September 10, 2009 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Thursday, September 10, 2009

September 10, 2009 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 10:32 AM :: 8636 Views

Lingle, HGEA said to be near deal

While the state and the Hawaii Government Employees Association are arguing about a new labor contract before a panel of three arbitrators, sensitive talks are going on behind the scenes to end the labor dispute this month.

Although the state and the HGEA have been plowing through arbitration in a closed-door session, a source familiar with the talks says Gov. Linda Lingle has a meeting scheduled tomorrow with Randy Perreira, HGEA executive director, and they are close to agreement on a contract.

In a statement e-mailed to HGEA workers on Aug. 31, Perreira said the union wants furloughs as opposed to layoffs. Also, the HGEA would prefer to strike a deal with Lingle instead of relying on the binding arbitration process now under way.

"Our preference continues to be a voluntary settlement with the employer," Perreira said.

"HGEA and its negotiating teams recognize that the members prefer furloughs to across-the board pay cuts and to that end have proposed furloughs effective in October," Perreira said on the Internet.

(Settlement at hand? We've heard this before...)

RELATED: We all suffer when important public services are cut (More HGEA propaganda)

Hawaii official racks up $39,324 in interisland commuting costs (More HGEA propaganda)

Caldwell entering mayoral race

City Managing Director Kirk Caldwell yesterday said he will run for mayor when Mayor Mufi Hannemann leaves office, be it 2010 or 2012.

Caldwell, 56, plans to hold a fundraiser this month; tickets for the event say he will run for mayor in 2012, when Hannemann's second and final term expires

Okino to run against state Rep. Oshiro (Gay marriage Democrat Showdown)

Honolulu City Councilman Gary Okino, a fiscal and social conservative, plans to challenge liberal state House Majority Leader Blake Oshiro of 'Aiea next year in the Democratic primary in state House District 33.

Okino was among the most prominent opponents of a civil unions bill before the state Legislature last session, warning lawmakers of serious consequences if they failed to follow what he described as God's word. Oshiro was the bill's sponsor and considered civil unions a significant step toward equality.

Last month, the party's state central committee voted to uphold a reprimand against state Sen. Mike Gabbard, D-19th (Kapolei, Makakilo, Waikele), for actively organizing against the bill and the party's platform plank on equality and civil rights.

Okino acknowledged that some of his stands on social issues are contrary to the party's platform. "But I'm a Democrat," he said. "It is the people's party, right?"

DePledge: Hawaii Ron Paul Supporters Implode

Enter conservative agitator Eric Ryan. Ryan sent out a press release Monday night claiming that former Pine staffer Dan Douglass admitted to having a role in sabotaging Hunt.

Ryan -- who is caught up in a separate fake e-mail incident -- said Douglass made the admission during a meeting in July on former state lawmaker John Carroll’s Republican campaign for governor. (Be sure to click that link and read the other story on this)

Douglass confirmed today that the issue did come up at the meeting but would only say on-the-record that Ryan had embellished the story. He also described a rocky relationship with Hunt when the two worked together in Pine’s office.

TOTALLY RELATED: http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/9790/40/ this KGMB article ties Ryan to the website www.FirePanos.wordpress.com READ IT TO SEE FOR YOURSELF

DePledge: Ron Paul Supporter Eric Ryan dumps Carroll, sets up anti-Lingle site

Ryan has launched a media campaign to remind voters of what he describes as the failures of the Lingle administration. Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona is the leading Republican candidate for governor.

Ryan’s Web site -- ChangeHawaii.org -- is so convincing that Brian Schatz, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, called national Democrats to make sure it wasn’t their work.

