Charter Commission Proposal: Eliminate Neighborhood Boards
If Ige Signs SB2954--Hawaii Could Be First to Put Gun Owners in Federal Database
Full Text: Attorney General Asks 9th Circuit to Lift Stay on Maui Memorial Privatization
Fukumoto Helps Her Reelection Chances by Loudly Denouncing Trump
SA: …In an amazingly self-destructive outburst over the weekend, Hawaii Republicans held their state convention and used it for the public stoning of one of their few successful candidates, GOP House leader Rep. Fukumoto Chang.
Like former U.S. Rep. Charles Djou and former U.S. Rep. Patricia Saiki, Fukumoto Chang is critical of Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, saying he is dividing and not uniting the GOP and is a sexist, racist, right-wing extremist.
This greatly upsets the vocal, conservative wing of the party that is calling for Fukumoto Chang to leave the GOP. While Fukumoto Chang leads the House GOP, she is criticized and not supported by three of the seven House Republicans.
On Saturday, instead of giving a speech, Fukumoto Chang (calculatingly) said she would use her time to take questions from the hostile audience.
(The purpose was to obtain the reaction and the media coverage, thus ensuring that her constituents know she is not for Trump and therefore less likely to punish her in November.)
“Why don’t you go ahead and join your former minority leader and join the Democratic Party,” one convention member shouted.
“I am not trying to change you, but I am trying to change it, I am trying to make room for people who have different opinions,” Fukumoto Chang said as the loud booing started….
Did it work? Read the comments: “Good for her for taking a stand…Don’t blame her, blame Trump…” – “Representative Chang embodies the strength and intellectual diversity of the Republican Party and should be commended for her views.” – “I commend Representative Chang for standing up to Trump’s supporters in her party.” – “Rep. Fukumoto represents us very well here in Mililani. She know we have her back.” – “Rep Chang is courageous to take her stand, and yes, she is a Republican, as much as anybody else in the party.”
Big Q: What’s your reaction to Donald Trump being the presumptive GOP nominee for president? –“55% Terrified”
read … GOP leader’s refusal to back Trump
Hawaii Republicans Must Have Elected Leaders to Spare
CB: …it was enlightening to hear the genius plan that Fukumoto Chang’s Republican colleagues put forward, via catcalls and helpfully direct shouts (“Resign,” for instance), at Saturday’s convention meeting. Fukumoto Chang, they forcefully suggested, should follow Rep. Aaron Ling Johanson and change her party affiliation to Democrat, just as he did after the 2014 elections.
Brilliant!
Since Fukumoto Chang succeeded Johanson as minority leader, that would not only maintain a party leadership trend, it would reduce the House GOP caucus to a more manageable size of six. That ought to be plenty to ensure that Hawaii’s Republicans are sufficiently represented in the House. After all, Slom is a caucus of one in the Senate and a veritable model of efficiency.
Leaner (and no doubt meaner), the Hawaii GOP will be well positioned to begin the winning that Trump promises is in its near future — winning so much they’ll be sick of all the darned winning! Once party ideological purity tests have been administered and all the RINOs swept from the room, the path to victory will be wide and thankfully clear…
read … Spare
Superdelegates: Hawaii Democrats too stupid to decide who should be president
CB: On March 26, Hawaii’s Democratic voters turned out in massive numbers, voting 70 percent to 30 percent for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the party’s presidential preference poll.
Fortunately, Democratic National Committee party bosses created a mechanism to protect Hawaii voters against our bad judgement. To paraphrase Secretary Clinton’s mentor, Henry Kissinger, “The issues are much too important for the Hawaii Democratic voters to be left to decide for themselves.”
Of course, Kissinger and the Hawaii superdelegates are correct. Thank God for the superdelegate mechanism as a means to prevent an outbreak of excessive democracy.
The obvious question becomes, how can we extend the benefit of the superdelegates to other elections? Surely Hawaii’s Democrats are not just too stupid to decide who should be president? Why not use superdelegates to help pick the Hawaii Democratic nominee for governor? For the U.S. Senate?
read … Expanding The Use Of Superdelegates: A Modest Proposal
Stanley Chang to Run for Congress?
CB: …The top three vote-getters after Takai in the Democratic primary two years ago said in separate interviews Monday that they would support Hanabusa if she decides to run for Congress.
Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, who finished second after Takai, said that she’d given thought to another congressional run but decided against it.
“I will probably sit it out and not run,” she said. “My campaign has been relaunched for my re-election, and I believe Colleen is interested in running. In the interest of the party, I think we should try to get behind one candidate….
Former Honolulu City Councilman Stanley Chang came in third in the last primary race for Congressional District 1. He wouldn’t rule out going for it again this year, whether or not Hanabusa runs….
Honolulu City Councilman Ikaika Anderson, who finished fourth in the congressional race two years ago, said he plans to seek his final two-year term on the council this fall.
