OHA Echoes Burial Council Criticism of SHPD
Stimulus: DHHL Gets $30M for Broadband
Rooftop solar installations up 55% despite pandemic
Ethics: Legislator Wants to Hire 'Intern', Pay Under the Table
'Climate Denialism' -- Hirono Pressures Inspector General to Investigate Trump Officials
Bridge Aina Lea: 9th Circuit Reverses State Supreme Court Decision
Full Text: State of the Judiciary Speech
Targets, Subjects: They all manage to get their Pensions
HNN: … Roy Amemiya, who served as managing director in the Caldwell administration, is back at Honolulu Hale as a staffer for new Councilman Calvin Say.
Say described Amemiya’s position as a legislative liaison and said it’s a temporary position, lasting between six months and a year.
He told HNN that Amemiya just wanted the job long enough to hit 10 years of city service. That milestone comes with 50% taxpayer-funded medical benefits for the rest of his life, among other credits.
Amemiya was the second-in-command at Honolulu Hale under former Mayor Kirk Caldwell
He refused to put himself on leave last year despite receiving a subject letter from the US Department of Justice in connection with the federal probe into public corruption.
Legal experts describe a subject letter as concerning.
“The only people that get these types of letters are people that are, at least somewhat involved in some type of misconduct, whether they’re doing it themselves or they’re just around it,” said attorney Victor Bakke….
While Amemiya is the subject of the case, the target is Donna Leong.
Leong was the city’s top civil attorney when she received the DOJ target letter and put herself on leave. She retired last year….
read … Former no. 2 under Caldwell is working at Council to get taxpayer-funded benefits
Feds Again Doing the Job the State Won’t Do: Ex-Husband of HPD Officer’s Druggie Girlfriend found with 24 pounds of cocaine
SA: …Law enforcement officers observed Lee, the lone occupant of a 2018 Porsche Macan GTS, pull into the pickup area of a Waikiki hotel on Jan. 13, according to court filings. While there, a male entered the backseat of the Porsche with a dark blue duffel bag and then exited without the dark blue duffel bag. After Lee drove away, law enforcement officers tried to conduct a stop of the Porsche but were unsuccessful. The Porsche and Lee were found minutes later. Within the Porsche, law enforcement officers recovered approximately 24 pounds of cocaine from within the dark blue duffel bag, a loaded Charter Arms .38 caliber pistol, and U.S. currency….
Most Intelligent Comment: “Did a search and his former wife Athena Lee was convicted of growing lots of weed in her home although she took weed for a medical condition. Athena Lee had a boyfriend who was a cop Michael Chu who was convicted for growing and distributing weed supposedly on behalf of Athena. The story said Ping Lee was convicted of illegal pill distribution in 2011 and was given an 87 month prison sentence.”
2012: Police officer’s girlfriend pleads guilty to marijuana growing
read … Honolulu man found with 24 pounds of cocaine is indicted for drug trafficking
2,200 Cases: Murder trials, other Oahu court cases with multiple defendants paused because Judiciary isn’t paying for larger courtrooms
SA: … “We simply cannot conduct as many jury trials as we could before the pandemic, particularly here on Oahu given the space limitations in our courtrooms,” Recktenwald said in his annual State of the Judiciary address. “With our current budget restraints, renting larger spaces is cost-prohibitive.”
Just on Oahu, Recktenwald said that 2,200 criminal jury trials are pending along with “many hundreds more on the neighbor islands.”….
Recktenwald said 13 jury trials have been completed on Oahu, in addition to one each on Maui and Hawaii island.
Recktenwald implored lawmakers and Gov. David Ige not to make additional cuts to the judiciary….
(Simple Solution: Use Convention Center and Blaisdell.)
KITV: Hawaii's criminal citations more than tripled in 2020
read … Murder trials, other Oahu court cases with multiple defendants paused due to COVID-19
HB354: Bill Would Give Lawmakers Control Over Auditor’s Paycheck
CB: … By law the auditor’s salary cannot be changed during the auditor’s eight-year term of office. However, House Bill 354 would allow the Legislature to set the salary of the auditor….
