Environment

“Hawai‘i's working families and small businesses already suffer from one of the highest overall tax rates in the nation,” said Lynn Finnegan. “Duke and I oppose tax increases, and we'll encourage a business-friendly environment.”

"We want to focus this campaign on the critical issues facing our working families and small businesses, and nothing is more critical right now than creating job opportunities," said Duke Aiona. "There's nothing in our opponents' plan that will create private sector jobs immediately, which will be a top priority for an Aiona-Finnegan Administration."

Hawaii Christian Coalition candidate comparisons for Hawaii Legislative races.

"National Democrats have already blown over $530,000 in this race in a desperate attempt to mislead Hawaii voters and distract them from examining Colleen Hanabusa's record. Every dollar spent has been to distort Congressman Djou's record while no dollar was spent promoting anything positive about their "second favorite" candidate."

Washington- Democrat Congressman Chet Edwards (D-TX) recently admitted that his vote for his party’s failed trillion-dollar stimulus may cost him an election. His startling admission should have Democrat candidates like Colleen Hanabusa – who also supported the legislation – worried that they too will share the same fate.

"My comments about flu vaccine have been taken out of context and misconstrued by members of the media as well as supporters of my opponent's campaign.

“I've talked with many health care professionals and reviewed the benefits and risks of flu vaccinations. I just got my flu shot."

With the Gubernatorial race coming down to the wire, the Washington Post has just published a six page interview with Senator Dan Inouye in which he says absolutely nothing about Neil Abercrombie’s campaign.  Abercrombie beat Inouye’s favored candidate Mufi Hannemann in the September 18th Democratic Primary.  Is Inouye repeating the same strategy which places personal loyalty above party loyalty and was so helpful to the election of Republican Charles Djou in the May Special Election?

As thousands of voters in Hawaii's First Congressional District are readying themselves to cast votes in the General Election, one of the main candidates will be unable to cast a vote for herself. Voters should ask, why is Colleen Hanabusa running for a Congressional seat that represents an area she doesn't live in?

The deadline to register to vote in the General Election is Monday, October 4. 

Your voter registration application must be received by the City or County Clerk where you reside no later than 4:30 pm on Monday, Oct. 4.

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.”

[Colleen Hanabusa]  "I can tell you right now, in government I don't think there's waste, per se.”

[Charles Djou] "You know that's not true. Our government is wasting billions of dollars. We may be the first generation in American history to leave the next worse off.

HONOLULU - Duke Aiona and Lynn Finnegan today launched the second in a series of videos they are sharing online to discuss real solutions for all of Hawai‘i. The second spot, "Fuel," focuses on small businesses, which fuel Hawai‘i's economy.

The 30-second web video consists of time-lapse driving sequences, seeing the islands through Duke Aiona's perspective as we hear his thoughts.

“Today marks the start of a new Federal fiscal year.  Congress just closed one of the most fiscally irresponsible sessions in modern American history, spending an inordinate amount of money, running an unprecedented budget deficit—without turning the economy around."

Abercrombie attempted to drive up the cost of an important work project on Guam that is expected to create 15,000 jobs by forcing them to pay exorbitant wages, making the project unaffordable.  Even Senator Inouye came out against Abercrombie’s proposal saying it would “shut local businesses” out of work.

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”?

There was one disappointing occurrence last night, however.  One of my supporters, while setting up for the event, saw a white van with the license plate NDU-549 stop across the street from Hau'ula Elementary while a passenger jumped out and stole a few of my signs.  A police report has been filed so any information you may have will be helpful to the HPD.

I have had nearly $1,000 worth of signs stolen so far.

“The fact that travelers are choosing Hawai‘i for their vacation is a reflection of the hard work and cooperative efforts between this Administration, private sector businesses and the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority.  The tourism outreach that has been undertaken by this Administration includes working with the airlines to increase airlift into our state and continued infrastructure improvements at our airports through the airports modernization plan."

Last night, even though I was in Washington, D.C., I was able to talk with over 3,000 residents in my district, my "bosses" in Hawaii's First Congressional District. I heard from you about your concerns on many issues: from jobs, to the economy, to taxes, healthcare and the size of government.

As Israel is in the fight for its people’s very survival, Congressman Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, has refused to support America’s important ally over the terrorist group, Hezbollah.

"Union bosses are showing their true colors in these tough economic times,” said Chairman Jonah Ka’auwai.  “They have refused requests by union members to reduce union fees during the recession and are even making examples of Speaker Say and Senator Mercado Kim because of their resistance to raising the GET tax on the people of Hawaii."

The resolution came after a series of reports in the media indicated there was a vast network of corrupt Democratic lawmakers engaging in pay-to-play schemes on behalf of the PMA Group. As indicated in the resolution, the Washington Post reported on February 14, 2009 that they “examined contributions that were reported as being made by [the firm’s] employees and consultants, and found several people who were not registered lobbyists and did not work at the lobbying firm.”

In the 2008 at-large election, "blank votes" exceeded the votes for each of the three candidates elected to the BOE.  33.8% of the votes (312,965 votes) were "blank".

“No one denies that the current valuation of Chinese currency is troubling and remedial actions must be taken. While I support a free-floating currency exchange between the United States and China, this legislation will not affect the trade deficit and will not create American jobs. Instead, this bill would hurt more than it would help our nation and Hawai‘i.

