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Thursday, November 4, 2010

November 4, 2010 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 2:52 PM :: 5043 Views

Full District by District Results: Djou wins 5 Districts, Aiona wins one

Inouye: “Odds of passing the Akaka Bill are bad”

Hawaii Right to Life PAC: “All pro-life candidates are winners”

Democrats: Hawaii is different, suckers

Slom: Election shows Democrat/union machine is alive and well

Aiona, Djou thank their supporters

Nominations sought for State Water Commission

Hawaii now has most one-sided state legislature in the country

With 88 percent of legislative seats held by Democrats, Hawaii passed Rhode Island as the nation's most politically monolithic state, according to an Associated Press analysis of National Conference of State Legislatures' figures.

Democrats will control all but nine seats in Hawaii's 76-member Legislature following Tuesday's election. Republicans gained eight seats in Rhode Island to give it the second-most lopsided House and Senate, with 84 percent Democratic control.

CHART: 2010 Post-Election Partisan Composition of State Legislatures

Nonaka: GOP already regrouping

Hawaii Republican party executive director Dylan Nonaka said Tuesday they are already regrouping and plan to be better prepared for the next election cycle.

"We have a lot of experienced candidates who are in this for the long run. It is just going to make everybody stronger in a better position," said Nonaka.

Nonaka said they are searching to better understand why many of their supporters failed to vote.

"That is disappointing but we are going to have to look at how we will fix it in the future," said Nonaka.

Nonaka said among their considerations is making a stronger push next election to get Republicans to consider early walk-in voting or absentee voting by mail.

"The Democrats and the unions are better at getting their members to register absentee," Nonaka said.

Nonaka called the Republican sweep on the mainland heartening, but he was disappointed there was no similar GOP victory sweep here.

"It is odd when you see a wholesale rejection of Obama on the mainland and he continues to be embraced here, but again, it goes to who actually goes out and votes," said Nonaka….

Nonaka said he felt (negative) ads had little effect on generating votes either for or against a particular political party's candidate.

In 2003, Hawaii Republicans had a high of 15 GOP state house members and five Republican state senators.

The larger numbers then were generated when Linda Lingle was chairwoman of the Hawaii Republican Party.

But after Lingle became Hawaii governor, the Republicans' numbers declined in the legislature year after year.

Republicans have not made a net gain in legislative seats until this year, and that gain is only one seat when you consider the senate seat vacated by former world champion surfer Fred Hemmings was take over Tuesday by Democrat Pohai Ryan.

KITV: Voters Vent Over Campaign Ad Overdose

Shapiro: The unDjouing of Charles

Exit Poll: Drawdown of Lingle popularity by HSTA/DoE/BoE/SOS furlough scam was key to Abercrombie victory

Part of the reason for Abercrombie's strong showing, as detailed by an Associated Press analysis of exit poll results from Tuesday's election, was the formidable support he gained from voters who favor Democratic President Barack Obama's ~~performance in office~~ cult and who dislike the way Republican Gov. Linda Lingle has handled her job during two four-year terms.

Of the 480 voters who responded to a question about Obama's job performance in the exit poll, 66 percent approved -- the highest percentage of cult members in the nation.

Of those voters, 78 percent backed Abercrombie over Aiona (thus showing that at least 22% of cult members are not true believers in Obama policies).

The exit poll also indicated that Lingle's popularity is weak. Of 454 voters questioned 56 percent disapproved of her performance -- and 82 percent of them supported Abercrombie. (The furlough scam was the key to bringing down Lingle’s popularity numbers. Abercrombie is beholden to the DoE/HSTA.)

The Democrat, for example, won 59 percent of voters who described themselves as moderates and 20 percent of conservatives, according to the survey. Aiona won only one-tenth of liberal voters.

READ: Gallup: Hawaii conservatives outnumber liberals, state tops in moderates

Abercrombie essentially tied Aiona for the backing of independents, who composed more than a third of the voters who were asked about their party affiliation. (To win, the GOP must swamp Dems among independents, not tie.)

He also won more support than Aiona from union and nonunion voters, and those earning less than $100,000 a year. He was virtually even with Aiona among voters with higher incomes.

REALITY:

New School Board Could Be Appointed By March

Abercrombie, wholly owned and operated by the HSTA, will be fully responsible for the disaster his appointees create. Voters can fix the DoE by throwing him out in 2014.