“To all of a sudden switch gears now and have to raise half a million dollars, that would be tough,” he said. “If Colleen were to run, this would be her race to lose. And if she does run, I would be happy to support her.”…
An appealing argument, however, might be that a Republican could best represent Hawaii in a GOP-controlled House — especially should Republicans keep control of the Senate and win back the White House.
That’s the tack Djou took during his last campaign. He’s considered among the most likely candidates to try anew; but he may be disinclined to square off with Hanabusa again after losing the last two elections against her, political analysts said….
Political analysts aren’t sold on Hanabusa wanting the House seat again though. Some suspect she’s waiting to announce her plans this weekend at the state Democratic Party convention, or in the days leading up to it.
She has not responded to Civil Beat’s calls seeking comment.
Moore and Milner pointed at the work she’s doing since being appointed in April to chair the HART board of directors, and to future political aspirations.
“There’s talk that she wants to run for governor,” Moore said, “and being a very junior member in the minority party is not particularly fun.” ….
The race to replace Takai will be one of the dominant topics at the Democratic Party’s state convention in Waikiki this weekend. Oddly, it barely came up at the Hawaii Republican Party’s own convention last weekend….
read … No Hanabada
Rail: All Fingers Point at Taxpayer
SA: Rail board members will hold a special public meeting today to discuss the cash-strapped transit project’s ongoing costly challenges with overhead utility line clearances — a problem that an independent oversight firm has dubbed rail’s “most significant risk.”
The meeting, held by the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board’s Project Oversight Committee, will take place 5:30 p.m. at Mission Memorial, 550 South St., next to Honolulu Hale. It occurs about a week after federal officials confirmed that they estimate it could cost more than $8 billion to finish the entire 20-mile line to Ala Moana Center, throwing the future scope and design of the project into question.
Meanwhile, questions remain over how the safety clearances for Hawaiian Electric Co. to repair and maintain its transmission lines hanging above the rail guideway suddenly became such a big and expensive challenge to the project, rather than something that rail and HECO officials resolved years before building began.
HART and HECO officials have offered differing accounts of how exactly the issue developed over the years. Both parties have been slow to respond to requests for more details and have offered only partial answers in recent weeks.
SA: Democrats kowtow to unions for votes
read … Tax Hike Agit-Prop Show
Kill Rail Now and Waste $1.74B Less
CB: …The analysis found that Honolulu would pay approximately $1.74 billion less by stopping the project now instead of finishing it, based on the feds’ estimate of an $8.1 billion total price.
But there is at least one unknown quantity that would almost certainly decrease those savings: The HART estimate of what it would cost to remove what’s already been built was $150 million as of last September. This estimate hasn’t been updated, but the additional construction since then is bound to have increased that cost….
CB: Martin Makes Curious Pick For HART
SA: Former councilman Felix tapped for HART board
read … Save $1.74B
Star-Adv: Neighborhood boards are valuable
SA: …while the virtual town hall is a helpful supplemental strategy for gathering public input, it is simply no substitute for the face-to-face interactions of communities with the officials who serve them.
In effect, it would be a fix of something that isn’t broken, or at least an institution that could be remedied through administrative tweaks — reducing the size of some boards, or improving the election process to draw more participation. These don’t require a Charter amendment.
The monthly evening meetings bring together board members with elected officials or their staffers, as well as representatives of agencies such as fire and police departments.
The community needs close ties with these people, and nothing works as well as periodic meetings. These are held close to home and at an hour convenient to residents too occupied by day-to-day work or responsibilities to follow local issues through midday meetings at City Hall.
Often, issues that otherwise would fly below the radar do come to light through the neighborhood boards. In many cases, Council members get their first inkling of how the community views an issue by watching what bubbles to the surface at these neighborhood meetings.
There have been countless examples of projects that first were vetted by the boards. Early feedback on the planned bikeway system, Waianae highway improve- ments, Waikiki hotel projects and the vacation-rental controversy came largely from the boards….
Without the neighborhood board system it’s hard to imagine how Honolulu would keep in touch with its citizenry….
Cataluna: Neighborhood boards keep grass-roots democracy real
read … Star-Adv
Thompson Charter School: Criminal Charges Filed, AG Investigates Money-Laundering
SA: The state attorney general has filed criminal charges against the principal and elementary school vice principal of Myron B. Thompson Academy state charter school.
A criminal complaint the attorney general filed in state court Friday charges Principal Diana Oshiro and her sister Vice Principal Kurumi Kaapana-Aki with tampering with a government record. The complaint also charges Kaapana-Aki with second-degree theft.
Those are the same charges on which Oshiro and Kaapana-Aki were booked when they turned themselves in to state sheriff deputies last week. Following the arrest, the women were released without charges.
