Maui Memorial Hospital CEO Resigns
House Passes VA Accountability, Appeals Reform
The Allure of Anti-Intellectualism
Strong leadership is needed to promote agricultural growth
Ward Homeless at State Capitol Tonight
Democratic Party Sues To Stop Candidate From Running As Dem
CB: Angela Aulani Kaaihue is running as a Republican in one congressional race and as a Democrat in another. Now Democrats are suing to stop her from claiming she’s one of them….
The Democratic Party sought to block her candidacy in a letter to the Hawaii Office of Elections on Sept. 9, but the party said the office refused to receive it and told the party its only recourse was in Circuit Court. The party sent the letter to the court that same day….
In its lawsuit, the Democratic Party said Kaaihue was expelled from the party on Aug. 16 over her Republican nomination. But nine days later, she filed to run as a Democrat anyway in the other congressional race….
The suit also seeks a ruling that the elections office has the authority to investigate such matters and can’t certify a candidate to run in separate races as a member of opposing parties….
PDF: Full Text of Lawsuit
read … Crazy
Democrats Move Against Finger Flipper but not Caldwell, Cayetano
SA: Hawaii Democrats have assigned a team to investigate and propose a possible punishment for activist Chelsea Lyons Kent, who raised her middle-finger on television at the Democratic National Convention. However, the party’s handling of that and other complaints has prompted one member of the party’s Oahu County Committee to resign….
Oahu County Committee Chairwoman Reena Rabago confirmed the Oahu committee voted on Sept. 10 to assign a five-member team to investigate both complaints against Kent, and said the team will return with recommendations on what to do next.
Richard Halverson, who was vice chairman of the Oahu County Committee, resigned from that post after the Sept. 10 meeting. In his resignation letter, Halverson expressed frustration that “party membership has become less focused on helping Democrats beat Republicans, and I feel too focused on rules, discipline and policing member behavior.”
“The OCC style has become less transparent, more dictatorial, and for me, more stressful,” Halverson wrote in his letter of resignation. “I no longer feel my time is well spent participating, and for this reason I am resigning.”
Halverson in an interview raised concern that the case against Kent is being handled differently than similar complaints against other party members.
The Oahu committee has received a separate complaint filed against former Democratic Gov. Ben Cayetano, Honolulu City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi and former Hawaii Democratic Party Chairman Walter Heen for endorsing Republican Charles Djou in the nonpartisan Honolulu mayor’s race.
Still another complaint was filed against Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell for endorsing Republican Kymberly Pine in the nonpartisan Honolulu City Council race.
Halverson said the Oahu committee advanced the complaints against Kent last weekend, but took no action on the complaints against Kobayashi, Cayetano, Heen or Caldwell.
Since three of the complaints allege rule violations by party members who endorsed non-Democrats, some Oahu committee members wanted those complaints investigated by the same team. That way, any disciplinary recommendations would be consistent, Halverson said….
“We would like all of these weighed under one investigation, and now that just can’t happen,” he said. The concern is that inconsistent decisions could further divide factions within the party, “and in the long term, this isn’t going to solve anything,” Halverson said.
Rabago confirmed the cases against Kobayashi, Cayetano, Heen and Caldwell have not yet been referred for investigation “because they’re still going through the process.”
“Whenever there’s a complaint, there’s a process that has to be followed, and all of the complaints are in the early stages, but they’re all moving forward,” Rabago said.
She declined to discuss the cases further, noting that the Democratic Party is a private organization, and not a public government agency.
Rabago also declined to comment on whether other Oahu committee members have expressed unhappiness with the handling of the complaints. “It’s party business, and it has to go through a process, and the party is the party. We’re talking about people’s membership, and that’s not … it’s so private that I wouldn’t want to comment on anything,” she said.
Letter: Democrat Vice Chair Resigns—’Party More Dictatorial’
read … Dems divided over crude gesture
Maui Memorial: Kowtowing to Unions Costs Another $25M
MN: Maui Region Chairman Avery Chumbley said Friday that even "if the stars aligned tonight and we had a full moon" and Gov. David Ige had agreements with the unions, the HHCC and Kaiser, "it would not be possible to do that transition by October 31st," Lo's departure date.
The Maui Region Board is using July 1 as the transition date to Kaiser and is working on "contingency plans to get to that point."
