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Finally, Real Condo Law Enforcement?
Original Waikoloa Highlands Partners Share History of Cocaine Trafficking
Djou One of Ten Asian-American Candidates to Watch
ABC: Charles Djou, Honolulu Mayor – …Djou…announced his campaign to become mayor of Honolulu in June, taking on Democrat incumbent Kirk Caldwell.
Since then, Djou has received the endorsements from former Democratic Gov. Ben Cayetano, Democratic politician Walter Heen, as well as several labor unions that had previous backed Caldwell. Caldwell, who beat Djou in the primary by .9 percent, holds endorsements from the bulk of Hawaii's current Democratic Party leaders as well as over twenty labor unions….
Amata Radewagen, House of Representatives --When Amata Radewagen was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a non-voting delegate in 2014, she became the first woman to represent American Samoa in Congress and the highest-ranking Pacific Islander Republican elected official, according to the GOP.
She is also a senior member of the Republican National Committee and has attended a total of eight Republican National Conventions.
On Tuesday, she four challengers — three Democrats and one independent….
Hon Co Clerk: Djou Would be First Asian Mayor of Honolulu
read … Ten Races with Asian-American, Pacific Islander Candidates to Watch on Election Day
DoE’s $391M Fee Plan Along Rail Line Pits Schools Against Affordable Housing
CB: About 39,000 additional residential units are expected along a 4-mile stretch of the Honolulu rail route, allegedly requiring more schools….
$9000 x 39,000 = $391M
read … Pitting
749K Register to Vote in Hawaii--Easy Registration Behind Low Voter Turnout?
HNN: …Voter registration in Hawaii is at an all-time high. 749,917 people had signed up as of October 10, the deadline for online and mail-in registration. According to experts, a new online registration option contributed to the roughly 6-percent increase from the 2012 election. Officials say 23,000 people registered to vote online.
"Every time we make it considerably easier to register, many more register. This happened in 1996 with the Motor Voter law, and know that you can register online, particularly there have been links off Facebook, people can see that and register very easily," said Colin Moore, Hawaii News Now political analyst.
Moore believes that even with this year's record-setting registration, the actual turnout will be relatively low.
"Registering to vote is much easier than actually going to vote or submitting your ballot and that takes a lot more thought, a lot more time. So it's great that we have higher voter registration, but it hasn't necessarily led to higher turnout in the past," he said.
The Office of Elections has already received 157,605 mail ballots and 44,122 walk-in ballots….
read … Too Easy
Red flag raised on the absentee voting system
KHON: …"I got my first absentee ballot in the mail the week of October 10th around that time. I took a few days to decide, mailed it in. About a week and a half later I received another ballot in the mail,” she said.
With her second ballot in hand, still sealed, she says she’s at loss with what do with it….
Pomai says she mailed her first ballot back in October, but the City Clerk said he never received it.
So what happened to the ballot she mailed in? How did she get two ballots, anyway? And what if she votes on both of them? ….
"Where's the fail-safe? Where's the accountability in errors like this happening and preventing it from happening again?" Pomai is still full of questions.
After we told her the clerk never logged her vote, Pomai says she'll fill out her second ballot and send it in, hoping this time, her vote WILL count.
read … Red flag raised on the absentee voting system
Possibility of One Party Senate Raises Constitutional Questions
AP: The possibility of Slom's defeat has some puzzling about what would happen with politically charged issues such as re-drawing the lines of voting districts and naming members of the elections commission. Typically, the Senate minority leader appoints two people to each panel. But the state Constitution is silent on who gets that power if there's no minority leader, and the state attorney general's office wouldn't speculate on the matter.
Rep. Beth Fukumoto Chang, minority leader of the Hawaii House, tried to change that with legislation, but the bill died. Her caucus of seven Republicans is far outnumbered by the 44 Democrats in the Hawaii House.
"He does a good job of riling up the Republican base in a way that no one else has been able to do," Fukumoto Chang said of Slom. "I don't know what happens if we don't have that."
read … One Party Senate
The Alternatives are Worse
KE: I lost faith in the “progressive” movement when it adopted totalitarian tactics to fight GMOs….
But I also try to keep it in perspective. I've got friends who can barely eat and sleep, due to their anxiety over the presidential election. Others have written folks off because of their political views. I've got colleagues overseas who are likening America to Germany in 1932-33.
Take a deep breath now. It's just an election. And somehow we'll deal, whatever the results. Though I know a lot of Maui folks are worried about the kooky "Aloha Aina" candidates getting in and wreaking havoc there.
