Donalyn Dela Cruz Quits: Oshiro Claims Resignations “Have Nothing to do With Abercrombie”
HSTA’s Okabe ‘Extremely Pleased’ With Supreme Court Order
Pro-Rail PRP Pumps Money into Council District 6 Race
Governor Releases $91.9 Million for CIPs
Sierra Club, Solar, Wind Scammers Team Up to Block LNG
SA: Hawaii Gas is seeking regulatory approval from FERC to ship LNG to Hawaii. The two groups filed motions with FERC to intervene in the case, which would allow them have more influence in the process than if they were simply observers.
Hawaii Gas officials have said the state could benefit from bringing in LNG, which is priced significantly below the oil that Hawaii relies on to satisfy the bulk of its energy needs.
Blue Planet said in its filing, among other things, that Hawaii Gas’ application is “deficient insofar as it seeks commission approval of a comprehensive LNG plan yet does not discuss all aspects of that plan in sufficient detail to allow the commission to approve such a plan at this time.”
Oh, well: Enviros win 90% in Hawaii Supreme Court
read … Doomed
US Chamber of Commerce $250K Ad buy for Lingle
PR: The chamber has purchased $250,000 worth of advertising opposing Hirono, who leads Lingle in public-opinion polls. The chamber has also spent more than $6,650 on a get-out-the-vote video for Lingle.
The U.S. Chamber has invested more than $1.2 million overall in advertising in Hawaii to help Lingle, the most by any interest group in the Senate campaign. Several labor and women’s groups have bought ads critical of Lingle on behalf of Hirono.
read … National Support
Star-Adv: Reelect Kaneshiro Prosecutor
SA: Since returning to his present job two years ago, Kaneshiro has made the office a key player in law enforcement public policy. For his longterm effective dedication to public safety and criminal prosecution, he should be retained.
Kaneshiro has been lukewarm to a Justice Reinvestment Initiative — a laudable program that would reduce the overcrowded prison population without compromising safety — warning that it should await enough probation and parole officers in place….
Kaneshiro was a deputy prosecutor from 1978 to 1983 and successfully unseated Prosecutor Charles Marsland in the 1988 election.
When Carlisle ran successfully for mayor two years ago, Kaneshiro, who had been state public safety director for two years under the Lingle administration, then a private security consultant, was elected back as prosecutor.
Kaneshiro's present rival for city prosecutor is Kevin Takata, a deputy prosecutor for 23 years, who was among 11 deputies Kaneshiro declined to keep aboard.
Kaneshiro said he made that decision because of Takata's advice to the parole board in one case that a prison convict was innocent and, in another case, Takata's advice to a jury to convict a defendant charged with murder of a lesser offense, and the panel agreed. Kaneshiro says he was "upset."
Some deputy prosecutors have left his office, Kaneshiro says, because he would not tolerate employees showing up for work late and leaving early. Also, some had neglected cases that had to be dropped for failing to abide by the statute of limitations.
read … Kaneshiro
Cigarette Taxes: Government Addicted to Nicotine
MN: year after year, government (federal and state) spends millions (billions?) of dollars - unsuccessfully - to get people to quit smoking….
Today, government increases cigarette taxes to ostensibly get people to quit - but also relies on the revenues from those taxes to balance budgets.
It is a ruse. Make people healthy by showing them the correct way to quit smoking (weaning them from addiction).
read … Cigarettes are Profit Center
DoE Consultant to Present ‘unpopular’ School Bus Proposals
CB: …the message Ray L'Heureux, assistant superintendent for the Office of Facilities and Support Services, delivered this week to the Board of Education was that they finally have a solution to Hawaii's runaway school bus costs.
He spoke candidly about the huge hurdles the district has yet to clear, but didn't delve into specifics, which are expected in a report due next month from Management Partnership Services.
"It's taken us about seven years to get where we are today and this thing is not going to be fixed overnight," L'Heureux said. "And some of those fixes, for lack of a better word, are not going to be popular or fun."
The department agreed to pay the Maryland-based consultant $109,000 to do the comprehensive study and implement solutions. The three-member team, which has experience in 34 states, plans to finalize their report in the next couple weeks then return to Hawaii to present the findings publicly, L'Heureux said.
