SNAP Cliffs Are Coming
Permitting progress prevails
Judicial Nominees Sought for Oahu, Maui, Big Island
FBI Interfered in Legislature and ‘Let’ A Dirty Lawmaker Get Reelected
CB: … Consider this one narrow chain of events that Public First pieced together by going through the federal documents and court testimony that is in the public record:
In January 2020, two years before the charges against him were made public, English introduced Senate Bill 2380 that would fund research into cesspool conversion technologies. The House companion was House Bill 1859.
Under the FBI’s direction and using the FBI’s money, Choy bribed English and Cullen to support the legislation, which moved smoothly through both chambers for a time, even passing the full House. Then the FBI directed Choy to pay the pair again — this time to kill the legislation….
…English would have been up for reelection in 2022 but he retired in 2021 saying he was suffering from long Covid. We now know that by then he knew the FBI was on to him — he and Cullen had been secretly arrested in 2021 but their charges weren’t made public until the next year.
Cullen resigned from the House as soon as the charges were revealed. They both pleaded guilty and were in prison within a few months.
But in 2020, when Cullen sailed through an uncontested primary and then trounced a Republican opponent in the November general with 66% of the vote, it was the FBI that violated the public’s trust. We should be able to safely assume that federal law enforcement officers will not ‘let’ someone who has been so shamelessly corrupt be in a position to keep doing it.
Campaign finance records show Cullen collected $22,470 between September 2019 and the August 2020 primary.
Through Choy, the FBI provided $23,000 in bribe money to him in that same time period.
Given how quickly Cullen resigned the moment the FBI did go public, it’s likely that seat would have gone to someone who wasn’t willing to steer legislation in trade for tens of thousands of dollars in cash and poker chips.
“But the FBI remained silent; it did not alert authorities who could have removed Cullen and English from office, and it did not alert the electorate before the election despite knowing that Cullen had accepted multiple bribes,” Black writes….
… the FBI insists the files on those three must still remain off limits to public scrutiny because releasing them would jeopardize an ongoing investigation, a mysterious case that never quite seems to surface. The feds have revealed nothing more about public corruption in the Hawaiʻi Legislature since Choy, English and Cullen were sentenced three years ago. Yet they say they’re working on it ….
PDF: Dkt 7.1 Opening Brief | DocumentCloud
RELATED? FBI Illegal Disruption of Hawaii Republicans? > Hawaii Free Press
Read … How The FBI Interfered In The Legislature And Let A Dirty Lawmaker Get Reelected - Honolulu Civil Beat
Who Framed Chief Pellitier? – no answers yet
CB: … The Blog still has never been able to figure out how Pelletier came to be identified as a kidnapper and police imposter. Pelletier also says he has no clue.
But in a recent filing relating to the Druski sanctions motion, Mitchell says it was the Does who sent her pictures of two individuals in police uniforms that they said were there at the time of Parham’s assault.
“I used those pictures along with several pictures of other individuals in security uniforms to prepare a photo lineup,” Mitchell says, which she showed to Parham.
“Ms. Parham only identified one of the individuals, John Pelletier, the police officer who responded to the neighbor’s house following her assault.”
Curiouser and curiouser.
The Blog reached out to Mitchell and Parham’s other attorney, Shawn Perez, asking for more information. How did the Does come up with a photo of Pelletier and how did they know who he was? …
REALITY: Crackpot Lawsuit is all it takes--Maui Mayor and SHOPO make Complete Fools of Themselves Trying to get rid of Chief Pelletier > Hawaii Free Press
Read … The Sunshine Blog: Dela Cruz Is Still Dodging Conflict Of Interest Question - Honolulu Civil Beat
What’s Next for “Hammah”? Lance Bermudez, key Miske associate, to be sentenced
ILind: … Bermudez, 34, pleaded guilty in September 2022 to racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute drugs, and armed robbery. The drug charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, and the maximum sentence on each of the other two charges is 20 years. The plea agreement required Bermudez to cooperate with prosecutors and provide information about Miske and other defendants. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop several other charges, and to recommend at least a three-level reduction from federal sentencing guidelines for taking responsibility and for allowing the government to avoid a trial in his case.
