Hawaii Democrat Finger Flipper Must-Watch Video: Stop Mind-Raping Me Into Voting For Hillary Clinton
Caldwell's Plan to Make Military Families Pay for Rail
September 11 Commemorated
Hawaii Democrats Purity Test Smokescreen in Grab for 100s of Patronage Jobs
Shapiro: … Hawaii Democrats are increasingly aggressive in imposing partisan purity on party members, even in nonpartisan elections.
In a letter to Democrats, former Gov. John Waihee invoked the menace of Donald Trump in attacking Charles Djou, a former Republican congressman who is running against Democrat Kirk Caldwell in the nonpartisan Honolulu mayor’s race.
“Nationally, we have a madman to defeat who would destroy everything we believe in,” Waihee wrote. “Locally, we have a Republican to defeat who in guise of nonpartisanship plans to take over our city government.”….
Complaints have been filed with the party accusing former Democratic Gov. Ben Cayetano, former party chairman Walter Heen and City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi of violating party rules by backing Djou over Caldwell in the nonpartisan election.
In a tasty bit of irony, while fellow Democrats play the partisan card on his behalf, Caldwell himself is a target of a complaint that he violated party rules by backing Councilwoman Kymberly Pine, who previously served as a Republican state legislator, over Democrat Keoni Dudley in the Leeward Council race….
It’s silly to suggest there’s anything wrong with one nonpartisan elected city official supporting another nonpartisan elected city official, and Caldwell was right to say so in his defense.
Now he and his backers need to similarly respect nonpartisanship in the mayoral election.
Nonpartisan city elections are not a “guise” as Waihee described it, but a deliberate choice by Oahu voters who in 1992 passed a City Charter amendment making all municipal elections party-free in order to end partisan bickering at Honolulu Hale and curtail party patronage in city hiring.
The reasoning was that there’s little party ideology in fixing potholes, issuing driver’s licenses and cutting the grass at the parks.
Senior Democrats such as Waihee and Schatz disrespect the will of the electorate with the cheap partisan appeals that voters made clear they didn’t want in city elections.
Waihee’s call to stop Djou from “taking over city government” is more about preserving Democratic patronage in appointed city jobs and keeping boards and commissions filled with loyalists who take care of special interests that underwrite Democratic candidates.
No doubt this is good for Democrats, but how does it serve the public interest to hire planners, engineers and police commissioners by party loyalty instead of ability? ….
read … Nonpartisan mayoral race distracted by partisan cries
Kenoi PCard used to purchase large amount of alcohol for Star-Adv Reporter
HTH: The deputy attorney general prosecuting Mayor Billy Kenoi for theft said in a court document the mayor used his county-issued credit cards to buy “exorbitant amounts of alcohol.”
Documents filed Aug. 30 by Deputy Attorney General Kevin Takata indicate the grand jurors who indicted Kenoi in March on eight criminal charges were presented eight witnesses and 38 exhibits, including receipts and bank statements detailing Kenoi’s use of his purchasing card, or pCard, for 15 alleged personal purchases.
“Itemized receipts were provided for 13 of the 15 transactions,” documents state. “In some instances, these receipts included detailed time stamps of when the outings commenced and ended. More significantly, the majority of the receipts detailed an exorbitant amount of alcohol being purchased. Evidence was also presented to show that these purchases were not reimbursed … until media requests were filed seeking copies of the defendant’s pCard records. This was established by way of media request dates and documentary evidence of reimbursement dates.”
Kenoi faces two counts of second-degree felony theft, two counts of misdemeanor theft, three counts of tampering with government records, and one count of making a false statement under oath. The second-degree theft charges are each punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Trial is set for Oct. 10 in Hilo, and a hearing on numerous pretrial motions is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday….
An Oct. 21, 2011, charge for $320 at the Hilo Yacht Club was a going-away luncheon for Kevin Dayton — then a Kenoi executive assistant, now a Honolulu Star-Advertiser reporter — instead of an office strategic planning luncheon as listed, according to the correspondence….
