Entries for 'News Release'

Washington- House Democrats’ summer recess is almost over and it’s time for Colleen Hanabusa and her out-of-touch friends to face the music. With another failed attempt at recovery under their belts, Democrats are facing a bruising uphill battle this November. With unemployment at an unacceptably high 9.6 percent and way above the once-promised eight percent, Democrats have officially run out of excuses. Their trillion-dollar stimulus failed to produce jobs and their runaway spending spree has left the nation in debt, putting their Democrat majority up for grabs this fall – and making Hanabusa accountable for supporting her party’s failed economic agenda.

Motorists in California and Hawaii have to look out for the most potholes on urban Interstates. In those two states, 25 percent of urban interstate pavement is in poor condition. ... Rhode Island, Alaska, California, Hawaii and New York have the least cost-effective roads.

Throughout the month of September, make your trip to the grocery store count for life by donating to Hawaii Right to Life through the Foodland/Sack 'n Save Give Aloha program.

The Republican Governors Association launched new television and radio advertisements in Hawai‘i today highlighting Duke Aiona’s plan to reduce the state’s dependence on oil and move it towards a green energy economy.

You and I both know that hundreds of thousands showed up in DC this weekend, and that even more marched on 9/12 last year. The good news is, the American people are wising up, too. They aren't buying the mainstream media's downplayed story, not when there is obvious photographic evidence discrediting them . . . and a political agenda motivating them.

So we're marching on 9/12 again.

Allen was responsible for organizing the volunteers at the 2010 iVote rally at the Capitol as well as organizing the neighbor island pastors and churches in the HB444 campaign.  He is a leader in our community and we are extremely blessed to have him take this key position.

Lt. Governor Aiona on Thursday delivered remarks on the importance of providing affordable, quality health care at a dedication ceremony for a new Shriners Hospital for Children in Honolulu. The hospital will help provide specialty care and innovative research for children from Hawai`i and the Pacific Northwest.

HONOLULU - Lt. Governor Duke Aiona, the leading Republican candidate for Governor, today announced that he will kick off his Connecting Communities initiative to hold 20 talk stories in 20 communities across the state. The new statewide effort to connect working families and concerned citizens to each other and the issues they care about most follows Duke Aiona's small business initiative in which he met with more than 120 small businesses in 100 days.

TWO VIDEOS...

According to the Board of Water Supply, there were 364 water main breaks per year between 2005 and 2009.

I am troubled by the anti-TMT attitude. We are about to reward unprecedented respectful and responsible behavior by the TMT project with open opposition and legal action intended to stop construction. Many are saying the Sierra Club is anti-astronomy while others claim that the TMT is caught in the cross-fire of some long standing anti-UH vendetta.

Join Congressman Charles K. Djou and many prospective employers looking to hire at the 2010 First Congressional District Job Fair. This job fair is free of charge and is open to all residents of Honolulu who are unemployed or underemployed and are looking for better opportunities.

HONOLULU - House Minority Leader Lynn Finnegan, Republican candidate for Lt. Governor, today announced the endorsement of several members of her Minority Caucus in her election bid. The Minority Caucus elected Lynn Finnegan as their leader five years ago.

HONOLULU – Lt. Governor Duke Aiona today announced that the Hawai`i Ophthalmological Society (HOS) and the Hawai`i Medical Political Action Committee (HAMPAC) have endorsed his campaign for Governor.

“Mr. Carlisle is fortunate that his statements about his involvement in the Republican Party do not have to stand up in court.   Although he claims that he was not an “active member” and only involved for a “few months”, the fact is Carlisle was a registered party member for 4 years, chaired two State Republican Party Conventions, emceed a major party fundraiser, and ran as a party member for reelection in 2008."

"Even Mr. Carlisle, who promises to 'put our financial house in order' admits this is not fiscally responsible.  Despite this, he wants to build a mega rail system--even bigger than the one currently planned.

"It is our belief that Hawaii’s political class is purposely waiting until after the elections, at which time it will announce a 'November surprise' of massive tax increases to pay for rail, sewers, and pay increases."

While a poll released today by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser shows Duke Aiona leading among Independents and Hawaiians in the race for Governor, it is geared toward 70 percent of an electorate preparing for a contentious Democratic primary election.

Of the 604 likely voters polled, 425 said they were planning to vote in the Democratic primary.

In response to the Star-Advertiser/Hawaii News Now poll released today (Sunday), the Hannemann campaign has released the results of a recent poll conducted by QMark Research that shows the race for governor in a statistical dead heat between the two leading Democratic candidates.

The QMark poll shows that if the race was held today it would be 43% for Abercrombie to 41% for Hannemann, a difference of two percentage points, with 16% of the voters still undecided.

