Entries for 'Selected News Articles'

Asked if he would endorse any gubernatorial candidate now that Hannemann is out of the race, Carvalho said, “As for further endorsements, I’m not prepared to do so at this time but may at a later date.”

Unwise financial planning, flawed incentives, and failed investments have left the pension fund far short of the resources it will need for long term operation. The Hawaii ERS is woefully underfunded by any standard.  The state government is obligated to pay its employees the benefits it has promised. But a report by the National Bureau of Economic Research predicts that Hawaii’s pension system will run out of funds in 2020....

No surprise that since 1991 Abercrombie has voted with the Democratic Party 92 percent of the time, and in the last Congress 98.5 percent.... But which legislation did he vote “Nay” on when his own Democratic Party (and Republicans) voted “Yea”?

Congressman Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii awarded Pacific Biodiesel a $3.5 million earmark to try to grow fuel for the Army in Hawaii. It turns out the founder of Pacific Biodiesel is a co-chair of the Congressman's gubernatorial campaign.  The pattern is repeated over and over....

"There is little evidence that voters are willing to throw Djou out of office after only a couple months on the job. A private Democratic poll showed the congressman leading by double digits. This race is not over, and Djou may even have the advantage.”

High-income residents of New York City and President Barack Obama’s home state of Hawaii would have the highest marginal tax rates in the U.S. if Congress adopts the president’s proposal to increase taxes for top earners....

In an astounding display of amnesia and misplaced sympathy, Hawaii rallied around the defendants. After entering their plea deal, the farmers, Michael and Alec Sou of Aloun Farms, orchestrated an outpouring of letters begging the judge for leniency at sentencing. Business leaders, community activists, politicians — even two former governors, Benjamin Cayetano and John Waihee, and top executives at First Hawaiian Bank — joined a parade attesting to the brothers’ goodness.

The men were paragons of diversified agriculture and wise land use, the letter writers said. They had special vegetable knowledge that nobody else had, and were holding the line against genetically modified crops. If they went to prison, evil developers would pave their farmland. Think of the “trickle down impact,” one woman implored the judge. Besides, their produce was delicious.

The Universal Service Fund (USF) is that pesky tax on your phone bill that subsidizes connections for rural or lower-income households. The multibillion-dollar fund has caught enormous flak over the years for waste, fraud and abuse. And amid an ongoing and much-needed debate in Congress on how to reform the USF, the Federal Communications Commission is set to rule any day on the future of one small, politically connected company that built its entire business around receiving these taxpayer funds.

Primary Election Vote on Saturday, September 18, 2010 -- 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Because Hawaii’s pay-to-play law does not limit itself, as many such state laws do, to prohibition against contribution politicians with authority to determine who receives government contracts, Jim Bopp argues that the law unreasonably impairs speech in pursuit of regulation....

Furst cites a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ad aired against Rep. Charles Djou (R) before the May special election vote in Hawaii.

Djou and the youthful new leaders reshaping the Hawaii Republican Party suggest that their opponents are living in the past and counting on tradition to overcome voter dismay with deficit spending, rising taxes and protracted economic crisis.

THREE MONTHS after Intajak arrived in America, in October 2004, Global Horizons sent him to Hawaii to work for the Maui Pineapple Co. Here, the pay was better than in Yakima—$9.50 an hour—but the conditions were worse. One Global Horizons agent, Intajak and other workers told me, was in the habit of carrying a knife, a gun, or a baseball bat, and of threatening workers with "deportation" if they didn't behave or meet their quotas. Just four days in, Intajak says, he watched the man beat a coworker. 

The Maui Pineapple Co.'s land is nestled among gorgeous foothills, shrouded in mist and covered with volcanic soil the color of dark coffee. The now-defunct company was part of Maui Land & Pineapple Co., whose majority owner is Steve Case, cofounder of AOL; another primary shareholder is eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, a generous benefactor of anti-slavery organizations.... 

In 2004, Hawaii required 677 signatures to qualify an entire new party, and 3,711 signatures to qualify an independent presidential candidate.  Ralph Nader and Michael Peroutka each tried to qualify as independent presidential candidates.  Even though each of them submitted more than 7,000 signatures, Hawaii elections officials invalidated over half of them.  Hawaii tends to disqualify signatures if the signer failed to show either the last four digits of his or Social Security number, or the full birthday.

Alaska's incumbent Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has conceded to TEA Party-backed Republican Senate candidate Joe Miler.

The Akaka bill is novel in that it is the first Congressional attempt to federally recognize a non-Indian entity, and to do so in a fashion inconsistent with the political history of the former governing entity it is ostensibly recognizing. Under a different view, the Akaka bill is novel in that it endeavors to federally recognize a government to collectively represent an entire ethnic group based upon shared indigeneity, rather than political history. But political history, not indegeneity, begets federal recognition.