Which leads me to Kauai Councilman Gary Hooser, who is holding on by his fingernails….
After the primary, I thought the general race would mainly be about Mason. At this late date, I have changed my mind. The top 5 are easy — Kawakami, Kaneshiro, Kagawa, Rapozo & Brun (Kaneshiro & Kagawa are interchangeable as far as who gets more votes). For the final 2 seats, Hooser, Yukimura, Kualii, Chock & Apalla (not necessarily in order) are the contenders!
Yes, the six and seven slots are definitely up for grabs, and Hooser has raised and spent staggering sums in an attempt to secure one of them. According to the most recent campaign reports, Hooser raised $104,728.93 and spent $104,068.62, leaving him $3,436.60 in the hole. (He started his re-election campaign in debt and still has unpaid expenditures.)
Much of his war chest came from the same people, giving multiple times. Anti-dairy activists Bridget Hammerquist and Eileen Kechloian are up to $900 and $2,000 respectively. Surfrider's Gordon LaBedz and Carl Berg have given $500 and $200, respectively. John Harder's tally now stands at $800. Kauai Garden Cottages has given a total of $1,100, while Kauai Dreams Realty is up to $850. Mark Sheehan of Maui's anti-ag SHAKA has contributed $400. Contractor Rob Brower is up to $300, as is Big Island Sen. Russell Ruderman.
Since he took ninth in the primary, Hooser has spent $39,525.65, nearly all of it on advertising….
read … Musings: The Alternatives are Worse
Anti-GMO PACs Get Money from Mainland
KE: …Even as it advocates for “home rule,” the Hawaii Center for Food Safety Action Fund got nearly all its money from its Washington, D.C., headquarters and the fabulously wealthy Lavinia Currier, who owns a Molokai ranch, but lives in Virginia.
According to its late contributions/expenditures report, the PAC took in $15,000 from its D.C. office and $7,500 from Lavina in late October. It then spent $8,188.88 between Oct. 24 and Nov. 3 to buy ads pushing its “True Food” slate of candidates on Maui: Alika Atay, Napua Greig Nakasone, Elle Cochran, Trinette Furtado and Keani Rawlins- Fernandez.
In other words, a Washington, D.C. advocacy group and an east coast philanthropist picked up the $2,180.88 tab for this half-page Maui News ad claiming these four are all about "home rule:" ….
Overall, the supposedly local, grassroots CFS-PAC took in $35,513 for 2016 and spent $40,097, leaving it with a $10,399 deficit.
Other big contributors — besides Lavinia, who earlier donated another $10,000 — include Honolulu's Randy Ching, who gave $5,000. The Maui-based Sustainable Action Fund for the Environment gave $1,000, as did Kilauea resident Rosalie Danbury, whose husband made a fortune figuring out how to create email spam. All the rest came from the D.C.-based CFS.
But aside from the candidate ads, the rest of the spending is rather hazy, in terms of which candidates benefitted. There was money going to CFS director Ashley Lukens for Facebook ads. Maui "Babes" Lauryn Rego and Nomi Carmona got $3,333 and $1,900, respectively, for "election consulting services." For the primary, the PAC spent $1,838 on a mailer for Tiare Lawrence and $2,522 on one for Fern Rosenstiel.
In the end, just $18,259, or less than half of its $40,097 total spending this year, has been accounted for. Where did the rest go? Which other candidates benefitted from this unreported largess?
I've been hearing the Lege is going to crack down on the opaque funding methods that activists use to conduct lobbying and election work, including money raised through go fund me and crowd funding sources….
read … Musings: No Homies
Video of BoE Meetings Posted Online
HNN: For over a year, Vanessa Ott has been videotaping Board of Education meetings and uploading them to her website.
She considers it a public service, but she wants the board to take over what she started. And she's got support from the governor
read … Former teacher who videotapes BOE meetings wants board to "step up"
City park worker pleads not guilty to sex assault on Tranny—Now Given Paid Leave
SA: A city worker who was depicted on live video allegedly propositioning a transgender probationer for sexual favors pleaded not guilty Monday in Oahu’s Circuit Court.
Defendant Harold Villanueva Jr., 47, appeared before Oahu’s First Circuit Court Judge Colette Garibaldi, who set a trial for the week of Dec. 19.
Villanueva was arrested in July on a charge of fourth- degree sex assault. Villanueva, who had worked for the city since 2002, was put on unpaid leave from his job as a groundskeeper in the Department of Parks and Recreation pending an internal investigation. He is now on paid leave. (Thanks, UPW.)
read … City park worker pleads not guilty to sex assault
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