October 23, 2010 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Saturday, October 23, 2010

October 23, 2010 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 2:44 PM :: 16586 Views

Early Voting open TODAY: Find your polling place

KITV Debate: Abercrombie can't name a single issue on which he differs with HSTA

New Poll: Djou winning 44%-35%

Aiona encouraged by 1,400 new construction jobs, will expedite projects worth $946M

REUTERS: Hawaii wind farm operator faces default risk

Coordinated campaign: Aiona campaign calls Democrats on “distraction”

Abercrombie, Hirono tried to impose gay marriage nationwide

Momentum: Djou outraises Hanabusa by $167,000 in six weeks

Aiona continues to hammer Abercrombie over DoE Audit

Republican James "Duke" Aiona reasserted his call for a broad, independent audit of the statewide Department of Education, while Democrat Neil Abercrombie said such a study would be wasteful.

"When you have the same amount of students today that you had 30 years ago, and the budget within this period of time increases by over 200 percent . . . you have to know where this money is going," said Aiona, the incumbent lieutenant governor, during the debate carried by KITV-TV.

VIDEO: Abercrombie, Aiona Face Off In KITV Debate

Case: Only 1/3 of my voters will back Hanabusa, will not direct his supporters to vote for her

When asked Friday how he is helping Hanabusa, Case said, " I thought I did a pretty good job of endorsing her and stepping down. In the primary election. I probably saved her $500,000 plus to spend in the general election."

Case said he is surprised the Hanabusa campaign has not asked him to do more. (He is preparing to assign responsibility for her loss.)

"I made the offer to help her at the convention, and they really didn't take me up on anything for a lot of months. I just figured it was part of their campaign strategy. They must have concluded they wanted to pursue a different direction," said Case.

Case said votes from his supporters are critical to winning the race.

"Of the folks who voted for me, probably a third are going to vote for Colleen (Hanabusa) because they are Democrats, but then you are talking about the other two thirds of my voters who are moderate independents and they could go either way and they are going to decide who wins the election," said Case.

Case said looking at the special election voting numbers, Hanabusa will need to gain twice as many of his votes as Djou does to win.

Case said Friday he thinks Hanabusa is the best person for the job, he will not direct his supporters to vote for her.

Hanabusa, Djou spar over spending, senior programs

Asked how to keep more Hawaii doctors in practice and caring for seniors, Djou said general and punitive damages in medical malpractice lawsuits should be limited to $250,000.

He and Hanabusa said the federal system that sets Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors should be scrapped, but Hanabusa said she would vote to extend it….

Cataluna afraid of who Abercrombie would appoint to BoE

Here's something to worry about: If Neil Abercrombie is governor, who is he going to appoint to the board? A bunch of idea-heavy, real-world-light retired professors he's known since back in the day and Democratic Party die-hards who move from one state job to another, as if sewers, tourism and public schools are pretty much the same thing?

(The Dems are willing to throw Abercrombie under the bus over the appointed BoE. Just like Rahm in Chicago.)

Djou wants to hold the line on federal taxes and regulations

PBN reporter Curtis Lum asked Djou five questions regarding federal involvement in Hawaii’s economy and business community. Here are his answers.

Former Prosecutor Carlisle Underscores Transparent, Corruption-Free Administration

“We need to be a lean, clean, smart city that is looking to tomorrow. Lean because we can't spend money we don't have or leave a debt future generations cannot afford. We need to be clean from corruption, particularly with the biggest capitol project in the history of Hawaii Rail. That is something a pretty good prosecutor out to be pretty good at knowing,” Carlisle said in a speech, promising to spend taxpayers' money as carefully as his own.

The 13th city mayor also made a point to say that he has no aspirations to run for higher office.

SA: Mayor Peter Carlisle vows in his inaugural address to shift government culture

Hawaii Dems file complaint against Aiona, GOP group

The Democratic Party's largely circumstantial accusations are based on the movement of money between Aiona's campaign, a Mainland pollster and the RGA, which works to increase the ranks of GOP governors.

According to the complaint, Friends of Aiona on June 14 paid $31,039 to pollster Tarrance Group Inc. for a "survey of voter attitudes in Hawaii." The expenditure was reported on the Aiona campaign's report to the Campaign Spending Commission.

Based on their experience with campaigns, the Democrats contended that sum financed a 1,000-voter poll for use in designing a media strategy.

The complaint alleged that on June 21, the RGA received an in-kind donation of "research" from Friends of Aiona valued at $31,039.

W. Maui candidates showcased at forum

LAHAINA - West Maui candidates got their showcase at a forum Thursday night, and District 10 House of Representative candidates Angus McKelvey and Ramon Madden sparred over whether the west side "gets crumbs" from Honolulu or should call its own shots.

In the West Maui County Council contest, Elle Cochran claimed not only the endorsement of current Council Member Jo Anne Johnson (who is leaving the West Maui seat because of term limits) but also said she would inherit Johnson's staff to "hit the ground running." Her opponent, Alan Fukuyama, said "small business needs to be cared for" to bring the economy back.

The West Maui Taxpayers Association invited all candidates to attend, but several were committed to another meeting on Molokai. At least 200 people filled the Lahaina Civic Center to hear candidates for state, county and Board of Education seats.

Kauai Candidates ‘walk the walk,’ narrowing carbon footprints to honor goddess Gaia

Nobody hollering about separation of church and state at THIS forum.

Trojan Horse for gay agenda? State Rep. Mizuno introducing anti-bullying bill

The bill directs schools to develop a procedure for students and parents to confidentially report to school officials incidents of bullying or cyber bullying.

It would also have schools develop a formal investigation process and disciplinary procedures for students who have bullied others.

Sounds simple enough, but read this and all will be revealed: The transsexual agenda for Hawai`i schools

BOE votes to proceed with Kihei high school

HONOLULU - The Hawaii Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday night to go forward with design and construction of a new high school in Kihei.

The action, according to Maui board member Mary Cochran, is unusual and significant because it indicates a willingness on the part of the state Department of Education to take on a project that undoubtedly will cost millions of dollars. (In other words, this will be a disaster and their procurement cronies will laugh all the way to the bank.)

"My understanding is that this is a first," Cochran said Friday.

The more recent public school construction projects have involved turnkey agreements with developers who built a campus as a means to gain credit for their own developments. One example would be Kamalii Elementary School in Kihei. The campus was built more than 10 years ago by developer Everett Dowling, who provided land and developed the project before handing it over to DOE through a turnkey agreement.

"Usually we go through developers but not this time.

. . . It's very unusual for our times," Cochran said.

Lets see what happened last time the DoE ran a large CIP: Audit report identifies at least $21M in waste from just one $160M project

County racks up $2M in OT: Despite furloughs, employees still getting time and a half

Unlike in the private sector, county employees get paid time and a half for hours that exceed eight hours per day, even if they don't work a full 40-hour week. The twice-monthly furloughs were forecast to save about $7 million this year.

Quarter of state's food stamp recipients live on Big Island

The number of people receiving food stamps on the Big Island continues to rise by the hundreds every month.
And that's before eligibility requirements were expanded Oct. 1, opening the federally funded program to more working families.
Figures from the state Department of Human Services show that the Big Island had 18,513 households enrolled in the program, or 36,768 people

Improvement in the job market drops the September rate to 6.3 percent

The September rate fell from 6.4 percent in August and equaled the 6.3 percent reached in June, the State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations reported yesterday.

Hawaii's jobless rate was the sixth lowest in the country and was substantially below the national rate, which was unchanged at 9.6 percent in September. The statewide and national numbers are adjusted for seasonal variations.

The biggest job gains in Hawaii were in the construction industry, which added 1,400 positions in September compared with August. Despite the one-month improvement, however, overall employment in the construction sector remains weak by historical standards.

SA: Horizon's earnings sink to $7.7 million in quarter

PBN: Construction job market has hit bottom

Kauai Plastic-bag-ban bill has some ‘murky’ provisions

In my last article I commented on the proposed charter amendments being offered for our November general election and noted that several of them, although arising for beneficial reasons, were tainted with inept language or with unwarranted process.

Similar objections can be made to the Kaua‘i Ordinance 885 relating to plastic-bag reduction adopted by the county in October 2009 and scheduled to become effective in January 2011.

REALITY: Save The Plastic Bag

Solar Failure: Mayor Wright housing residents want to be in hot water

The residents are hoping that the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, lawmakers, and the next governor will hear their concerns and take action.

Fetu Kolio doesn't need to test the waters at home. "It's just cold," he says, as he put his hand under a stream at the kitchen sink.

Kolio says it's been this way at his two-bedroom apartment for six years. "Sometimes, you can have a rough day and not feeling too good, and you would like a little warm water."

A third of the water tanks at Mayor Wright housing haven't been replaced since the early '90's and are failing - leaving dozens of residents in the cold.

SA: Housing residents plead for hot water

Teams Work For Kahoolawe's Rebirth

On Friday, 20 years ago the bombing stopped. President George G.W. Bush declared an end to live fire training on the island of Kahoolawe.

Maehara, Clinton to reaffirm importance of alliance at Hawaii talks

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will likely reaffirm the importance of the Japan-U.S. security alliance when they meet in Honolulu on Wednesday, the State Department said Friday.

SA: Visit to affirm Japan ties