The speeches were not incendiary, for the movement is not basically political. The deep feeling present came of itself from the crowd. The spontaneity of the marching, the emotional reaction to the singing, the quiet fellowship of the audience provided evidence; the profound devotion to this most sincerely embraced of all causes was obvious. If the democratic system is to be workable we must come back to this deep, non-political popular feeling as the primary sovereignty. The legislature of the nation can never lead the people; it would pervert democracy if it did. The noble spirit of the March is inescapable and its manifestations must eventually be found in Congress.

HONOLULU -- With Hawaii's primary election just three weeks away, elections officials were dealt a big blow Friday by the federal government.

The state may face a federal lawsuit because Hawaii’s primary and general elections are too close together to meet the requirements of a new federal law….

In the second edition of opinions by Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice appointee Mark E. Recktenwald (currently serving as an Associate Justice on the court), we review the opinions he authored during his tenure on the Intermediate Court of Appeals where Justice Recktenwald served as Chief Judge from April 30, 2007 until he moved to the Hawaii Supreme Court in May 2009.

TRENTON — New Jersey was not the only state to make an error on its application for the Race to the Top competition. Hawaii omitted a response to an entire section of the application it wrote for the competition’s first round, a mistake that cost it 25 points....

House Republicans this weekend continued to blame Democrats for a lethargic economy, charging that last year's stimulus bill has hobbled the country with debt while failing to prevent the job losses that supporters promised.

"For every problem facing our nation, the answer from Washington has been to spend and spend, and – if that doesn’t work – spend some more," Rep. Charles Djou (R-Hawaii), said Saturday, delivering the Republicans' weekly radio address.

Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Voice of America, AP, Bloomberg, Politico...they're all talking about Charles Djou's speech.  And the local media?  Oh, that's right, they're busy doing point-by-point color commentary on the trash-talking Democrats who want to be Governor.

Justice Recktenwald has served on the Hawaii Supreme Court since May 11, 2009. Prior to that he served as Chief Judge of the Intermediate Court of Appeal from April 30, 2007 until his confirmation to the Hawaii Supreme Court.

The following is a brief run down of the cases Justice Recktenwald authored during his time on the Hawaii Supreme Court ....

Despite a categorical denial, evidence is mounting that leading Hawaii gubernatorial candidate Neil Abercrombie, is a covert socialist. What is worse, he may be lying about it.

U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who ruled last week that a voter-approved amendment to California’s constitution that limited marriage to the union of one man and one woman violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, based that ruling in part on his finding that a child does not need and has no right to a mother.

Nor, he found, does a child have a need or a right to a father.

The words “Colleen Hanabusa” appear in almost none of the coverage of this charade.  We’d just like to point that out.

KHON: "I cannot just trust that she will grow into this position. I cannot just trust that she will become a good leader and administrator," said Sen. Rosalyn Baker (D-Kapalua, Lahaina, Kihei).  (BTW: Sen Roz Baker showed who she CAN trust in an administrative position when she hired convicted child molester Leon Rouse as a committee aide in 2006.) 

SA: "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."

Investigations for my new book, Wingnuts, revealed that the Birther conspiracy theory was first concocted by renegade members of the original Obama haters, Party Unity My Ass, known more commonly by their acronym, the PUMAs. They were a splinter group of hard-core Hillary Clinton supporters who did not want to give up the ghost after the bitter 50-state Bataan Death March to the 2008 Democratic nomination.

In the early summer of '08, message boards on sites like PUMAParty.com began lighting up with the ultimate reversal-of-fortune fantasy—that their party's nomination could be overturned on constitutional grounds....

Washington, DC — Congressman Charles K. Djou (HI-01) appeared on MSNBC today with guest host Cenk Uygur to discuss the current economy, today’s disappointing jobs numbers and the need to create more private sector jobs by enacting pro-growth policies.

Shapiro: "First senators try to embarrass Lingle by criticizing her for not appointing enough women judges, then they try to embarrass her by rejecting the most prominent woman she does appoint.  Shame on them for polluting our Judiciary with their bush league politics."

Mufi to Neil:  "You can't know the private sector...."

Neil on Mufi: "...name-calling and finger pointing there..."

Neil on Birthers: "(Obama) was born yesterday in Kapiolani Hospital in 1961, I can assure you...."  (Defeating birthers to become Gubernatorial priority???)   ...  and much, much more....

But Pelosi agreed to offer her support when the Abercrombie camp sought to counter a tough ad that attacked Abercrombie’s attendance record in the House, his March resignation from Congress to run for governor, and calls him a “follower.”   (Gee. I wonder where they got THAT idea?)

“His early resignation cost President Obama critical support for healthcare and Wall Street reform,” the ad says. “Neil says to look at his record. We agree.”

Three months after Rep. Charles Djou (R-Hawaii) won a key special election in one of the blue state's two House districts, the RGA is signaling that it thinks it can win that state's governor's race too.