...the meeting was disrupted by many Hawaiian Sovereignty proponents who dominated the session with loud and acrimonious statements....

Washington- In another attempt to distract from their record of runaway spending and economic failure, House Democrats have handed down new marching orders to Democratic candidate Colleen Hanabusa. Their latest strategy to gloss over their job-killing agenda is to instruct loyal followers like Hanabusa and her Washington friends to highlight the party’s so-called small business agenda. Likely missing from the latest directive, however, is any mention that Washington Democrats are pushing forward with a plan to slam small businesses with massive tax hikes that are certain to kill jobs, prevent businesses from hiring, and set the already-struggling economy back even more.

The Hawaii Newspaper Guild and the Hawaii Tribune-Herald have signed a contract after nearly six years of negotiations.

The two-year agreement covers all employees at the Hilo newspaper except pressmen, who are covered by a separate contract, and managers. The pressmen's negotiations lasted as long as the Guild's. The contracts are similar.

"The poll numbers referenced by Mr. Carlisle in the Midweek story do not exist.  The Hawaii Republican Party has not conducted nor shared poll numbers with the Carlisle campaign and the public needs to know that the numbers he is referring could just be made up."

Peter Carlisle is not a member of the Hawaii Republican Party.  The only Hawaii Republican Party member in the race for Honolulu Mayor is Panos Prevedouros. 

Congressman Djou meeting with the Hawaii Restaurant Association

The King campaign has retracted its earlier announcement of endorsements from both the Maui and Kona TEA Parties.

“For too long, the State of Hawaii has had to bear a disproportionate burden in providing social services for Micronesian citizens who are legally allowed to travel to the United States without visas. While Micronesian citizens comprise less than 1% of Hawaii’s population, they consume over 20% of Hawaii’s social services. This burden is simply unfair to the taxpayers of Hawaii...."

The Hawaii Family Forum | Hawaii Catholic Conference surveyed candidates running for the US Congressional districts, Governor and Lt. Governor, House and Senate and the Board of Education.  These are their answers ...

He will propose legislation to place time limits on the issuance of permits and approvals that will increase efficiency and effectiveness in state government. If a permit or approval is not issued within the allotted time period, the application will be automatically granted.

He will post online all updated permitting and approval guidelines and procedures, create an online tracking system, put all state permits and leases online in a searchable database and subject all tax credits and public grants to public quarterly reporting.

The three names submitted by the Democratic Party to fill the vacant Senate District 22 (Mililani Mauka, Wahiawa, Hale‘iwa, Mokule‘ia, North Shore) seat are:  Laura Figueira, John Kampfer and Lei Learmont.

The three names submitted by the Democratic Party to fill the vacant Senate District 7 (Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau) seat are: Ronald Kouchi, Barbara Robeson and Sandra Wright.

Complete grade-by-grade results for math and reading in all DoE schools.  Some schools have grades in which ZERO students exceed expectations.

Standing out in the ratings are the “Dirty Dozen,” which include states that have not addressed the crime of human trafficking at all (Hawaii, Massachusetts, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming). The remaining states (Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Ohio, South Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia) criminalize only sex trafficking or labor trafficking but not both, only include human trafficking as a mere sentencing enhancement, or have laws that are too weak or so narrowly drafted that investigations and prosecutions of human trafficking cannot proceed. Conversely, states that have taken the most action to combat human trafficking in a comprehensive way include Connecticut, Minnesota, Texas, and Washington, among others.

FACT: Since Senator Inouye took control of Government Spending as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee in 2007, the Federal Debt has grown 50% and the Federal Deficit has grown 900%!

FACT: Twice in the past year, Senator Inouye voted to increase the Debt Ceiling by a total of $2.1 TRILLION.

FACT: Senator Inouye has voted AGAINST a balanced budget amendment four times.

 $3M demolition job?

Here is the Gay-Athiest Lobby campaign target list. 

Companies including AIG, Lehman Brothers, Wachovia, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Union Bank, Wells Fargo and others essentially buy tax benefits from solar (and wind) companies that don’t have enough taxable income to use those credits on their own. Tax-equity investors get to use those tax credits as part of a strategy to shelter otherwise taxable income. (Sounds just like Hawaii ACT 215/221)

In both of his prior confirmation proceedings, Recktenwald was unanimously confirmed by the State Senate (25-0 for chief appellate judge and 22-0 for associate justice).

Prior to his appointment to the Intermediate Court of Appeals, Recktenwald served as the director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (2003-2007).  During his tenure, he focused on expanding protections against identity theft and enforcing Hawai‘i’s consumer protection laws, including guarding against unfair and deceptive trade and business practices, and insurance and securities fraud.  He also worked to make the department’s services more convenient for the public by expanding and enhancing on-line services.

