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November 9, 2025 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 3:35 PM :: 228 Views

Bishop Street Lawyer Behind OHA Power Grab?

Flagged for being too efficient?

Eligible Charges

Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted November 8, 2025

$35,000: House Speaker Looks for Way to Blame Attorney General for Bribery Coverup

CB: … As a federal investigation into corruption in the Legislature appears to be stalling out, signatures are being collected on a petition asking the House and Senate to undertake their own inquiry into information made public as part of the FBI’s case against convicted former Rep. Ty Cullen.

On Friday, Nakamura sent two letters requesting more information about what’s going on with the revelations that came out in the Cullen case and asking what the state can do about it. The letters went out two days after Hawaiʻi News Now reported that Nakamura said the Legislature won’t take any action on a petition being circulated by former federal public defender Alexander Silvert.

(CLUE: Kouchi isn’t even pretending to respond.)

One letter went to Attorney General Anne Lopez asking her to review a much-publicized document that is part of the Cullen case. In it, the U.S. Attorney’s Office describes a January 2022 meeting between Cullen, an unnamed subject of the bribery case involving Cullen and “an influential state legislator” who was given an envelope with $35,000 to be used for campaign purposes.

“Given the seriousness of the allegations and the potential involvement of a current member of the Legislature, I respectfully request that your office review the attached filing, and any other available data, to determine whether any Hawai’i state laws may have been violated,” Nakamura writes. “I recognize that a federal investigation may still be ongoing, and my request is not intended to interfere with or duplicate federal efforts. However, if warranted, I ask that you consider initiating an appropriate investigation or referral to the relevant division within your department, in coordination with federal authorities as necessary.”

The second letter went to Acting U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson, who has been the lead on the years-long federal sting that saw Cullen and former Sen. J. Kalani English convicted and sent to prison for accepting bribes from Honolulu businessman Milton Choy to sway legislation that benefitted his wastewater disposal business. Sorenson and the feds have insisted that the investigation into legislative corruption is not over but it’s been dragging on so long that Cullen and English have both been released from prison and Choy has died.

Now, Nakamura wants to know from Sorenson if the investigation is indeed still active and if a parallel state inquiry would help or hinder the federal case.

It would be surprising if Sorenson said anything other than yes, the case is still active. It’s likely Lopez will say the feds are already doing this investigation and choose to steer clear. So ~~it remains to be seen if Nakamura is serious about ferreting out another dirty lawmaker if one exists or if~~ the letters are just political cover….

Silvert has recently been upping the publicity about the petition, including writing an op-ed for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and making public appearances. He told Hawaiʻi Public Radio last week that the legislative committee should subpoena Cullen and have him testify under oath….

LINK: Petition: Investigate Legislator who took $35K Bribe

PDF: 2025 11 07 SPKR AG Letter Request for Review U.S. v. Ty J.K. Cullen, Cr. No. 22-00013 SOM | DocumentCloud

PDF: 2025 11 07 SPKR Ken Sorenson Inquiry Request | DocumentCloud

read … House Speaker Seeks Answers About The $35,000 Mystery Money The FBI Revealed - Honolulu Civil Beat

Bissen reelection campaign based on Lahaina Strong Meth Gang

SA: ... (Meth dealer Moses Kiakona’s son,) Paele Kiakona, a founding member and spokesperson for the grassroots Lahaina Strong group formed in response to the fire, helped organize protests against Bissen, Gov. Josh Green and visitors to Maui in the early days after the disaster.

Months later, in early 2024, Kiakona was one of three Lahaina Strong members invited for a private talk with the mayor and governor at the Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua — where some of the fire survivors were being housed — that helped change Kiakona’s opposition and led Lahaina Strong to join forces with elected leaders.

Kiakona recalled he was “pretty indifferent” when Bissen ran for office the first time. That sentiment turned negative after the devastating fire, which occurred just eight months into the mayor’s first term.

“We were frustrated, angry at everybody and hurting because we didn’t see a lot of action,” Kiakona said. “… It was easy to point fingers as to who’s to blame. I was just as angry at Mayor Bissen as I was at Gov. Green, as I was at (Hawaiian Electric).”

But that began to change during the Lahaina Strong meeting with Bissen and Green.

“We were still protesting on the beach but we started to see the mayor’s demeanor and tone soften,” he said.

(TRANSLATION: Desperate, Bissen realized that meth dealers were the only people left craven enough to support him for reelection, so he began pandering to them.)

Kiakona and other Lahaina Strong members began to hear about Maui County’s so-called Minatoya List while working with people in the community who were also looking for ways to house displaced fire survivors in homes of their own….

