April 4, 2010 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Sunday, April 4, 2010

April 4, 2010 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 12:05 PM :: 12245 Views

LINK>>>As “momentum shifts to Djou”, Hanabusa’s “boldly deceptive” campaign implodes: Ads, mailers pulled

LINK>>>Dems Wary Of Hawaii Special Election

LINK>>>April 15 No New Taxes Five Rallies on Four Islands: Honolulu, Hilo, Kona, Maui, Kauai

National Democrats to dump Hanabusa? (Obama to retaliate against Inouye?)

Several local and national Democratic strategists, speaking privately, said there were conversations early in the campaign about urging Hanabusa to drop out and more recent discussions about the DCCC backing Case.

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye and U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka have endorsed Hanabusa, as have many of the state's influential labor unions, so there has been some resentment locally that national Democrats are meddling in Hawai'i politics.

"They're just nervous," one ~~local Democrat~~ (Inouye operative) familiar with the talks said. "We've told them to stay focused on Djou."

Several Democrats have privately been urging the White House to intervene because it could be politically embarrassing if Djou were to win. Obama, according to a recent Rasmussen Reports' poll, has a 77 percent job approval rating in Hawai'i and 66 percent of local voters interviewed said they approved of the new federal health care reform law….

Even if there is no formal decision by the DCCC to support Case, the talks are a setback for Hanabusa's campaign. Roll Call and CongressDaily, two Washington, D.C., publications that cover Capitol Hill, have reported on the discussions over the past few days.

The talks also coincide with some negative publicity for Hanabusa. She announced on Friday that she was pulling a campaign advertisement that claimed she cut legislative salaries after critics accused her of being deceptive for not mentioning that the pay cuts came after substantial pay raises.

“But the Dan’s won’t let them pick Ed Case, so they are stuck with Larry Mehau associate Colleen Hanabusa. (Meanwhile, you can watch the national Dems gnashing teeth here: Dems Wary Of Hawaii Special Election.) The article points the finger at Inouye, while pretending to point the finger at Obama, who, perhaps retaliating for Inouye’s support of Clinton in the Primary, washes his hands of the mess caused by Inouye’s retaliation against Ed Case and Neil Abercrombie….”

HANABUSA EXPLAINED: Fireworks, dirt, and stolen trucks: Colleen Hanabusa and the Honolulu Raceway Deal, Hanabusa, Souza tied to Pali Golf course shooters’ mob, Cayetano: Hanabusa's Broken Trust connections lead to Ko Olina

ADV on RTTT--Lesson learned: We can still win this thing (No we can’t, and here’s why….)

No. Hawaii’s second round application will be hindered by Furlough Fridays—which were NOT factored into Hawaii’s first round RTTT application. This will kill any chance we have of getting RTTT—which is EXACTLY what the HSTA and the DoE tops’ want.

But the Advertiser editors know this. By writing this editorial they are contributing to the effort to block the legislature from passing either of the two proposed constitutional amendments designed to either abolish the BoE or replace it with an appointed BoE.

Even the Advertiser editors acknowledge that for Hawaii’s second round RTT to have a chance the following would have to occur:

Legislature, the state Department of Education and charter school advocates agree on a new set of clear rules of accountability as well as a system of equitable funding.
Measuring an educator's effectiveness must include the most important yardstick, student performance. Federal evaluators correctly pointed out that the lack of commitment from the unions on this point needs to be resolved.
A robust longitudinal data system would provide hard information that can help the school system target its reforms and correct weaknesses, including inadequate performance standards for teachers, principals and individual schools--Senate Bill 2122

The HSTA, DoE, and BoE have fought each of these demands tooth and nail WITH THE INTENT of blocking RTTT and the accountability that comes with it. the idea that they would be tempted by RTTT funding now is embarrassingly stupid. But the Advertiser editors are not the stupid ones here. By writing this editorial the Advertiser editors are telling Legislators that the Adv thinks they are so stupid as to fall for this trick. Well Legislators? Is the Advertiser right about you? The only way to prove them wrong is to place the constitutional amendment on the fall ballot.

REALITY: HSTA using furloughs to keep “Race to the Top” dollars—and reform--out of Hawaii schools, HSTA playbook copied: NY Teachers unions also sabotage efforts to win "Race to the Top" dollars

OHA trustees may face tougher path to election

The change would also affect OHA's three-seat at-large election that takes place every four years. In 2006, the change would have meant that winners Rowena Akana, John Waihe'e IV and Oswald Stender would have had to face Manu Boyd, Dennis "Bumpy" Kanahele and Whitney Anderson, who finished fourth to sixth in that election, in a second round.

