CJ-Appointee Recktenwald: Eleven Supreme Court Opinions
State Zoning Statutes As "Environmental" Laws - More On HAWSCT's Ala Loop Decision
Hannemann stabs Caldwell in back: Caldwell retaliates “I own homelessness”
Three years ago, while confronting rising homelessness in city parks, Hannemann said solving the problem was a state issue. He even delayed beach sweeps of homeless campers until the state could provide emergency housing for them.
Caldwell Saturday said he's hiring a housing coordinator (to build tent cities) and wants an office on housing in the managing director's office. (The homelessness industry was seen on Bishop Street line dancing to the tune of “We’re in the money”.)
“I think it can refocus priorities and focus our attention in an area we need to do a better job of,” Caldwell told the gathering.
Caldwell denied he had any political motivation for changing the policy. He said he just has different priorities….
Sources said Hannemann told members of the city cabinet, his appointees, that he still expected their assistance in his campaign for governor. Sources also said he told them not to help Caldwell in his campaign for mayor….
Hannemann sent KITV4 News a statement saying Caldwell has his support and the support of the cabinet. (Uh-huh) Hannemann’s statement said he did ask cabinet members to choose which campaign, if any, they would work for. (Meaning: “Choose my campaign or else”.) He said the commitment was requested so that the Hannemann campaign could plan accordingly. (Yeah, right.)
CALDWELL’S FUTURE:
read more
New pick, same judicial evaluation process
HSBA will use the same secretive process to evaluate Recktenwald. But don’t worry, they will rate him ‘qualified’. It’s all part of the plan to limit Lingle to one Supreme Court nominee in 8 years. If Levinson had not slunk off the Bench in advance of “Ben” coming out with more “Broken Trust” type revelations, Lingle would have gotten zero nominations. (Duffy doesn’t count. He was a forced Dem.) When Recktenwald becomes CJ we will all find out whether the speeding ticket case and the Ala Loop case were just a head fake. Good thing the Judiciary is unbiased and apolitical, eh?
SA: 3 Lingle nominees were deemed 'unqualified'
read more
HCF: Let the governor appoint the Board of Education and be held accountable
As with other parents, the 17 Furlough Fridays bewildered me and left me frustrated. Looking into what led to this situation, I distinctly recall feeling like the public school system was in chaos and could not respond. It seemed that everybody had a voice except the parents and the children.
I learned that no other school system in the nation suffered the loss of so many instructional days because of a budget shortfall. There was finger pointing all around. Blame the governor; blame the BOE; or blame the unions. But with my children losing instructional time as each furlough day passed, I just wanted someone to take responsibility for fixing the problem.
As far as I was concerned, this was the BOE's final exam and moment of truth. It failed miserably.
HSTA: Ex-Boss Joan Husted defends status quo proposes to “double the expense and dysfunction” by doubling the size of BoE (Sounds like the HSTA will spend another $100K to defeat this measure. Will HCF raise and spend its own $100K?)
RELATED: Hawaii Children First
read more
Investigation would help clarify activities at airport
The director of Hawaii's airports through most of the Lingle administration abruptly resigned this month, but his departure should not abort investigations of the state Transportation Department's airports division….Sekiguchi's resignation should not be taken as an admission of malfeasance or even ineptness. Further hearings, though, would be helpful in understanding what went awry during his tenure so it won't happen again.
(There won’t be any more hearings. The purpose was to knock out a Lingle appointee who had acquired civil service protections as the Democrats anticipate re-taking the governorship. Purpose achieved, the investigation will now evaporate. Take note of the effort applied to knock out a single appointee.)
read more
Was Bunda resigned before running for LG? Ask the Senate President.
Enviro lobby continues its war on Bunda.
read more
Primary Registration ends Thursday: Voter Registration up by 1.8% all time high
Registration for the Sept. 18 primary election ends at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 19. As of Friday, the number of registered voters has reached an all-time high: 101,138, 1.8 percent more than the number of registered voters in the 2008 general election.
read more
Marijuana Minister Christie has $34K in cash seized by feds, trial delayed 71/2 months
HILO -- The trial for marijuana activist Roger Christie and 13 others accused by federal authorities of operating a pot distribution ring on the Big Island has been postponed until next year….
According to a court memo filed by Kawahara, a search by federal and local police of the THC Ministry in downtown Hilo found "about 12 live marijuana plants, marijuana seeds, and various liquids in vials suspected to contain marijuana by-products." A search of Christie's Wainaku apartment yielded "approximately 845 grams of processed marijuana and various bottles/jars containing suspected marijuana tinctures and oils."
Court records also indicate $21,494 in cash was seized for possible forfeiture from Christie's apartment and another $12,398 found in a bank safety deposit box.
Wrote Kawahara: "Christie stated that all this cash was derived from the ministry."
(These alleged dope dealers controlled the Hawaii County Council’s agenda for how many weeks of testimony as the whined about the police with the support of Brenda Ford and GTMO Greenwell?)
read more
Maui County Democrats to host Gaza Terrorist Aid Flotilla
WAILUKU - A witness to the May 31 attack on a Gaza aid flotilla by Israeli forces will speak at two events on Maui this week.
Retired U.S. Army Col. Ann Wright was aboard one of the ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza when it was attacked. She will speak about her experience during meetings of the Maui Democratic Century Club and Maui Peace Action.
REALITY: Honolulu Maoists & Holocaust Deniers protest against Israel: Star-Bulletin calls them ‘peace activists’, Honolulu “peace activist” caught lying about Gaza Flotilla
read more
Hawaii hotel occupancy tops 80 percent
Oahu maintained the highest occupancy rate at 87.8 percent, up 4 percentage points from a year ago.
Maui’s 83.6 percent occupancy was up a hefty 12.2 percentage points from a year ago. Kauai recorded 67.3 percent occupancy, up 1.8 percentage points, and the Big Island recorded 60 percent occupancy, up about 1 point.
Statewide hotel room rates, which were heavily discounted throughout the economic downturn, have rebounded slightly, increasing by 3 percent compared to last year to an average of $191.97 per night.
KHON: Strong Yen, Weak Dollar - Japanese Spending Up in Hawaii
read more
Hawaiian Bicentennial: Celebrating two centuries of island unification
Hundreds of people ascended upon Puukohola Heiau on Saturday immersing themselves in the culture of old Hawaii in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the unification of the Hawaiian Islands.
read more