… Council member Tamara Paltin … said … “of course nothing is without mistakes or errors.” …

REALITY: Meet the Meth Gang Behind ‘Lahaina Strong’

read … Maui County Mayor launches reelection campaign | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

False Dichotomy: Skeptics to ask Legislature to ban mail-in voting in Hawaii

SA: … The state Legislature will be asked to ban wildly popular mail-in voting and return to one-day, in-person voting as a majority of Hawaii Elections Commission members continue to echo election doubts repeated by President Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters since his 2020 reelection defeat.

The panel has spent hours in meetings debating the findings of two “permitted interactive groups” that a majority of commissioners believe cast enough doubt on Hawaii’s ballot security to call for the Legislature to ban mail-in voting across the state.

The agenda of the Elections Commission’s Oct. 1 meeting included discussion of whether to ask lawmakers to order an audit of Hawaii’s elections. But Commissioner Ralph Cushnie, who was appointed by the House Republican caucus leader and has repeatedly unsuccessfully sued elections chief Scott Nago, made a motion to instead ask the Legislature to go back to a single day of in-person voting ….

(REALITY: Adding more polling places on Election Day does NOT require an end to, or reduction of, mail-in balloting.)

Reality, for those who can handle it: Long Lines Suppress Republican Votes on Election Day: City Clerk Plans to do it Again

read … Skeptics to ask Legislature to ban mail-in voting in Hawaii | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Charter Commission Gets Slammed With More Than 200 Proposals

CB: … Friday was the deadline for proposals to be submitted and the Honolulu Charter Commission had received at least 240 of them by the end of the day. At least that’s how many are now posted on the commission’s website. Commission staff didn’t respond to a question about an official tally on Friday.

In 2015-2016, the last time the commission met, people submitted 154 proposals. Commissioners whittled those down into 20 ballot propositions, 16 of which passed….

There are numerous proposals to revamp the Honolulu Police Commission, ranging from how members are selected to who can hire the police chief to creating an independent office of civilian investigators to handle police complaints and misconduct.

There are numerous proposals to oversee housing development and affordable housing including ways to funnel more money into housing funds that help pay for low-income housing and shelter for homeless populations.

There are a number of proposals to change how we do local elections — from increasing the number of city council representatives to changing from a district system to an island-wide at-large system. Several people are suggesting ways to do ranked-choice voting or top two systems.

Re-thinking how the city budget is put together and managed. Merging the Emergency Medical Services with the Fire Department. Revamping the Neighborhood Board system and how members are elected. Changing and improving the Department of Planning and Permitting. A broad reorganization of city government. Requiring that voters approve any new major projects such as the stadium or big housing developments.

(CLUE: Charter Commission is just the usual insiders, so they will approve what they want and reject the rest.)

read … The Sunshine Blog: Charter Commission Gets Slammed With More Than 200 Proposals - Honolulu Civil Beat

40% vacant beds at Two Hawaii Prisons

CB: … Both our minimum security facilities are at 40% vacancy — Waiawa and Kūlani….

(there are) hundreds of bed spaces (vacant). In our jails is what we call the furlough population. Once they complete their minimum custody programming, they’re sent back to their home district jail, if they’re from the Big Island, Maui, Oʻahu or Kauaʻi, and they enter into the furlough program, which they still stay there, but they leave and go to work. Those beds are empty — significantly….

50% of people are maxing out. Maxing out. That means for individuals who may not be familiar with the criminal justice system, they’re maxing out without programs. They’re maxing out without being put on parole. This means that they serve the entirety of their sentence and now they’re just going out to the street straight from a medium-slash-plus prison…

(TRANSLATION: In Hawaii’s soft-on-crime system only the worst of the worst actually see the inside of a prison. 50% of them refuse all programs and serve their full sentence. The minimum security facilities are 40% empty because they are unsuitable for the hard-core criminals in Hawaii prisons.)

(SOLUTION: Upgrade the minimum security facilities to high or medium in order to hold more criminals. Then make more arrests and/or impose longer sentences to run down the clock on these guys.)

MEANWHILE: Police arrest 70-year-old homeless suspect after fatal altercation in Hilo parking lot

read … The Sunshine Interview: Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission Leaders - Honolulu Civil Beat

Blake Parsons Appointed to Police Commission

CB: … The new guy is Blake Parsons, the CEO of the Boy Scouts organization in Hawaiʻi, called the Scouting America Aloha Council. And he’s an Eagle Scout, according to his resume included with his council application.

Parsons has a long business and civic history in Hawaiʻi including graduating from University of Hawaiʻi Hilo, being editor-in-chief of The Hawaiʻi Herald, a Japanese American newspaper that published from 1942 until it closed in 2023. Parsons also lists working for Linda Lingle’s GOP Senate campaign in 2012 and executive director of the Hawaiʻi Republican Party in 2015.

Before he moved on to the Boy Scouts in 2023, Parsons worked for the Sheet Metal, Air Conditioning & Roofing Contractors Association, both in Hawaiʻi and on the mainland.

He is Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s second new Police Commission appointee this year. Chris Magnus, a veteran former police chief, recently took the seat long held by Doug Chin, a Honolulu attorney and former state attorney general among other top jobs….

read … The Sunshine Blog: Charter Commission Gets Slammed With More Than 200 Proposals

New show or just a re-run for Mauna Kea telescope?

Shapiro: … passionate protesters believe Mauna Kea is sacred and are unlikely to back down, and politicians have feared crossing them. You might recall then-Lt. Gov. Josh Green undermining Gov. David Ige by posing supportively in the last protest camp in his hospital scrubs.

In 2022, the Legislature transferred management of the mountain from the University of Hawaii to a new Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority.

TMT’s problems extend beyond regulatory uncertainty and protests. The original estimated cost of $1 billion has grown to $3 billion and the National Science Foundation has withdrawn major funding, choosing instead to back the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile.

Hawaii delegates are trying to get TMT funding in the House and Senate budgets if the government shutdown ever ends, but it’s a heavy lift with the Trump administration determined to slash NSF funding.

The TMT consortium of universities and science institutions from the U.S., China, India, Canada and Japan is also in talks with Spain on a less desirable but more welcoming site in the Canary Islands.

TMT is never going to happen in Hawaii if elected officials are unwilling to defy unhappy protesters. It doesn’t help that the new TMT push comes as a bigger and potentially even uglier fight heats up over continued military use of lands many Hawaiians consider sacred.

The TMT is starting to remind me of the Falls of Clyde, the historic sailing ship recently sunk off Oahu for lack of financial support and patience.

Those who tried for years to save the ship had the noblest of intentions, but after many false starts they could just never get over the top with enough money or community support to finish the deal….

Borreca: Hawaii tries reaching for stars, again, on Mauna Kea

read … New show or just a re-run for Mauna Kea telescope?

Bill 7: Keep pushing to improve Honolulu’s housing laws

SA: … Mayor Rick Blangiardi and the current City Council deserve real credit. They’ve been responsive, collaborative and practical. Their support for Bill 7, the city’s only affordable housing incentive program, has finally started to bear fruit. Across the city, we’re seeing new three-story walk-ups and five-story mixed-use projects taking shape.

It’s not a tidal wave yet — but it’s a meaningful start.

Still, the work ahead remains immense. The cost of land and construction continues to rise, driven by tariffs, inflation and material shortages. Meanwhile, rents cannot keep pace, making it harder to make affordable housing pencil out financially.

That’s why we need our City Council to go further. Let’s consider targeted amendments to Bill 7 — such as allowing higher densities and height limits near major transit lines, removing restrictions that limit larger parcel development, and slightly increasing grant amounts for family-sized units. These refinements can supercharge the progress we’re already making.

Encouragingly, the climate for housing is improving. Interest rates are trending downward, banks are lending again, and the city Department of Planning and Permitting — long criticized for inefficiency — is making visible strides under the capable leadership of Director Dawn Takeuchi Apuna….

read … Keep pushing to improve Honolulu’s housing laws

Plastic foodware ban on Hawaii County Council Agenda (again)

HTH: … The council on Wednesday voted 6-0 to postpone the proposal’s first reading until Nov. 19, after several members were absent.

(CLUE: The Hawaii County Council has been debating plastic foodware for 20 years.)

If passed, the ordinance would ban plastic and polystyrene cups, lids, plates, bowls, trays, forks, spoons, stirrers, straws and knives. It would continue to exempt prepackaged foods, coolers designed for reuse, and packaging for raw meat, poultry, seafood and eggs. Businesses could apply for temporary exemptions of up to 180 days in cases of hardship or emergencies.

A majority of testifiers Wednesday voiced support for the bill, urging the county to move forward with stronger waste-reduction policies. Business representatives, however, cautioned that the transition could be costly and impractical.

Stephen Ueda, CEO of Suisan Hawaii, said, “The current products don’t perform well for hot or oily foods and cost much more.” …

read … Plastic foodware ban postponed - Hawaii Tribune-Herald

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