April 23, 2026 News Read > Hawaii Free Press

Hawaii Daily News Read

Thursday, April 23, 2026

April 23, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 3:04 PM :: 355 Views

Sylvia Luke took a $10K bribe—the $35K bribe-taker is still out there

PUC Opens Docket on 'Virtual Power Plant' Program

DPP releases Annual Report on the Status of Land Use

‘Evidence of Bribery’: Luke received ‘target letter’ days before quitting race (resignation coming next)

HNN: … Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke was given a target letter by the Attorney General’s office last week, HNN Investigates has learned.

Days later, Luke announced that she would not be seeking re-election, but she is still working as the Lt. Gov.

Sources tell HNN Investigates that lobbyist and businessman Tobi Solidum also received a target letter in the case….

The target letters were emailed, and notified Luke and Solidum that the attorney general’s investigation had uncovered evidence of bribery.

The letters cited the Hawaii bribery statute, which says that a person commits that crime if they confer “or agrees to confer, directly or indirectly, any pecuniary benefit upon a public servant with the intent to influence that public servant’s vote, opinion, judgment,” or other action.

The law continues, a public servant commits that same crime if they “solicit, accepts or agrees to accept” a benefit with the intent to influence the donor’s vote, opinion, judgment or other action.

HNN Political Analyst Colin Moore said Luke should take a leave of absences given the new development, “I think it’s very hard to imagine the second most powerful person in state government continuing on with the target letter.” … “One of the major roles of the lieutenant governor is that you are in charge of the state when the governor is gone,” Moore said. “And that means you have to have the trust of the governor, you have to have the trust of legislators, and most importantly, you have to have the trust of residents.”

“It is a significant development because it’s a public acknowledgement that the government has substantial evidence that may warrant a charging of a crime,” said Retired Circuit Court Judge Randy Lee, who was also a longtime deputy city prosecutor.

“It’s an invitation to basically squeal on anybody else and any other information you may have on other criminal investigations or other criminal acts.”…

SA: Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke receives target letter in state corruption probe -- Green’s communications director, Makana McClellan, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that, “We can confirm that Governor Green was made aware today by the Attorney General that target letters were issued. “Governor Green intends to meet with the LG tomorrow to discuss this very serious matter.”

TRANSLATION: “Will ask for resignation.”

CLUE: Sylvia Luke took a $10K bribe—the $35K bribe-taker is still out there

LOL: Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi’s State Convention on May 29, 2026

Read … Lieutenant Governor, lobbyist received target letters in state criminal probe | Hawaii News Now

After Luke Resigns, who will become LG?

SA: … Green’s communications director, Makana McClellan, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that, “We can confirm that Governor Green was made aware today by the Attorney General that target letters were issued. Governor Green intends to meet with the LG (today) to discuss this very serious matter.” …

… Now that she has received a target letter, “an indictment might be forthcoming,” Moore said.

Absent a resignation or leave of absence, Luke would continue to serve until after voters pick her successor in the Nov. 3 general election.

“When you serve as lieutenant governor, that requires the trust of the governor and legislators and the public,” Moore said. “If your reputation is such that residents don’t trust you to run the state, that’s a problem. It’s hard to operate if you have a target letter from the state Attorney General.”

If Luke should resign before the end of her term, Moore said, the line of succession calls for the position of lieutenant governor to be filled, in order, by the Senate president, House speaker, attorney general, director of the Department of Budget and Finance or state comptroller….

Read … Green to meet with Lt. Gov. Luke after she gets target letter in bribery probe | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Supreme Court Chief Justice Nominee Partied with Controversial Cop

CB: … Sitting in a conference room full of his supporters in the legal and labor communities, a Hawaiʻi Supreme Court justice spent two uncomfortable hours Wednesday defending his ethics and integrity before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Among other things, senators questioned Vladimir Devens, Gov. Josh’s Green’s nominee to be the next chief justice, about why he hadn’t disclosed his past work for a political action committee. Such information, they said, was vital in order to judge his worth to lead the state judiciary.

Devens not only did not list the information in his application for associate justice in 2022, he also omitted it from his current application for chief justice….

For four years, Devens was on the board of Be Change Now, a super PAC operated by Pacific Resource Partnership, a consortium of more than 250 union carpenters and contractors and funded by the Hawaiʻi Carpenters Market Recovery Program Fund.

