Walk-In Early Voting Begins TODAY
NRA Grades Hawaii Candidates on Second Amendment
Ige's HHSC Mess Gets Worse
“Few Major Policy Differences” Between Ige And Abercrombie
VIDEO: We're Worried About Brian
The Jones Act--Backward Thinking
Caldwell Town Halls to discuss Islandwide Housing Strategy
Massive Debris Pile Reveals Risk of Huge Tsunamis in Hawaii
BLNR Considers New Hunting Rules
The Future of Farming and Rise of Biotechnology
Hurricane? Abercrombie Didn't Show up, Doesn't Care
HNN: The Governor's last day in office is December 1 although some are wondering based on his low profile lately if he's already checking out.
While the county mayors were front and center during Hurricane Ana, Governor Neil Abercrombie was nowhere to be seen. It was much different from how he handled Hurricane Iselle.
"That's not to say he's in any way behaving inappropriately it's just that once a Governor has lost he doesn't need to engage in these public relations things anymore," said Prof. Moore....
"It wasn't an issue of not caring, not being involved. The Governor does care and was involved he just wasn't out in front and that was a decision that he made," said Doug Mayne, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator. "There was never any issue with the Governor not being aware what was going on or not caring what was going on."
The Governor was part of morning and evening conference calls and his staff says he was informed and would have gone in if needed.
read ... Low Profile
Hawaii Gov Race 'Leans Democratic'--Shift from tossup
G: After a topsy-turvy cycle, Hawaii's gubernatorial race has finally settled down somewhat. Democratic state Sen. David Ige -- who ousted the incumbent Abercrombie -- has opened up a small but consistent lead against former Republican lieutenant governor James "Duke" Aiona and, running as an Independent, former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hanemann.
read ... Governing
Schatz a Backbencher for Elizabeth Warren
BI: The PCCC's "Warren wing" group includes four incumbents; Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota), Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colorado)....
Helmstetter described these candidates as "Elizabeth Warren's strongest allies."
The bulk of the money going to PCCC's "Warren wing" has come from MayDay PAC, which is being run by the committee's Independent Expenditure team.
Helmstetter argues that the number of close races featuring "Warren wing" candidates in an unfavorable cycle for Democrats is proof the party should embrace Warren's populist ideals hype going forward.
read ... Warren Wing
Star-Adv Endorses Janet Grace for Waikiki House Dist 22
SA: Though engaged in his community, Democratic incumbent Tom Brower lost considerable credibility and respect when he took a sledgehammer to the shopping carts of homeless people last November. Particularly vexed though this district is by homelessness, that is not the type of action or temperament the public deserves from a lawmaker. Voters here have a solid alternative in Republican challenger Janet M. Grace, a health and home care professional who has volunteered at homeless shelters and works with disadvantaged kids — and seems to have a pragmatic grasp on issues to press for initiatives.
read ... Changes
Kauai Council Considers Massive GE Tax Hike
KGI: A proposal that Yukimura is slated to introduce during Wednesday’s County Council meeting could allow for one of those funding sources to be a county surcharge tacked on to the state’s 4 percent general excise tax, which is levied on business activities in Hawaii and is reflected on many consumer purchases, including food and groceries. The funds would be used to increase buses and stops....
But not everyone is on board.
“I won’t support the GET as a taxing mechanism at the county level ever for any reason,” Councilman Tim Bynum said. “You know what, it’s a regressive tax — it taxes everything including hair cuts, medicine and rent. It hurts low-income and poor people more than anything, but middle-class people, too. Targeting it on transportation makes it less egregious than if it went to the general fund, but it’s egregious nonetheless.”
State lawmakers, in 2005, amended tax laws to provide a 0.5 percent county surcharge on transactions attributable to the City and County of Honolulu. Revenue from the surcharge, Yukimura said, was intended to subsidize the island’s rail system now under construction.
The resolution that Yukimura is proposing, meanwhile, will ask state lawmakers to give county officials the authority to enact a surcharge of up to 0.75 percent that would be earmarked for public transportation initiatives on Kauai, making the total tax that people see on their retail receipts or bills equal to 4.75 percent.
