Abraham Lincoln Abolished Slavery in Hawaii too
Climate Solution: Grab $100M of Your Dollars, Light Them on Fire
Green Seeks Comment on Maui Judicial Nominees
Kauai District Judge Applicants Sought
Kauai Council: Oppose HB132, Eliminates Election Auditing
Judge denies Native Hawaiian group’s bid for promised home loans
Abercrombie: “You’re an idiot!”
SA: … Gov. Josh Green has urged state senators to treat his Cabinet nominees with courtesy and respect, but some senators say it goes both ways after one was called an “idiot” by no less than former Gov. Neil Abercrombie at this week’s confirmation hearing for Ikaika Anderson.
Abercrombie told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he apologized to state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole by telephone Friday for telling Keohokalole, “You’re an idiot,” while seated in the front row of Tuesday’s hearing on Anderson to run the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands….
Abercrombie considers Anderson his “son,”….
Abercrombie said. “Hopefully, ironically, I hope a cooler and calmer atmosphere will prevail and the personality drama disappears….”
(QUESTION: Is Abercrombie promising to disappear?)
read … Idiot
Hawaii Dodges Bullet by Rejecting Anderson
SA: … In a democracy, cabinet appointees shouldn’t be, but often are, political paybacks for the financial help a successful candidate received during their campaign.
Maybe Ikaika Anderson’s failure to win confirmation was a good example of “a stitch in time saves nine”
Historically, political appointees and the choice of insiders to manage real-life challenges often results in more chaos and wasted time down the line. Anderson mismanaged the scrutiny from the onset.
Maybe the committee dodged a bullet here. It would have been far better to avoid the problem in the first place.
read … Anderson mismanaged scrutiny
Suspect in fatal hit-and-run has no driver’s license, 164 citations--‘Released Pending Investigation’--AGAIN
SA: … The 45-year-old man arrested in connection with the hit-and-run incident that killed a McKinley High School student has no driver’s license and 164 prior traffic citations, according to state court records.
Mitchel Yoshiji Miyashiro pleaded not guilty to driving without a license nine days before he allegedly struck and killed 16-year-old Sara Yara and injured another female student who were in a marked crosswalk at the intersection of Kapiolani Boulevard and Kamakee Street near the school’s athletic field shortly after 6:40 a.m. Wednesday….
The question of how someone with a record of 164 traffic crimes and citations and no driver’s license was able to get behind the wheel of a car in Hawaii remains unanswered.
“The driver in this case has been repeatedly cited for driving without a license and other traffic violations. Hawaii law allows individuals like this to be imprisoned,” state House Speaker Scott Saiki told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a statement….
“Decriminalizing certain offenses, such as traffic (violations) is … popular nationally. From a law enforcement perspective, it is not supportive of … helping us keep people safe and secure. Actions have consequences,” said Logan in an interview with the Star-Advertiser.
He noted that certain misdemeanor property crimes become felonies after habitual offenses….
According to state court records, Miyashiro has been issued traffic citations and charged with traffic misdemeanor crimes at a rate of more than six a year since he was cited for speeding May 29, 1996. Since Jan. 12, 2018, he has been charged 12 times with driving without a license or driving with a suspended license.
Six of those 12 stops for driving without a license happened in 2018.
Since his initial citation for speeding in 1996, Miyashiro has been cited for driving more than 80 miles per hour, using a fraudulent insurance card, not having insurance, driving with inoperable taillights and headlights, being in an accident involving property damage and other traffic violations.
Over the course of his 27-year stretch of traffic offenses, Miyashiro has pleaded no contest, been granted deferred acceptances of his no-contest pleas, been found guilty and paid hundreds of dollars in fines and fees, according to court records. Not once was he jailed for his driving offenses….
SA: Suspect in hit-and-run that killed 16-year-old released pending investigation
Meanwhile: Suspect accused of brutally attacking officer, stealing his police vehicle is charged--Set $1M Bail
Big Q: Can Oahu’s streets be made safer for pedestrians?
read … Suspect in fatal hit-and-run has no driver’s license, 164 citations
Hawaii Lobbyist Charged With Vet Clinic Drug Violations
CB: … A well-connected Hawaii lobbyist who used to run a spay and neuter clinic was indicted in federal court Thursday after allegedly using a veterinarian’s credentials to procure controlled substances for her operation over the course of three years.
