The Political Radar blog had an interesting item on a letter from legislative leaders asking the attorney general to weigh in on the Ethics Commission’s ruling that members of task forces and working groups formed by the Legislature must follow the same ethics rules on lobbying as members of other state boards and commissions. I’ll [...]
Posted tagged ‘Legislature’
Legislators continue ethics fight
September 14, 2011Governor must answer, ‘Where’s the beef?’
August 17, 2011In his speech today updating constituents on the status of his “New Day” program, Gov. Neil Abercrombie once again did an excellent job of describing the major challenges that Hawai‘i faces. But he still hasn’t gotten to the hardest part — prescribing specific remedies that a critical mass of Hawai‘i residents will support despite the [...]
Les Kondo strikes again
August 11, 2011Ethics Commission executive director Les Kondo will likely have an even bigger target on his back with state legislators after he shot down a posh dinner well-heeled special interests planned for Hawai‘i lawmakers attending the National Conference of State Legislators in San Antonio. According to the Hawaii Reporter, the event was cancelled after Kondo advised [...]
Ethics chief in Legislature’s crosshairs again
August 4, 2011Nobody knows how to paint a target on his back better than Les Kondo, executive director of the state Ethics Commission. He got lawmakers’ noses seriously out of joint during this year’s legislative session when he told them that they couldn’t accept free tickets to a dinner hosted by a prominent Democratic power broker. How [...]
Abercrombie ups the stakes on homelessness
July 27, 2011Progress has been painfully slow in Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s high-profile battle to end homelessness in Hawai‘i, but give him credit for continuing to hack away at the problem and increase his personal accountability. A state phone line set up for citizens to report homeless people in need of services drew some derision when few useful [...]
System for choosing UH regents falls short again
July 19, 2011Once again, the regents advisory committee has given Gov. Neil Abercrombie only two candidates to pick from in filling a Big Island seat on the University of Hawai’i Board of Regents. With no knock intended on the candidates — Kamehameha Schools vice president Gregory Chun and former Hawaii County managing director Barry Mizuno — that’s [...]
Guv agrees to pay losing bidders
July 13, 2011The last batch of bills signed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie included one of the hold-your-nose gems of this year’s Legislature — HB 985, which allows the state to reimburse some losing bidders on public works projects for the cost of preparing their bids. The measure, which Abercrombie approved without comment, allows the state to spread around [...]
Challenges lie ahead for Hawaiian recognition
July 8, 2011I’d like to feel good about the native Hawaiian recognition act signed into law by Gov. Neil Abercrombie, but it’s getting difficult to muster optimism as thorny issues of Hawaiian rights drag out. The measure forms a commission to establish a roll of qualified Hawaiians, with the hope of eventually leading Hawai‘i’s indigenous people to [...]
WTF on sandbar dogs?
June 23, 2011Apparently there will be no serious sanctions filed against the 130-pound bull mastiff that mauled a woman on the Kaneohe Bay sandbar or the dog’s owner. The unleashed animal was returned to the owner with a warning from the city under Honolulu’s dangerous dogs law, but no citation was issued or criminal case opened. The [...]
Fix system for appointing UH regents
June 21, 2011The discussion following yesterday’s post on Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s requests for the resignations of board and commission members took a turn to the selection process for University of Hawai’i regents, so let’s stick with that for another day. The governor used to appoint regents of his or her choosing, subject to confirmation by the Senate [...]
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