September visitor arrivals climb 8.9%

Food for the corporatist entity.

Transition Hawaii

The office swap between the outgoing Lingle administration and the incoming Abercrombie administration begins as early as the day after the election.

(Clayton Hee for DHHL? Gary Hooser for DLNR? Lyla Berg for director of Islamic Affairs?)

Recount Requests Possible in Two Races

Only 17 votes separate Democratic incumbent Rep. Marilyn Lee and Republican Shaun Kawakami in the final printout of election results for House District 38 released early Wednesday.

Forty-eight votes divide the leader of the District 2 Honolulu City Council race, Ernie Martin, from John White.

The races are so close that the losers are considering asking the Supreme Court to order a recount. No concession calls have been made.

KITV: Close Races Come Down To Final Results

SA: Recount possible for close contests

Djou wins in East Oahu, Ewa, Mililani

Djou won three districts in his home area of East Oahu; the Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point district represented by Republican Rep. Kymberly Pine; and the Mililani-Mililani Mauka District, where Democratic Rep. Marilyn Lee survived a close race against GOP challenger Shaun Kawakami. He also won the lone precinct in the Wahiawa district that falls within the congressional boundary.

Precinct numbers show candidates' strong area

Duke Aiona did well in conservative, big-box church areas on west and north Oahu but again, the neighbor islands did not turn out in large numbers for the Republicans.

HNN: 55.7 percent of registered Hawaii voters cast ballots in general election

SA: Abercrombie wins all but 1 district

Many incumbents lose in neighbor isle races

Losing by fairly wide margins were Kauai Council Chairman Bill "Kaipo" Asing, longtime Maui Councilman Wayne Nishiki, and Big Island Councilmembers Guy Enriques of Kau and Emily Naeole-Beason of Puna.

Asing, who served on the Kauai County Council for 28 years, held a high-profile position for the past eight years as Council chairman.

(This reflects the continuing ascent of the Abercrombie enviro shake down wing of the Democrat Party over the Inouye-developer wing.)

Turnout figures show Democrats elected by swarms of wealthy, connected insiders

Democrat sweep is based on wealthy insiders swarming the polls while low income house districts—and wealthy districts heavy with political outsiders -- disenfranchise themselves. This is a screaming political opportunity for politicians who know how to reach the outsider majority and bring them in. For instance Hilo and Wailuku—laden with County employees and persons whose livelihood is tied to their relationship with government--were very high turnout but Kona, Kohala, Kihei, and Lahaina—far from government but still high income--were very low turnout.

This underlines the opportunity for Republicans in building up precinct-level organizations.

The Future: Kids Vote favors Aiona, Djou

If the government was elected by the children of Hawai‘i, Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona would be our next governor.

The over 108,000 children statewide who voted in a mock election gave Aiona 59 percent of the votes. Aiona’s nemesis, Democratic candidate Neil Abercrombie, received 36 percent of the children’s votes….

In the children’s mock election Djou won with 61 percent of the vote while Hanabusa took 39 percent.

(Democrats will continue to solve this problem by making sure that most children leave Hawaii when they turn 18.)

Go to www.kidsvotinghawaii.org for more information.

Hawaii Co: Yagong could be in line to chair council

Yagong, who begins his sixth two-year council term Dec. 6 after winning re-election with no opposition, is organizing a meeting Sunday with the three newly elected council members and the two West Hawaii incumbents who won re-election. The group will discuss leadership positions, he said….

Yagong declined to say whether he will ask to be named chairman, although Kohala Councilman Pete Hoffmann, one of the sitting councilmen invited, said he will support Yagong for that position. Yagong has not held either the chairmanship or vice chairmanship during his council tenure….

Hoffmann, who has introduced several measures on concurrency and impact fees, said he wants to chair the Planning Committee. Smart, who is quitting her job as office manager for a county green-waste contractor, wants to lead the Environmental Management Committee (thus continuing the tradition of DEM/Enviro policy being run by the contractors who benefit from it.). Pilago has said he's interested in chairing the Human Services Committee.

WHT: Kenoi seeks $56M bond float--Will 'job creation' lead to tax hike?

HTH: Naeole, Enriques promise to help their successors

HTH: Power balance likely to shift

Slew of changes ahead for Honolulu City Council

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Political candidates talk about change a lot. But change will be coming at a furious pace at the Honolulu City Council after last night's election and resignations.

