April 13, 2025 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

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Sunday, April 13, 2025

April 13, 2025 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 4:40 PM :: 3758 Views

Supporting Government’s Central Services—the Grand Skim of Things

WSJ: Lahaina's Lessons for Los Angeles

Hawaii Family Forum Legislative Week in Review

Grassroot 'legislative wrap-up' tour starts May 13

Pay to Play Keeps your Electricity Expensive and Dirty: DelaCruz Steers Geothermal Money to Convicted Felon Campaign Contributor

SA: … two somewhat competing bids (HB1020 and SB1269) for more funding are at a final stage of potential legislative approval….

(REALITY: As amended, both bills HB1020HD1SD2 and SB1269SD1HD2 now steer money to DBEDT, controlled by Dela Cruz tea-bagging partner Dane Wicker. Wicker will shunt the money to DelaCruz campaign contributor, convicted Unity House felon Roberta Cabral and her IDG/Waika /Honua LLCs. This is why your electricity is so expensive and dirty. Cabral and Co have been doing this for nearly 20 years. How many times will you be scammed by the same scammers running the same scam?????)

So, support from Hawaii taxpayers — around $80 million over the next two years, and possibly more later — is being sought.

“The state should help reduce the risk and the cost to finding (commercially viable) geothermal sites,” Dane Wicker, deputy director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said in an interview. “We don’t know where these sites are.”

(REALITY: If DBEDT and Wicker are in charge, we NEVER will know where the geothermal sites are. DBEDT, taking orders from Dela Cruz, will AGAIN shunt the money to IDG/Waika/Honua and AGAIN no actual geothermal prospecting will be done. As a result, you will continue to pay more for dirtier electricity.)

House Bill 1020 was introduced on behalf of the governor to fund HSEO’s goal.

The bill passed the House in February without a specified appropriation. On April 4, the Senate passed an amended version that channels the unspecified sum to DBEDT instead of HSEO. That leaves House and Senate negotiators to possibly hash out differences before the legislative session ends May 2….

(TRANSLATION: Only the House Conferees can save geothermal from the IDG/Waika/Honua scam now.)

The Hawaii State Energy Office this year sought $16.5 million in each of the next two fiscal years from the Legislature to continue work it began last year using $5 million provided by Green from a federal coronavirus recovery fund.

HSEO is working with the University of Hawaii Groundwater and Geothermal Resource Center to zero in on one test well site on Hawaii Island outside of Puna and to understand community views.

(CLUE: If HSEO gets the geothermal prospecting money, the UH geothermal prospecting rig will actually be used to drill for geothermal energy. This is the ONLY way we will ever find geothermal sites in Hawaii.)

Mark Glick, HSEO director, estimates that current funding could produce the test well in the first quarter of next year.

If the agency’s request for $33 million more is granted, HSEO intends to do similar work elsewhere on Hawaii island outside Puna, on Maui and even on Oahu, where drilling deep enough could reach geothermal resources.

(REALITY: Dela Cruz’ amended HB1020HD1SD2 to snatch the money away from HSEO and give it to DBEDT. If House conferees are not able to force the money back to HSEO—as in the HD1 version—the money will be shunted to Dela Cruz campaign contributor Roberta Cabaral and IDG/Waika/Honua. The result: Another useless ‘report’ by Cabral. No geothermal drilling. You will continue to pay the highest electric bills in the nation. HECO’s cost of production will continue to be the highest in the nation, thus increasing its bankruptcy risk. QUESTION FOR CONFEREES: ARE THESE NEGATIVES TOO MUCH FOR ONE LOUSY CAMPAIGN CONTRIBTOR????)

This year, DBEDT seeks $6 million via Senate Bill 1269 to allow the team and a contractor (IDG/Waika/Honua) selected ~~through competitive bidding~~ (by order of Dela Cruz) to identify four to eight potential sites and do localized community outreach.

Two additional phases also are envisioned to cut the number of potential sites by half using noninvasive subsurface testing, ~~and then drill one to three test wells~~.

