Senate, but only a little.
Reports from Hawaii Island this morning revealed that at least one precinct (Kona—Case territory) had not yet opened for business an hour and a half after it the scheduled 7 a.m. start. Gov. Neil Abercrombie cited that example and other minor delays in his proclamation extending voting on the Big Island from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. (including E Hawaii Hirono territory)
So, to recap: One polling location opened 90 minutes late, so 40 polling locations are staying open 90 minutes longer….
Case isn’t complaining, though.
“The governor made the right decision. All voters are entitled to a full and equal opportunity to vote,” a spokeswoman for the Case campaign told Civil Beat.
Asked specifically if the decision hurts Case’s chances, she said it does not.
“No, it doesn’t upset us,” she said. “The momentum that we feel in our campaign is statewide, and we would never encourage anything that prohibits any individual voters from exercising that right.”
read … Old Boys Helping Hirono
Subprime Lending for Hawaii? FACE, SSFM Predict Rail TOD Will Push Back NIMBY Resistance to Affordable Housing
SA: Astolfi is executive director of the isle chapter of Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE), a nonprofit advocacy group primarily championing lower-income housing. He noted a kind of sea change at hearings held earlier this month on a West Maui project known as Olowalu Town. Half the project — 750 units — had been pledged to affordable housing….
Often the opposition to development — whether it's based on environmental concerns or on general "not in my backyard" (NIMBY) resistance — has the dominant hand in debates, he said, but the tide seemed to turn this time. The upshot of the hearing: Housing needs had become paramount….
The idea is that the transit stops would bring potential customers who would support commercial activity, he said, creating new business opportunity and demand for surrounding property. The city could use that newly enhanced value as a bargaining chip: In exchange for rights to develop, say, a shopping center, a builder could be required to provide affordable units. The profits from the commercial project, Watase said, would make the housing development pencil out more easily.
"But now we're dealing with land that's valuable because of the transit line, not ag land," he said.
Most advocates agree that filling in urban Honolulu with more high-rise housing, by transit centers or anywhere else, is good planning and has worked elsewhere. Portland, Denver and Vancouver are cities that reaped the benefits of TOD, said Dean Uchida, senior project manager at SSFM International, a civil engineering firm. (Busted in Pay to Play scandal.) Uchida is a veteran of the state Senate's Affordable Housing Task Force, which issued a report on possible solutions in 2006.
Also: Inouye, Akaka Dole out $1.6M to OHA Cronies for Mortgage Lending
Related: HB1033: Tracing the Financial Outlines of Socialism in Hawaii
read … TOD = Affordable?
Will Solar, ‘Communal Lithium’ Replace HECO?
SA: Japan-based multinational electronics and ceramics manufacturer, Kyocera Corp., released a solar energy management system that includes lithium-ion batteries.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District in California is testing individual and communal (multi-home) lithium-ion batteries. In 2010, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) developed its safety standard for stationary storage batteries that contain lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. In 2012, a Sony lithium-based energy storage system received UL accreditation. In 2012, Panasonic began mass producing and marketing home energy storage systems.
World-wide lithium reserves are 13 million metric tons, which, at the current level of demand, could supply the world for 300 years. The leading producers are Chile (37 percent), Australia (33 percent), China (15 percent) and Argentina (9 percent).
In February 2012, Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. (HEI) filed its annual 10-K Report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, noting this: "New technological developments, such as the commercial development of energy storage, may render the operations of HEI's electric utility subsidiaries less competitive or outdated."
HEI is aware of the threat. It needs to also see it as an opportunity. It needs to move away from generation and transmission, and toward facilitating a new energy paradigm focusing on on-site generation and on-site storage.
Related: Xtreme Power: A Pig-in-a-poke For Hawaii Wind Farm
read … Dinosaurs
Ernst & Young illegally appraising real estate, state alleges
SA: The state Regulated Industries and Complaints Office filed Thursday in state court for an injunction against the international accounting company and its experts, Peter M. Smith of California, Jason L. Morris of Nevada and Jerry Aucoin of Washington.
The suit asks the court to order the defendants to stop making real estate appraisals and to assess civil fines of $1,000 and $2,500 for each violation. (Punishment for knocking down property taxes?)
Real estate appraiser is one of the professions the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is required by law to license and regulate.
The state says Ernst & Young and its experts appeared before the City and County of Honolulu's Board of Review from 2009 through last year to challenge real property tax assessments of properties. They presented their own opinions of the market values of the properties and analyses purportedly supporting the opinions.
(Yes. Ernst & Young doesn’t meet the vaunted accounting standards of the majestic State of Hawaii. DoE last audited 1974.)
read … Another State Shakedown?
Legislators step in on military noise
SA: Resident complaints about noise from close-flying military planes and helicopters using the Kaneohe Marine base are being raised with federal lawmakers at a time when 53,000 flight operations annually are expected to soar to nearly 79,000 in coming years.
Four state legislators — Rep. Pono Chong, Rep. Cynthia Thielen, Rep. Ken Ito and Sen. Jill Tokuda — sent a letter last week to Hawaii's congressional delegation asking that they conduct a public meeting over the aircraft noise.
read … Noise
Wastewater tunnel route a danger
SA: news coverage has focused on the concerns of residents in affected communities that abut the planned wastewater tunnel through the Oneawa Hills (Kalaheo Hillside).
These residents have every reason to be concerned. Both the Kalaheo Hillside Residents Association (KHRA) and the Healani Gardens Association of Apartment Owners (Healani) members were denied full disclosure and bought homes on land that should not have been developed for residential use, but the city issued development permits anyway.
KHRA provided the city with information that documented a 1955 Soil Survey of the Territory of Hawaii done by the U.S. Department of Agriculture prior to Kaneohe Ranch's construction of the Kalaheo Hillside subdivision, and a 1992 certified appraiser's report. Healani provided an engineer's soil analysis, which it paid for. The findings of all three were consistent.
Basically, the Oneawa Hills and these communities that abut it are sitting on an extinct volcano caldera with many large lava tubes that may collapse into sinkholes under pressure, and basaltic rock that is "thick, dense, and difficult to fracture … usually requiring blasting." The Oneawa Hills are unstable and susceptible to rock and mud slides, and shifting. The Healani soil analysis addresses boulders on the hillside that should not be a problem unless they are disturbed.
The most damning comment was made by the certified appraiser, who stated that to build structures on this site — Kalaheo Hillside — could lead to threat of injury or death to the residents occupying these sites.
read … Collapse Under Pressure
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