Quandary Ahead as State Digresses from Conformity
African-American Pastors in Democratic Illinois Show that Redefining Marriage Is Not Inevitable
AP: Australian prime minister mounts spirited defense of gay marriage only days out from elections (Sept 2, 2013)
Result: Gets Stomped 86-57 (Election Sept 7, 2013)
Council to Vote on Rail SMA Permit Monday
SA: The Honolulu City Council has called two special committee meetings on Monday to review the special management area permit required for the rail project:
>> 10 a.m., Zoning and Planning.
>> 11:30 a.m., Intergovernmental Affairs and Human Services. A final vote on the SMA permit is set for Sept. 11 before the full Council. Information on how to register to speak or submit testimony is online at (www1.honolulu.gov/ council/testify.htm)
Grabauskas pointed out that each additional day of delay will cost the city roughly $250,000. Given that HART estimates the one-year hiatus for construction has already cost $38 million....
The latest hurdle surmounted by the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation was the required approval of the project's archaeological inventory survey, a process that was completed far more quickly than many expected. The State Historic Preservation Division signed off on the 8,000-page report Aug. 29, almost precisely a year after city officials halted construction. It did so in the wake of a ruling by the Hawaii Supreme Court, which found that the survey must be completed along the entire 20-mile route before work could begin.
The court ruled at the end of a suit filed primarily to challenge HART's interpretation of state historic-preservation law, including protections for Native Hawaiian burials. The authority also needs re-approval of a special manage- ment area permit that had been thrown out during the state case. But, said HART Executive Director Dan Grabauskas, the Council has stepped up to get the remaining reviews scheduled promptly, which makes a Sept. 16 construction restart possible....
What remains unresolved is a ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on the last major lawsuit, which challenges whether the city had met the bar set by federal law....
read ... Its Baaaack
Borreca: Mufi Running for Something
Borreca: If former Mayor Mufi Hannemann showing up at the Okinawan Festival wasn't enough of a hint, then his appearance at the annual Labor Day picnic the next day would tell you that the 59-year-old Democrat is not ready to let the spotlight go dark....
"The only way he is a viable candidate (for CD1) is in a race where he has just enough name recognition compared to the relative unknowns in the race so far to pull it off," said Milner. "Mufi remains a flawed candidate who might, just might, sneak in by the skin of his teeth. But definitely not for sure," Milner added. The field is already crowded with four candidates....
Another, more-complicated speculation has Hannemann running for the City Council seat now held by Breene Harimoto, if the first-term councilman decides to run for state Sen. David Ige's seat. If Hannemann won that seat, which covers portions of his old Council district, he would have two years to mount a campaign against incumbent Mayor Kirk Caldwell and attempt a return to the Honolulu mayor's office. (Trying to talk him down from the ledge.)
HNN: Birthday tributes honor Sen. Inouye's legacy
read ... Mufi sightings stir musings about his political future
'Illegal practices' Funnel Money to Abercrombie Campaign
SA: A Honolulu company with $8 million in annual federal contracts is accused in a whistle-blower lawsuit of setting up as a Native Hawaiian nonprofit under questionable circumstances, illegally reimbursing family members for campaign contributions and avoiding state general excise taxes.
The lawsuit filed Aug. 30 in state court by former employee Sharon Amano accuses Hawaii Resource Group owners Charles Pires and Edward Morris of using past close ties with deceased U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye and former U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie to secure nonbid sole-source contracts.
Hawaii Resource Group, a collection of companies, has two primary contracts, including providing program management software to the Department of Veterans Affairs and running supply boats for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, court papers state.
Sept 4, 2013: Whistleblower Alleges Illegal Scheme
LINK: FULL TEXT OF LAWSUIT
read ... 'Illegal practices' pervasive at contractor, lawsuit alleges
OHA land buys done with little thought, audit says
SA: OHA ventured into real estate in a big way beginning with the acquisition of 1,800-acre Waimea Valley on Oahu's North Shore in 2006 for $3.9 million, in hopes of protecting its cultural and natural resources. The following year, it acquired 25,800 acres of rain forest land at Wao Kele o Puna on Hawaii island from The Trust for Public Land.
Its most valuable holdings by far are 30 acres of land in Kakaako, worth $200 million, received last year from the state as a settlement of claims to revenue from ceded lands dating back to 1978.
OHA also recently bought the Gentry Pacific Design Center, on North Nimitz Highway, for $21 million, and acquired 511 acres of agricultural land in central Oahu for $3 million, including the culturally significant royal birthing site Kukaniloko.
"Lacking trustee leadership, OHA opportunistically acquired land without accounting for stewardship costs and otherwise adhering to best practices," the audit contended. "This non-strategic approach has resulted in an unbalanced real estate portfolio that generates insufficient income to offset OHA's overall property costs."
read ... Little Thought
Sierra Club: City Council acting hastily on Koa Ridge
The commentary isn't very interesting so lets just skip to the Most Interesting Comment: "Self serving article rife with legalistic posturing so as to raise money from Californian transplants by promising them they will stop development. Let me paraphrase his article: Today, Sierra Club, the lobbyist for multimillionaire Californian transplants (except David Murdoch), whined publically in the pages of the local newspaper that acres of ugly and unloved pine land lying fallow for three decades would become housing for local people, thus giving the families who made their living picking pineapples a chance to live in an affordable home with a front yard where they could grow grass, flowers, avocados and lychees....IMHO, Sierra Club is in cahoots with giant landowners and developers - Howard Hughes and Bishop Estate - by forcing these families buy a little condo in skyscrapers in Kakaako, rather than a single story home with a yard in the suburbs in Mililani."
SA: Central Maui is swelling with thousands of homes, which have helped keep local families on the island
Related: How A&B Wins Big From Environmental Litigation
read ... Sierra Club
Judge approves the dissolution of Corrupt Maui nonprofit
SA: Wailuku Main Street Association Inc./Tri-Isle Main Street Resource Center engaged in nepotism and lobbying in violation of its grant contract. The organization provided little evidence of its program services, the report said.
Maui County in Octo- ber said it was terminat- ing the $243,000 grant that was the agency's main source of funding.
The state tried to help but the association backed out each time, Jones told the court....
the organization refused to account for the county funds it received.
read ... Profitable Nonprofit
Report: Lobbyists violating isle code
HTH: Hawaii County lobbyist laws seem fairly straightforward: You must register as a lobbyist within five days of becoming a lobbyist. You must file a notice of termination within 10 days after ceasing lobbying. You must file a report summarizing gifts, entertainment and other expenses on July 31 and Jan. 31 of each year.
But a Stephens Media Hawaii analysis of records kept at the County Clerk’s Office found that only two of the county’s 34 registered lobbyists filed the required expenditure disclosure by the most recent deadline.
And an untold number of the lobbyists meeting with county officials on controversial issues such as zoning, land use and genetically modified organisms haven’t registered as lobbyists at all.
The county code defines a lobbyist as “any individual engaged for pay or other consideration who spends more than five hours in any month or $275 in any six-month period for the purpose of attempting to influence legislative or administrative action by communicating or urging others to communicate with public officials.”...
read ... Lobbyists
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Sierra Club: City Council acting hastily on Koa Ridge
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Brianna Acosta on being Miss Hawaii USA 2013 and life after the crown
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Shapiro: Isles' lack of support should give Obama pause on Syria
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Humanities get to the heart of the matter
Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. remains an agricultural giant as it looks to the future