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Tuesday, November 6, 2012
November 6, 2012 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 3:27 PM :: 4759 Views

Election Day TODAY -- Find Your Polling Place, Sample Ballot

VIDEO: Red-Faced Abercrombie Bickers With Protesters on Stage at Democrats Grand Rally in Hilo

VIDEO: Ratepayers Revolt

Solar Photovoltaic Lease is Worse Than a Barrel of Oil

The Price of paradise for Hawaii’s low-income families

Hawaii Republican Party Victory Centers Open All Day Tuesday

Ohio: Obama Ends Campaign in Half-Empty Arena

CBS releases even more unseen footage from Obama interview after Benghazi attack...

What time do polls close? 2012 poll closing times by state (map)

Hawaii General Election Results Will Be Posted >>> HERE

Election participation is not expected to rise in Hawaii

SA: Early voting in Hawaii before today's election was slightly ahead of the last presidential election in 2008, but political analysts do not expect turnout to be much higher than the 66 percent of registered voters who cast ballots four years ago.

The state Office of Elections said about 41,000 people statewide took advantage of early walk-in voting and that counties had received about 139,000 absentee ballots through the weekend.

Voter registration is at 705,668, the elections office said, up from 691,356 four years ago.

Hawaii has had among the lowest levels of voter participation in the nation….

Demo­crats who could benefit from another strong Obama performance in the islands. Obama won Hawaii's four electoral votes with 72 percent of the vote in 2008….

Higher-than-average turnout in the Hono­lulu mayor's race among Republicans and independents who oppose the rail project could help Lingle and Djou

read … Get out and vote

Hirono Backed by Movie Moguls Seeking Tax Credits

SA: Now any faceless billionaire can play in Hawaii waters. And they are.

According to OpenSecrets.org, Majority PAC is getting some of its money from Democrats, including film producer Steve Bing and liberal investor George Soros.

read … Tax Credits 

Caldwell raises $76,000 and Cayetano $74,000 in final days 

SA: Mayoral hopeful Kirk Caldwell reported raising $76,000 in the final weeks of the race, according to the latest reports filed with the state Campaign Spending Commission.

Spending reports for the period from Oct. 23 to Nov. 2 were due by midnight Monday to the state Campaign Spending Commission.

HR: Cayetano on 'Smear vs the Truth'

read … Old Boys Waste Money?

State runs Big Island polls after Sabotaging primary problems

HNN: State elections officials are watching for problems at the polls in Hawaii County, taking over for county officials after widespread glitches that led to extended voting hours during the primary.

The state is operating a control and counting center in Hilo on Tuesday.

Hawaii Chief Election Officer Scott Nago announced last month the state was rescinding the county's responsibility for the general election. County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi is still responsible for voter registration and absentee ballots….

SA: Hawaii voting off to a smooth start

Nago’s True Role: Hawaii County Election: It’s the Girlfriend, Stupid

read … Sabotage Rewarded

Kauai Police Chief Will Appeal Ruling Allowing Mayor to Override Police Commission Authority

HR: Perry held off commenting on the Judge’s decision until Sunday when he told Hawaii Reporter he will likely appeal the decision.

“After review by some of the most respected legal minds in the State, the ruling by Judge Valenciano has a high probability of being appealed and overturned. It certainly is not unusual for decisions to be overturned by the Intermediate Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court, as it has happened to Circuit Court judges throughout the State of Hawaii, including rulings made by Judge Valenciano,” Perry said.

Perry said the appeal will be based on several errors by the Trier of Facts, which includes among other things, not taking into account provisions of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.

However, the main reason this ruling will not stand, he said, is the decision is “glaringly wrong.”

“Aside from the legal arguments, first and foremost it is wrong because this ruling injects politics where it does not belong.

“Citizens have stated to me that it now creates situations where the Mayor may now dictate who should be criminally investigated, who should be given a break, who should receive preferential treatment, while giving immunity to special interest groups or even the Mayor himself.

"And if the Chief of Police refuses to follow the Mayor’s order, as the Chief should, he or she may be suspended indefinitely,” Perry said.

read … Chief Perry

Kauai Prosecutor gave out $143K in pay raises since Aug. 1

KGI: Since Aug. 1, County Prosecuting Attorney Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho gave $123,198 in combined pay raises to half of her team of 12 prosecuting attorneys. Additionally, a change in position has allowed a law office assistant at OPA to boost her annual income by almost $20,000.

Altogether, the pay raises awarded by Iseri-Carvalho since Aug. 1 total $143,134, according to county documents provided to The Garden Island last week.