Common Cause Executive Director Sandy Ma described the salary and budget cutting measures as “troubling.”
“As an organization that is focused on good government, transparency and accountability, we would like to see the auditors have some measure of leeway in their job functions,” Ma said. “To have these measures introduced just seems kind of suspicious at this point in time.”
Ma said it is important that the auditor be free to review state offices and programs “without undue influence. To have that kind of influence on an auditor is not good for the auditor’s position, clearly.”
Republican state Rep. Gene Ward said in a written statement that “HB 354 is the ‘power of the purse’ in perfect punitive motion.”
“Disapproval of a person or policy is attacked by the Legislature via a department’s budget or the Director’s salary. HB 354 adds insult to injury after the Auditor’s Budget has already been cut by 50%,” Ward said in his statement. “The auditor is our watchdog in this one-party state and saves us a lot of money and inefficiencies.”…
HB354: Text, Status
read … Bill Would Give Lawmakers Control Over Auditor’s Paycheck
HOOSER: Abolish the ADC – Support the Auditor
TGI: …The audit is a damning expose of mismanagement, misdirection and misapplication of state resources that has gone on for over 25 years. The mission of the ADC is to strengthen and diversify agriculture, and to efficiently manage state-owned agricultural lands. Clearly they have failed.
Actual findings from the audit include:
• ADC has yet to create a meaningful Hawai‘i agribusiness plan;
• ADC does not conduct market research, a statutory requirement;
• ADC’s land management is inconsistent, incomplete and, in many cases, there is non-existent record keeping. For example, prospective tenants occupying lands without signed written agreements;
• ADC does not keep a land portfolio inventory nor a complete list of projects;
• License terms and conditions are inconsistent with board approvals;
• Vacant properties are home to criminal activity;
• The state Board of Agriculture is aware that ADC is not fulfilling its statutory requirements, but it does not hold its executive director accountable.
Kaua‘i legislators have so far been quiet on the issue.
Not so for House Speaker Scott Saiki, who less than seven days after the audit was made public launched a probe clearly intended to remove the state auditor.
That’s correct. Instead of demanding the removal of the ADC executive director and a restructure or dismantling of the ADC, Saiki has announced an investigation of the state auditor, and has proposed to kneecap their operations via a 50% budget cut.
It’s not entirely clear that Saiki’s displeasure with the auditor is directly tied to the ADC audit. The truth is we will never know for sure….
House Bill 354 would allow the Legislature to set the salary of the auditor.
SA Editorial: Correct problems at state ag agency
CB: Hawaii’s Food System Is Broken. Now Is The Time To Fix It
Meanwhile: CNHA: Biden Could Help OHA Tribe Hide Illegal Activities from State Auditor (Hooser is wrong. Saiki’s attack on the Auditor is really about covering up OHA criminality.)
read … HOOSER: Abolish the ADC – Support the Auditor
Honolulu: Tax Hikes will Come After We Decide not to stop funding vacant positions
HPR: … "The best case scenario would be to avoid any furloughs and staffing cuts, you know direct cuts," he said.
"I think what we can obviously do is take a look at the vacant positions we have, and whether or not they’re going to be funded or not. That’s going to happen over the next several weeks. And it’s going to be hard. We’re going to have to make some decisions along the way that will impact the course we take to balance the budget."
While Mayor Blangiardi has not yet presented his city budget, the operating budget under the last year of the Caldwell Administration was nearly three billion dollars. …
read … Honolulu's Next Budget Director Expects Challenges, 'A Tough 2022'
From 2000 to Zero: How Hawaii is pioneering a new model of tourism
SF Gate: … In 2018, a record-breaking 50 inches of rain fell on the North Shore in a 24-hour period. The road from Hanalei to Haena was closed for almost a year. “Haena State Park went from 2,000 visitors a day to none,” Assistant Administrator of the Hawaii State Parks Division Alan Carpenter said in a recent phone call. “The flood got us a reset to zero and then COVID-19 reset the whole state to zero. It’s incredible divine intervention to see what Hawaii looks like without tourists.” …
read … How Hawaii is pioneering a new model of tourism for Haena State Park
Foundation exploring TMT ahead of funding decision
SA: … The National Science Foundation is continuing its informal outreach efforts in Hawaii as part of a campaign that could help to determine whether it will award hundreds of thousands of dollars to the stalled Thirty Meter Telescope project.