“My responsibility is first and foremost to represent the people of Hawaii and that is absolutely what I have been doing. I think what you saw in the special election is that the majority of the people didn’t vote against me. The overwhelming majority of the voters voted against the establishment. They didn’t like the status quo and felt that the current representation in Congress needs a fundamental change. That’s what I’ve been doing, and that’s who I’m representing. I look forward to the judgment of the voters again in November.”

This Bill will have the dubious distinction of being the first ever to lower SNAP benefits from one period to the following period. For the first time ever, SNAP recipients will see their monthly benefits shrink. A family of four can expect their benefits to drop about $59 a month starting in April 2014. ($59 x 12 = $708/yr)

With unemployment at 9.5 percent and the national debt at an all-time high, the last thing middle-class families need is more of the Democrats’ reckless spending agenda. Instead of calling Congress back into session to create private-sector jobs, House Democrats have once again dismissed an opportunity to rein in runaway government spending and provide the fiscal discipline needed to create jobs.

(08/10/10) HONOLULU – A comprehensive settlement has been reached with the City and County of Honolulu that will address Clean Water Act compliance at Honolulu’s wastewater collection and treatment systems, the Justice Department, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Hawaii Attorney General’s Office, Hawaii Department of Health, and three environmental groups announced today.

The settlement which also resolves lawsuits brought by the Sierra Club, Hawaii’s Thousand Friends and Our Children’s Earth Foundation, includes a comprehensive compliance schedule for the city to upgrade its wastewater collection system by June 2020. Under the settlement, the Honouliuli wastewater treatment plant will need to be upgraded to secondary treatment by 2024. The Sand Island plant will need to be upgraded by 2035, but could be extended to 2038 based on a showing of economic hardship.

“The problem in Congress today is that it seems that the universal answer to every one of our nation’s problems is spend, spend, and—if that doesn’t work—spend some more. And this particular bill that we’re voting on today fits exactly in that genre—‘Spending can fix all of our nation’s woes.’

Editor's Note: For decades, Hawaii Democrats have based their power on their ability to get federal pork from DC.  Charles Djou is directly challenging the desirability of their pork.  This vote is probably the most direct challenge in decades to Hawaii Democrats' basic strategy.  Will it be a winning issue for Djou?  Election Day is Nov 2.

According to the study, 186 special funds spread across twenty different departments hold an estimated $1,412,357,203 in unspent revenues over and above their operational requirements. Some of the special funds were tagged by the auditor almost a decade ago for repeal.

Here are a few words from the individual most responsible for invention of Furlough Fridays.  How much money will be put up to promote the status quo and promulgate these arguments for continuing the structure which makes the waste, fraud, and corruption in the DoE possible?  Will the HSTA spend $100K in NEA money to oppose an appointed BoE just as they did in opposition to local school boards?  We will soon find out.

“I was honored to attend the mobilization ceremony today (Sunday Aug 8, 2010) for the 305^th MPAD/9^th MSC. It was a particularly special honor to be with a number of soldiers from the 1101^st GSU, my former unit in the Army Reserve, who will be deploying to Iraq with the 305^th."

Here's the real reason: "Sen. Clayton Hee, in opposition, raised concerns about whether Leonard would be open enough to Native Hawaiian rights. A court that strictly follows the rule of law may not have led to the recognition of customary Hawaiian rights, he said."

Congressman Djou articulated his concerns about the impact of Micronesian immigration to Hawaii on the City and County of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii's social service programs. Congressman Djou and Ambassador George both acknowledge that the status quo is not working.

Washington- The Obama White House promised this would be a summer of economic recovery, but after another disappointing month of high unemployment it is evident that is simply not the case. Now, Hawaii families can add another false promise to their growing list of grievances against Colleen Hanabusa's out-of-touch Democrat friends, whose runaway spending addiction has led the economy astray. With unemployment standing at 9.5 percent and over 130,000 jobs lost last month, Hawaii families are feeling burned by Hanabusa's Washington friends, whose trillion-dollar stimulus has failed to bring them out of this jobless recovery.

“In these tough economic times, people want ideas and solutions.  Duke Aiona’s creation of the Drug Court is an example of finding a better way to improve lives.  People want their leaders to be positive, not divisive and negative.  That’s what Duke’s whole life has been about.” 

"The achievements in Hawaii's public schools this year are truly remarkable and inspiring, and we are especially pleased with the results coming from the 14 schools in our Alliance partnership that achieved AYP targets," said Babette Moreno, EdisonLearning's Regional General Manager for Hawaii.  "The outcomes are a solid testament to the work done in the schools by the principals, teachers, students, and our dedicated partners at the DOE – who are all helping students to learn."