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Monday, August 20, 2012
August 20, 2012 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 6:28 PM :: 5728 Views

Pattern Energy: “The bad stuff just goes on and on”

Motion to Intervene Against Expensive Aina Koa Pono Biofuel Scheme

Experts Unanimous: Hawaii Will Not Determine Control of US Senate

CB: Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report, however, has a different take.

"Look, it's going to be an interesting race, though a lot of the burden is on Lingle because it's a presidential year and because of who is at the top of the ballot," she said. "On the other hand, I think Lingle is a strong candidate who has proven that she can win in a tough state and she's put together a pretty strong campaign. She has to convince voters to split tickets — that's a hard road. But I think this is going to be a good race."

Duffy explained what Lingle must do to convince voters to vote for both her and Obama.

"One — and she is doing some of this — she talks about the future and how Hawaii has a lot of seniority in the Senate, and how Hawaii needs it, and that someone is going to serve and be around for awhile," she said. "She talks about the Senate partisan divide that is going to be pretty close, and that for the future Hawaii needs a senator that can work with both parties."

"I don't think it was an accident that Hirono put up that Don Young spot," she continued, referring to the Alaska Republican congressman who endorsed Hirono in the primary. "He says he can't go up (against Republicans) in the general, but it is pretty interesting. It will be interesting to see if she comes up with an alternative or Young lets it go in the general." ….

All three analysts say Republicans and Democrats have equal chances of winning control of the Senate, with a 50-50 split possible that would be broken only by the winning vice presidential candidate, who is allowed to cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate.

All three say as well that Hawaii is not a factor in that battle. All the attention right now is instead on critical Senate races in Virginia, Wisconsin and Montana. Massachusetts, Missouri, New Mexico, Florida, Ohio, Maine, Vermont and North Dakota are also in play.

(So the question is very simple: Elect Lingle and Hawaii has a voice in the Republican majority or elect Hirono and doom the state’s political leadership to irrelevance and penury. Some may call that a win-win situation!)

read … Knocking down a Hawaii Democrat Talking Point

Election Official Calls for Ouster of Nago

SA: Embattled Hawaii County Clerk Jamae K. Kawauchi says Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz should oversee the administration of the November General Elections because the state Office of Elections”has taken no responsibility for the serious mishaps” that occurred at the Aug. 11 primary election.

Kawauchi made the request to Gov. Neil Abercrombie along with another request for an independent review of the performance of Office of Elections, administered by Chief Election Officer Scott Nago.

However, Nago said it would take a change in the election law for the Schatz to step in and take over the Nov. 6 general elections.

The lieutenant governor oversaw elections until the law was changed in 1995.

Kawauchi, in advance of this morning’s Hawaii County Council review of the primary election, said “the problems with election related irregularities on election day do in fact relate to significant issues” about Nago’s operations that she raised in a letter last year.

Kawauchi said those issues dealt with planning, organization, scheduling, assigning and directing work of elections personnel; communication with staff; processing of absentee ballots, the security and collection of ballots; and dissemination of election results.

read … Fire Nago

Maui News: Lingle is smart, moderate, honest

MN: It is amusing to see commercials on television saying that former Gov. Linda Lingle will be a pawn of Republican leaders if she is elected to the United States Senate.

Lingle is the most independent politician we've ever run into. She certainly hasn't had a lot of practice being beholden to the GOP here because one could make a fairly strong argument that there isn't a Republican Party in Hawaii….

Lingle is the only Republican who is taken seriously statewide. And it is because she is so independent, so hard to button hole. Oh, and did we forget to mention, forthright. Lingle actually tells people what she is thinking….

We didn't agree with everything Lingle did as governor. But she never promised one thing and did another.

The former governor says she wants to go to Washington to work across party lines to find solutions to the country's big problems. She also wants to fight for Hawaii - make it easier for residents of the Far East to vacation in our islands, for instance.

As we've expressed previously, we think her opponent is too ideologically rigid to make the bipartisan compromises necessary to correct the country's debt and deficit problems. Lingle will put country first and work with anyone - no matter the party - to find the big solutions.

There's a reason Lingle has been successful. Put succinctly, it is because she is smart, moderate and honest. She is just what Hawaii needs in our next United States senator.

read … Why the state needs Lingle

Hirono Identified as a Zero

MN: Lingle's Senate campaign has criticized Hirono's record in Congress, claiming that she's ineffective and part of the status quo in Washington.

The campaign is airing TV commercials that claim that Hirono has had "zero" accomplishments.

"Do the math. Mazie Hirono sponsored 49 bills. Zero became law. Zero for working families, zero for seniors, zero for small businesses," the ad says. "That doesn't add up for Hawaii. Linda Lingle worked with both parties to stimulate job growth, promote quality education and balance our budget."

Meanwhile, Hirono's campaign has launched a daily blog

read … Little time to mark victories; Senate face-off gets heated

At Last, Rail Lawsuit Is Getting Its Day in Court

CB: On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge A. Wallace Tashima will hear arguments about whether the city of Honolulu and the Federal Transit Administration violated federal law when choosing a 20-mile-long, elevated heavy rail system to link Kapolei to downtown Honolulu over other transit options.

