Hawaii Daily News Read

Sunday, October 4, 2026

October 4, 2026 News Read

By Andrew Walden @ 9:13 AM :: 152 Views

Tax, spend, regulate, repeat. Will Hawaii lawmakers ever learn?

Kailua Fentanyl Dealer Sentenced to 70 Months in Prison

Next Scandal: Kauhale program paid for director’s sex toys

SA: … The impending release of a highly anticipated critical audit of the state’s kauhale homeless housing initiative has prompted a rebuke of HomeAid Hawai‘i over its billing practices and led the nonprofit to launch its own financial reviews resulting in its CEO repaying $17,982 for expenses considered his “personal responsibility.”…

HomeAid’s operating budget of just $207,407 in 2015 shot up exponentially to $142.9 million in 2024 on the heels of explosive growth from state contracts to expand kauhale projects and build emergency housing for survivors of the Aug. 8, 2023, Maui wildfires….

Carvalho said that during two 3-1/2-hour interviews with Kondo and the auditor’s staff, Kondo wanted to discuss one embarrassing discrepancy in particular: an inappropriate Las Vegas Hilton Resorts hotel minibar charge from October 2024 of $54.19 for an “intimacy kit” that Carvalho said was improperly submitted to the state for reimbursement, even though he said he never opened the kit or even knew the bill had been submitted by his executive assistant.

LINK: INTIMACY KIT “Rechargeable Vibrator, 2 SKYN Condoms, Fun Dice, 1 Massage Oil, 1 Personal Lubricant”

“I understand the intimacy kit concern, and when I learned of it, I took immediate responsibility, corrected it, and reimbursed HomeAid and the state,” Carvalho said. He said he assumes the intimacy kit included condoms and other sexual aids that he insists he never saw or used.

(Spin Control Lesson: If you have to say, “I understand the intimacy kit concern,” it’s already over. You’re done.)

Carvalho said he ‘believes’ ~~he was~~ (taxpayers were) charged for the kit ~~when he inadvertently moved it around~~ (stumbling around) in the room’s minibar ~~and triggered a sensor~~ while moving around bottles of liquor ~~looking for coffee~~ (uh-huh) ahead of a ~~virtual meeting~~ (hook-up) he was about to participate in.

(CLUE: A quick shot of liquor will do more for your pre-meeting hangover than coffee.)

Conflict of interest questions arose during HomeAid’s own audits over three kauhale landscaping projects totaling $152,897 paid to Dotson Gardens LLC, which was owned by Carvalho’s then-husband, Chris Dotson.

A separate contract worth $112,780 was paid to Washington-based Mob TechNet Solutions, owned by Dotson’s stepbrother….

Yang cited “deficiencies” including:

>> Failure to provide original receipts, vendor proof of purchase, “or certified underlying documentation required to verify expenditure authenticity.” (Fake invoices to get money.)

>> Invoices that included line items “previously submitted, processed, or reimbursed under prior payment requests.” (Double or triple submission of the same fake invoices to get money.)

>> Payment requests “for unallowable expenses or activities outside the contractually authorized scope.” (Invoices faked so poorly that they weren’t even supposed to be paid if they were real.)

>> Invoices that have included “billing statements, invoices, and payment demands from third-party vendors, contractors, or affiliated entities that hold no direct contractual relationship or approved subcontract status with the State of Hawai‘i.”… (More invoices faked so poorly that they weren’t even supposed to be paid if they were real.)

Carvalho said the ‘mistakes’ came at a time “when all of a sudden we had to start shelling out a lot more money from our wallets and having to worry about our personal credit cards while being very careful about what bills I submitted.”… (uh-huh)

BI: My Hotel Room In Vegas Came With A Sex Kit ...