In a meeting Tuesday of the foundation’s Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee, officials said they’ve already conducted 53 virtual meetings with more than 100 people in Hawaii on both sides of the controversial issue.
“We’ve spoken thus far to everyone who is active on both sides who have reached out to us, and now we’re going to go into a phase where we’re going to be a little more proactive and identify and reach out to individuals and groups we think we’ve missed out on,” said David Boboltz, program director with the foundation’s Division of Astronomical Sciences….
Kealoha ‘$50M’ Pisciotta, one of the leading TMT opponents, said the NSF has reached out to her, but she has declined to participate so far. She said she would rather wait to provide her input after federal environmental laws require it.
“It’s a fishing expedition,” she said. “If you’re going to initiate a formal process, I’ll wait until there’s a formal process initiated.” ….
SA Editorial: Reaching out for TMT
read … Foundation exploring TMT ahead of funding decision…
REALITY FOR THOSE FEW WHO CAN GRASP IT: Telescope: For OHA, it’s all About the Rent Money
Several Hawaii gambling bills under review
SA: … Saiki introduced HB 359 in order to debate whether to allow the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to operate a single casino resort on unidentified DHHL land west of Ko Olina, which is intended to generate millions of dollars in annual tax revenue to meet its obligation to get Hawaiians off of a wait list and onto their ancestral lands and into homes.
State Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, Senate majority floor leader and vice chairman of the Senate Hawaiian Affairs Committee, introduced a similar bill on the Senate side on behalf of DHHL.….
As usual, several bills have been introduced this legislative session that would allow a wide range of gambling, including:
>> SB 853, SB 561 and HB 363, which would allow for a state lottery. The program would help fund capital improvement projects at public schools and the University of Hawaii system, scholarships and educational loan repayments for medical students who practice in Hawaii for 10 years, along with other programs.
>> HB 457, which would look at the feasibility of various forms of gambling, including offshore gaming, a lottery and whether two casinos in West Oahu could be allowed “without impacting the aloha spirit and causing Hawaii to be viewed as a gambling capital.”
Perhaps the most intriguing is HB 772, which would allow a single, Las Vegas-style casino atop the Hawai‘i Convention Center.
The bill was introduced by Rep. John Mizuno, vice House speaker…
GN: Hawaii to Discuss Gambling Opportunities despite Skepticism
IGB: Lawmakers introduce bills to bring lottery and casinos to Hawaii
read … Hawaii gambling bills under serious review
Ige’s Hawaii 2.0 Sounds Familiar
ILind: … Back in May 2020, Governor Ige “issued a proclamation today announcing the appointment of veteran business executive and community leader Alan M. Oshima to lead Hawai?i’s efforts to develop and implement a plan for economic and community stabilization, recovery and resiliency.”
This project was, we were told, going to bring together all the stakeholders to drive plans forward for a revitalized state economy. Right. Sort of a reboot. Like the Hawaii 2.0 idea.
Does it seem like we’re spinning our wheels?
High tech. Hawaii as a Pacific center, a Geneva of the Pacific. Diversified agriculture (Kohala Task Force, anyone?). Medical tourism. We’ve had no shortage of ideas that sounded good and quickly got bogged down, either mired in the real constraints imposed by of our mid-Pacific location and small population, or bogged down by cronyism, or highjacked by political considerations.
But we don’t evaluate well. Our state and local governments are reluctant to accept criticism, so have trouble learning from past failures. We get lulled by the rosy pictures painted by self-interested consultants advising on new initiatives, but when things don’t go as planned, we haven’t had the will to double back, determine what went wrong, and do things differently the next time around.
Maybe I’m just in a crummy mood, but this governor’s annual review doesn’t give me any hope that things are going to be different this time around….
