The chair of the State Ethics Commission told legislative leaders this week that any further discussions concerning recent advice from the commission should take place only as part of a regular commission meeting. In a January 18 letter, commission chair Maria Sullivan assured Senate President Shan Tsutsui that the commission agrees with the legal interpretations [...]
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The year ends with a typical day’s news, it seems. I got up early, checked the Star-Advertiser. A headline in the local news section, repeated online, stated incorrectly that a lawsuit seeking to block implementation of the state’s new civil unions’ law was “thrown out.” The story was correct, unlike the headline. Federal Judge Mike [...]
Tags: Andrew Jamila Jr·Patty Teruya
A five-member majority of the Honolulu City Council may have violated the state’s sunshine law by taking part in a lobbyist-paid trip to a rail transit conference in Washington, D.C. last week. In addition, the attendance of the five council members and other city officials at a lobbyist-sponsored reception may have stumbled over ethics guidelines. [...]
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We’ve noticed these “Bring RAP Back!” banners displayed at several elementary schools. This one is on the fence in front of Kaaawa Elementary. RAP refers to the Read Aloud Program operated by Read Aloud America, a successful Hawaii-based nonprofit that’s been around since 1995. In recent years, it’s funding has come almost entirely from the [...]
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House Speaker Calvin Say’s office responded quickly to the State Ethics Commission’s request for further information about meetings with representatives of Hollywood movie company, Relativity Media, during which gift sets of DVDs were distributed, but his response provided little information. Say told the commission he does not recall any details of his meetings with representatives [...]
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An investigation by the State Ethics Commission is asking legislators to step forward and report if they or their staff accepted boxed sets of DVDs from a Hollywood-based film company that was lobbying for bills that would have boosted tax credits to movie productions in the state. Relativity Media, a major Hollywood-based production company, reported [...]
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In November 1999, former Honolulu reporter Rick Daysog, now at the Sacremento Bee, wrote about the former Bishop Estate’s attempts to derail federal reforms in nonprofit laws. Ousted trustees of the Bishop Estate paid former Gov. John Waihee to lobby top White House officials in an effort to protect their hefty paychecks, according to internal [...]
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Key portion of an on-the-fly interview by Adreinne LaFrance with a Honolulu rail delegation in D.C., published as part of her Civil Beat story on Thursday. Civil Beat, catching up with man walking ahead of the group: Hi, sir. I’m Adrienne LaFrance with Civil Beat. What’s your name? Dennis Dwyer: My name is Dennis Dwyer. [...]
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