Martin Han Accuses Joey Manahan, Romy Cachola in Vote-by-Mail Fraud
HB1957: Legislators Wipe 50 Medical Privacy Laws off the Books
"Numbing Delay, Decline, Lack of Leadership" Puts UHWO Accreditation At Risk
Live Stream: Senate Candidate Forum at Kahala Business Association
Full Text: Kawauchi Requests State Takeover Office of Elections
Lorraine Inouye Drops Election Challenge
HSTA, Abercrombie Agree to Federal Mediation
Reality: Mazie’s Mom Was US Citizen Returning to Hawaii
Borreca: Show the spot too few times and viewers won't really notice it; but if you show it too many times, people will also tune out.
Somewhere edging toward the "tune out" category is the account of U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono's odyssey, as a nearly 8-year-old who came with her mother to Hawaii in 1955 from Japan.
Hirono's mother, Laura, is something of the secret weapon in Hirono's campaign for the U.S. Senate…. And Hirono is taking full advantage of fleshing out her own life story as seen through the eyes of a poor immigrant family huddled in steerage on board the USS President Cleveland bound for Honolulu harbor.
Interestingly, Laura Hirono was actually returning to Hawaii on the voyage, as she explained to former Honolulu Star-Bulletin writer Rod Ohira in a 1999 newspaper account. After moving to Japan before World War II, by 1957, the family was back in Hawaii….
Laura left Hawaii when she was 15 and did not like living in Japan, telling Ohira, "Just after the war, Japan didn't have anything," she said. "We always got robbed at night; they took our clothes."
At 22 she married Matabe Hirono, a veterinarian. After six years of marriage, Laura left, saying her husband was a compulsive gambler and alcoholic.
"Mazie Hirono, 4 years old in 1951 when Laura left her husband, recalled, ‘There was no food or money in the house. He sold all of our things to gamble,'" Ohira wrote.
Interestingly Laura was able to return to Hawaii because she was American…..
Related: Shapiro: Hirono Using Mufi’s ‘I look like you’ Playbook
read … Mazie’s Story All Made Up
Stop Rail Lawsuit to be Heard Today
HT: The final hearing on the Motions for Summary Judgment are set for Tuesday, 8/21/201 at 10:00 AM before Judge A. Wallace Tashima. The Court Hearing will take place in Courtroom No. 8 located on the second floor of the Federal Courthouse Building.
read … Honolulu Traffic
Cashing In: Hawaii's Top Ten Campaign Donors
CB: Ten Hawaii business people have accounted for more than $250,000 in campaign contributions to state and local candidates since the beginning of the year.
Super lobbyist John Radcliffe tops the list, giving roughly $46,000 to candidates, according to a Civil Beat review of campaign spending records. He's been a major player since at least 2006, donating at least $193,000 since then….
Not surprisingly, the other names on the list are huge figures in the local business community, including CEOs and private developers.
read … Meet Your Owners
Abercrombie: Use Hawaii County Election Snafu to Impose Romy Cachola Plan
KHON: "That will take advantage of modern technology to make it as easy as possible for people to register and to vote and to minimize the actual personnel required on a given day," said Gov. Neil Abercrombie.
The governor says he hopes lawmakers would consider an all mail in vote saying voter turnout is higher for those who request mail in ballots.
read … Why Stop at Kalihi?
With Tulsi Gone, Race for Honolulu Council District to be Marquee Mud Wrestling Match
SA: The City Council special election to fill the seat of Tulsi Gabbard, now the Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress, surely ranks among the marquee contests to be decided on the ballot Nov. 6.
Although only one candidate, former Councilman Jon Yoshimura, has officially tossed his hat in the ring, there is a lot of tentative interest from other current and former office-holders, including veterans of the campaign process. The crowded field, coupled with the shortened window of time for the race, is likely to turn the next two months into a political wrestling match, and place a heavy responsibility on voters of Council District 6 to cut through the fog and make their best choice.
read … Mud Wrestling
State Ethics Commission opens new window on alleged violations
ILind: The State Ethics Commission’s recent public disclosure of settlements of ethics charges lodged against the Hawaii Family Forum and Hawaii Catholic Conference appear to be part of a broader move by the commission to provide more transparency.
The two organizations agreed to pay a total of $3,000 to settle their cases. They also agreed that information about the charges and their resolution could be made public.
The commission’s press releases about these settlements got some media attention, but published accounts didn’t note the departure from the commission’s longstanding policy of confidentiality regarding processing of complaints.
A third public resolution followed, this one involving apparently violations of the state ethics code by Mililani High School tennis coach, May Ann Beamer….
It seems the commission is now leveraging its willingness to resolve cases short of formal charge proceedings in order to obtain the agreement of alleged violators to public disclosure of their cases. In most cases, that sounds like a win-win approach.
read … State Ethics Commission opens new window on alleged violations
Sierra Club Members Shout at Land Development ‘Nazis’
BIN: The testimony was often emotional, with much of it highly critical of the PLDC’s authority to bypass county zoning and other land-use requirements.
At one point the corporation was compared to Nazis.
“Shame on you,” said one man testifying, eliciting more cries of “shame” from the audience.
“How stupid do you think the people of Hawaii are that they would accept this dog-and-pony show?” said Ike Payne. He predicted that the DLNR would hear no supporting testimony as it holds hearings across the state.
Many of those speaking said they believed their testimony was futile, and that it would not be considered in the rule-making.
The Sierra Club has roused its members to testify against the rules which it calls “fundamentally flawed.”
This is in direct conflict with state law as it applies to planning,” said Puna resident Jon Olson. “You’re not going to get away with it.”