Five of the nine seats will have new members.

KITV: Chairman Appoints Interim Councilman

Maui: Arakawa begins forming cabinet

A day after ousting Mayor Charmaine Tavares, who denied him re-election four years earlier, Arakawa said he had not decided whether to bring back anyone from his past mayoral administration, from 2002 to 2006, except Keith Regan, who was Arakawa's campaign manager.

Arakawa announced Wednesday morning that Regan regained his past title of managing director and would help head the transition and appointee search team….

Some of the more coveted positions are the 10 executive assistants, which traditionally have gone to campaign loyalists. Mayoral executive assistants perform a variety of tasks, including being liaisons between the mayor, department heads and the public as well as lobbyists and grant writers.

Outgoing five-term West Maui County Council Member Jo Anne Johnson said she hopes to get a job as an executive assistant….

MN: County Council to see new, but seasoned faces

Christmas in Hawaii: Obama invites the Americans he impoverished to live vicariously through him

From White House website: ‘Given the current economic crisis, President Obama understands that a Hawaii vacation is out of reach for many Americans. And he feels sad about that. Which is why in a spirit of openness and transparency, President Obama is sharing his Hawaii vacation experience with the American People.’

Lawmakers pretend to address foster care issues

Legislators hope to hear ideas Friday on how to prevent further tragedies following the suicide of a 19-year-old foster child who killed himself six months after "aging out" of Hawaii's foster care system.

State Rep. John Mizuno (who always pops up to hold a hearing on whatever is in the news because it makes great political theater), chairman of the House Human Services Committee, has scheduled a legislative hearing for 1 p.m. Friday in the state Capitol, Room 309, and has invited representatives from the state Department of Human Services, Child Protective Services, Honolulu Police Department, adult foster homes, foster children and foster youth advocates….

Following Celes' suicide, human services officials said they will (actually do something helpful by) provid(ing) redacted files on his case sometime this week on their website, www.hawaii.gov/dhs.

DoE can’t educate children, but they can ban peanut butter

The state Department of Education's School Food Services Branch is leaving it up to each principal and each "school community" to make the decision on whether to allow peanut-based products on campus.

(Tell them this is discrimination against gay kindergarteners. If they buy the story, it might get the ban reversed.)

A+ poised to increase its monthly fee by $25

The Board of Education will take up a proposal to increase A+ after-school program fees at its general meeting tomorrow on Kauai. The meeting, at Kapaa High School, starts at 3:30 p.m.
For more information, call the BOE offices at 586-3332.

Here’s what the soon-to-be-abolished BoE is NOT cutting: Hawaii DoE: Cost of waste, fraud, and corruption between $191M and $431M per year

County closes most sex discrimination cases: Some settled, some dismissed

LIHU‘E — The County of Kaua‘i has disclosed two settlements with former county workers who brought up sexual discrimination lawsuits against the county. A third and more recent case that still remains confidential was reportedly settled at a much smaller amount.

Former county worker Kristan Hirakawa recently settled a $450,000 sexual discrimination lawsuit against the county, stemming from a 2007 claim.

In another high-profile case, the county agreed in March to pay a $250,000 settlement to Jane Doe, who had been named earlier in the same case as Margaret Sueoka.

Judge torn on fate of nuke victims' care (Thanks, Neil)

"Congress gave the states discretion to provide medical benefits to pay for this group of people," argued Deputy Attorney General John Molay. "Up until this year, we had given them benefits equal to citizens. Because of the state's fiscal situation, we can't afford it."

Islanders covered by the so-called Compact of Free Association are free to travel to the U.S. under a 1986 federal agreement.

The state receives $11.2 million yearly in federal funds to compensate for the impact that the migrants have on schools, social services and health care. But health care costs alone are estimated at $40 million a year.

REALITY: Abercrombie admits responsibility for costing Hawaii millions under Compact of Free Association

HW: A new look at “haole” covers familiar ground

Progressives continue their twisted effort to redefine haole as an oppressed nationality. This purely Alinskyite effort is integral to Democrat control of Kauai, Maui, and Kona.

KGI: Council candidates loved campaign trail

WHT: New Kona courthouse a 'priority'

WHT: Senator upbraids state housing agency on Kamakana project

WHT: Berry borer backlash -- Coffee association seeks import ban