April 2026: Auditor: Out-of-Control Homeless Program Puts Public Funds at 'Immediate Risk'

May 2026: Gay Divorce Exposes Hidden Insider Payoffs by State Homeless Housing Contractor

Read … Kauhale builders admit ‘mistakes were made’ as audit looms | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

It’ll take more than Febreze for deodorizing our hauna

Shapiro: … rooted in attitudes that have become too common among state and city officials: passing the buck, lack of urgency and flying by the seat of the pants ….Floyd said jurors also found violations of Choy’s rights under the Whistleblower Protection Act in the haphazard process of his firing led by Gov. Josh Green’s chief of staff Brooke Wilson. Jurors were bothered by an apparent lack of diligent investigation of Choy’s allegations of HTA financial irregularities by the agency or attorney general, which Floyd described as “gross negligence.”…

Read … It’ll take more than Febreze for deodorizing our hauna

Election? Carpenters have already won everything except Question 2

CB: … the latest round of reports, filed Thursday with the Hawaiʻi Campaign Spending Commission, reflect another Hawaiʻi trend — that the frenzied chase for campaign cash slows considerably after the primary as most candidates in this overwhelmingly Democratic state have either won their seats outright or face only token opposition from the few Republicans and handful of third-party candidates left standing ….

After the primary, the Carpenters Union created a new super PAC — RISE Together Hawaiʻi — and is focusing its considerable financial resources to push (Question 2) a ballot measure that would allow counties to raise money for infrastructure development and repair through special bond sales….

Before the primary, the Carpenters Union spent nearly $2 million on advertising, mailers, polling and other efforts to support Derek Kawakami’s successful primary bid for lieutenant governor. In addition to bolstering Kawakami’s campaign, For A Better Tomorrow also spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on about two dozen candidates running for the Legislature and city and county races….

read … Super PACs Tire Of Spending Big On Candidates As Election Nears - Honolulu Civil Beat

Nearly Half of Politicians Running Unopposed on November Ballot (again)

CB: … with more than a month remaining before the election, Senate President Ron Kouchi and House Speaker Nadine Nakamura have already secured their seats without facing a single opponent.

And they have plenty of company. Of the 98 races up this year, from Congress to county council, more than a third won’t have a contested general election, and in 24, only one candidate ran from start to finish.

Most of those races are for the Legislature. In 27% of this year’s legislative races, only one candidate ever ran, so voters never had a choice. …

In another 18%, voters could choose in the August primary, but no candidate from another party made it to November. One of those, a tied Republican primary in Kapolei and Makakilo, is being rerun on the November ballot by court order. Altogether, nearly half of this year’s legislative races were settled without a general election contest.

This isn’t new. Office of Elections results over the last five cycles show that more than a third of legislative races had no contested general election, and in about 1 in 5, only one person ever ran. The share ranged from 58% in 2018 to 17% in 2022, when every seat was up under new maps, and it has climbed back to nearly half this year. …

read … Beth Fukumoto: When Politicians Run Unopposed, Everyone Loses - Honolulu Civil Beat

Guaranteed Loser: With no Serious Contender on Primary Ballot, Republicans Saddled with Antivaxxer Nut for Governor

CB: … Cordery may be best known for his activities as a co-founder and former director of the Aloha Freedom Coalition, a group that staged protests outside Green’s condominium in downtown Honolulu and elsewhere during the pandemic. Cordery said he resigned as director of AFC before he first ran for governor in 2022, but is still a member of AFC’s board of directors.

…Over the years the coalition has posted controversial material on social media, including suggestions of conspiracies related to the deadly Lahaina wildfire. But Cordery said he was not personally responsible for those posts.

“I didn’t control any of it,” he said. “We had a media team.” The coalition was all about freedom and individual liberty, he said, so commentary was generally allowed unless something was deemed untrue, illegal or defamatory. If material was inappropriate for AFC’s social media content, he said, “we’d ask them to pull it down.”

Cordery’s own social media posts take a strong position against vaccinations, including one early last year that warns parents: “You MUST reject all vaccines, PERIOD.” His adamant position on that issue runs counter to the views of the vast majority of Hawaiʻi residents. Separate polls in the spring of 2021 by the state Department of Health and Civil Beat showed only 9% to 12% of the public said they would refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19….

Cordery’s first run for governor was in 2022, an effort he described as “an act of obedience. God clearly put on my heart that this is what you need to do, this is what I’m calling you to do. So I did that, and we didn’t prevail.”

