My column over at Civil Beat this morning takes a look at the lawsuit filed by the Democratic Party of Hawaii challenging the state’s “open primary” election system (“Hawaii Monitor: Primarily Politics“). However the intricacies of constitutional law play out in the courtroom, the political case for taking this action is far from persuasive, and [...]
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California’s in danger of moving much of government out of the sunshine, according to critics of two budget-related bills awaiting the governor’s signature. And that’s dangerous because other states less than enthusiastic about encouraging the public’s right to know may be encouraged to follow a similar course. The “say adios” quote comes from columnist Jeff [...]
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Given the ongoing questions raised by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regarding the city’s administration of grants to a central Oahu nonprofit agency, a recent report by the Center for Public Integrity should be required reading (“State legislators’ ties to nonprofit groups prove fertile ground for corruption“). According to the report: Since [...]
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Here are a few other takes on the Snowden case and From FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting): “Edward Snowden and the State-Identified Journalist.” Also from FAIR: “Media Advisory: Pundits vs. Edward Snowden.” Washington Post columnist Matt Miller (6/11/13) explained that “what Snowden exposed was not some rogue government-inside-the-government conspiracy. It’s a program that’s legal, [...]
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A Washington Post media blog by Erik Wemple took a big swipe at Hawaii media this week (“Where’s the Hawaiian media on the Snowden story?“). Civil Beat was the only local media credited at the time with “a shoe-leather piece on Snowden,” which included a stroll through Snowden’s former home, now for sale. Fair criticism? [...]
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My Hawaii Monitor column in Civil Beat this week looks at the issue of gifts and gifting. More specifically, the question of how the State Ethics Commission interprets and applies the gift provisions of the state ethics code (see, “Hawaii Monitor: Is It Time for a Review of Political Gift-Giving?“). I can see different sides [...]
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Paula Bender is a local journalist who has paid her dues over the years at PBN, the old Honolulu Advertiser, a bunch of freelance work, several years more recently at HMSA. She’s been blogging (www.lavagal.net) since 2008, and was excited to read news of the upcoming tie-in between Civil Beat and Huffington Post, which promises [...]
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It seems to me that in order to appreciate concerns about the extent of previously secret surveillance by the federal government, you’ve got to go back to J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and the power that their much more primitive surveillance gave Hoover over the government officials who were supposed to hold him accountable. That haunting [...]
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