April 23, 2010 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Friday, April 23, 2010

April 23, 2010 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 12:29 PM :: 5681 Views

Djou raises $116,000 in one day

According to a poll conducted from the mainland April 11-14, the race was a statistical tie with 7 percent undecided, compared with 21 percent undecided in a Star-Bulletin/KITV poll in January. (Djou is ahead in that poll but none of the local papers can bring themselves to report this news. Cowards.)

Republican Djou ended the first three months of the year with more campaign cash than his Democratic rivals, and propped himself up further with a one-day fundraising drive Wednesday that generated $116,000. The fund drive coincided with his appearance on Fox News Channel with conservative commentator Sean Hannity.

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SB: A look at some of the upcoming forums featuring the three major contenders in the special election for Congress

» WHEN: Today, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
» WHERE: New Hope Oahu Lead Center, 290 Sand Island Access Road
» SPONSOR: New Hope Oahu

» WHEN: May 3, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
» WHERE: Broadcast live on Hawaii News Now (KGMB, KHNL, KFVE) and online
» SPONSORS: Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaii News Now

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Scrutiny of Advertiser sale urged: Inouye asks DOJ for review due to deal's potential fallout

The group of SB owners buying the Advertiser includes infamous Grove Farm attorney Dan H Case, uncle of Ed Case. Of course this has nothing to do with Inouye's motives, nor does it have anything to do with the Advertiser Editors’ motives in endorsing the nephew of their future boss. Really.

REALITY: Advertiser Endorsement: More Case family media manipulation?

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Hawaii lawmakers agree on $10.2 billion spending budget, revenues next

The budget depends on separate tax- and fee-related bills to help close the state's $1.2 billion deficit through June 2011 and balance the six-year financial plan. Several tax and fee increases have already been approved and sent to Lingle — including an increase in the barrel tax — and negotiators presume that the Senate will follow through next week and vote to restrict high-technology investment tax credits and itemized tax deductions on the wealthy.

Today, along with the hotel room tax, lawmakers will also consider how much money to divert from special funds and a tax conformity proposal to help with the deficit.

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Governor: Revenues will not come back until 2013

"We now project that revenues will not come back to pre-recession levels until at least 2013, and if you look at the cost of our government workforce, which is 60 percent of our cost, we simply can't continue down this path."

SB: Budget surplus rebates should not be optional

Hawaii legislators are preparing for an economic recovery by finding a way to divert any budget surplus that otherwise would be returned to taxpayers. Voters should take the opportunity in November to reject the proposed constitutional amendment aimed at this—and in doing so, remind lawmakers to be frugal….

The Legislature has approved an amendment that instead would give legislators the option of directing budget surpluses to the rainy day fund, and rebates or credits to taxpayers would not be required.

While Lingle's proposal would have required the state to save at least 5 percent of a two-year budget surplus, the amendment approved by lawmakers would allow them to decide whether to do so.

State lawmakers working to complete budget (ACT 221 tax credits could be chopped)

The big question still to be answered is if the Senate can muster the votes to pass a series of tax increases and tax credit cancellations to balance the budget. Including in the tax bills are proposals that would postpone the tax credits for high-tech companies. (Unfortunately there is surely a lawsuit in this.)

The high-tech firms are waging a last-minute campaign to convince legislators that the credits have created new jobs and contributed to the community, but lawmakers say the credits are costing the state too much in tax revenue.

Shell Game: Hawaii Legislature Moves to Balance the Budget Using Special Funds

Transfers in SB2695 SD1 HD1 include amounts from:

State Motor Pool Revolving Fund
Risk Management Revolving Fund
Medicaid Investigations Recovery Fund
University of Hawaii Housing Assistance Revolving Fund
Convention Center Enterprise Special Fund

A provision to transfer a portion of the Wireless Enhanced 911 fund to the general fund was removed after an opinion by the State Attorney General was submitted to the Senate Ways & Means Committee that federal law appears to prevent any such transfer.

Companion bill HB2542 HD1 SD2 includes:

The fuel tax credit for commercial fishers to be paid from the state highway fund.
Cap increase from $7 million to $14 million in the Hawaii Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund lapsed to the Emergency and Budget Reserve annually
Cigarette and tobacco tax revenues to certain special funds
Money in the Disability Benefit Fund may be used for other purposes

ADV: Stop the city parks scare tactics

Council members — especially Nestor Garcia, the budget chairman — know there are plenty of other places to find money.

But he shone the spotlight on the parks and recreation budget as if it alone would face the guillotine, precisely because this would whip up a froth of distress among taxpayers.

The intended audience for this tearjerker, of course, sat across the street in the Capitol. We still believe they can balance the budget without the hotel tax money.