The plaintiffs, which include former Hawaii Gov. Ben Cayetano and HonoluluTraffic.com, say they don’t believe the city thoroughly looked at all the options when analyzing the alternatives to the rail system, and is now proceeding with a project that will harm historical and cultural resources, including Native Hawaiian burial grounds.

Cayetano is running for Honolulu mayor on an anti-rail platform, and was the top vote-getter in the Aug. 11 primary. This lawsuit is one way he hopes to dismantle the project. His opponent, is former Honolulu Managing Director Kirk Caldwell.

While a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs won’t necessarily kill rail, it could significantly delay the project. It could also result in the city losing $1.55 billion in hoped for federal funding that would be used for construction.

Matthew Adams, who represents the rail opponents, said he doesn’t expect Tashima to make a ruling Tuesday, although he believes it could be the final day for attorneys to argue their points.

“I think everybody expects that these cross motions for summary judgement will end up resolving the case,” Adams said. “I don’t think the case is going to proceed to the kind of thing where people are calling witnesses and offering evidence. Instead, I think the judge is going to resolve it with these motions and this proceeding.”

Other plaintiffs in the case include rail opponents Cliff Slater and Randy Roth, who is a professor in the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii. Republican State Sen. Sam Slom’s Small Business Hawaii Entrepreneurial Education Foundation and Hawaii’s Thousand Friends are also plaintiffs.

The lawsuit argues that the city and FTA violated procedural provisions in several federal laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and the Department of Transportation Act, when making the decision to move ahead with rail.

read … Rail Lawsuit

Gambling Lobbyist Tops List of Legislative Campaign Donors

CB: campaign finance filings show… The most recent batch of reports reveals that 69 sitting legislators received 2,074 contributions amounting to $775,845 during session. That marks a 75 percent increase from last year.

During the 2011 legislative session, 58 sitting lawmakers drew in 997 contributions adding up to roughly $443,000.

Here are some of the biggest in-session donors, according to an analysis of campaign finance reports:

  • John Radcliffe, lobbyist: 36 donations totaling about $27,000
  • Red Morris, lobbyist: 32 donations totaling about $25,000
  • Liberty Dialysis, LLC, dialysis clinic developer & operator: 19 donations totaling about $22,050
  • Ironworkers for Better Government, union/political action committee: 34 donations totaling about $15,000
  • Royal Hawaiian Movers, local moving company: 14 donations totaling about $9,000

read … In Election Year, Lawmakers' Session Fundraising Up 75%

Will EPA Order HELCO to Use Natural Gas?

CB: The utility commissioned the $25,000 scientific report to state what it says is the obvious: Kilauea Volcano is the overwhelming source of sulfur dioxide emissions soiling the sky. HECO hopes the study spurs the EPA to reconsider its approach in developing a regional haze plan for Hawaii that could cost the company millions of dollars in retrofitting technology.

"EPA's draft Federal Implementation Plan does not include emissions from Kilauea for the natural visibility target of 2064 as their position is that the volcano could stop erupting at any time," HECO spokeswoman Sharon Higa said in an email Friday. "This approach places the burden of improving visibility in the parks on human sources of atmospheric pollution, when the largest contributor to visibility degradation is the volcano."

Federal law says protected Class I areas, which include national parks like Volcanoes on the Big Island and Haleakala on Maui, need to be on track to have no man-made impacts to visibility by 2064.

It doesn't matter that the magma reservoir beneath the summit of Kilauea has remained active since the birth of the volcano some 500,000 years ago, as HECO's new study says. Or that the volcano clearly has no plans to end its constant spewing of gases into the atmosphere, now measured at 100 to 500 metric tonnes per day.

"Our purpose for conducting the study was to demonstrate that the volcanic activity is not short-term and, regardless of its eruptive state, the volcano will continue to vent emissions," Higa said. "In short, the volcano will continue to impact air quality, visibility and human life for future millennia."

But the law is the law, and EPA's rationale is to focus on what can actually be controlled. Can't cap the volcano, so the agency plans to require Big Island oil refineries (power plants) to burn cleaner fuel (you mean like natural gas?) and possibly restrict a sugar company's ability to burn cane in Maui fields.

Meantime, Friends of Haleakala National Park is using the same federal process to fight for stronger restrictions against the mass burning of excess sugar cane on Alexander & Baldwin property.

read … Should Volcano's Haze Mean Refineries Don't Have To Reduce Pollution?

Bone marrow, cell collection to begin again

SA: Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children will open a bone marrow and stem cell donor collection center on Oahu next month, restoring services lost when Hawaii Medical Center closed early this year.

The center will take in bone marrow and stem cells from donors who match patients with aggressive life-threatening cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, who need a transplant within months, or sometimes weeks, to survive.

The center will support the Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry, which lists 77,000 local residents willing to provide cells. The registry is the local branch of the National Marrow Donor Program, which has a database of more than 10 million.

read … Bone marrow, cell collection to begin again

Star-Adv Endorses Supreme Court Water Ruling

SA: Rick Volner, Hawaiian Commercial general manager, said the commission's ruling returned "substan- tial water" to the streams, giving the company "a fighting chance for survival."