County spokeswoman Beth Tokioka said salaries are usually adjusted on the first or 16th day of the month. She wasn’t able to confirm by press time whether those raises were given after the Aug. 11 Primary Elections, in which Iseri-Carvalho came 49 votes behind Justin Kollar, her opponent in today’s election.

read … Buying Support

Ethics complaint filed against Kauai county attorney by Supporters of Prosecutor

KGI: Glen Mickens and Ken Taylor filed the complaint on Oct. 31, claiming that County Attorney Alfred Castillo Jr. “secured a special benefit” in his official capacity as county attorney. The complaint accuses Castillo, who supports the candidacy of a deputy county attorney for the position of county prosecuting attorney, with failing to take appropriate measures when faced with a potential conflict of interest with his fiduciary duties to the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney.

The complaint claims that Castillo and his office have launched a series of timely attacks against OPA that have the appearance of seeking political advantage for Deputy County Attorney Justin Kollar in his bid to unseat County Prosecuting Attorney Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho

read … Bureaucratic Infighting

Solar, Wind Scammers Use Phony anti-Fracking Rhetoric to Block Hawaii LNG Imports

CB: the national chapter of the Sierra Club is working to stop mainland companies from exporting natural gas, and this includes to Hawaii.

Recently, the environmental group intervened in an application before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, filed by Hawaii Gas, in the hopes of stopping the import of liquefied natural gas to the islands.

And the Sierra Club is working to halt 18 planned LNG export facilities on the mainland which are currently being reviewed by the U.S. Department of Energy, according to Allison Chin, the group's president.

“We think that without a clear understanding that this can be done safely — and there is no evidence to that fact — then we are putting people and communities at risk by increasing drilling just to export it," Chin told Civil Beat in a recent interview. "It doesn’t make sense."

But Jeff Kissel, CEO of Hawaii Gas, the company leading the effort to import LNG, says the environmental group is missing the point.

“What the Sierra Club is overlooking is that our state is bleeding badly,” he said. “We are spending as a percent of the state gross domestic product more than twice as much on energy as we did 10 years ago. And that money is leaving the state, which means that it's not spent on education, infrastructure, jobs or our businesses.”

Currently, other than in Alaska, no companies on the mainland export natural gas. But hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, has opened up vast resources to drilling. As a result, the price of natural gas has plummeted in recent years….

Related:

read … Hawaii's Quest for Cheaper Energy Collides With Fracking Debate 

Tulsi: Nobody Asked for My Endorsement in Council Race

CB: “I have not endorsed any candidate for any council races, nor has any candidate asked me for such an endorsement.” – Tulsi Gabbard

Truthout: The Cost of War: An Interview With Hawaii Congressional Candidate and Veteran Tulsi Gabbard

read … Tulsi No Endorsement

Homelessness Industry Back at Work Promoting Homelessness and Profiting

SA: At Kewalo Basin Park on Monday, the Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance provided a lead-in of sorts to Homeless Awareness Week by giving attendees a chance to simulate homelessness and taste food that could be cooked on a grill on the streets. The "Taste of Outdoors"menu included spaghetti, citrus chicken and pork and beans….

turnout at the gathering was small, those who did show up were given index cards with a scenario taken from the lives of homeless people the alliance has helped.

Attendees were then assigned to seek "help" from volunteers who represented different groups, from mental health agencies to substance abuse treatment centers to landlords. Along the way, they confronted hurdles they would have to overcome to find long-term housing.

For example, a chronically homeless person might have substance abuse and mental health problems, Ruddell said. Going into a drug treatment center requires insurance. After treatment a host of other complications can arise, from difficulty finding a "clean and sober"house to trouble with chronic illnesses that have gone untreated for years. Getting a job to pay for housing and medication is another barrier, Ruddell said, since the formerly homeless person might still have mental health difficulties and probably has no job experience or credit.

Doran Porter, CEO of the alliance, said the event was aimed at demonstrating how diverse the homeless population is and how tough it can be for them to get back into housing.

(All of this is designed to fail and designed to generate more grants for profitable nonprofits.)

read … Events seek solutions for homelessness

With Amemiya’s departure, UH’s local AD options thin

SA: We can’t tell you yet who the new permanent athletic director at the University of Hawaii will be, but increasingly, signs are pointing to the likelihood of who it won’t be: a local candidate.

If the process wasn’t already headed in that direction, then the announcement of Keith Amemiya’s departure as executive administrator and secretary of the Board of Regents after 21⁄2 years sure framed it that way.

Amemiya, it was announced, will leave the regents’ office (he is not a voting board member) at the end of the month to be a senior vice president with Island Holdings Inc., parent company of Island Insurance.

At one point in July, when Jim Donovan was removed as AD, the expectation was that Amemiya would be among the more prominent candidates for the post. But when Amemiya deigned not to put in an application and then agreed to take a place on the 11-member search advisory committee, that speculation ended.

Two other leading local figures, UH vice president Rockne Freitas and TV executive Rick Blangiardi, have also not chosen to put in applications, which pretty much accounts for the most viable in-state candidates.

Related: Senate Accountability for Everybody Except Rockne Freitas

read … Ferds Words 

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