Ethics

... 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 ....

... On March 7, 2022, Co-Vice Chair of Honolulu Liquor Commission, Darren Y Lee, resigned ‘effective immediately’ .... 

... DLNR Land Division failed to bill/collect the proper base rents for the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel lease and failed to collect over $500,000 ....

... New procedures have been put in place to access the Capitol building ....

... The biggest change during the pandemic came in the number of routine requests estimated by the agencies ....

... there had been serious concerns over the integrity of the program, including concerns over favoritism ....

... The purpose of the Commission is to dissipate reform energy in order to preserve the status quo. ... 

... Harleman faces up to 20 years imprisonment on each of the wire fraud counts and up to 10 years imprisonment on each of the money laundering counts, as well as a fine of up to $250,000 on each count, plus a term of supervised release up to three years ....

... a deliberative process exemption to the UIPA would be little more than a loophole by which state agencies could evade records requests ....

... None of these insiders know anything about electricity so Schatz makes federal taxpayers to pay for experts who can do the actual work for them ....

... resulting in misstatements in eight different ADC accounts and a three-year delay in financial reporting ....

... OHA has implemented 11 and partially implemented 13 of the 39 recommendations made in our report. An additional nine recommendations were not implemented and we determined six to be not applicable ....

... The Employees asked whether a private business they co-own may procure the services of an Agency research facility ....

... Kanuha Awarded Meritorious Torch of Light Award; San Buenaventura and Others Earn Lava Tube Dishonor ....

... the only declared Hawaii Republican gubernatorial candidate to previously hold elected office has divorced her cocaine-dealer husband ....

... The Nominating Committee of the Hawaii Supreme Court is seeking to fill four attorney and two non-attorney positions on the Disciplinary Board of the Hawaii Supreme Court ....

... Honolulu ‘ethics’ function--covering up for the big sharks while spearfishing manini to make it look like they are doing something ....

... We reviewed 104 Senate and House bills introduced during the 2022 legislative session proposing 63 special and revolving funds.  None satisfied the criteria set forth in section 23-11, HRS ....

... one month after the arrest of English and Cullen, all state facilities managed by DAGS will reopen to the general public ....

... The practice of gut-and-replace allowed state lawmakers to pass laws without a full set of public hearings ....