The TV and radio ads are 100 percent positive and don't mention Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona's (R) Democratic opponents. They feature Aiona himself and talk about his efforts to control drugs in the state.

JUDGE: THE RIGHT TO MARRY PROTECTS AN INDIVIDUAL’S CHOICE OF MARITAL PARTNER REGARDLESS OF GENDER...

DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS DO NOT SATISFY CALIFORNIA’S OBLIGATION TO ALLOW PLAINTIFFS TO MARRY...

Just two-and-a-half months after winning his special election in HI-01, a new poll from Rep. Charles Djou's (R) camp shows he starts the general election in a rather strong position. In the survey, Djou led state Senate Pres. Colleen Hanabusa (D) 50-42%.

Hawai‘i has become one of the least business-friendly states in America. Having served in the Hawai‘i State House and on the Honolulu City Council, I know that we cannot continue to punish businesses and still provide for a prosperous Hawai‘i.

But the anti-business policies that I fought in state and local government are dwarfed by the tax-and-spend agenda that I am battling in the United States Congress. It seems that for every problem facing our nation, the government’s answer is to spend and spend some more.

Lambda legal staff attorney Tara Borelli: “Because of the way Hawaii’s constitution was amended in 1998, that amendment reserves for the legislature, the decision about whether to allow marriage equality for same-sex couples. So we aren’t able to ask the court for marriage equality, it’s a case instead that seeks access to the complete package of legal tools to protect families.”

Hawaii state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, who split the Democratic vote with former Rep. Ed Case in the May special election, is the party's presumptive nominee against Djou.

"We now have sweetness and light in Hawaii — or at least we don't have a lot of darkness," Hoyer said.

In David Shapiro’s July 28 column, he implies that Governor Linda Lingle’s legacy will be narrowly defined by her judicial appointments. While Shapiro correctly points out that the Governor has appointed 3 of the 5 Supreme Court Justices, pending Judge Katherine Leonard’s confirmation as Chief Justice, 5 of the 6 judges on the Intermediate Court of Appeals and more than half of the Circuit Court judges, he is vastly overlooking the Governor’s many other accomplishments of her nearly 8 year service.

As Ian Lind notes, "Mainstream media haven't told us much about Chief Justice nominee's legal views" and "[t]he only thing I’ve seen about Leonard’s actual judicial performance and views was a review of Leonard’s decisions from the legal blog, Inversecondemnation.com." The only other coverage we've seen has been further references to our post by law blogger Charley Foster at Planet Kauai, and by alternative journos Hawaii Reporter and Hawaii Free Press. The only words we've heard from traditional media has been from the Star-Advertiser's Dave Shapiro, and then primarily via his Volcanic Ash blog.

Sen. John Cornyn,R-Texas – who co-sponsored MOVE – wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on July 26 saying he is concerned that the Department of Justice is allowing states to opt out of the new law. ...

"... according to recent information, the Department of Justice has expressed reluctance to protect the civil rights of military voters under the new law. All our men and women in uniform deserve a chance to vote this November, and the Obama administration bears responsibility for ensuring that they have it.

The Congressional Budget Office employs talented economists whose job it is to study every aspect of every bill and predict how much each will cost – or how much each will save – years into the future.

They are good, but they are not infallible soothsayers. Economic predictions that are off just a little in a year can become wildly inaccurate over the course of decades.... 

When costs are higher than or savings lower than predicted, the Truth in Spending Act creates a fast-track process to reduce excess costs through legislation.

The DoE is paying millions of dollars to contractors for software when equal or superior alternatives are available elsewhere at lower cost--often free of charge. This wasteful spending is the direct result of the cozy, revolving door relationship between the contractors and the DoE officials who direct business their way.

We've done an informal survey of the 2010 output of the ICA (and the Supreme Court in reviewing the ICA's work) to pick out those cases in which Judge Leonard authored the opinion, or served on the panel in an interesting case. We tried to focus on published opinions, but there were several unpublished opinions which also caught our attention. Here are the results, in reverse chronological order:

The SPEECH Act will guard American authors and publishers from frivolous foreign libel suits, filed in countries that do not have our strong free speech protections....

Hawaii’s natural advantages continue to mask its political failings.

Setting snark aside, there is a real issue here: Is it appropriate for a state to require parents to declare their races so they can be stamped on to their children’s birth certificates, where they will remain in perpetuity? As of 1993, only five states had such policies in place. Now, over 15 years later, we have a multiracial president in the White House. Is it still necessary to insist upon racial identification on birth certificates — or is it time to discard such policies as outdated and counterproductive?

What valid purposes are served by such policies? Don’t they just exacerbate the problem of excessive race-consciousness in this country? To quote the wise words of Chief Justice John Roberts, “[t]he way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” And the way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to stop knowing or caring what race a person is. [FN1]