(So the purpose of this bill is to promote sovereignty activists to the OHA Trustees by eliminating minor candidates whose votes might likely go to outsiders such as the sovereignty activists. To understand how this might affect OHA, just think back to the days when Clayton Hee was chair.)

PDF: Read Senate Bill 2378

Police chiefs pressured legislators on pot bill

The four chiefs met with House Speaker Calvin Say and other lawmakers to urge defeat of the proposed legislation, Perry said in a telephone interview.

“All of the chiefs are together on this,” against establishment of the dispensaries, he said.

Keith Kamita, head of the state Department of Public Safety’s Narcotics Enforcement Division, spearheaded the lobbying effort, Perry said….

Perry said he is not against allowing those who have debilitating medical conditions to get medicinal marijuana, but was against the measure because of the likelihood of abuse of the proposed dispensary system.

In California, such dispensaries have become drug-dealing enterprises catering not only to those who have legitimate need and documentation for medical marijuana, he said.

SB: Lawmakers accused of wasting time

SB: Marijuana bills dead in Legislature

State Historic Preservation agency urged to shape up

The state must get its State Historic Preservation Division in order now before millions of dollars pour in for the city's rail project and construction work starts up, lawmakers said yesterday.

"It's important for rail," Sen. Clayton Hee, D-23rd (Kāne'ohe, Kahuku), chairman of the Senate Committee on Water, Land Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs, said during a briefing at the Capitol.

(Only time these clowns care about Hawaiian sites is when they have a development to build—or a competing development to stop.)

Support dwindles for “Birther” bill limiting access to records

The bill, Senate Bill 2937, was the idea of the state Health Department, which has to field daily questions about the birth certificate of President Barack Obama.

~~Conservative fringe groups~~ Clinton Democrats and warmed-over 9-11 truthers on the mainland have bombarded the Health Department with requests for Obama's birth certificate, and when they are told that the document is private and not a public document, many attempt to sue, causing the state to repeatedly defend its position….

Chris Conybeare, Media Council president, called the new proposal "really bad."

"Any new exception to the public information law is really bad," Conybeare said.

"This will not stop people like the 'birthers' from asking about Obama's birth certificate, but it could curb legitimate public interest groups or the news media from requesting documents," Conybeare said.

Spike in Hawaii home prices on the horizon: Also, drop in building permits hints at Oahu housing shortage

Hawai'i home sales volume has been rising for nearly a year, but the pipeline to produce new homes is at a more than 30-year low, leading a local economist to warn that a price spike could be in the making

A jump in prices isn't likely in the next year or two, based on projections by the University of Hawai'i Economic Research Organization, which forecasts that median home prices on O'ahu will eke out roughly 1 percent gains this year and next.

But 2012 or 2013 could be the beginning of the next significant rise, which has the potential to be steep.

Student housing gets face lift

Just a few years ago, the dorms at the University of Hawaii at Manoa were considered "like dungeons," and ranked in one student survey as among the worst in the nation.

In a scathing report on UH-Manoa housing in 2007, state Auditor Marion Higa charged that students lived in neglected, unsafe and mismanaged dorms and apartments. The university denied the dorms were unsafe.

What a difference $138 million makes.

(Of course, the UH could have privitized the dorms and let a private company carry out the renovations – then it would be spending its capital improvement bond revenues on core functions of the University instead of enriching yet another crony contractor.)

E-W Center: Political Attitudes under Repression

43-page study based on interviews with NKorean refugees looks into the attitudes of the NK public and attempts to ascertain whether the regime is losing the information war.

Kenoi pushes ethics changes again

His proposal aims to stem cronyism in government contracting and prohibits county employees from shepherding projects through county agencies. Kenoi's aim is to take the "who you know" mentality out of the way the county has done business for decades.

"I hope to clear up any ambiguity and give confidence to our constituents that there's fairness and clarity in our ethics code," Kenoi told West Hawaii Today this week.

(Moves such as this are usually aimed at creating a disadvantage for one group of cronies in order to make room for another)

Pierces’ mercy mission didn’t end when they got on Mainland plane

LIHU‘E — No one could have blamed Dr. Ken Pierce if he just wanted to rest and relax in airline seats during the long flights from Haiti to Lihu‘e.

Yet there he was, tending to an ill passenger while en route from Dallas to Honolulu, suggesting to the flight crew that the safest thing for the passenger would be to divert to Los Angeles so the passenger could get to a hospital quickly…..