Tampering with a government record is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. Second-degree theft involves the loss of property or services worth between $300 and $20,000 and is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
According to the complaint, the theft occurred between May 22, 2007, and March 28, 2013, while the tampering happened Oct. 26, 2012.
The charges appear to stem from Kaapana-Aki working full time as a Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant while she was also working full time for the online charter school.
In November 2013 the attorney general asked a state judge to force the state Ethics Commission to turn over records of its investigation into the school. The AG’s chief investigator told the judge he was conducting a felony theft investigation.
The following month, the Ethics Commission announced it had lodged 162 ethics violation charges against Oshiro and Kaapana-Aki. The charges accuse Kaapana-Aki of 144 days of unauthorized absences between 2007 and 2012, for which she was paid, while she was working at her Hawaiian Airlines job, and also accuse Oshiro of facilitating the unauthorized absences.
The Ethics Commission later put the case on hold pending the outcome of the state’s criminal investigation against the sisters.
In addition to felony theft, the attorney general said its investigation was looking into charges of computer fraud, money laundering, racketeering and falsifying business records….
read … Not Just Nepotism
Nepotistic IBEW boss says he will retire (again)
SA: Brian Ahakuelo, the embattled leader of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260, announced his retirement for the second time, telling union officials Saturday that he and his wife would step down as the parent union investigates the local’s finances….
Local 1260 represents more than 3,200 electrical workers, including Hawaiian Electric Co. and TV station employees. IBEW named Harold Dias, a former state AFL-CIO president, as trustee of the union during the investigation….
The IBEW’s claims against Ahakuelo include alleged spending violations from 2014 to 2016, ranging from paying for family trips to Las Vegas to covering the legal fees of his son Brandon in a criminal case involving unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle. Another involved Ahakuelo paying off a $24,000 bank loan for a truck initially owned by his wife….
read … Indecisive
Secret Insurance Div Report Shows 71% of HMSA Policies Illegal
PBN: A report commissioned by the Hawaii Insurance Division alleges that some Hawaii Medical Service Association policies with ProService were found to be in violation of state insurance laws and regulations pertaining to rates and unfair competition. The division says any improper insurance rates have since been corrected.
The examination conducted by Connecticut-based Risk and Regulatory Consulting alleges that 71 percent of the policies examined had errors, 19 percent of which HMSA did not provide all requested documentation for the report to be completed. The market conduct examination report, obtained by Pacific Business News through public access laws, was adopted by the Hawaii Insurance Division in December.
The examination of Hawaii’s largest medical insurer was conducted between May 2013 and March 2014 and focused on its operations relating to ProService Pacific between January 2010 through December 2012.
In its testing samples, the market report found some HMSA policies with “errors” and some rates billed by HMSA to ProService violated rate regulation and unfair competition laws.
“The issues were whether rates approved by the Insurance Division were correctly applied, whether member’s policies were issued or terminated based upon utilization, and whether businesses had co-employment agreements,” Gordon Ito, state insurance commissioner, told PBN via email. “The Insurance Division found that HMSA filed rates that in certain instances did not match the rates charged. Responses to the division’s request for information were, at times, untimely, late and incomplete. Not all of the policies had co-employment agreements during the examination period.”
The rates that were found to be improper were “subsequently corrected,” he said.
According to the report, HMSA sold health benefit plans for members of ProService Pacific, and through multiple successive agreements, altered its definition of ProService as a Professional Employer Organization, or PEO. State law prohibits such re-rating processes….
read … Improper HMSA rates subsequently 'fixed,' insurance commissioner says
HTA: We Have Plan to Keep the $5M Taxpayers gave us for Pro Bowl
SA: …Under terms of its contract, the HTA would pay the NFL $5 million plus $152,250 for operational expenses if the game is held in Hawaii.
In response to a question from Rep. Richard Onishi (D, South Hilo-Keaau-Honuapo) during a March hearing about how the HTA would redirect the $5.15 million if the Pro Bowl isn’t played here, an HTA spokesman said, “We have a plan for the use of the funds. We have an alternate plan.”
Asked this month what that plan might be — or if it would include funding for UH — the HTA said it was premature to comment….
Big Q: What happens to the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s $5.15 million for the Pro Bowl if that event leaves Hawaii?
Background: The NFL Pro Bowl Is Moving to Orlando
read … Plan to keep the Money
Rent, Subdivision Issues Confound Efforts To Fix DLNR’s Revocable Permit Mess
EH: As pointed out earlier this year by members of the public and the press, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ management of its month-to-month revocable permits (RPs) has, at the very least, resulted in the state receiving far less revenue than what it could be getting for the use of public lands and waters. By allowing permittees to retain their permits for years — or even decades — with little or no change in rent or any opportunity for others to bid on them, the DLNR is likely losing out on millions of dollars a year….
read … Mess
Drunk-driving arrests, court cases decline Thanks to Hawaii Supreme Court
KHON: …Much of this could be the fallout after the Hawaii Supreme Court ruling in State vs. Won in late November 2015, which said blood- and breath-test procedures were coercive search-and-seizures.
read … Drunk
Arcade owners re-indicted as prosecutors try again to get gambling convictions
HNN: …In 2014, when Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro and Police Chief Louis Kealoha indicted them and several others, they called a news conference to describe the biggest indictment ever in the islands: 414 counts, all related to suspected gambling devices.