If approved by state lawmakers and the County Council, the proposed surcharge could generate about $8 million annually for the Kauai Transportation Agency, which oversees The Kauai Bus operations.
read ... A tax for transportation
CSC Looking At PRP-- Again
SA: At the top of the commission's agenda for its meeting is a complaint filed by Cayetano against PRP and White for "failure to report expenditures."
In fact, the first four items are all dealing with various concerns about PRP, White, the Carpenters fund or its latest political action committee, Forward Progress.
That latest incarnation is an interesting one because of the money it is spreading around the Maui County and Hawaii County council races.
read ... Failure to Report
Ritte: We Didn't go to Kahoolawe to Form a Nation
CB: Despite the devotion of McGregor and other PKO members, their vision of Kahoolawe isn’t shared by all Hawaiians.
Ritte was one of the nine people who first landed on the island in 1976, defying the Navy. The prominent Native Hawaiian activist even spent six months in jail for breaking the law.
But Ritte said he disagrees with spending money to restore the island, fearing that doing so will ultimately lead to development. He doesn’t buy the idea of Kahoolawe as a place for Hawaiians to re-establish their culture, or as the future land of a sovereign nation.
“What was the purpose for us going to jail? It wasn’t to form a nation. It wasn’t to have a place for Native Hawaiians to find ourselves. It was to stop the bombing. And now that purpose has become secondary, and almost lost,” Ritte said.
Ritte’s opinion is the polar opposite of that of Aluli, who spent two days hiking Kahoolawe with Ritte on the first 1976 landing.
read ... Stop the Bombing
Bhagowalia Scores Full Time Federal Gig, Is Abercrombie Still Pretending he is With State?
PBN: Sanjeev "Sonny" Bhagowalia, the former chief information officer for the state of Hawaii, has been named deputy assistant secretary and chief information officer of the U.S. Department of Treasury, effective Monday.
As Explained last Feb: Bhagowalia Quits Abercrombie Administration, Flees State
read ... Bhagowalia named CIO of U.S. Treasury Department
'Unqualified' Masunaga Wants to be 'Face of Judiciary'
WHT: An army of public officials rushed to the defense of Margaret Masunaga, a Hawaii County deputy corporation counsel, after the Hawaii State Bar Association deemed her unqualified to be a district judge.
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, retired District Court Judge Joseph Florendo, Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi, County Prosecutor Mitch Roth, and some 40 other people testified in person or submitted written testimony as the state Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor on Monday mulled Masunaga’s nomination to be a district court judge for the 3rd Circuit.
The outwardly sympathetic panel heard testimony for about an hour in the state Capitol before announcing it would make a decision Wednesday. The full Senate would then vote Thursday on confirmations for Masunaga and two 1st Circuit Court nominees.
At issue was a negative recommendation from the Bar Association board, which “seriously” questioned Masunaga’s legal knowledge, diligence, ability to fulfill the responsibilities and duties of the position, and professional experience in legal practice and in civil and criminal proceedings and trials.
Masunaga told the committee she’d wanted to be a judge since a very young age and had applied for a judgeship six times since 1994.
“I want to be the face of the judiciary. I want to be an active listener when people come to court,” Masunaga said in 20 minutes of sometimes rambling testimony. “The District Court is a people’s court. This is the first impression our citizens get.”
read ... Committee weighs Masunaga’s qualifications for judgeship
Domestic Violence on Trial: 90% Acquitted
CB: Kaneshiro says only about 5 percent to 10 percent of suspects charged with misdemeanor domestic abuse on Oahu have to stand trial. That’s because Oahu’s courts are congested with more domestic violence cases than the courts can handle. And because of the court congestion, more and more first time or less violent defendants are allowed to plead out to lesser charges.
When suspected abusers do stand trial, Kaneshiro says an estimated 90 percent are acquitted.
Kaneshiro says the low jury trial conviction rate is because prosecutors often are working with plaintiffs who become uncooperative in the courtroom, recanting their original accusation or minimizing what happened or even looking lovingly at their batterers.