He remains "optimistic" that the commission will "strike an appropriate balance" among the needs of the company, the community and stream uses.

The high court found that the commission erred in calculating Hawaiian Commercial's acreage and failed in holding it and Wailuku Water's "burdens of proof regarding losses" from diversion of water, instead "choosing a number that appears to be arbitrary." The court said the commission also failed to adequately consider "traditional and customary native Hawaiian practices" in the four waters.

Essentially, it said the commission's work failed to "display a level of openness, diligence and foresight" required under state law.

The high court's decision does not direct the water commission to make particular findings about the exact level of water to be restored, but rather, to greatly improve its calculations.

related: Na Wai Eha: Supreme Court Rules Against Water Commission

read … Water ruling has broader impact

State settles class action lawsuit over disability rights

KITV: The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Hawaii residents that were denied eligibility for state mental health services because of state policy and procedural changes that became effective on July 1, 2009.

The settlement will require the Adult Mental Health Division to allow all members of the plaintiff class to be reassessed under the state’s 2004 eligibility criteria for mental health services provided by the state.

Health officials estimate there are approximately 250 individuals in the plaintiff class.

read … State settles class action lawsuit over disability rights

Civil Beat Helps out with Hamas Fundraising

CB: …funds are being raised to purchase a seagoing vessel in Gaza (in other words, send money to Hamas); make it fully seaworthy using Gazan labor and materials (send more money to Hamas); load the vessel with handcrafts and other goods made by men and women of Gaza; (if you believe this part you are really dumb) sail the vessel from Gaza into international waters; and deliver the goods, which will have been pre-ordered and pre-paid by humanitarian-minded citizens all over the world, to a port abiding by international law and commercial convention.

At that point, final delivery of the goods to purchasers will be accomplished. Ms. Wright emphasized that, like other attempts to break the blockade of Gaza, this is a global, determinedly nonviolent, venture: the U.S., Canada, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, etc., will have a stake in it.

Ms. Wright and her fellow organizers expect to have operational funds in place by autumn this year and to bring the project to actualization in mid-2013. Following her presentation, donations of funds for Gaza’s Ark were made and snacks were enjoyed by the assembled group.

Related: Honolulu Maoists & Holocaust Deniers protest against Israel: Star-Bulletin calls them ‘peace activists’

read … Money for flying lessons

Abercrombie, Gabbard, Pohai Ryan Attend Services at Hare Krishna Temple

SA: …50 religious leaders, lawmakers and community members … participated in a special prayer service Sunday at the ISKCON Hawaii Temple in Nuuanu.

Among those attending the late-afternoon service were Gov. Neil Abercrombie, state Sen. Pohai Ryan and Demo­cratic congressional nominee Tulsi Gabbard.

As explained: To Stop Mufi, Mrs Abercrombie Joins the Chris Butler Cult

read … Limited Hangout Continues

Kauai: Schizophrenic Two Time Loser was Licensed Gun Dealer

SA: A Kauai mailman who has a 20-year history of mental problems and twice served sentences for criminal offenses was able to obtain permits from police to acquire dozens of firearms, raising questions about how someone with that kind of background could accumulate so many weapons.

Federal agents recently recovered nearly 50 firearms and more than 23,000 rounds of ammunition from Troy Haruki Hamura's home in Lihue as part of a firearms investigation of the postal carrier. Thirty of the weapons were registered in Hamura's name, while 17 others, including a machine gun, were unregistered, according to court records.

Hamura, a former federally licensed gun dealer, suffers from manic depression and schizo-affected bipolar problems, experiences abnormal mood swings and distortions of perception, and is taking antidepressant and antipsychotic medications, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Hino told a federal magistrate last month.

read … Passed background checks 

Justice Reinvestment: Third Escape in Month

BIVN: Once again, a Kona man has escaped from the Hale Nani Correctional Facility in Panaewa; the second in a week and the third in one month….

Just this past Tuesday, 31 year old Ryan James Jeffries-Hamar of Kailua-Kona was seen allegedly fleeing from the Panaewa facility. On July 21, 32 year old Dallas Wesley Runyon also left the facility without authorization.

Hale Nani is a reintegration program of the Hawaii Community Correctional Center. It is located five miles away from the primary HCCC facility in Panaewa. The Department of Public Safety website says Hale Nani offers reintegration services and a work release program for sentenced inmates who will be released on the island of Hawaii.

read … UPW Sleeping

Hawaii County Police Officer Faces Second DUI Arrest

HTH: Richard G. Carter Jr., 46, was arrested at 1:09 a.m. near the intersection of Kinoole and Haihai streets on suspicion of driving under the influence of an intoxicant and refusing to submit to a breath, blood or urine test, according to police records. He was charged about an hour later….

According to West Hawaii Today archives, Carter was arrested on Oct. 26, 2009, in Hilo on suspicion of driving under the influence of an intoxicant after refusing to undergo field sobriety and blood alcohol content tests. Charges were never formally filed in the case.

read … Charges never formally filed, gee that’s a shocker

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