But that trial ended with all the charges being dismissed.
Lead prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, the police chief's wife, was criticized for how she handled the case.
"They've picked up, dusted themselves off and are continuing, but they're not going to get over the taint of that first initial prosecution," says Victor Bakke, attorney for Mike Miller.
"It appears they're making a lot of the same, serious mistakes that resulted in it getting thrown out last time," says defendant Tracy Yoshimura.
Instead of 414 counts, there are 47 this time. Because the new, secret indictments came down back in February, the clock for their right to a speedy trial has been ticking for awhile.
"They have six months from the date they file charges to get this case to trial, they've already burned three of those months," says Bakke….
read … Re-Indict
Hawaii`s On Bill Financing Program Killed off by Low Energy Prices
IM: …The Public Utilities Commission “is suspending the establishment, and implementation of the on-bill financing program, known as the Hawaii Energy Bill Saver Program.”
The end came on May 20, 2016 when the Commission filed Order No. 33715 in docket number 2014-0129….
…Another problem with implementing on bill financing was the downward price of oil. When the implementation docket was opened in June 2014 “the price of a barrel of oil was $105.79 and the HECO Companies' schedule "R" [residential] average cost per kilowatt hour was 36.95 cents.”
However, in January 2016, “the price of a barrel of oil had decreased approximately 70% to $31.68, and the HECO Companies' schedule "R" average cost per kilowatt hour had decreased approximately 35% to 24 cents.”
“This drastic drop in oil and electricity costs, coupled with the basic costs of the Program, resulted in great difficulty in ensuring that savings for Program participants would be beyond bill neutral.” ….
SA: PUC not pursuing broad on-bill financing plan
read … Hawaii`s On Bill Financing Program is Dying
HELCO Says Hu Honua “Woefully Inaccurate and Misleading”
BIVN: The Hu Honua Bioenergy company’s recent statements on its dealings with the power utility are “woefully inaccurate and misleading”, according to the Hawaii Electric Light Company president Jay Ignacio.
HELCO issued a statement attributed to Ignacio following Hu Honua’s press conference on Friday, in which the biomass company’s officials touted the benefits of the planned Pepeekeo project. Hu Honua also issued media releases saying the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission should investigate HELCO for its cancellation of a Power Purchase Agreement with Hu Honua….
read … Woefully Honua
Kauai: Animal Liberation Nuts So Extreme Even PETA Doesn’t Want Them
KE: An email arrived in my inbox today, advertising an event that seems great on first glance, but has so much ugliness festering beneath the surface.
It's a pitch for a June no-kill conference, with the stated goal of turning the Kauai Humane Society into a no-kill shelter.
It comes on the heels of a relentlessly vicious social media attack on KHS Director Penny Cistaro, waged in large part by the Kauai Community Cat Project — a group that wants to save all the feral cats on the island by putting them into managed colonies and the shadowy Kauai Coalition for Animals.
So what has Penny done to incur all this hate and wrath? Euthanizing animals that nobody wants — not even the animal lovers.
Minutes after I skimmed the no-kill conference email, I happened upon a news story from Taiwan, about a shelter veterinarian who killed herself after on-line haters attacked her following a TV appearance where she talked about her job….
I went back to look at the email. It said the conference will start with Nathan Winograd, a no-kill missionary, presenting his film “Redemption.” It purports to be about “a social movement as noble and just as those that have come before. But most of all, it is a story about believing in the community and trusting in the power of compassion.”
Oh, yeah, that sounds really good. But ya know, I'm not so sure about the “believing in the community” part. Especially when we've just witnessed the fanaticism and mob mentality of the anti-GMO movement. And especially when we're seeing the supposedly kind and caring animal lovers engaged in horrible attacks against Penny.
Are cyber bullying, character assassination and other despicable tactics how Winograd, Basil Scott and their followers define "community" and "compassion?" How can they claim to be “noble” when they're causing horrible harm to someone who loves animals, and is tasked with the very hard job of euthanizing those that can't find homes?
Even PETA, an animal rights' group, has denounced Winograd's movement. Blaming shelter workers for euthanasia, PETA says, is akin to blaming hospitals for deadly diseases….
WHT: Humane Society lawsuit response claims defamation
read … Musings: Sacrificial Killing
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