"The sooner the better," said Wesley Lo, who chairs the board's Finance and Infrastructure Committee. "We can't afford to wait another year."
read … Just in time for the Legislative Session
Hirono Lying About Lingle Role in Romney Campaign
CB: By calling Lingle a "co-chair in the Romney campaign," Hirono misleads voters by suggesting that Lingle is a leader in the Republican presidential bid. Lingle is one of eight honorary co-chairs of the Jewish Americans for Romney Coalition, but it's a stretch to say that she's an important figure in his campaign.
read … Mostly false
PRP Hawaii Launches Pricey Political Stink Bombs at Anti-Rail Candidates
HR: PRP Hawaii is sponsoring a new round of “push polls” against Ben Cayetano, Hawaii’s former governor who is the leading candidate for Honolulu Mayor, who has promised to kill the pricey and controversial project if he is elected.
The calls – which are designed to push negative information about Cayetano to voters – are coming from the Idaho-based Mountain West Research Center and this phone number - 231-224-2032
In a nearly 10 minute call, the pollster, reading from a script, accuses Cayetano of various misdeeds including taking illegal campaign contributions while he was governor . The pollster also asks if it the voter would be more likely to support Cayetano’s opponent, Kirk Caldwell, if Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle endorses him….
PRP Hawaii is also sending hit pieces out against Tom Berg, who is an outspoken critic of the rail project.
Residents in Berg’s district received a mailer yesterday sponsored by PRP Hawaii that calls him “irresponsible” and an “embarrassment” and alleges he has a drinking problem.
PRP Hawaii is also helping other pro-rail city candidates in addition to Pine, including City Council Candidate Carol Fukunaga. Fukunaga, a state senator who lost her long-held Senate seat when two Senate districts were reapportioned into one district, is running against former Rep. Sam Aiona, who is against the current rail project.
James Hayes, a pro-rail contractor who has worked on the rail project, has PRP Hawaii's backing as he takes on one of the rail's biggest critics, City Council Budget Chair Ann Kobayashi.
read … Stink
City Driver Charged With Meth Trafficking Keeps His Job
HR: The driver of a massive city sewage tanker truck was using and selling crystal methamphetamine while on the public payroll and even stayed on the job for seven months after he was charged with federal drug trafficking offenses last year, according to court records and interviews….
ne of Vega’s fellow workers, driver Kenneth Mersbugh, said he and others repeatedly complained to managers about Vega’s drug activities before and after he was arrested.
Vega’s job was hauling 7,000-gallon loads of sewage on the narrow, heavily-travelled roads of Windward Oahu: two round trips daily between Kailua and Kahuku and one round trip between Kailua and Waimanalo.
Mersburgh said Vega’s drug use and legal problems were widely known at the Kailua Waste Water Treatment Plant, their base of operations.
Vega even showed co-workers the GPS monitoring device federal officials required him to wear strapped around his ankle after he made bail.
“He was kind of proud of it,” said Mersburgh.
Mersburgh said he complained to supervisors, to the office of Environmental Services Department Director Timothy Steinberger and even to the Mayor’s office….
read … 7000 gallons of sludge
Honolulu Maoists, Anti-Semites Lied About Shipment to Gaza
HNN 10-19-2012: The ship was carrying cement, basketballs and musical instruments, Strand said. It was emblazoned with "Ship to Gaza" on one side, and also flew the colorful red, green, black and white Palestinian flag.
CB 8-19-2012: Planning for Gaza’s Ark Underway, Claimed they Would not Ship Material to Hamas Head-Choppers
Maui News: Romney Right on Israel
Reality: Honolulu Maoists & Holocaust Deniers protest against Israel: Star-Bulletin calls them ‘peace activists’
No Confirmation that Trooother Was on ‘No-Fly’ List
AP: A Homeland Security spokesman referred questions to the FBI Terrorist Screening Center, which maintains the report. A spokesman for the center declined to comment on Hicks' case. The government does not disclose who is on the list or why someone might have been placed on it.
(This means that the ONLY source for the ‘no-fly’ story is a 9-11 trooother.)
read … About something that could be entirely made up
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