Rhoads’ committee unanimously approved that appointment, also made by Green, in November 2023….

Rhoads also pressed Devens about why, as a sitting Supreme Court justice, he had attended the retirement party in August of Darren Cachola, an officer with the Honolulu Police Department accused of assaulting women and who was fired after a video showed him hitting his girlfriend in a restaurant. Cachola was later reinstated….

Only a handful of people submitted testimony in opposition to Devens. They included Chuck Freedman, who has worked for various nonprofits and in the administration of former Gov. John Waiheʻe.

“My objections stem from the concentration of power by the Hawaiʻi State Carpenters Union in all three branches of our government, with the appointment of Devens to Chief Justice being either a capstone or another notch in the gun for a single union, depending on your point of view,” wrote Freedman. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely. We have watched this happen with the Carpenters Union, mostly in silence. It is time for the sirens to go off.” …

Devens initially applied for a seat on the Intermediate Court of Appeals in 2022 but later withdrew. That November he applied to be an associate justice.

The timing of the applications and when exactly he stepped down from the board of Be Change Now was raised by Rhoads several times. Business registration records with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs show Devens as having served in the Be Change Now board as early as 2019 until April 2023.

Devens said he submitted his notice to resign from Be Change Now in June 2022 to be effective that July. Rhoads asked if Devens could provide his committee with paperwork to back that up, and Devens indicated he would….

HNN: Chief Justice nominee grilled over ties to powerful political action committee | Hawaii News Now | HNN

Read … Supreme Court Chief Justice Nominee Faces Tough Questions From Senators - Honolulu Civil Beat

House Finally Acts: Shelves Petition To Further Probe $35K Paper Bag Case

CB: … The Hawaiʻi House of Representatives has finally responded to a petition it received in January asking it to investigate the case of $35,000 handed to an unknown influential lawmaker in 2022.

More than 900 petitioners asked the lawmakers to find out what happened in this transaction, determine if any laws had been broken and figure out what steps should be taken to address ethics problems at the Legislature.

On Wednesday, after months of silence, the House voted 39-11 to file the petition, essentially killing it, without any discussion of the merits and with no promises to take action. ….

Lawmakers who voted against Nakamura’s ruling included Reps. Terez Amato, Della Au Belatti, Elle Cochran, Diamond Garcia, Joe Gedeon, Kim Coco Iwamoto, Lauren Matsumoto, Chris Muraoka, Elijah Pierick, Garner Shimizu and Kanani Souza….

CLUE: Sylvia Luke took a $10K bribe—the $35K bribe-taker is still out there

Read … Hawaiʻi Lawmakers Shelve Petition To Further Probe $35K Paper Bag Case - Honolulu Civil Beat

After 10 years, Crooked Politicians Sacrifice Sylvia Luke to Save Themselves

CB: … Luke is a victim of an impenetrable, way too long investigation that left her out on a limb, not knowing what exactly she had to respond to. There has never been an official word about her and that $35,000 or anything else involved in this farcical bribery investigation.

More important is that we are all victims of this truly awkward sixth grader dance of incompetence, avoidance and state failure.

So, she’s out of the picture. Big deal.

What are we celebrating? The fact that the bribery investigation started as long as 10 years ago with still no definitive information from either the feds or the state? The fact that when it comes to money in politics, with all the shouting and noise we nailed a small fish in a huge pond that the Legislature continues to avoid jumping in for fear they will drown?

All this hoopla of indignation and relief also makes us miss the fact that the way the Luke issue has played itself out is so much like other issues the state handles so badly: refusal to confront the core issues, long delays, and skirting around the fact that the hardest is yet to come.

Here is how the rest of us are victims.

As far as the bribery issue is concerned, it’s not a victory at all. Instead, it is another example of how inept or unwilling the state is with corruption investigations.

The bribery convictions of legislators Kalani English and Ty Cullen were federal investigations with proceedings in federal court. For that matter, so was the investigation and trial of former Honolulu Police Department Chief Louis Kealoha.

The Legislature chose not to conduct its own investigation of the recent $35,000 accusation and on Wednesday the House killed a public petition urging it to do so. The Senate had tabled the petition months ago.

Hawaiʻi’s attorney general’s investigation has produced nothing but promises and civics lessons about due process.

