by Andrew Walden

Colleen Hanabusa today unveiled her fall campaign slogan with the release of her first campaign commercial: “What you see is what you get.”  

In the commercial, we didn’t “see” her husband John Souza, the former State Sheriff, trucking company magnate, and land baron now known as “Mr Invisible”, but that doesn’t mean we don’t “get” it.

She didn’t mention Ko Olina or the Pali Golf Course but we do “get” it.

Hanabusa did mention something about feeding more borrowed Chinese money (oddly described as “federal funds”) to the frenzy of waste, fraud, and corruption known as DoE.  We “see” what DoE cronies and hangers on are doing with the borrowed Chinese money they already have and we do “get” it. 

National Republican Campaign Committee spokesperson Joanne Burgos "gets" it: "All voters see when it comes to Colleen Hanabusa are the higher taxes and the job-killing policies that she's been pushing as a career politician. If Hawaii families get what they see from Hanabusa, they'll see more of their hard-earned money leaving their own pocket to be spent recklessly by the federal government. Charles Djou is the only candidate in this race who will fight to keep taxes low, put an end to wasteful spending and create jobs for Hawaii." 

What does Democratic former Hawaii Governor Ben Cayetano “see” in Colleen Hanabusa?  And what does he see in her opponent, Charles Djou?

In 2002 Hanabusa emerged as the leading advocate for legislation authorizing $75 million in tax credits for Jeff Stone's Ko Olina resort.  When then-Governor Cayetano vetoed the tax credit bill, Hanabusa took the unprecedented step of suing to overturn the veto.  Courts have absolutely no authority to overturn vetoes--only the Legislature can do that.  But Hanabusa unsuccessfully appealed her bizarre case all the way to the Hawaii Supreme Court.

Cayetano (“Ben” p517) asks:

Why...did she go to such extremes? ... In March, 2004, the Honolulu Advertiser ran a story by investigative reporter Jim Dooley that revealed new facts exposing an undisclosed possible conflict of interest that Hanabusa had as a result of her relationship with Stone, who had also been one of the main figures in the State's 1997-98 investigation of the Bishop Estate.

The Advertiser article explains:

State Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, backer of the controversial $75 million tax-credit program benefiting Ko Olina resort developer Jeff Stone, lives in a luxury Ko Olina townhouse purchased from her fiance (John Souza) from Stone, and works in a downtown law office subleased from Stone, according to real estate and business records....

In 2003 Hanabusa re-introduced the Jeff Stone tax credit bill and newly elected Republican Governor Linda Lingle signed it.  The Advertiser continues:

Souza bought the townhome in the recently completed Kai Lani development in June, less than a month after Lingle signed the tax credit package into law....

About the 2002 legislative debate, Cayetano (p516) writes:

As I watched all of this, I wondered if there were any legislators who had the guts to ask the hard questions.  There was not a peep from the Democrats--or from conservative Republicans like Slom and Hemmings who had made careers in opposing social programs for the needy, or from young legislators who were learning quickly the politics of "going along to get along."  The only legislators who raised questions about the credibility of Stone's claims were Republicans Charles Djou of O`ahu and Jim Rath of Kona, Hawai`i.

Now in Congress, Republican Rep Charles Djou, is Hanabusa’s opponent November 2.

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What else do we already “see” in Hanabusa’s record and what does Hawaii already “get” from Hanabusa?  Here is a partial list: