Abercrombie Rewards UHPA's Campaign Support with $32M -- 'Unprecedented' Early Contract
Nanakuli House Candidate Andria Tupola wins SHOPO Endorsement
Military Cooperation with China: RIMPAC as a Model for the Future
Claim: Only 40% of HSTA Members Registered to Vote
ILind: A knowledgeable insider recently compared the “glory days” of HSTA, from the mid-1970s through the late 1980s, to the situation today.
We had a real political machine then. 80% of the members were women. 80% of all teachers were AJA. 90%+ were registered to vote and 90% voted the union line…not out of mindlessness, but because we communicated.
It is different today. Way. Today, according to internal sources at HSTA, only 40% of the 13,500 are registered to vote and only about 28% actually follow the union line. That is about 3300 out of 13,500. Amazing if true!
Even more amazing, only 9.2% of the public school population is AJA today. That is to say, the AJA population, along with Caucasians, have pretty much abandoned the public schools which are, primarily, home now to Hawaiians and Filipinos….even the teaching population itself has dramatically changed, with only about a quarter of the teaching population now AJA…..
My friend’s calculations appear to miss the mark a little. Twenty eight percent of 13,500 would be 3,780. (...ahem!....)
read ... Can't do fractions either, but hey
Abercrombie buys UHPA: "I am confident that the faculty vote will be overwhelming..."
PR: Keoki Kerr, a reporter for Hawaii News Now, said: “Here you are making an unprecedented agreement a year before a contract is up, in a year when you are up for reelection . . .”
“That shows what a good job I’m doing,” Abercrombie interjected. (At buying votes.)
“But your critics might say it also shows you’re essentially throwing a political bone to a union that has supported you for a long time, when you might not be around to make that agreement in another year,” the reporter continued.
The governor replied, “Someone might say that, but I’ll leave the agreement to speak for itself. … We put this together in good faith. That’s what collective bargaining is all about: good faith. (They vote for me and then this contract goes thru. That's good faith.)
“Whether such commentary is worthy will be able to be judged by the faculty vote. … I am confident that the faculty vote will be overwhelmingly in favor of this agreement because it’s in the best interest of everyone. (He is confident that he has bought the faculty vote for himself.)
“If someone wants to bring politics up, let me put it this way: I believe best politics is always good politics. (Yeah, I'm buying votes. Whatabouddit?) If you do good things for good people, you know, in a good faith way, that speaks for itself. I believe the politics of this agreement will ring across the state as, ‘This is the way it should be done.’” (He believes he will win because of this.)
SA: "I want to make clear, crystal clear, that this agreement had as one of its premises during the discussions and negotiations that we not adversely affect tuition for the students," Abercrombie said at a press conference. (He then started laughing uncontrollably and was ushered from the room by worried-looking handlers.)
Background: Abercrombie Rewards UHPA's Campaign Support with $32M -- 'Unprecedented' Early Contract
2010: $126M Giveaway: Abercrombie quietly boosts spending on Public Employees’ Insurance
read ... Judged by the Faculty Vote
Abercrombie endorses Tsutsui
MN: "Of course, we are a team," Abercrombie said of himself and Tsutsui, the former state Senate president whom he appointed to fill the position in 2012, after a domino effect of appointments following the death of U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye.
Without naming them, Abercrombie said he knows the other Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor "very, very well," but that it's not about personal relationships. Running with Tsutsui is about the "future of Hawaii," he said.
The other Democratic lieutenant governor candidates include state Sen. Clayton Hee and former television reporter Mary Zanakis.
Abercrombie said that he appointed his former Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz to Inouye's position in the U.S. Senate for the future of the state, as well. He defied Inouye's request to have U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa replace him....
read ... Probably Trying to Help Hee
Two University of Hawaii regents resign over Disclosures
KHON: Two members of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents have resigned after state lawmakers unanimously passed a bill requiring public financial disclosures from people serving on more than a dozen state boards and commissions.
Regents John Dean and Saedene Ota submitted resignation letters to Gov. Neil Abercrombie this month, citing the bill.
Abercrombie included the bill on a list of 10 he intends to veto, but has not made a final decision or given specific reasoning for considering the veto.
