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‘Ongoing Operation’ -- FBI Recorded ANOTHER Hawaiʻi Lawmaker Being Given $35,000
CB: … Agents arrested Cullen in October 2021, right after he stepped into Choy’s car for a meeting.
Cullen immediately agreed to help federal authorities, providing “substantial information” about activities involving himself and others, according to the DOJ court filing.
“These activities included the acceptance of bribes and monetary rewards for the performance of official acts on behalf of special interests by both the defendant and other legislators,” the filing states.
Cullen also recorded phone calls and meetings, giving federal agents leverage against investigative subjects, according to the filing.
On Dec. 13, 2021, Cullen traveled to New Jersey at the FBI’s request to meet with one such investigative subject — an interaction that was monitored and recorded by the FBI. That meeting and a follow-up conversation the next day helped the public corruption investigation, the filing states.
A few weeks later, on Jan. 18, 2022, that man paid Cullen $3,000, “believing the defendant could assist him with an official request,” according to the filing. The filing doesn’t specify what the man wanted or whether Cullen acted on the request.
Two days after that meeting, on Jan. 20, the man provided the “influential state lawmaker” with the $35,000, the filing says….
Those meetings were described in a document the U.S. Department of Justice filed in federal court in 2023, the contents of which are being made public for the first time. It called the recipient of the $35,000 “influential” and said the money was for “an existing campaign.”
The court filing reveals the existence of two new characters in a scandal that rocked the Hawaiʻi Capitol and launched a crisis of public trust that elected officials have yet to fully reckon with. The investigation landed Cullen and former Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English in prison after they pleaded guilty to taking cash and other gifts from businessman Milton Choy.
Neither the powerful Hawaiʻi lawmaker nor the man who apparently tried to buy favors from politicians is named in the filing.
Sections of the filing were improperly redacted so Civil Beat was able to view the blacked-out text. The court filing was submitted to justify a lesser sentence for Cullen….
Silvert said, is that one or both of the unnamed individuals could be cooperating with the government in an ongoing investigation. The statute of limitations for federal fraud cases is five years, giving the U.S. Attorney until January 2027 to file charges.
Acting U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson confirmed that officials are still working on the case, but he declined to answer questions. “If you run this story, you’ve been told by the acting U.S. Attorney that it will endanger an ongoing operation,” he said. …
The state Senate clerk declined to share copies of senators’ calendars from the day of the $35,000 handoff. …
CB: ‘This Has To End’: Revelations Renew Calls For Government Accountability
Related? Dead Bodies, Convicted Felons and Kakaako Makai: Meet the new Gang at OHA
read … FBI Recorded Hawaiʻi Lawmaker Being Given $35,000
HB412: Void State Contracts Won by Illegal Lobbying
IM: … “That inside look at Hu Honua’s meetings with key government officials helped convince the commission that trying to influence the executive branch should be treated the same as lobbying the Legislature.”
Legislation to address this issue, HB 412 HD1 SD2, cleared passed the House yesterday, passed the final committee in the Senate.
“Any individual with a substantial ownership interest in or a paid employee, officer, or director of an organization, who actively participates in lobbying activities that directly benefit that organization, shall be presumed to be receiving compensation from the organization for their lobbying efforts.”
HRS 97 Lobbyists is amended, “In addition to any other penalty provided by law, any contract or other action entered into by the State in violation of this chapter shall be voidable on behalf of the State.”
The bill defines "Lobbying" to include communicating with the governor, lieutenant governor, members of the legislature, and directors of the state departments and their deputies, concerning the solicitation or award of a contract by or proposal before an administrative agency or a potential future vendor relationship with an administrative agency if any of the communications are not governed by Hawaii Public Procurement Code (HRS 103D) or Purchases of Health and Human Services (HRS 103F).
The latest court action by Hu Honua Bioenergy will be heard by Senior Federal District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright on March 31, 2025, at 10 am in the Federal Court House….
read … Hu Honua Bioenergy -- Legislative Reforms and Pending Court Action | Ililani Media
Tulsi Gabbard Signal Chat Leads to Trove of Personal Data
DS: … Private contact details of the most important security advisers to U.S. President Donald Trump can be found on the internet. DER SPIEGEL reporters were able to find mobile phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the top officials.
To do so, the reporters used commercial people search engines along with hacked customer data that has been published on the web. Those affected by the leaks include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth….
Most of these numbers and email addresses are apparently still in use, with some of them linked to profiles on social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. They were used to create Dropbox accounts and profiles in apps that track running data. There are also WhatsApp profiles for the respective phone numbers and even Signal accounts in some cases.
As such, the reporting has revealed an additional grave, previously unknown security breach at the highest levels in Washington. Hostile intelligence services could use this publicly available data to hack the communications of those affected by installing spyware on their devices. It is thus conceivable that foreign agents were privy to the Signal chat group in which Gabbard, Waltz and Hegseth discussed a military strike….
DER SPIEGEL was able to find some of the contact information for Gabbard, Hegseth and Waltz in commercial databases, while other information was in so-called password leaks, which are hardly a rarity on the internet. One example is the 2019 discovery by Troy Hunt, who found 773 million email addresses and more than 21 million passwords in a hacker forum.