He finished third in the Republican primary that year behind former Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona (who put his name on the ballot on the very last day in order to give voters a sane choice instead of Cordery and ) retired mixed martial arts fighter BJ Penn. Cordery filed a series of legal challenges following that election citing technical issues and the process that elevated Green to the governor’s office, but the courts dismissed those cases….

SA: Republican ticket brings diverse approaches to gubernatorial race | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Read … Underdog Gov Candidate Takes On The Democratic Machine — Again - Honolulu Civil Beat

After Pretending to Join ‘Stop Corporate Personhood’ Circus--ACLU Shows True Colors (again)

CB: … the first legal salvo was fired by Grassroot Institute of Hawaiʻi, a libertarian/conservative-leaning think tank, that teamed up with the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Free Speech to challenge the law in federal court. Grassroot has become more and more of a political player in the last few years and was planning to expand its political activism soon but contends Act 11 will prevent it from doing that.

Grassroot recently got some help from an unlikely ally — the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU calls itself a “resolutely nonpartisan organization” but likewise fears that Act 11 will put a big damper on its ability to advocate for the issues and people it cares about.

And not only will the ACLU be harmed but “The Act directly prohibits and indirectly chills a great deal of political advocacy engaged in every day by nonprofit and charitable organizations across the ideological spectrum,” the ACLU says in its amicus brief.

The Blog looked back through nearly 300 pages of testimony on SB 2471 and didn’t find the ACLU fighting the bill as it went through numerous committee hearings. Interestingly, the ACLU of Hawaiʻi’s policy director, Josh Frost, submitted testimony several times in support of the bill although he made it clear he was not speaking for his organization.

(TRANSLATION: I knew this bill would destroy my organization, but I rest assured that the conservative justices of the Supreme Court will save me from myself. I am thus free to pander relentlessly to these fools.)

But that was then and this is now.

“Much of the ACLU’s advocacy in defense of civil rights and liberties around the country would be banned or chilled under restrictions like those in Act 11,” the ACLU says in the lawsuit. “First, the Act’s prohibition on ballot-issue advocacy by nonprofit corporations would apply to the ACLU’s (and ACLU Foundation’s) spending on ballot measures related to abortion access, LGBTQ rights, judicial independence, and voting rights. Second, the Act’s prohibition on speech that ‘indirectly’ supports or opposes a candidate would inevitably chill the ACLU’s public advocacy about candidates and officials.”…

(CLUE: If you are in the least bit surprised by ACLU, you desperately need to read this from 10 years ago: HCR29: Legislators Vote to Abolish ERS, End Free Speech for Star-Advertiser)

June 2026: Lawsuit: Hawaii 'Corporate Personhood' law silences nonprofits and civic groups

Sept 2026: US Chamber of Commerce sues Hawaii over law targeting Citizens United

Read … The Sunshine Blog: Lines Being Drawn On Citizens United Might Surprise You - Honolulu Civil Beat

Meee Tooo Hysteria Staging Comeback?

CB: … (Can you count the buzzwords and catch phrases?)

Recently, a ‘brave’ young woman, a former Cornell student, ‘started’ a ‘worldwide conversation’ by bringing to light her ‘story’ as a ~~survivor~~ of (participant in) ~~gender-based violence~~ (drug-fueled orgy) ~~on a college campus~~ (at frat house party). She ‘exposed’ how educational institutions both fail to prevent ~~gender-based violence~~ (her from drinking and drugging herself) and neglect to ‘stop violence in its tracks’ by ‘holding perpetrators accountable’ (while elevating her to heroine)….

(Have Democrats learned anything from lowering themselves to the point where they lose even to a clown like Trump?)

read … Hawaiʻi Must Stand Against Student Sex Discrimination Amid Federal Attacks - Honolulu Civil Beat

Rate Hikes? Critics question HECO’s ‘fire sale’ of ASB

HNN: … After the sale, in less than two years, the value of the bank stock went from $450 million to nearly $1.2 billion after going public -- a 164% increase compared to other local banks with far more modest growth….

Maui resident Hodges says that proves Hawaiian Electric could have gotten half a billion dollars more in the sale, which could have helped control rates and help victims.