He entered his guilty plea via video from an undisclosed location on the mainland due to concerns at the time that bringing Bermudez back to appear in court would pose an unnecessary risk to his physical safety. However, following Miske’s death in December, and the sentencing of all his co-defendants and other associates, the federal Bureau of Prisons online inmate locator reports Bermudez is currently back in Honolulu?s Federal Detention Center pending sentencing.
Bermudez’s cooperation and testimony were expected to be critical in tying Miske and Jason Yokoyama, another close associate and manager at Miske’s M Nightclub, to various criminal activities, including the Waimanalo murder-for-hire plot and the disappearance of Jonathan Fraser.
However, Bermudez was surprisingly not called to testify during Miske’s trial ….
Read … What’s Next for “Hammah”? Lance Bermudez, key Miske associate, to be sentenced | i L i n d
Green: No Special Session Needed to Deal with Trump Cuts
CB: … (Interviewing Rep Chris Todd, House Finance Chair) With your new role as Finance Committee chair, how is this post-session period different for you than previous ones?
A: Normally this time of year, as a neighbor island legislator, I’m probably at the Capitol one to two days a week, and the rest of the week I’m back in the district. Some of that’s just being a dad, being a high school football coach, trying to really be present, to make up for a lot of time you lose during the session, but also meeting with constituents, doing site visits, district priorities.
But right now I’m pretty much on Oʻahu Monday through Friday for the foreseeable future, partly because there’s really just so much to learn, so many people to meet, onboarding staff the first time. There’s also just the logistics of moving offices and hiring and that sort of thing. What I’m trying to do is get up to speed as fast as possible, especially with how things are evolving on the federal level, there’s so much information, and I’m really trying to do my best to do a deep dive, so that I’m best prepared.
(TRANSLATION: The real Legislature, me and Sen Dela Cruz, is meeting right now. We are writing the script for next year’s Kabuki.)
Q: The governor said the other day that he didn’t think it was probably going to be necessary to have a special session on budgetary matters because of the way the Trump tax bill in D.C. has emerged, basically delaying some of the what’s going to happen with with Medicaid. Is that the way you see it too?
A: As the impacts of this legislation become clearer, the Legislature and administration can more adequately assess the need for a special session. While much of the direct impact to the state budget appears to be delayed one fiscal year, we are still working through the details….
CB: Bill For Hawaiʻi Nonprofit Grants Lacks Transparency
Read … House’s New Money Man Talks About His Hopes For Changing The Legislature - Honolulu Civil Beat
‘Green fee’ questions needs answers
SA: … To illustrate what tourists currently pay, consider the following: a 10.25% transient accommodations tax, a 3% county surcharge, and now the new 0.75% green fee, totaling 14% overall. Combine this with lodging costs, airfare and the numerous resort fees, and the costs become quite overwhelming.
On the governmental side, there is a question of resource allocation. What safeguards are in place to ensure that green fee revenues will be properly distributed toward environmental ends? This question is especially pertinent given that revenues will be deposited into the general fund and not a special fund devoted to climate change. In pursuance of full transparency, lawmakers ought to issue an annual report specifically detailing how revenues were used.
(CLUE: They won’t.)
By the same token, any misuse of the funds for non-climate related projects must be met with severe consequences…
(CLUE: There won’t be ANY consequences.)
Read … Column: ‘Green fee’ questions needs answers | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Federal Solar Subsidies Coming to an End
SA: … New federal regulations are expected to jolt up Hawaii electricity costs and make it harder for the state to achieve its clean energy goals.
Changes enacted July 4 under President Donald Trump’s domestic policy bill threaten to imperil several planned utility-scale solar farms and thousands of additional residential rooftop solar systems across the state by eliminating a 30% federal tax credit for such project costs much sooner than previously slated.
Potentially affected projects include one on Oahu that would be the biggest solar farm in the state and two on Maui that are on or near a bubble for starting construction by July 5, 2026, in order to qualify for credits under the new law….