The bill, SB2682, would make annual financial disclosure statements publicly available for the 15-member board and other agencies.
The board has objected to the expanded disclosures and sent a letter to Abercrombie asking him to veto the bill.
read ... Two University of Hawaii regents resign
Maui Council to Hear Anti-GMO Initiative Monday
MN: The committee will hear the measure at its 1:30 p.m. meeting in Council Chambers. Sign-ups for verbal testimony will begin at 1 p.m.
According to the Maui County Charter, the council has 60 days or until Aug. 5 to act on the proposed ordinance. The clock began June 6, when the Maui County Clerk deemed that enough signatures had been obtained for the petition to be formally submitted to the County Council.
If the council does not adopt the ordinance within 60 days, it will be placed on the general election ballot for consideration by the electorate, according to a county news release.
read ... Reason vs Insanity
Maui Mayor vs Council
MN: To say there's some friction between Mayor Alan Arakawa and the Maui County Council is somewhat akin to saying there's a bit of antipathy between Barack Obama and John Boehner....
Everything appeared copacetic - until the mayor announced line-item vetoes of eight projects in the budget, saying they were not included in the bond authorization bill. The council countered that initial planning without bond authorization is standard practice in the county and overrode the vetoes unanimously.
We're not sure what greater purpose is served by this overt animosity. The hubbub over the post office is overblown - council members knew what was happening. On the other hand, though, we are baffled by the mayor's vetoes.
read ... Mayor vs Council
San Francisco buys 8,000 tickets out of town for homeless
SFist: Dufty said Homeward Bound connects homeless people with family members who are willing to take them in, after which, the city gives them a bus ticket (or a ...) to relocate to their new home. Depending on the length of the journey, the city also kicks in some meal vouchers. Based on city data, Dufty said it's estimated that less than 24 people who have participated in Homeward Bound have returned to S.F. streets and accessed homeless services.
read ... How many were flown to Hawaii?
Hawaii Board Advances $1B Telescope Pending Review
AP: The sublease is the last major bureaucratic hurdle for scientists, although the project also faces the threat of lawsuits by opponents.
read ... Pending Review
DLNR: Punatic Eco-Activists Murder Trees, Illegally Bulldoze Land
WHT: A popular community in Kalapana Seaview Estates built illegal structures and cut down protected trees on state land, according to a report filed earlier this month with the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
The June 10 report, filed by DLNR investigator John Holley, claims the Village Green Society and property manager Graham Ellis ignored a prior warning by the DLNR in 2010 and continued to develop the 59.6-acre property, located south of VGS’ Bellyacres community. Bellyacres includes the Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education, also known as SPACE, and hosts a number of outreach efforts, performances and events, including Hawaii’s Volcano Circus, Hiccup Circus, and the SPACE Farmers Market.
“We found eight illegal structures on the state parcel, numerous dirt roads which wind in and out of the state parcel, illegally cut roads and walking trails, sunning platforms, a horse corral, a chicken coop and a marijuana patch,” Holley wrote. “It also appeared that some of the structures were on the boundary or not set back far enough. The horse corral was once a pristine ohia forest with large ohia trees. These logs, according to interviews, were cut down and used throughout the years as posts for most of the structures on the VGS parcel.”
read ... About a bunch of hypocrites
Aloha Stadium Doesn't Know How Much Land it Owns
SA: ...the stadium might have less land in Halawa than the 104 acres claimed.
For another, the City and County of Honolulu apparently still has a deed restriction on a good chunk of it.
"We have not been provided with a comprehensive survey of the stadium site," the report by Foley & Lardner, a New York law firm, states, "so the exact acreage is unclear, however, the 104-acre figure (that has long been in use) appears to be in error."
The study said it could substantiate 98.609 acres, 41.417 acres of which is apparently still bound by city deed restriction.
The Authority, for some time, has painstakingly been working with the U.S. Department of the Interior to negotiate away the federal deed restriction, and an end might be in sight with plans to swap some state land on Maui, members were told.
But the Foley & Lardner report also revealed a city deed restriction dating from Nov. 30, 1970 -- about seven months before ground was broken on the 50,000-seat facility that opened in 1975.
read ... Deed Restrictions
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