Don't believe this show at City Hall. The Council has a lot more options for cutting expenses before they ever get near the parks department.

Its cynical leaders simply chose the most high-profile programs to threaten, even before it's known whether the budget submitted by Mayor Mufi Hannemann will have to be revised.

EXPLAINED: Washington Monument gambit

Dispute over vacant jobs delays progress on city budget measure

The Hannemann administration's $1.8 billion executive operating budget has stalled in the City Council following a disagreement on whether the Council should provide funds for vacant city and county jobs.

ADV: Stadium must make money (what a concept)

Lawmakers should pass the amended measure, which acknowledges the need to increase revenue from the existing stadium through public-private partnerships but demands more transparency about how those efforts are unfolding.

The problem is that the deed on the federally-owned stadium land restricts its use to public recreational purposes and bars its commercial rental. The state is in talks with federal parks officials to transfer that restriction to another property, which it should do.

Former Hawaii bank supervisor pleads guilty to theft charges

Demotta, 43, reached a plea agreement in which she admitted to two theft-of-government-property counts and prosecutors dismissed eight other charges of bank fraud and embezzlement.

Demotta was an assistant manager at the bank's Hawai'i Kai branch in 2004 when she became involved in the personal business affairs of a 92-year-old bank customer, Ada Lim.

Lim and her family later sued the bank, alleging that Demotta used her position to take hundreds of thousands of dollars from the elderly victim.

The former security director of the bank filed a separate suit against American Savings, alleging that his superiors told him not to report Demotta's activities to federal regulators.

American Savings denied wrongdoing, but settled both civil suits for approximately $1 million each.

DoE Teacher and Principal plead no contest in prostitution case

HONOLULU -- Two Radford High School teachers accused of soliciting a prostitute pleaded no contest Thursday, and will likely avoid being officially convicted.

Math teacher, and acting vice-principal, Albert Hetrick and special ed teacher Jacob Sur were each given a $500 fine.

ADV: Radford teachers get deferred sentences on prostitution charge

(WE MUST RAISE TAXES TO FUND THIS FINE DEPARTMENT IMMEDIATELY!)

Religious Leftist: Pass civil unions bill to assure rights, not religion

I personally do not believe the state of Hawaii or any political body has the right to bless any type of union. (Ron Paul’s pro-gay marriage line) I believe the blessing of a union is the jurisdiction of our communities of worship…. (But he wants the State to “bless” HB 444 civil unions. And he apparently thinks the reader is too stupid to notice the contradiction.)

I disagree with the majority of colleagues of mine, who suggest that what is offered to some within our community should be limited to only unions between a man and wife. We are a nation that claims that we are all created equal under the law. Therefore what's offered to some should be offered to all.

(Of course all adults have the equal right to marry a willing partner of the opposite sex. To claim that this is not available “to some” is an another insult to the readers intelligence.)

Question: Is YOUR life defined by a sex act? No? Then why define some people a “homosexuals”—as if they were an ethnic group? That’s not a rhetorical question. The answer is >>> here … for those who dare.

ADV: That bill on fireworks? What a dud!

So whether it is passed or suffers a death blow at the hands of two rebellious lawmakers makes no difference in the lives of Hawai'i residents who have waited years for their elected leaders to get up the nerve to disappoint the fireworks lovers among their constituencies.

That's because SB 1059 is a cop out. Instead of what was really needed — a statewide ban on private fireworks displays, except under tightly controlled conditions — the Legislature punted. The measure merely gives counties the right to ban fireworks if they choose.

(And the snobs are sooo disappointed. Gramscians, too. In their view, Americans must be trained and herded to greet the New Year hiding under the pillow, expecting disaster--the way many were brainwashed by Y2K Bug scammers to greet the new millennium. Exuberant fireworks celebrations—greeting the New Year as an unfolding opportunity and adventure—represent the Tocquevillian view of life which Gramscians seek to destroy.)

REALITY: Antonio Gramsci Reading List

Honolulu income disparity with Neighbor Islands widens

It found:

Honolulu's per capita personal income rose to $45,205 in 2008 from $43,683 in 2007. That was 200th highest of all counties in the country.
Honolulu's 3.5 percent increase wasn't enough to keep up with inflation, which rose 4.3 percent in 2008.
The second-highest personal income per person was in Maui and Kalawao counties at $37,521. That was up $196 from a year earlier, or 0.5 percent.
Maui and Kalawao (the Kalaupapa Peninsula on Moloka'i) had the 680th highest personal income per capita in the country.
Kaua'i rose $487, or 1.4 percent, to $36,093. That was 849th highest among U.S. counties.
Hawai'i County rose to $31,978 from $31,491. The 1.6 percent boost ranked the Big Island at 1,475 on the list of 3,112 counties.