HTH: “It’s only because now we have federal funding sources”
DHHL: Stimulus: DHHL Gets $30M for Broadband
read … State of the State
QAnon tweets on Hawaii GOP’s official account raise questions about party’s direction
HNN: … Former Republican lawmaker Sam Slom said the problem isn’t with radicals who have joined the party. He believes the problem is a lack of leadership within in. “Today, you’ve got a Republican party that’s split in two ― locally and nationally. You’ve got a lot of splinter groups. You don’t have anybody identified as speaking for the party itself,” Slom said.
(WRONG: Speaking for Party Donald J Trump says, “I don’t know much about the (QAnon) movement, other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate.”)
A high-ranking Hawaii GOP official has resigned over tweets supporting QAnon followers, but the controversy is raising new questions for the party.
Edwin Boyette, vice chair for communications for the Hawaii Republican Party, said his tweets on the party’s Twitter account were “errors in judgement.”
The party’s chair said the tweets don’t represent the views of the organization.
“Those tweets were unauthorized,” said Shirlene Ostrov,Hawaii Republican Party chair. “I think everyone can recognize that those tweets are isolated incidents and the person has since been removed.”
Longtime Republican state Rep. Gene Ward issued this statement:
“Fortunately, he resigned before he was to be censured, reprimanded and removed,” Ward wrote. “Let me be clear, that statement was made by an overzealous party officer that was unauthorized, unfounded and was total nonsense not reflecting the views of our party leaders.”
But Democrats say the tweets are representative of a bigger problem.
“It’s not just one person. This is a whole committee of folks who have been enabling this for far too long and that needs to end,” said Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, chair of the Democratic Party of Hawaii….
Hawaii Gov. David Ige called QAnon and other similar conspiracy theories “absurd.”
“Every single one of them has been debunked as factually inaccurate and totally nonsense,” he said.
Dos Santos-Tam cited other tweets on the GOP Twitter account supporting extremist views including one by an alleged Holocaust denier….
Political analyst Colin Moore said the tweets underscore the Hawaii GOP’s shift to a more extremist philosophy from the pro-business, more centrist views of Republican lawmakers like Ward, former Gov. Linda Lingle, former Congresswoman Pat Saiki and former state Sen. Fred Hemmings.
“There are elements in this party that support QAnon, the Proud Boys and other fringe groups,” said Moore. “Look: The Hawaii GOP ran as one of their candidate Nick Ochs.”
Ochs was the founder of Proud Boys Hawaii and ran unsuccessfully for the state House seat in Waikiki last year. He recently was arrested and charged with trespassing during the Jan. 6 attempted takeover of the U.S. Congress….
VOX: The national GOP is broken. State GOPs might be even worse.
Meanwhile: Hawaii GOP ‘Proud Boy’ Hires 9/11 Defense Lawyer To Fight Capitol Mob Charges
read … QAnon tweets on Hawaii GOP’s official account raise questions about party’s direction
Brother of disgraced Trump national security adviser picked to lead U.S. Army Pacific
SA: … The brother of disgraced former national security adviser retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn — who suggested that President Donald Trump could declare martial law and “rerun” elections in certain states — has been tapped to be the next commander of U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter.
Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn, who served several times in Hawaii, including as commander of the 25th Infantry Division, was selected for the job by the chief of staff of the Army.
The relationship with his brother recently created controversy for Charles Flynn, who as the Army’s deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and training was with other officials when a tense call was made in response to rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 seeking immediate intervention by the National Guard, according to The Washington Post.
The day before the violence, Michael Flynn, who falsely claimed Trump had won the election, attended a rally and aimed a comment at Republican members of Congress: “Those of you who are feeling weak tonight, those of you that don’t have the moral fiber in your body, get some tonight because tomorrow we the people are going to be here, and we want you to know that we will not stand for a lie!”
Charles Flynn, who in his role wielded some decision- making powers over the Washington, D.C., National Guard, found the need to defend himself following his brother’s actions and words.