HTH: Prosecutor in Kenoi case concerned about hostile witnesses
read … Drunk and Disorderly
$100s of Millions in Rate Hikes and Tax Hikes because Outreach to homeless cut by Caldwell
SA: …According to research by the Hawaii Health Information Corp., Queen’s cared for homeless patients 10,126 times in 2015, producing gross charges of $89.3 million. Those total charges are usually much higher than what is covered by insurance, and homeless patients can’t pay the difference.
Hospital administrations are wisely implementing their own programs to mitigate the problem (because mayor Caldwell eliminated the City’s outreach program). The approach at Queen’s is to identify the top 25 visitors — who racked up 1,514 visits and gross billings of $12 million — and provide them with preventive services and follow-up care outside the hospital.
Sheltering and social service agencies such as the Institute for Human Services often gets the referrals from hospitals and also are instituting stopgap measures. For example, IHS opened Tutu Bert’s House this year, a residence to give respite to the homeless who are recovering from hospitalization.
This model should be replicated, because it can reduce the rate of readmissions of patients discharged to the harsh environment of the streets.
The problem is clearly trending upward. IHS spokesman Kimo Carvalho said compared to 2012, when 434 homeless were referred from hospitals to the shelter, that number jumped to 735 in 2014 and hit 639 last year.
IHS and the University of Hawaii School of Social Work are doing a study, to conclude at year’s end, calculating the total financial burden homelessness puts on society. In addition to health care, the study will encompass the toll on public safety, the criminal justice system and other public agencies as well, Carvalho said.
That should add weight to the push to support more social outreach to the homeless population, both publicly and privately….
As Explained: Mental Health: Can Reform Solve Hawaii’s Homeless, Prison and Unfunded Liability Problems?
read … Outreach to homeless needed to cut ER costs
Illegal fishers ensnared by Inouye loopholes deserve help
Borreca: “Under the law, U.S. citizens must make up 75 percent of the crew on most commercial fishing vessels in America. But influential lawmakers, including the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, pushed for a loophole to support one of the state’s biggest industries. It exempted commercial fishing boat owners from federal rules enforced almost everywhere else,” AP said….
Ing is calling for an investigation. First, he wants an attorney general opinion into what he called “the alleged unfair labor and business practices conducted at … Honolulu Harbor.”….
The irony in all this is that, as the AP report notes, “Hawaii’s fishing industry is otherwise one of the most tightly regulated for catch limits and sustainability.”
So far, Hawaii’s U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono has recognized the abuse and is proposing an amendment that would at least allow the fisherman to legally fly into Hawaii that would remove the illegal alien problem….
SA: Abuse of undocumented workers is dark side of ‘buy local’ campaign
read … Illegal fishers ensnared by loopholes deserve help
Maui hospital transfer being bungled badly
SA: …The inability of our government leaders and unions to manage Maui’s hospital transition is staggering. For many years, MMMC has struggled with huge losses. Now, when a solution is available, we lurch from roadblock to obstruction with no end in sight.
Because of the uncertainty, lawsuits and months of turmoil, it is virtually impossible to recruit desperately needed doctors and nurses. With 400 position vacancies, something is going to break. Patients’ lives are at grave risk….
read … Bungled Badly
State DoT Builds Cruise Ship Reception Center, Keeps it Closed for Three Years
HTH: A small room meant to greet cruise ship passengers at Hilo’s Pier 1 remains locked and off limits, more than three years after renovations were expected to be complete.
The new Aloha Room and adjacent restrooms were part of a $5 million state Department of Transportation upgrade to the pier’s warehouse, known as the Pier 1 Shed, which passengers walk through on their way to a taxi staging area.
But despite the work being complete, and the warehouse open to visitors, DOT officials still don’t have an estimate for when they will open restrooms and the greeting room, and may even have to redo some of the work depending on input from Hawaii County.
“The Hawaii Department of Transportation Harbors Division is working with the Hawaii County Fire Department to address any comments they may have for the Hilo Harbor Pier 1 Shed project,” said DOT spokesman Tim Sakahra in a short statement to the Tribune-Herald.