Jonathan Ota said he would not have a “dictator agency” in his state.
Robert Petricci drew rousing applause when he tore up a copy of the rules at the conclusion of his testimony.
Saying she didn’t want to see the Big Island turn into “another Oahu,” Sara Steiner said that Petricci had the right idea.
“Yeh, shove it,” she said to DLNR representatives holding the meeting.
A shouting match ensued when the DLNR staff asked another testifier to refrain from profanity….
Another meeting was scheduled for Tuesday at the Konawaena High School cafeteria in Kealakekua.
read … Land and Power
Bio-Logical Capital: Lies, Fat Money and Crooked Politics
CB: In today’s world of media bites, well-funded public relations, and the corporate takeover of politicians and governments, companies get to buy and say whatever they want. Thus Bio-Logical Capital, about to buy Hana Ranch and hoping to turn Molokai into an industrial wasteland at taxpayer and ratepayer expense, tried in last week’s Maui News to paint itself as pro-Hawaiian and pro-environment.
Bio-Logical Capital would have us believe that it is “absolutely committed” to “projects that heal land”, “help people” and “help Hawaii protect its natural environment.” How is charging Hawaii ratepayers billions for the Big Wind and Cable’s obsolete technology “helping people?" When the cost for the total project could reach $5 billion to $10 billion – up to $25,000 per ratepayer….
Related: Pattern Energy: “The bad stuff just goes on and on” , ‘Lodging Development’ Planned for Hana Ranch?
read … I Aloha Molokai
Idle Kahuku Wind Farm Still Costing Ratepayers
CB: Hawaii ratepayers are on the hook for $2.4 million in infrastructure costs for Oahu’s Kahuku wind farm, even though it’s only produced a fraction of the energy it was expected to and is now shut down due to a fire that devastated its battery storage facility earlier this month.
During the first half of this year, the wind farm only produced about 15 percent of the energy it was contracted to sell to Hawaiian Electric Co., according to state regulators.
Now, all 12 wind turbines have been taken offline and it could be months before they are back up, said First Wind’s CEO Paul Gaynor at last week’s Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit and Expo in Honolulu. The wind farm went online in March of last year.
But Oahu's 300,000 ratepayers are still required to pay for the microwave system and switching station.
As Predicted: Xtreme Power: A Pig-in-a-poke For Hawaii Wind Farm
read … Poison Spewing Across the Sacred Aina
Like Hawaii, Big Cable Peddled for Puerto Rico, USVI
SA: It wasn't just Hawaii's sun and sand that were familiar to Gary Jackson when the head of the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corp. visited Honolulu last week for a renewable energy conference.
In his presentation at the Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit and Expo, Jackson noted that many of the issues Hawaii is grappling with on the energy front are things he deals with on a daily basis back home: dependence on oil for power generation, high-priced electricity, and a push to integrate more renewable resources into the energy mix.
And like Hawaii, the Caribbean has access to an abundance of renewable energy sources, including wind, solar, geothermal and biomass.
The parallels don't stop there, Jackson said. The 33 utilities that are members of his association are pushing forward with plans to connect the islands with an undersea transmission cable along the lines of what the state and Hawaiian Electric Co. are pursuing.
Jackson cited the example of geothermal energy, which could be transmitted via an undersea cable from less populated, resource-rich areas of the Caribbean to areas with greater demand….
The first leg of the cable would connect Puerto Rico with St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Hodge said. Future legs would head south to the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, which has geothermal resources, he said.
SA: Alaska chases Hawaii as natural gas customer
read … Islands in the Sun
Trial for Maui teacher accused of taking lewd photos is rescheduled
SA: A jury trial for a 61-year-old Maui High School teacher, who is charged with taking nude photos of a 4-year-old girl in Washington state, is re-scheduled for Oct. 15.
Thomas T. Takeuchi was arrested May 22 at the Portland Airport in Oregon and taken to Whitman County, Wash., where he was charged with sexual exploitation of a minor. He entered a plea of not guilty on June 7….
Takeuchi was placed on leave from his job as a social studies and science teacher at Maui High School before classes began Aug. 1. He has been at Maui High School since 1994.
read … Another Day in the DoE
Maui man pleads guilty to illegally moving invasive axis deer
SA: Hauptman told reporters outside of court that he flew the animals between the islands three years ago upon request of a hunter friend whom he did not identify. He said he did not know the animals would be used for hunting, and thought they would be put in pens.
He said he transported three deer and "half a dozen sheep" that were "small animals in cages, small cages. They weren't grown animals."
"The thought was they were going to be penned," Hauptman said. "I thought he was doing a swap, mouflon for deer. He asked me if I would help out. … I thought they were going to be penned. His were all penned."
Hauptman faces up to a year in prison, fines up to $10,000 and one year of supervised release for illegally transporting the animals in December 2009.
On Thursday another defendant, Jeffrey Scott Grundhauser, is scheduled to enter a plea before Chang on misdemeanor charges that he sold axis deer and mouflon cross-bred sheep on June 6, 2011. Details of the sales were not disclosed.
Other federal indictments are possible, according to people familiar with the case.
Hauptman's attorney, Philip Lowenthal, told Chang that his client is cooperating in the federal investigation against the "people whose bright idea this was in the first place."
Read … Deer Lift
Go! plagued by bomb threat, fisticuffs, broken airplanes
SA: The incidents capped a trouble-plagued four days for go! that saw the airline cancel or delay an undetermined number of flights after three of its five aircraft had to be pulled from service due to maintenance issues.
read … Hawaiian’s Patsy
QUICK HITS: