Entries for 'Selected News Articles'

Two companies and several individuals were being tried (in early 1960s Honolulu) for price fixing, a felony under the Sherman Antitrust Act. My star witness was an executive in one of the companies on trial — he turned state’s evidence in order to receive immunity from prosecution.

Aiona said his decision to run for governor again will be based on the 2012 elections. He said he'll be looking at his party support, the presidential elections and the success or failure of governor Abercrombie's administration.

When Hawaii became a state, the Department of Justice sent two attorneys to enforce the antitrust laws. I was one of them....

Since 2005, at least 479,000 personal records have been breached in the state of Hawaii – records on one out of every three residents – according to a report by the Liberty Coalition.

WSJ: Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut its rating on Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. (HE) and its electric utility subsidiaries by one notch to the brink of junk.

If a group of Honolulu city council members has its way, nonprofits that are exempt from paying more than $300 a year in property taxes will see their bills go up. Sparking the push to raise more revenue from nonprofits—as in other municipalities around the country—is an expected $100 million-plus gap in the city's budget.

--A chunk of independent voters said they want the government to do less after two years of Democratic domination in the nation's capital. That's almost a direct reversal of how this voting group behaved in 2008. Majorities of independents in each state surveyed except Democratic-leaning Hawaii said the government is doing too many things better left to the private sector and individuals.

The state of Hawaii’s lawsuit against pharmacy benefit manager McKesson (MCK) and drug database manager First DataBank could signal the end of drug price manipulation, at least as we currently know it....

Governor’s Veterans Day Ceremony, Nov. 11, 1 p.m., Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery, 45-349 Kamehameha Hwy., Kaneohe. Gov. Linda Lingle will give remarks.

Guam Republicans Sen. Eddie Calvo and Sen. Ray Tenorio defeated Democrats former Gov. Carl Gutierrez and Sen. Frank Aguon Jr. by 583 votes in the General Election on Tuesday, but the results will not be certified unless today's recount confirms the victor.

I collapsed into bed at roughly 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, and awoke, groggily, some hours later to find that Rep. Charles Djou, Republican of Hawaii elected in a special three-way election earlier this year, had been defeated....

Links to national election results updated continuously...

But unless Shaw and Dearborn put in more money, or First Wind finds a buyer, Downes said, the company could go under.  First Wind discloses this risk in recent financial filings. It says it has substantial, short-term debt and insufficient money to pay back loans. "Failure to comply with these obligations could result in an event of default under those agreements, which could be difficult to cure, or result in our bankruptcy," the company says.

This attempt to retain and even expand the present sanctuary can be likened to a landlord (NOAA) that realizes that his tenant (humpback whale) is going to be leaving, and he is anxiously looking for other tenants (additional species) to keep the sanctuary occupied and the revenue coming in to continue the payroll.

Generic Ballot

• Generic GOPer  46%
• Generic Dem    42%

Last year, Souza provided equipment used for a beach-cleaning contract at Ko Olina held by a company headed by Paul Hospodar, chief of security at the Ko Olina Resort, business records show….Hospodar was fired from the police force in 1995 for violent behavior and alleged drug abuse....

“Given the financial tight rope First Wind is walking and its voracious need for financing to build its projects, we believe the risks outweigh the company’s upside,’’ Stephen Simko, Morningstar Inc. analyst, wrote in a report on the stock offering.

Ariyoshi's Attorney General Michael Lilly and former State Senator Fred Rohlfing agree...

But Djou also isn't shy about emphasizing his Republican views on the economy: he views the stimulus as a failure, wants Congress to spend a lot less, supports a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and supports the extension of all the Bush-era tax cuts.

Djou has "essentially been very candid and straightforward about his Republican principles. And, love 'em or hate 'em, they're out there pretty clear," said Neal Milner, a professor of political science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa....

The FBI said its agents arrested Abdel Hameed Shehadeh on Friday at his residence in Honolulu. Shehadeh is a U.S. citizen who was born and raised in New York.

Hawaii's first congressional district, former home to President Barack Obama, longtime Democratic district, but the GOP has a great shot at keeping this seat. Why? Well – a couple reasons: foremost being that this year seems to be the year where the impossible becomes possible in Hawaii politics: a Republican, Charles Djou, won the special election for former Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie's seat and now, when Democrat Colleen Hanabusa is trying to take it back, Djou is well-positioned to keep the seat.

The U.S. Treasury has needed to borrow money to pay Social Security benefits in 15 out of the last 25 months on record because the Social Security system was in deficit in those months, with the cost of monthly benefit payments exceeding the Social Security tax revenues flowing into the Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance trust funds, according to data published by the Social Security Administration.

The Hawaii Republican Party has released its endorsements and recommendations for non-partisan County Council and Mayor races, County-level charter initiatives, and the two proposed Amendments to the State Constitution.

Two weeks ago the Hill released a poll in which Djou led his once and current opponent, Hanabusa, 45 to 41 percent — within a margin of error of 4.9 percent. The poll also found 61 percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of the congressman, while 56 percent did of his adversary. Fortune, it seems, is smiling on Djou.

(For some reason this AP story isn’t in the Hawaii media.  We found it at Lehigh Valley Live, THE source for Hawaii news.)

It took from 1776, when the United States became an independent country, until 1990, the year after the Berlin Wall fell signaling victory in the Cold War, for the federal government to accumulate a total of $3 trillion in debt, according to the Treasury Department. It only took from Jan. 20, 2009, the day President Barack Obama was inaugurated, until Oct. 15, 2010, for the Obama administration to add $3 trillion to the federal debt.

It wouldn’t be an election without an October surprise, and sure enough, the 2010 cycle will not disappoint.  This time, it’s not some 11th hour accusation about unpaid taxes, illegal nannies or secret love affairs, but an appearance from the Mad Hatter of pollsters whose crazy talk in the final days of the election is making black sound like white and and Nancy Pelosi sound…sane. Well, almost.

Who is the Mad Hatter of the 2010 elections?  Friends, follow me on a trip down the rabbit hole…

Abercrombie has now come out against an Audit of the BoE and against the fall ballot measure to amend the State Constitution to create an appointed BoE.  His minions in Hawaii’s pathetic excuse for a media are doing their best to cover the story up.  For instance the Star-Advertiser Friday FALSELY reported that Abercrombie and Aiona AGREE on an appointed BoE.  The SA did not mention Abercrombie’s clear statement that he will vote AGAINST the ballot measure Nov 2 in yesterday's coverage or today's. 

UK Daily Mail, National Journal, Atlanta Journal Constitution, MSNBC First Read, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Daily KOS . . . .   

“These are naive idiots who’ve come out of academia and have never done anything real in their lives, and they are actually in power,” he said. “These are the people we never let in the room when we had serious business to do. Now they’re running the country.”

An amendment that would replace the elected board with one appointed by the governor has the support of 54.2 percent of likely voters, according to the automated telephone poll. The survey of 1,151 likely voters was conducted Oct. 11 by Aloha Vote, a Hawaii subsidiary of Merriman River Group.

Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Hill

...in a hearing on the State’s motion for summary judgment, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. argued that the court should interpret “preserve in place” as used in the State burial law and administrative rules as prohibiting building over burials. There is no such prohibition explicit in the statutory language and the Court declined to impose such a meaning....

Attacks by the White House and the Democratic National Committee on outside groups like Crossroads and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Collegio said, have helped energize their base and bring in more donations.

The first eight races in which Crossroads will run ads include two for incumbents — Dan Lungren in  California’s Third Congressional District and Charles Djou in Hawaii’s First Congressional District.

In 2003, Hawaii passed Act 73, which took past and future title to accretions (the slow build-up of sediment on beaches) from landowners and gave it to the State, changing a 120-year-old rule. While waterlines are unpredictable, the original rule — common to most waterfront jurisdictions — helped establish legal consistency. Indeed, without such a rule, beachfront property becomes beachview property in just a few years.

Hawaii Rep. Charles Djou may be getting the biggest prize: Boehner said Djou will get a seat on the Appropriations Committee if he wins re-election next month after winning the special election in May to replace Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D). Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye (D) chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, so the appointment would give the island state an outsized influence on Appropriations.

Abercrombie leads 47.2 percent to 44.3 percent (that is a 2.9% margin, which is the margin of error), with 8.5 percent undecided, an automated telephone poll of 1,151 likely voters found.

New numbers out Wednesday from The Hill's midterm poll give Djou a four-point lead over Democrat Colleen Hanabusa, despite an Obama endorsement for the Democratic nominee. Djou leads 45 percent to 41, with 12 percent of likely voters undecided. 

The poll, conducted for The Hill by Penn Schoen Berland, surveyed 406 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

WaPo: Below you'll find our rankings of the 50 House races most likely to switch parties in the fall....

Charles Djou's stay on Capitol Hill was supposed to be brief....

The deadline to register to vote in the General Election is Monday, October 4. 

Your voter registration application must be received by the City or County Clerk where you reside no later than 4:30 pm on Monday, Oct. 4.

Asked if he would endorse any gubernatorial candidate now that Hannemann is out of the race, Carvalho said, “As for further endorsements, I’m not prepared to do so at this time but may at a later date.”

Unwise financial planning, flawed incentives, and failed investments have left the pension fund far short of the resources it will need for long term operation. The Hawaii ERS is woefully underfunded by any standard.  The state government is obligated to pay its employees the benefits it has promised. But a report by the National Bureau of Economic Research predicts that Hawaii’s pension system will run out of funds in 2020....

No surprise that since 1991 Abercrombie has voted with the Democratic Party 92 percent of the time, and in the last Congress 98.5 percent.... But which legislation did he vote “Nay” on when his own Democratic Party (and Republicans) voted “Yea”?

Congressman Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii awarded Pacific Biodiesel a $3.5 million earmark to try to grow fuel for the Army in Hawaii. It turns out the founder of Pacific Biodiesel is a co-chair of the Congressman's gubernatorial campaign.  The pattern is repeated over and over....

"There is little evidence that voters are willing to throw Djou out of office after only a couple months on the job. A private Democratic poll showed the congressman leading by double digits. This race is not over, and Djou may even have the advantage.”

High-income residents of New York City and President Barack Obama’s home state of Hawaii would have the highest marginal tax rates in the U.S. if Congress adopts the president’s proposal to increase taxes for top earners....