“This measure will harm U.S.-China relations, hurt international commerce and, most troubling for Hawai‘i, impair the emerging Chinese visitor market in Hawaii."

“The Community Awareness Act requires applicants for grant assistance under section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act to hold public meetings regarding such applications. I introduced the legislation in response to recent events in the Ewa Gentry community, which is in my district. I hope that this legislation will receive bipartisan support and swift action.”

Abercrombie voted for higher taxes on Hawaii families, the bailout, failed stimulus - bonuses for Wall Street executives.  

In this economy, Mr. Abercrombie?

I want to relieve the tax burden on Hawaii families and small businesses, while Mrs. Hirono has already committed to drastically raising your taxes this coming January. I want to stop the incessant and reckless government spending that jeopardizes our children and grandchildren’s future, yet Mrs. Hirono advocates more ill-conceived, ill-advised, and ill-fated and costly deficit bailout schemes. And I want to create jobs for our high number of unemployed and underemployed workers, but Mrs. Hirono wants to continue making Hawaii families more and more dependent on government handouts.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan sent letters to 216 low-income families informing them that he was taking back the $7,500 in scholarship money that the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program had previously awarded them. Yesterday on NBC's TODAY Show, Obama admitted that daughters Sasha and Malia deserve better than D.C. public schools -- that's the reason he sends them to a tony private school with other Washington elites. So then why is Obama blocking other kids from the same opportunity?

HONOLULU - Duke Aiona and Lynn Finnegan today announced the launch of their website, www.AionaFinnegan.com, and other joint efforts to reach out and connect with residents online. They have joined together on Facebook, where Duke Aiona has already added more than 11,300 friends and supporters - more than any elected official in the state.

On Twitter, Duke Aiona (@DukeAiona2010) and Lynn Finnegan (@LynnFinnegan) have more than 4,200 followers.

"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.”

In her own words, Colleen Hanabusa said in one of her recent advertisements that she is the kind of politician that, “What you see is what you’ll get.” Since she asked for it, let’s take a look at her record…

When asked about its "strategic vision" at a recent meeting, BOE members said they "need to talk about it."

HONOLULU - Duke Aiona and Lynn Finnegan today launched the first in a series of videos they will share online to discuss real solutions that will benefit all of Hawai‘i. The first spot, "Piston," focuses on job creation, which will be Duke Aiona and Lynn Finnegan's top priority as Governor and Lt. Governor.

Said Lt. Governor Aiona. "We have only five weeks left to show voters how we will govern so they can make an informed decision in the general election. Once it became clear that my opponent didn't want to immediately focus this campaign on the issues, we agreed to any debates we could. I'm ready to debate right now."

“I encourage the Legislature to take immediate steps to repeal these two laws since they place federally funded public construction projects in Hawai‘i in jeopardy and could even subject the State to fines and penalties for violating federal procurement rules,” said Governor Lingle.  “In addition to the legality of an ambiguous residency quota and procurement preference, I vetoed these measures because they discourage job creation, delay and increase the cost of public construction projects, and stall our economic recovery.”

The Freedom Award is the highest recognition given to employers for their support of their employees who also serve in the National Guard and Reserve. The Hawai‘i State Government was selected as one of only 15 employers from across the nation to receive the 2010 Freedom Award.  This is the first time a state is being recognized with the award.  A national selection board comprised of senior Defense officials and business leaders selects the award recipients.

"Judging from their most recent ad, it's clear National Democrats are rattled. They know the only way they can win is by trying to mislead the people of Hawaii. They know, and more importantly, the voters of Hawaii's First Congressional District know that my record is clear: I have supported measures that will put our fiscal house in order, create jobs and help our community."

“Some are asking ‘where is the local and national Democrats’ plan?’ and I remind them that it is already being implemented, and here in Hawaii has been the norm for over four decades.  Higher taxes and fees, more spending, bigger government, less liberty and doing whatever union bosses tell them to.  That’s the Democrat’s ‘Pledge.’  They should have the guts to put it on paper and roll it out the way Republicans have.”

Please join our panelists:

• - Garrett Toguchi, Chair, Hawaii Board of Education
• - Colbert Matsumoto, Spokesperson, Hawaii's Children First
• - Patricia Hamamoto,  Principal of St. Louis School

"I will vigorously implement the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative, and set a more aggressive, but achievable, mid-term goal of cutting by more than one-half Hawai‘i's annual foreign oil spending by 2018," Lt. Governor Aiona said. "Instead of shipping out $2 billion to $3 billion each year to buy foreign oil, we'll keep it in the local economy to create jobs."

The American people want, and our economy needs, more private sector jobs, not more public sector programs.  The Pledge to America answers this call.

“Instead of taking the simple step of offering small businesses the assurance that their taxes will not go up in a matter of months, this bill deepens our nation’s debt and provides no long-term incentives to create jobs. In fact, this bill permanently raises taxes by nearly $14.5 billion dollars. We cannot tax our way out of recession.

In her own words, Colleen Hanabusa said in one of her recent advertisements that she is the kind of politician that, “What you see is what you’ll get.” Since she asked for it, let’s take a look at her record…

Executive Director Janet Grace commented, “Regardless of the outcome of the various races, all of Hawaii’s pro-life candidates are heroes to those of us who respect the sanctity of human life.”

Congressman Djou spoke on the House floor in support of S.1055 (H.R. 347) – granting the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, United States Army, in recognition of their dedicated service during World War II.

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....