Chan Hodges said, “For them, we can call this a fire sale. Fire sale probably has a bitter meaning. And so in my view, hundreds of millions of dollars from the sale of American Savings should have gone to them and instead went to select mainland investors and insiders who had access to the deal and they became substantially wealthier as a result.” …

Read … Critics question quick sale of bank after Maui fires | Hawaii News Now

Hawaii members face Medicare plan changes from HMSA

KHON: … Kathy Ginoza Arakaki handles the insurance for her husband and elderly aunty. She was startled when they got certified letters from HMSA stating their Medicare plans won’t be offered next year. She did find out later they would be able to re-enroll in similar programs.

“I thought that was not very nice,” said Kathy Ginoza-Arakaki, HMSA customer. “It should’ve said it here. In one letter. Not we’re gonna send another letter. Are they hoping we all leave?”

“HMSA is committed to serving the people of Hawaii, it is not our intention at all to leave the Medicare Advantage market,” said Kim Takata Endo, HMSA vice president of Medicare. “Unfortunately, there are some tough decisions that we’ve had to make in order to keep serving our members and to ensure that our plans are sustainable over the long run.”

Those tough decisions meant eliminating some Medicare programs because of changes in federal funding. HMSA is offering similar options next year, but customers should expect a change in either pricing or service.

The letter it sent to its 16,000 members who are affected didn’t go into those options. …

The Medicare Advantage open enrollment period runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7. For more information, visit the AARP website….

SA: HMSA revamping Medicare Advantage plans | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

read … Hawaii members face Medicare plan changes from HMSA

Star-Adv: State Should Raid Green Fee Slush fund to Fill up EBT Cards

SA: … The looming economic slump means that elected leaders, on state and county levels, will need to strategize about how to direct more limited government resources, with public coffers allowing for much less discretionary spending.

They also will need to look at dedicated funds set aside for targeted purposes — the “green fee” fund for environmental projects comes to mind — as a way to accomplish goals that are ranked a bit lower, without draining the general fund.

A healthy portion of those basic finances of the state need to be prioritized to offset the economic burdens of those most in need, people who also can expect the federal government to provide much less of a safety net.

Among the most notable changes, monthly benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known less formally as “food stamps,” were reduced, effective Oct. 1. These are nationwide cuts implemented through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law.

On average, recipients will see $8.55 less allotted per person compared to the previous fiscal year. This means a drop of $34 monthly for a household of four. Of course, that loss is further amplified by rising costs of fuel and other necessities shipped here under higher transport rates.

Figuring out the best way to help such affected families navigate this changing landscape must be part of the central mission of elected leaders in Hawaii’s state Capitol and county council halls….

Read … Editorial: Tighten belts as economy cools | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Parents demand answers after 12-year-old leaves Nanakuli campus unattended

HNN: … The family met with school staff the following day to discuss what happened. According to Nani, school officials told them Chloe had been upset in class and that her teacher accompanied her outside before she went into a bathroom. The teacher said he was waiting outside when Chloe slipped past him and left campus.

But Chloe’s parents say their daughter’s account is different.

“She will tell you this story over and over with no bathroom involved,” Nani said.

The family also questions how Chloe was able to leave campus and make it to Nanakuli Avenue despite her individualized education program requiring one-on-one adult supervision at school.

Alika said the family met with Chloe’s teacher before the school year began and discussed her behaviors and triggers.

“We warned him numerous times, you got to watch her,” he said.

The family received an incident investigation report with estimated times, but Alika said they are still waiting for surveillance footage and specific timestamps showing when Chloe left campus.

“We got one official incident investigation report. It’s just a timeline, estimated times,” he said. “They said they would provide us the timestamps on the camera and the footage showing my daughter leaving campus. And still, they haven’t provided anything.”

State Sen. Samantha DeCorte, R-Ko Olina, Nanakuli, Maili, Waianae, Makaha, and Makua, who has spoken with Chloe’s family, said the incident raises concerns about student safety ….

read … Parents demand answers after 12-year-old leaves Nanakuli campus unattended | Hawaii News Now

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