National Intelligence Director Gabbard was seemingly more careful with her data than her two male colleagues. She apparently had her own data blocked in the commercial contact search engines that contained the data of Hegseth and Waltz. But her email address was to be found on WikiLeaks and Reddit.
Gabbard’s email address is available in more than 10 leaks. One of those also contains a partial telephone number, which, when completed, leads to an active WhatsApp account and a Signal profile….
Personal inquiries sent to Tulsi Gabbard and Michael Waltz via WhatsApp and Signal were delivered, according to the confirmation function. But they have thus far remained unanswered….
W: Mike Waltz Left His Venmo Friends List Public | WIRED
read … Hegseth, Waltz, Gabbard: Private Data and Passwords of Senior U.S. Security Officials Found Online - DER SPIEGEL
HB127: The Case For Retaining Money Bail In Hawaiʻi
CB: … Concern about bail comes as the Hawaiʻi State Legislature is considering House Bill 127, which would require bail to be set in an amount that the defendant can afford based on certain factors ….
RELATED: Reply to ACLU: Fixing Hawaii Bail Problem Requires Return to Core Constitutional Principles
read … The Case For Retaining Money Bail In Hawaiʻi - Honolulu Civil Beat
HB250: State must rein in health care prior authorization process
SA: … Mainland corporations are given millions of dollars by Hawaii insurance companies to interfere with decisions made between patients and their doctors, while patients struggle to find a primary care provider and clinics fail. Many leaders in government are concerned, but often with keeping powerful health care interests satisfied rather than helping patients. That may seem like an exaggeration, but it is what we see in the fight over prior authorization and resistance to House Bill 250 and the 2025 Revised Patient Bill of Rights ….
read … Column: State must rein in health care prior authorization process | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
HB422: State Collects Money From Home Builders For New Schools. It’s Never Spent a Dime
CB: … The fee ranges from roughly $2,000 to $5,000 per house, depending on its location and size.
“When you’re collecting these fees from folks who are barely able to afford, a lot of times, these houses, and you put it into a fund and it never gets spent, then you really have to question it,” said Sen. Troy Hashimoto, who serves on the Senate Housing Committee.
The bill has passed through the House and will be considered at a joint meeting of the Senate Education and the Ways and Means committees on Friday. …
The state auditor found in 2019 that DOE had no policies on how to determine which communities were subject to the fees. It also said the process of calculating and collecting fees varied among communities and were based on faulty assumptions by a single employee….
SA: Column: End burdensome school impact fees, put funds to good use | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
HB422: Text, Status
read … State Collects Money From Home Builders For New Schools. It’s Never Spent a Dime
Court ruling says state failed to protect iwi kupuna at Maui development site
HNN: … A new court ruling claims the state mishandled its archaeological permitting process and failed to protect iwi kupuna (ancestral remains) at a Maui development site.
The ruling filed on Friday states the Intermediate Court of Appeals said the Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) “breached its affirmative duty to preserve and protect traditional and customary Native Hawaiian rights to protect iwi kupuna.” …
read … Advocates hope for change after ruling says state failed to protect iwi kupuna at Maui development site
Navy plan to reactivate a water source for military communities
HNN: … It was last month when the state Department of Health gave the Navy conditional approval to use the Aiea-Halawa shaft for drinking water -- but only after implementing treatment against contaminants and including strict water quality testing and inspections from the Health Department and the EPA….
read … Navy plan to reactivate a water source for military communities raises concerns
Gender wage gap tied to Motherhood
HTH: … Research from Nobel Prize-winning economist Claudia Goldin suggests that motherhood is one of the biggest factors driving the gap, even in Hawaii. Women without children earn 99 cents for every dollar earned by childless men, but mothers earn just 74 cents for every dollar earned by fathers.
“When you look at trend lines for the wages for men and women over their lifetime, they earn very similar amounts of money before the average age at a woman’s first birth,” Inafuku said. “After their first birth, you see this growing divide in income where men’s wages increase at a much faster rate.”
A major reason for this disparity is Hawaii’s high cost of child care, which can make full-time work financially unfeasible for many mothers. In households earning between $50,000 to $70,000 per year, full-time child care costs can consume nearly an entire salary, forcing women to reduce work hours, seek more flexible jobs or leave the workforce entirely.
“The lack of affordable child care options makes it challenging for both parents to fully engage in their careers while caring for their children,” Inafuku said….
read … Gender wage gap persists in Hawaii - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
HB277: Tired Of Waiting For Rules On Police Chases, Lawmakers Step In
CB: … More than six years after it was created, the Hawaiʻi Law Enforcement Standards Board has yet to recommend rules for police chases of fleeing cars, so impatient lawmakers are taking on the matter themselves.
Several high-profile police pursuits in recent years have ended with injuries or even deaths of bystanders, costing taxpayers millions of dollars to settle lawsuits.
Absent a statewide policy template from the standards board, each Hawaiʻi police department has been left to create its own policy. So the Legislature is moving forward with House Bill 277 despite concerns from law enforcement. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to make a decision about the bill on Friday….
read … Tired Of Waiting For Rules On Police Chases, Lawmakers Step In - Honolulu Civil Beat
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