Wicker estimated a total of $20 million will be needed over five years to complete all four phases. “The ultimate goal here is to get ~~to commercial viability~~ (money)” he said.

SB 1269 isn’t a Green administration bill but is endorsed by DBEDT and promoted by Waika officials who have opposed the governor’s bill for HSEO funding.

Ryan Matsumoto, president of Waika, strongly urged lawmakers in written testimony to support SB 1269 in place of HB 1020.

(CLUE: To build geothermal, do the opposite of what IDG/Waika/Honua wants.)

Waika to date has received about half of last year’s $2.8 million appropriation to DBEDT. According to a preliminary budget for the work involving Waika, UH and HTDC, relatively little or no work is being done by UH or HTDC.

(TRANSLATION: No real geothermal prospecting work is being done. IDG/Waika/Honua is being paid to lobby for more money. WILL YOU BE STUPID ENOUGH TO GIVE IT TO THEM???)

The biggest budget item is nearly $1 million directed to community outreach (worthless empty talk) that includes meetings, community advocacy and paying two cultural advisers. Another $650,000 is ~~to produce a development plan~~ (a slush fund). Budgeted sums for ~~consultants~~ (illegal unregistered lobbying) include $150,000 for Honua Group LLC managed by Roberta Cabral, who founded the parent company of Waika, $150,000 for Luca Ltd. and $100,000 for Matsumoto.

(TRANSLATION: Political connections pay off. BTW none of these people are registered lobbyists. Therefore they are being paid under one state contract to lobby illegally for another state contract. Solution: Back to prison again.)

BACKGROUND: The Unity House Scandal Never Really Ended — decades later, it might bankrupt Hawaiian Electric

BACKGROUND: We Were Scammed: NZ Lawsuits Expose Fraudulent Hawaii Geothermal Developer

BACKGROUND: SB1269: Mililani Trask’s Geothermal Scam Comes Back for More Millions

read … Geothermal power exploration building up steam | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Buckle Up, The Legislature's Frenzied Final Act Is About To Begin

CB: … Hundreds of measures hurtle toward the black hole of conference committee that waits at the end of every ridiculously short session.

…it’s a two-week frenzy that sacrifices the public good for the sake of backroom dealing orchestrated by a select few leaders, including the chairs of the Senate and House money committees.

Want to follow along as a concerned citizen? You might get a glimpse of the conferees as the process begins. Then it moves behind closed doors for negotiating and horse trading that sometimes bar even the majority of the committee members.

A changed bill might emerge days later with an explanation of what it now contains and a final committee vote in public, but no explanation of how it got to that point. Or it might not emerge at all because often, even though versions have already been approved in both the House and the Senate, measures die mysterious deaths dictated by the powerful puppeteers.

The conference committee period runs for the next two weeks, but traditionally little happens in the first few days. Sometimes it ends with a “cattle call” in which dozens of legislators are herded into the same room to quickly cast final votes on bills whose latest amendments they may not even understand.

In a final burst of top-down intrigue after the conference committees are disbanded, the state budget bill is sometimes voted on before legislators have seen its final form….

read … Buckle Up, The Legislature's Frenzied Final Act Is About To Begin - Honolulu Civil Beat

No ‘Moving On’--It’s the unlearned lessons that defeat a better Hawaii

Shapiro: … Hawaii Tourism Authority board Chair Todd Apo was way premature in urging the board to “put to bed ” and “move on ” from concerns raised by a state audit about questionable discounts given by the Hawai ‘i Convention Center to two nonprofits associated with former HTA board Chair Mufi Hannemann.

As reported by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, there are too many unresolved questions about justification for the discounts and the thoroughness of the board’s investigation.

The Hawai ‘i Lodging & Tourism Association, which Hannemann runs, and the Pacific Century Fellows he founded are reputable organizations, but it’s fair to ask how the discounts they received served the state or its taxpayers.