Alicia Maluafiti, president of the non-profit Poi Dogs & Popoki, is charged with 27 counts of using a Drug Enforcement Administration registration issued to another person. If convicted, Maluafiti could face up to four years in prison for each count.
Her arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.
Between 2018 and 2020, Maluafiti “knowingly and intentionally” used a veterinarian’s registration number and advised others to do the same, according to the indictment made public on Friday.
She used it to procure drugs common in veterinary practice including opioids, anesthetics and sedatives like diazepam, commonly marketed as Valium, according to the indictment. Maluafiti is not a veterinarian herself and is not registered to procure controlled substances.…
Former Gov. David Ige twice appointed Maluafiti to the Hawaii Board of Veterinary Examiners, the state body in charge of licensing veterinarians, and she served from 2016 through June 2022….
Senate President Ron Kouchi has referred to Maluafiti as a “friend,” and Senate Vice President Michelle Kidani supported Maluafiti’s unsuccessful bid for state Senate in 2018.
As of 2020, Poi Dogs & Popoki had two state lawmakers on its board, its tax filings show – Kidani and then-state Rep. Ryan Yamane, who is now serving in Gov. Josh Green’s administration. …
Federal prosecutors first charged Maluafiti in March of last year on a felony information, which allows the government to pursue a case if the defendant is willing to waive their right to a grand jury.
However, in April 2022, prosecutors told the court that Maluafiti “has now decided not to enter a guilty plea and be charged by way of the Information.” The case proceeded to a grand jury in August….
PDF: Alicia Maluafiti indictment
read … Hawaii Lobbyist Charged With Vet Clinic Drug Violations
HB745: Equal Pay for Transsexuals
SA: … “The actual or perceived gender classifications of employees as men, women, gender-nonconforming, or other culturally specific identities (such as mahu) should not affect the rate at which a worker is compensated for their labor,” according to HB 745, which is (not) moving through the House and (in fact died on Feb 8 because it) has been assigned hearings before three committees….
(Don’t worry. It’ll be back next year.)
HB745: Text, Status
read … House bill would outlaw gender pay disparity in Hawaii
$50M to Subsidize 93 Waiahole Valley Renters
SA: … A group of tenants has been living on residential and farm lots in Waiahole Valley for decades, paying rents well below the market rate and depending on taxpayer subsidies to maintain basic services, including a water supply system that needs an overhaul.
Now the landlord, the state Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. (HHFDC), wants to raise their rents by roughly sixfold. It sounds like a lot, but it’s not entirely unfair — at least from a financial point of view.
HHFDC argues that the increase — from $98 monthly to $648 for a median-sized, half-acre residential lot, for example — is still about 50% below the market rate. The ground rent for residential lots hasn’t increased in 10 years. Farm lot lessees haven’t seen an increase in 25 years.
Meanwhile, the agency says it has absorbed financial losses of $1.1 million annually to maintain the community’s infrastructure, which the abnormally low rents don’t cover.
This status quo is unacceptable and unsustainable. It’s only fair that the 100 or so households involved absorb more of the cost to support their own community. But how much more, and under what circumstances?
Tenants in the valley have fought for years to keep their rents low. Beginning in 1977, when the land was privately owned, residents and their supporters blockaded Waiahole Valley Road and later Kamehameha Highway to protest rent increases and to stop the delivery of eviction notices.
(DO THE MATH: 46 years @$1.1M/yr = $50.6M / 93 = $544K per renter)
To make peace, the state bought the land, with HHFDC eventually becoming the lessor for 93 long-term ground leases, among them 57 residential and 34 agricultural….
(It would have been cheaper to have given them the land fee-simple. The tenants would have long ago sold out and be happily living in a Las Vegas subdivision by now.)
read … Waiahole Valley rents
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