“Upon receipt of Hawaii County comments, the Harbors Division will address them accordingly.”
That’s unusual since harbors projects are exempt from county building codes.
Rob Perreira, county fire prevention bureau battalion chief, said DOT approached the Fire Department anyway seeking its approval after starting construction.
“Piers are not governed by the county building code,” he said. “But (DOT) wants the Fire Department to say the pier is safe.”
That’s challenging, Perreira said, since the Aloha Room and restrooms have walls that don’t reach the top of the warehouse.
“We never looked at anything” as construction occurred, he said. “All of a sudden they want us to be a witness to testing and sign off. As you know, liability when you sign off on something is a big factor.” …
With the bathrooms closed, she said passengers have had to use portable toilets instead….
read … Try wait try wait
Despite ramped up efforts, Hawaii still plagued by doctor shortage
KHON: Right now, there are 2,900 doctors licensed to treat patients in Hawaii, according to the Hawaii Physician Workforce Assessment. The state gained a net of 97 doctors last year, but there is still a shortage of 500….
Experts say we’re making progress against the shortage of doctors here in Hawaii, but there’s a long way to go. They say the state could still use several hundred more, with the greatest needs on the Big Island and Oahu.
The director of University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine Area Health Education Center says the greatest needs is for primary care doctors, not specialists….
“The shortage is actually greater on the neighbor islands, but for one thing we don’t train enough, we only train about 80 a year on a good year, and we need to grow it by at least 100 probably 150 a year, 200 would be nice,” said Dr. Kelley Withy….
read … Doctor Shortage
Anti-Superferry Pacific Whale Foundation Miffed by NOAA Regs Requiring them to keep their Profitable Tourboats Away from Whales
MN: …Whale watches, part of a $20-million-a-year industry in Hawaii, and other water users still will have to remain no closer than 100 yards.
(Which will make it a lot harder for PWF to run over and kill baby whales as they have done so many times in the past.)
Hypocrite Greg Kaufman, executive director of the Pacific Whale Foundation … wondered why only Hawaii and parts of Alaska have special distance regulations. Water users in California, Oregon and Washington can approach whales at will.
"Humpback whales should be afforded equal (lack of) protection in all U.S. waters," he said. "So NOAA needs to either establish special humpback whale approach regulations in all U.S. waters or rescind the regulations in Hawaii and Alaska and promote approach guidelines nationwide." (In reality only PWF has killed so many whales, thus necessitating the special regs.)
Instead of the approach regulations, the foundation will be advocating for speed limits of 12.5 knots, or 14 mph, during the peak whale season from January to April, Kaufman said. The foundation will make its proposal during a 60-day comment period on the delisting….
(Better idea. Require PWF boats to not have vicious whale-slicing propellers. They can use jet drives like the … uhhh … Superferry did.)
read … Change in endangered status of humpback whales draws criticism
Joker Got Punchline Wrong: Ige sets new target date of 2030 for pretend-doubling food production
SA: …Gov. David Ige has pushed back by a decade his campaign pledge of doubling local food production in Hawaii by 2020.
As the 2020 date approaches, Scott Enright, director of the state Department of Agriculture, acknowledged that there has yet to be any significant increase in local food production, though noting that plans to increase local egg, dairy and beef production are in the works.
Complicating matters, the state doesn’t accurately know how much food is being produced locally versus what’s imported — making the goal elusive given the lack of a firm baseline.
Ige mentioned the new 2030 target date for doubling local food production in remarks last week during the IUCN World Conservation Congress, an environmental convention here that attracted an estimated 9,100 people, including government officials, scientists, nonprofits, business leaders and policymakers.
Ige’s office didn’t respond to questions about why the governor had pushed back the target date, but Enright called 2030 “far more realistic.” ….
In the 1970s, Hawaii was self-sufficient when it came to eggs and milk, with 240 egg farms and 120 milk operations, according to a 2012 report from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The number of egg farms since plummeted to about 100, at the time of the report, and Hawaii currently has only two dairies. There have also been significant declines in livestock…..
read … Just Kidding
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