Kaneshiro says, “Juries don’t like domestic violence cases. They don’t like recanting victims. They wonder why such cases were ever brought to trial.” ...
Oahu’s courts are backlogged with hundreds of misdemeanor domestic abuse cases. Because of the courtroom congestion, many domestic abuse defendants can get their cases dismissed under a court procedure know as Rule 48. It says if a defendant does not get a trial within six months of their arrest, the defendant’s attorney can ask for dismissal.
Kaneshiro continues to push for more courtrooms to handle the burgeoning backlog. Currently only two courtrooms at District Court are open for misdemeanor domestic violence jury trials.
read ... Domestic
Hawaii Atheist Moves to Michigan, Begins Complaining of 'Long Time' Discrimination
GHT: “We want to see that (hill access) given to anyone in the city who wishes to use Dewey Hill,” Mitch Kahle said Monday night. “For a long time, we’ve seen systematic discrimination to non-Christians in this community.” ...
Kahle moved to Norton Shores last year from Hawaii, where he was involved in several separation of church and state cases. He sent a letter to Mayor Geri McCaleb in early September, requesting that the city remove the cross.
read ... Export Atheist
Hollywood Homosexual Countersues Accuser in Hawaii Court
HR: In yet another blow to Michael Egan’s credibility, a Hawaii federal judge told the Hollywood sex accuser “not to lie to me” after Egan falsely claimed in court not to have received assistance with legal papers that in fact had been prepared and filed by a law office. The unusual exchange took place at a Friday hearing in Honolulu and has not previously been reported.
Egan, whose accusations of teen sex abuse against director Bryan Singer and three others collapsed several months ago under the weight of Egan’s own prior sworn, contradictory statements, is now a defendant in a malicious prosecution suit filed by television executive Garth Ancier, who was one of the original defendants....
That appears to mark the second loss of counsel for Egan, whose prior lawyer, Jeff Herman, withdrew after saying that communication with Egan had broken down and after Ancier sued Egan, Herman and Egan’s former Hawaii lawyer for malicious prosecution and abuse of process.
Herman has his own veracity issues, having been barred for life from appearing in an Oregon federal court by a judge who said Herman had a “credibility problem” and, separately, having been suspended altogether from the practice of law for 18 months by the Florida Supreme Court for actions adverse to a client and “engag[ing] in conduct involving dishonesty [or] deceit.”
Egan reportedly appears in filmmaker Amy Berg’s documentary about Hollywood sex abuse, An Open Secret, which is set to premiere next month at the fifth annual DOC NYC documentary festival in New York.
read ... Hollywood Reporter
HPD cracks down on police abuse by CRU
HNN: The videotape beating of a bystander by a Honolulu police officer has prompted a crackdown on bad behavior within the HPD's elite crime reduction units.
Surveillance video caught Kalihi CRU officer Vincent Morre punching, kicking and throwing a chair at a man while Morre was trying to serve an arrest warrant for another man at a game room near Kapiolani Boulevard. Moore is now on desk duty and faces an FBI investigation into possible civil rights violations.
Shortly after video surfaced last month, the HPD called members of all eight of its CRU teams at police headquarters where Deputy Chief Marie McCauley told officers that that kind of behavior won't be tolerated.
HPD officials are now requiring CRU officers to attend refresher classes on search and seizure and to read manuals on the use of force and arrest procedures....
Hawaii News Now has learned that 50 to 60 of these specialized CRU officers were ordered to undergo retraining last month.
read ... Abuse
Prosecutors cannot re-file gambling case until they answer to misconduct allegations
HNN: A new hearing has been set in the high-profile case against alleged gambling arcades. But this time, the prosecutors will be the ones taking the stand to defend their actions.
The crackdown on arcades -- which resulted in hundreds of machines being seized, nine people being arrested, and a 414-count indictment are all in jeopardy.
The case was thrown out on October 10 after prosecutors admitted, there were flaws in it, but they said they would refile.