There should be no moving on until there’s full public airing of how the discounts were decided, what payments are due and how comping policy is being tightened. Apo’s attempted short-circuit looks like one member of the old-boy network taking care of another.

Hawaii has a history of prematurely “moving on ” from controversy by sweeping details under the rug to shield responsible officials without taking time to learn what went wrong and fix it.

In the Kamehameha Schools /Bishop Estate scandals of the 1990s, millions of dollars in misappropriated trust funds likely went unrecovered as authorities rushed to move on after the IRS forced the removal of trustees who mismanaged the $10 billion estate….

read … Volcanic Ash: It’s the unlearned lessons that defeat a better Hawaii

Remembering Hawaii's Gene Ward: A Politician of Passion and Prayer

NM: … In an era when Hawaii was becoming essentially a one-party state and Republicans were headed toward non-existence, state Rep. Gene Ward was a battler for conservative causes and candidates. He did so as it was obvious he was not going to any office beyond that of state representative from an East Honolulu district….

read … Remembering Hawaii's Gene Ward: A Politician of Passion and Prayer | Newsmax.com

Shoplifting: 1,000s of Cases Produce Only One Conviction

HNN: … “Within the last couple of years, we were losing, you know, tens of thousands, approaching a hundred thousand dollars each year,” said Sugar Sugar Hawaii co-founder James Gieschen.

(DO THE MATH: $100 x 1,000 = $100,000 per year.)

Gieschen realized that they needed to top the thieves for their business to succeed, so his team began posting warning signs that shoplifters would be reported to police, prosecuted, and posted on social media.

They also put up surveillance photos of shoplifters in the store.

“To be clear, we handle the vast majority of these cases internally,” said Gieschen. “We have so many incidents where parents will come in with their kids and they’ll just apologize from the heart.”

But he’s also filed dozens of police reports. Gieschen says Honolulu police detectives have done a great job investigating the cases. He says Honolulu police has submitted 33 of his shoplifting cases to prosecutors since 2022.

“Out of those dozens of cases, two have been prosecuted and most of those cases are clear cut, video evidence from multiple angles,” Gieschen said. “And so we’re kinda like, why is this happening?”

The Honolulu prosecutor’s office told HNN only 18 cases were referred to them by HPD.

“Our office declined five of those cases because there was insufficient evidence to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. “One defendant was charged and sentenced. We issued a penal summons for another case and several are awaiting penal summons review. There is an outstanding bench warrant for another defendant that we charged. Three cases were dismissed by the court.”…

(DO THE MATH: 33 magically becomes 18 then 18-5-3–‘several’–1-1 = 1)

(DO THE ALGEBRA: ‘several’ = 7)

read … Small business frustrated with a lack of prosecution for shoplifting

Anti-Fluoridation Nut News: RFK is Just Like the Honolulu Council

Borreca: … It was more than two decades ago that the Honolulu City Council told the city to keep its hands, washed or not, out of Oahu’s drinking water. It was specifically banning fluoride from being added to Oahu’s public water supply….

(TRANSLATION: The Honolulu Council were Trumpsters before Trump was a Trumpster.)

A state Health Department report in 2015 announced that Hawaii had “the highest rate of tooth decay among third graders in the nation. More than seven out of 10 third graders here were affected by tooth decay, which is significantly higher than the national average of 52% nationwide.”

According to national reports, one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century has been adding fluoride in the water supply.

Public health officials across the nation say fluoridation has prevented millions of cavities, saved tens of billions of dollars in dental costs, and made children healthier.

Simple science, however, is not always simply understood or believed — and this is where President Donald Trump, Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Hawaii come into the picture.

(TRANSLATION: Trump finally caught up to the Honolulu Council.)

The American Dental Association has said that water fluoridation reduces dental decay by at least 25% in children and adults. At a recent meeting in Utah, however, Kennedy said he plans to “advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water.”….

(CLUE: Hawaii needs to fluoridate its own water before criticizing RFK.)

read … Richard Borreca: Dentists gnashing teeth over fluoridation rollback | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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