Read … Cheaper solar energy in Hawaii threatened by new federal law | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Hu Honua Pushing Power Deal Before ‘Clean’ Energy Subsidies Expire
HTH: … “In the interest of bringing the firm, renewable (Honua Ola) facility into operation as quickly as possible, the parties intend to submit the (power purchase agreement) application and request for waiver …,” the letter states.
The letter describes the power plant as “already constructed, essentially complete and ready for commissioning in short order.”
The letter requests the PUC commissioners — chairman Leo Asuncion Jr., Naomi Kuwaye and Colin Yost — move as quickly as possible to consider the waiver while Honua Ola completes an updated “interconnection requirement study,” because the previous one was completed in 2010.
In its written reply to Honua Ola and Hawaiian Electric, the PUC noted the occurrence of past and present market-altering events in the ensuing 15 years.
The PUC wrote that “given the current uncertainty around global supply chain- and tariff-related issues, as well as the age of the original (interconnection requirement study),” the commission advises that the study be updated and finalized before HECO files and requests a review of the power purchase agreement application and any associated waiver request.
“This will best position the commission to make an efficient and well-informed decision on this matter,” the PUC wrote.
Terms of the offer, extended Dec. 24 last year by the as yet un-commissioned 21.5-megawatt biomass facility, weren’t included in the letter to the PUC.
The letter to the PUC also stated that since then “the parties have diligently continued with active negotiations and have made substantial progress and have reached an agreement in principle on the major terms.”
“We can confirm that we are engaged in talks with (Honua Ola),” Hawaiian Electric spokeswoman Kristen Okinaka said Friday. “… By policy, we do not discuss ongoing negotiations. Any loss in renewable energy tax credits will likely result in higher prices for new renewable projects, which rely on such incentives to provide clean, affordable energy….
Read … Honua Ola, HECO mull possible power deal - Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Shapiro: Let Hawaii voters have real choices—Knock Republicans off General Election Ballot
Shapiro: … I get emails nearly every week blaming Hawaii’s problems on foolish voters in a steeply Democratic state who keep returning the same unproductive lawmakers to office.
The truth isn’t that easy; in many elections, voters simply have no credible options beyond the incumbent.
Democratic incumbents, propped up by intimidating special-interest support, often have little or no primary opposition, while a weak local Republican Party fails to field competitive candidates in most general election contests. Most races are settled in Democratic primaries with few choices on the ballot….
New York City has a similar problem of one-party dominance and most races settled in the Democratic primary. A charter commission there is floating a change to make city elections more competitive that would make sense for Hawaii too.
It’s variously called “open ” or “top-two ” or “jungle ” primaries.
Basically, there are no more party primaries, and candidates from all parties and independents run in a single open primary in which all voters can cast ballots. The two top finishers, no matter from which parties, run off in the general election.
The first major advantage for Hawaii is that it would vastly improve meaningful voter participation by moving the election’s main event from the Democratic primary to the general election….
In the 25th House District, Kim Coco Iwamoto upset House Speaker Scott Saiki in the Democratic primary by 256 votes out of 5, 080 cast, winning the seat outright with no Republican running. Twice as many voters could have participated in the decision if the top two from the primary had carried over to the general election….
(CLUE: Fortunately for Republicans, incumbent Democrats don’t want this. BUT … if the Dem base continues to devolve into transsexual crazytown, incumbents may need to adapt.)
Read … David Shapiro: Before calling Hawaii voters stupid let them have real choices
Homeless Meth Addicts on Amala Place must leave by next week, Maui County says (again)
MN: … 40 unhoused people who received notices to vacate from Maui County, nearly four years after county and state officials forced everyone to leave the area in a sweep that the courts later ruled had violated residents’ rights.
Maui County says this time is different — while they’re doing it for similar concerns over health and safety, they’re taking steps to ensure people can collect ‘their’ belongings afterwards. …
Read … Homeless community at Amala Place must leave by next week, Maui County says : Maui Now
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