Luke’s leaving may seem like a vindication to you. To me it seems like state officials dodged a bullet….

SA: Editorial: Luke’s exit serves a political lesson | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

CLUE: Sylvia Luke took a $10K bribe—the $35K bribe-taker is still out there

Read … Neal Milner: We Are All Victims Of The Sylvia Luke Mess - Honolulu Civil Beat

Another round of pay raises approved for city officials

HNN: … Honolulu’s top elected and appointed officials are set to receive another pay raise after the city’s Salary Commission approved a 4.7% increase for the 2027 fiscal year.

The commission voted 5-0 Wednesday to adopt the salary adjustments, marking the third significant increase for city leadership in the past three years….

“At a 4% increase, if that was given to us every year, it’ll come out to over $165,000 by the year 2030,” Kiaaina said.

Among those opposing the increase was certified public accountant and rail board member Natalie Iwasa, who questioned how the commission determined the raise amount.

“I oppose the 4.7% increase,” Iwasa said. “I’m wondering, where is your analysis? It sounds like you did a lot of work to get to 4.7%, but I can’t find it.”

Iwasa also noted the proposed raise exceeds the inflation rate cited by the commission.

“It’s proposed 4.7%, which is higher than the inflation rate, which they reported at 2.6%,” she said….

Big Q: Do you support a 4.7% pay raise for the city’s top elected and appointed officials? | Honolulu Star-Advertiser NO = 81% (LOL! In Nov 2024, they tricked 90% of voters into voting for this pay hike system. LOLROTF!)

Read … Despite opposition, another round of raises approved for city officials

Belatti Complains about Keokahole Receiving Carpenters Union Money

HNN: … “It was explained in a public forum where people are starting to decide about public endorsements that both my campaign and the Keohokalole campaign was not accepting PAC (political action committee) money. That is absolutely untrue. Senator Keohokalole’s committee is in fact accepting PAC money,” Belatti said at a press conference, pointing to an April 21 webinar hosted by Indivisible Hawaii.

…The latest Federal Election Commission filings show Belatti has not received any PAC money.

Case reported about $433,000 from PACs so far, including ones tied to corporations across the defense sector and other industries.

Keohokalole reported more than $53,000 in PAC donations, including ones tied to Matson and longshore and carpenters unions….

Read … First Congressional District candidate raises concerns about special interest money

Sue Big Oil: Climate shysters push their latest fake report

SA: … The Hawaii Insurance Division, however, said the Insurance Fairness Project report is an advocacy analysis, and that some of its statements are not based on data that it collected or verified.

“Like every other state in the U.S., Hawaii is experiencing increased pressure on its insurance market driven by a combination of factors,” said the division in a written statement, “including catastrophe risk, reinsurance costs, inflation, and property-specific vulnerabilities.

The division added that some of the specific claims in the report should be “viewed with caution.” …

LINK: Senate Bill 1166 seeks to ‘sue big oil’. (No assignment of conferees yet.)

PDF: Conclusion – pay us shysters to ‘Sue Big Oil’

Read … Climate disasters strain Hawaii’s insurance with higher rates, coverage gaps | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Trump mulls extending waiver to ease U.S. oil shipments

A: … President Trump's decision to suspend a controversial maritime law during the Iran war has made it easier to ship oil across the U.S. — and now he wants to keep it that way, according to U.S. officials….

Read … Trump mulls extending waiver to ease U.S. oil shipments

Honolulu Traffic Cams Catch 500,000 Speeders. Only 17 Get Tickets.

CB: … More than 500,000 drivers sped through Honolulu intersections during a five-month trial of speed enforcement cameras last year and got stern warnings in the mail.

But now that camera enforcement has formally begun, hardly anyone has been ticketed for speeding.

The Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation issued only 17 speeding tickets in the first four months of the speed camera program. Two of those were dismissed when the motorists contested them in court.

Even though the cameras are capable of catching far more violators, the state is targeting only the worst of the worst speeders because the projected surge in tickets would overwhelm police and court staff and the judiciary’s information systems….

Sniffen and department spokespeople have declined to say what the agency’s threshold is, but court dockets show that the motorists fined for speeding so far had been clocked at more than 20 m.p.h. over the set limit. …

Read … Honolulu Traffic Cams Catch Speeders. But Most Don't Get Tickets - Honolulu Civil Beat

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