Late last week, Circuit Court Judge Randal Lee ruled that prosecutors cannot refile until they prove there was no misconduct on their part.Defense attorneys say the prosecutors lied to the grand jury to get the 414-count indictment.
Among the accusations, that they knowingly used a gambling expert to testify even though the expert wasn't certified in the sweepstakes machines in question. The prosecutors also told the grand jury that one of the defendants, Tracy Yoshimura, owned a long list of arcades that offered the devices, when Yoshimura did not.
read ... Gambling
Seeking Stars, Finding Creationism
NYT: ...the indigenous protesters were allied with environmental activists denouncing the encroachment of what they call “the international astronomy industry,” as though there were great profits to be made from studying black holes and measuring redshifts.
“Mauna Kea is a Temple or House of Worship,” says a statement on the website of Kahea, the Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance. “Therefore, the laws of man do not dictate its sanctity, the laws of Heaven do.”
Whether the target is a scientific installation or a ski area in the West, some environmentalists have learned that a few traditionally dressed natives calling for the return of sacred lands can draw more attention than arguments over endangered species and fragile ecosystems. In this marriage of convenience, there seems to be little worry that the tactics might undermine the credibility of what may be perfectly sound scientific arguments about the effects of a mammoth construction project on vulnerable mountain terrain. The state’s Board of Land and Natural Resources agreed with astronomers that the trade-off is worthwhile, and plans are proceeding....
how is letting Indian creationism interfere with scientific research any different from Christian creationism interfering with public education — something that he would surely resist?
Logically they are the same, Dr. Lekson agreed. But we owed the Indians. “I’m given to understand that the double standard rankles,” he said.
I left the conversation grateful that in another part of the world, astronomers are standing their ground. Chad Kalepa Baybayan, a Native Hawaiian, expressed his support for their efforts last year in an essay for a local newspaper.
“Our ancestors,” he wrote, “sought knowledge from their environment, including the stars, to guide them and to give them a greater understanding of the universe that surrounded them. The science of astronomy helps us to advance human knowledge to the benefit of the community.
Its impact has been positive,” he continued, “introducing the young to the process of modern exploration and discovery, a process consistent with past traditional practices.”
Denying that, he believed, was “the highest level of desecration.”
Related: Telescope: The Shakedown begins
read ... The New York Times
Anti-Dairy farm Protester Finds 'Pristine' Water is Already Polluted
KGI: Waiopili flows off Grove Farm land and enters the ocean near Makauwahi Cave Reserve and downhill from Hawaii Dairy Farms’ proposed dairy site. It is one of several streams on Kauai that continuously fails to meet state water quality standards.
Carl Berg of the Surfrider Foundation Kauai Chapter began collecting samples from the area in April in order to establish a water quality baseline prior to HDF bringing dairy cows onto the land. He described what he found then, and still today, as shocking — far from the pristine environment Mahaulepu is known as.
“This thing is eight times more polluted than the worst ones (on the island),” he said of Waiopili. “This is just outrageous.” ...
“I know it’s really polluted because I got infected,” he said, referring to a staff infection he says he contracted in his leg while sampling in the stream.
read ... Must be the Luxury Resort Surfrider is Working For
Luxury Real Estate Behind Anti-GMO 'Movement'
KE: I haven't seen any of those involved in the movement publicly express concerns about their funders: Hawaii-based upscale Realtors and mainland-based oil and manufacturing heirs.
Besides the inherent hypocrisy, they don't seem to realize that the fundamental law of ecology also applies to funding sources: there is no free lunch. As with the money that backs politicians, at some point these funders will exact their due from the movement.
We know what the Realtors want: more land to develop, more sales. But with Center for Food Safety, a mainland-based group that has inserted itself quite forcefully into Hawaii elections, do we really know what their true agenda might be? Other than political power?
read ... Grow Houses, not Food
Souki: House will not take up Say residency issue
SA: In a letter Friday to Lance Collins, an attorney for the voters, Souki said the House cannot unilaterally call itself into special session. The speaker also cited the potential appeal of the court ruling.
PDF: Speaker Joe Souki Letter to Lance Collins
read ... Say Residency
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