The Army had denied for days that Flynn was even involved in the conference call before Flynn admitted he was in fact present for part of it, The Washington Post said.….
AP: GOP to stay neutral should Trump run for president again
Meanwhile: Bidenworld: Lesbian Revolutionary from UH Manoa Appointed to Department of Energy
read … Brother of disgraced Trump national security adviser picked to lead U.S. Army Pacific
Covid vaccine demands so high in Hawai'i, it could take months to settle
KITV: … It could take another seven months to settle the community's demand for COVID-19 vaccines.
The Director of State Department of Health (DOH) told lawmakers on Tuesday that if supply starts increasing as they expect it to in the coming weeks, everyone who wants to be vaccinated could likely be by the end of August. Dr. Char noted it will take longer if supply remains at its current pace.
Despite what current state data shows, Dr. Char estimates more than three quarters of doses the state has received and processed have been administered so far.
"If you look at the doses that have come to Hawaii, and you use that as your denominator, that's how we're getting 60%. But the reality is that those that land in Hawaii, it goes directly to the hospitals and they can't administer that day," said Dr. Char. "So if you subtract the doses that just came in within the last few days, you get a denominator of a about 138,000. We have administered about 106,000 of those doses, so that's closer to 76% of everything that we've received, processed and are ready to use."
Dr. Char also stated today that hospitals are reporting well over 80% of Hawaii's healthcare workers have received their vaccination….
HNN: State: Accelerated vaccine distribution plan could get Hawaii to herd immunity by summer
SA: Hawaii COVID-19 vaccine distribution uneven because of limited supplies
read … Covid vaccine demands so high in Hawai'i, it could take months to settle
Another Day, Another Trick to Con Legislators into Giving HSTA Lots of Money
KITV: … There will be $40 million in CARES Act funding going to the DOE.
The superintendent said the temporary money will go to assist students, not go toward teacher's salaries.
(Translation: The $40M will be used to pay tutors because HSTA members didn’t do anything this year.)
Educators could not only see a reduction in pay, they could be on the hook for paying for their annual license fees, which are currently covered by the state.
(Translation: HTSB is just trying to make itself into an excuse for teacher pay hikes in a cutback year.)
"With a significant budget cut, not only would we have to reinstate the fee, but it would also mean a significant cut to our services," said Hawaii Teachers Standards Board Executive Director Lynn Hammonds.
The Hawaii Standards Teachers Board is one of the educational agencies facing budget cuts, and less money could also mean less teacher training….
(Idea: Just give HTSB the year off. No fees. No testing. Just like HSTA.)
CB: CDC Supports Reopening Schools. Hawaii Officials Say Not Yet (see how this works?)
read … Educational officials prepare for budget cuts
Hawaii Island unemployment rate drops to 8.9% in December
HTH: … Hawaii Island’s unemployment rate dropped into the single digits in December, according to data released Monday by the state.
During the final month of a tumultuous 2020 that saw unemployment skyrocket from 2.9% in March to more than 23% in April as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, the Orchid Isle recorded an unemployment rate of 8.9%. That’s down from 10.1% in November and 13.5% in October and September.
Like Hawaii Island, the statewide unemployment rate also dropped into the single digits to 9% in December from 10.4% in November, according to the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The City and County of Honolulu saw its rate drop to 8% from 9.1%, Maui to 13% from 16.3% and Kauai to 12.3% from 13.9%.
Nationwide, unemployment remained steady at 6.7% in December. A year earlier, just 3.6% of Americans were out of work….
read … Hawaii Island unemployment rate drops to 8.9% in December
Hawaii County audit finds four people voted twice in 2010
AP: … An audit of Hawaii County’s registered voter rolls found four people voted twice in 2010 elections and between 50 and 60 people were registered more than once, County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi said Tuesday.
Kawauchi says her office found no sign of systemic problems. She says a clerical error may be at fault, but she reported the four voters who cast ballots twice to the state attorney general’s office during a meeting last week.
She said it’s not up to her whether there will be an investigation into the matter…
read … Hawaii County audit finds four people voted twice in 2010
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