"I can still remain hopeful, but I am not as optimistic" about moving up the date given the current status of negotiations and discussions, Chumbley said.
At the region board meeting Tuesday, Chumbley said members will be developing options to make it to the July 1 transfer date. Public hearings on those options, which likely mean service cuts, could happen in three to four weeks, he said.
Chumbley added that the state Legislature could offer emergency financial funding. If services were kept status quo, there would be an operational shortfall of about $25 million for the current fiscal year budget, he said….
Arguably, Lo’s greatest achievement was leading the public-private partnership measure that passed the Legislature and was signed into law in 2015….
Lo said that he had "every intention of completing" the transition to Kaiser, but with the date pushed back to July 2017, "I couldn't pass up this exciting opportunity with Hale Makua."
(Translation: Its worse than you know.)
read … Wesley Lo to leave HHSC at end of October
State Investigating Placement Of Human Remains At TMT Site
CB: The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources is investigating a case in which someone allegedly disinterred human remains and put them in a shrine at the proposed site of the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea on the Big Island….
“DLNR is aware of this and it is under investigation,” ….
Kealoha Pisciotta, whose group Mauna Kea Anaina Hou was one of several parties to prevail in the Supreme Court case, said she was not informed beforehand of human remains being placed in a shrine….
“It’s probably safe to say that some people have been surprised by it,” she said.
At the same time, she said, “It’s important to remember that Mauna Kea is a burial ground, so burials continue to happen on Mauna Kea. They should continue to happen because that’s been since time immemorial.”
Hawaii law requires those who remove human remains from their original burial grounds to obtain a permit….
read … State Investigating Placement Of Human Remains At TMT Site
Feds Arrest HPD Officer in Prostitution Scheme
SA: Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Honolulu Police Department officer and former University of Hawaii volleyball player Maulia LaBarre today on five charges of honest services wire fraud.
A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted LaBarre, 34, alleging that between January and March, LaBarre, promised a person arrested for prostitution that he would arrange to have the arresting officer not appear in a court case if the defendant had sex with him.
The case falls under federal jurisdiction because LaBarre allegedly sent wire communications, in the form of text messages, to execute the criminal offense.
LaBarre faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each count.
LaBarre will have an initial appearance and arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi on Sept. 19….
Related: 3 arrested for allegedly running prostitution business in Pawaa
read … Its Federal
Homeless Account for 75% of Hawaii Heroin Users
SA: …In Hawaii, “the drug of choice” is heroin, said CHOW Project Executive Director Heather Lusk. That differs from the mainland, where opioids such as morphine, fentanyl, hydrocodone and OxyContin are more heavily abused.
Charles Morrison, 51, who is homeless in the Pali Highway area, recognizes the need for anti-overdose kits, after having seen six of his friends die as a result of overdose.
Morrison, who has been shooting heroin for the past 35 years, was among those who picked up a kit Monday.
“The best thing you can do is be alive,” he said.
The kits being distributed include two sterile syringes and 1 milliliter of a drug called naloxone, which, when injected, could save the life of someone abusing opioids.
The CHOW Project paid for the $40 kits and hopes to distribute 500 statewide by the end of the year and raise money to distribute more next year.
The nonprofit’s effort deserves support, as one link in a community chain helping people to pull out of a desperate lifestyle.
Lusk estimated that three-fourths of Hawaii’s opioid users are likely homeless — and that homeless people are nine times more likely to die of an opioid overdose than non-homeless users….
read … Heroin
Hawaii 5th Lowest Divorce Rate
TN: According to a survey conducted by The Knot, Hawaii is the third most popular destination among American couples planning a wedding abroad. (N.B. In this study, Hawaii was considered an international destination, unlike the other 49 states.) Thirty-three percent of couples opt for Oahu as the spot for the ceremony, making it the most popular island for a dream wedding.
As for the negative aspect that goes with Hawaii...well, there really isn’t one because -- at just 9.1-percent -- Hawaiian weddings have the joint fifth lowest divorce rate of any state. What’s more, if things do go badly on the islands, a divorce filing fee is a relatively inexpensive $175, which Nicolas Cage would know as he divorced Lisa Marie Presley just 108 days after their Hawaii wedding.
read … Divorce
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