Be sure to check out the comments: Here's one of them

The Eric Ryan Resume:

Zero Shibai: dissapeared
Republican Party Coup: failed
Stop Rail Now: kicked out by Cliff Slater
Rail Truth Now: fizzled
AnybodybutMufi: easily re-elected
Impeach Mufi: fizzled
ElectJohnCarrol: kicked out by John Carrol
ChangeHawaii: taken seriously only by idiots

A gift from Obama: Andy Winer leaves Hawaii

Andy Winer, an attorney and Democratic strategist who was the state director for President Obama's presidential campaign, is the new external affairs director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Winer -- Hawaii for Obama 2008 director, engineered Dan Akaka's 2006 campaign, Duke Bainum's failed 2004 campaign, and played a role in managing the news of Patsy Mink's death in 2002. Good riddance.

Kauai: Plastic Bag Ban Deferred

In moving for the deferral, Councilman Dickie Chang said he did not have time to read written testimony provided by the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce and the Retail Merchants of Hawai‘i.

Hawaii County Council Power Play: Public can have its say -- again

HILO -- Opponents set a public hearing on County Council reorganization as an admitted delaying tactic, but now that it's scheduled, council members have to go through with it.
The hearing is planned for 6:30 p.m. Monday at the council meeting room in Hilo. The public can also participate via videoconference at the council's Kona and Waimea offices.

FAKE? -- Big plan for Ka'u unveiled

Nani Kahuku Aina LLC envisions thousands of homes, along with government services, private businesses, an airport and several resorts on its 16,457 acres of vacant land.

(More likely they envision the National Parks Service, TPL or Nature Conservancy buying the property from them. It is a very large pile of cinders from the Hwy to the shoreline--and susceptible to further volcanic activity.)

Hawaii County: Proposed amendment could make recalls easier

Under the proposed change to the county code section regarding petitions, people circulating petitions to recall an elected official would need to collect signatures totaling 25 percent of the total number of actual voters in the last general election countywide for at-large officials or 25 percent of actual voters in a given district for district representatives -- as opposed to the 25 percent of registered voters currently required.

(Good. Easier to recall GTMO Greenwell.)

Hawaii hotels have 'worst summer' with July occupancy 70.3%

The July occupancy rate dropped 3.8 percentage points from last year at this time to 70.3 percent.

"It's the worst summer we've seen," said Joseph Toy, Hospitality Advisors LLC president and chief executive officer, whose company has tracked these statistics since 1987.

"Normally, we get a summer swell. This time we're just seeing ankle snappers," Toy said.

Hawaii foreclosures filings in August 2nd-highest on record

A report by real estate research firm RealtyTrac said there were 869 foreclosure filings in the state last month. That was second most since 990 in July, roughly two years after the local housing market began weakening.

The August count was up 159 percent from August 2008, representing the smallest year-over-year increase for any month in the past year.

Delinquencies soar in Hawaii car loans

A new study on vehicle loans from Experian Automotive shows 2.77 percent of automobile loans here were 30 days past due during the second quarter of 2009.

That was about one-third higher than a year earlier. Only Idaho and Montana had bigger increases.

Alleged sex-assault victim has grown reclusive

Two 13-year-old male students have been referred to Family Court on five counts of first-degree sexual assault, as well as third-degree sexual assault and burglary.

Seitz said the girl, who lives on a neighbor island and was a boarder, hopes to eventually return to Kamehameha Schools.

The girl told administrators on Aug. 31, a Monday, that she had been repeatedly sexually assaulted in a dormitory on the Kapalama campus over the weekend.

The parents, not the school, reported the incident to police.

SB: Report sex assaults

Reluctance to report incidents to police may be more prevalent amid the ivory towers of private schools. But public or private, schools are not to make the determination of probable cause, which Kamehameha Schools seems now to understand.

Carmael Kamealoha Stagner of Kaneohe told the Star-Bulletin that she had been sexually harassed, pinched and grabbed as a 12-year-old at Kamehameha 24 years ago. After she reported one incident to the school's administration, she said, the same boys sexually assaulted her after she came out of a shower.

When Stagner learned that the school did not report the recent August incident, "What I thought was, 'How many other incidents happened that the school didn't report?'" she said.