Yesterday morning, Maui News reporter Ilima Loomis used the networking site, Twitter, to describe a frustrating run-in with another clogged drain in the flow of government information.

It seemed like a simple enough request.

Trying to find breakdown of unemployment numbers for Maui, Molokai, Lanai.

Call the Labor Department, right? Not so fast.

Labor PIO not in. Labor statistics office says they could give info to a member of the public, but I have to get it from PIO b/c I’m media.

They would answer the question if posed by “a member of the public” but they have instructions to clam up if the same question comes from a member of the news media? Something’s wrong over there, if that’s the case, although I have run into the same thing in the past when trying to pry information out of the city. Not sure what city policy is today, though.

And I got an update from Ilima Loomis in response to this morning’s post.

Thought I would give you an update on my search for signs of life at the Dept. of Labor and Industrial Relations yesterday.

As it turned out, the head of the research and stats division DID call me back, and told me the island and state breakdown wasn’t going to be released till next week. The PIO (a new guy) never called me back!!! Lesson reaffirmed: drop as many lines in the water as you can, and see which one gets a bite.

Hope things are nice in Kaaawa. It’s rainy and cold here.

In what is becoming a common sign of the times, news of Neil Abercrombie’s almost official intent to run for governor next year didn’t come from Hawaii’s news media, but from Associated Press writer Kevin Freking in Washington.

Freking apparently learned that Abercrombie was planning a weekend announcement from someone close to House Speaker Nancy Polosi.

According to his story: “Abercrombie told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of his intentions Thursday night, the official said.”

I hope that we’re not in for a re-run of the nasty 1986 Abercrombie vs. Hannemann campaign. They opposed each other in the Democratic primary for the 1st District seat vacated by Rep. Cec Heftel, who also returned to run for governor. The campaign got dirty, which Hannemann’s campaign spreading images of Abercrombie as a drug user. Everything went to heck. In a wildly implausible chain of events, Abercrombie won the special election to fill the remaining months of Heftel’s term, but Hannemann won the bigger prize, the primary election. But there was a backlash to all the campaign nastiness, and Hannemann was defeated in the general election by Republican Pat Saiki. She served two terms before making an unsuccessful bid for the Senate against Dan Akaka. Abercrombie was then elected to take her place in Washington and has been there since.

Anybody else remember Neil’s campaign as “Super Senator“?

And for something completely different, check out this wonderful blog, “A scrapbook of women of World War II Hawaii“. I noted the site via an entry from several months ago about Hilo Hattie, who happened to live in the house next door here in Kaaawa.