This kind of thing doesn’t happen very often in a major American city. The former police chief, along with his wife and two police officers, convicted of being part of a conspiracy to frame his wife’s uncle in order to discredit him in litigation that threatened to expose her misappropriation of funds. The crimes took place while he was chief. The chief’s wife, formerly the deputy city prosecutor in charge of career criminal prosecutions, was the ringleader in the conspiracy, and is now in federal detention until her sentencing in this case, and trial on additional charges, later this year.
Lots of local news headlines over the past two years.
But in terms of national new coverage, virtually nothing. Last week, while their trial was in its final stages, national networks had crews in Hawaii to cover the crash of a skydiving plane that killed nine people. Did they look at the local news and stick around to cover the trial? Apparently not.
It seems strange that the Kealoha saga has, so far, not gotten much attention. Tell the story to mainland friends, and they they are amazed.
Courthouse News Service did distribute a short story about the convictions. But that’s about it.
Frankly, I find the silence hard to explain.
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Answer is simple, it’s not negative anti Trump or Republican bad news!
In the Bluest of blue Hawaii, Democratic Utopia no news is good news in the far away #49.
The issue of NO Existing Territory Status for misnomer country American Samoa currently exists, this has received 100 times more national press as the result of Tulsi outstanding birther issues!
What a bunch of absurd BS!
Hal Barnes, Main Stream Media Protection And Enforcement of No Bad Blue News is a Black Out! Even OHA Trustee Dr. Kelli Akina is getting far more attention with upcoming 20/20 John Stossel interview. Only one article in Web Site “Slate” isn’t a piddle of coverage!
It doesn’t take a mathematical “BS Degree” that equals one iota of factual accounting…just simple Kindergarten math!
Forget it, Jake. It’s Honolulu.
Slate ran a short piece 3 days ago
There’s a Bonkers Corruption Case Unfolding in Hawaii
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/06/honolulu-public-corruption-mailbox-trial.html
The only possible answer is that Hawaii is a Democratic stronghold and the left-leaning anti-Trump media doesn’t want the rest of the USA to know how corrupt things get in a single-party/Democratic party environment. Anyone who does not think the media is politically biased and cherry-picks what it wants you to know should soak this in. Another factor may be that local media just simply is not alerting mainland papers and networks to this. Maybe when it rises to the level of prosecutor and corp counsel someone will contact a network or major paper. Particularly surprised at WA Post, but hey, they are sort of down the drain like NYT and CNN.
Ummm, I think there are other possible answers…. I’ll just go with “the big bad mainstream media can be so frikken lame.” That was really funny though!!!
Bazbo–If it’s a matter of political bias, why isn’t Fox News shouting it to the skies? It’s not like them to miss a chance to make Democrats look bad, whether there’s anything to the story or not. This time they could even tell the truth, for a change.
Sorry, politics aside, most of the media really is Trump obsessed. Fact. Fox is not “shouting at the skies” because, as someone suggested, they probably are being “frikken lame.” Yet, they too are Trump obsessed with their own slant. Regardless, the media does have a significant history at “forgetting” or dropping huge stories with a certain political party Nexis, like Wasserman Schultz’ Pakistani IT workers, Feinstein’s Chinese – spy driver, Obama shutting down the DEA’s Operation Cassandra for the sake of his negotiations, the Mueller Report’s discussion of the Podesta Group, Two Democratic mayors in Reading and Allentown who were indicted on pay to play schemes a couple of years ago, The Clinton Foundation, fast and furious, Spying on Journalists by Mr. O., on and on and I could go on – if any such story had a Republican center we would still be watching specials and listening to talking heads raging about them.
I don’t think we should care about national news coverage of this. What we need is some long form reporting on how this whole mailbox-and-fraud affair got going with two well-educated and successful people, and why members of the police department bought in.
Someone to examine the earlier life of Kathy Kealoha and how this scheme was bought into by her husband — who apparently was having an internal affair even as his wife was having an external affair.
We need William Finnegan on this one for the New Yorker. Pass it on.
Bob Jones of CBS News in Hanoi
“. . . why members of the police department bought in . . .” This part of the equation may be explained by understanding the roles of the people involved. Simply put, people lower on the ladder often feel pressure to go along for fear of retaliation. Or perhaps they were promised some type of payback.
I think it’s vitally important to understand why the Honolulu Ethics Commission shut down the investigation headed by Chuck Totto. There’s a breakdown there that needs to be fixed.
Maybe the first mistake – and the one we continually make over and over again – is assuming that being well educated and successful proves anyone is honest and ethical at all. Our experience across the country seems to be completely opposite: Education and position mean nothing. Like the old story on where to find well-hidden bad apples, “find honesty in prisons and asylums, generosity in the poverty-stricken, lawlessness in the lawyers and law makers, evil in the church, insanity in politics, stupidity in the faculty lounge……..” Seems to be an epidemic going around nowadays. A little more Shakespeare shines a bright light on most of the legacies from those like the Kealohas.
Can’t say our local news has much better content. Check today’s Advertiser promoting a full spread of militaristic weapons photos with the UH football team toting 50 caliber and M4 rifles in their annual visit to the Army. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2019/06/30/photo-gallery/hawaii-football-team-learns-leadership-army-visit
The greatest corruption case in Hawaii’s history is failing to make national news because it is so tiny. When a national press outlet like Slate mentions it, it is not because the players that you have touched upon in your blog — the police, the prosecutor’s office, the mayor — are evil geniuses, but because they are weirdly inept and goofy. It could be that people who live in relatively small, isolated places have a distorted view of reality. Objects may appear larger than they are. (For example, small towns typically believe that their obscure coach is a great legend of football history.)
Years ago, there was an interview on HPR with a mainland politician who moved to Hawaii and got involved in local politics. When asked about Hawaii’s corruption, he said that everyplace has corruption, but Hawaii is actually much less corrupt than anywhere he has been. He said that the problem with Hawaii is a lack of candor. Nothing is discussed or debated, even behind closed doors. When a scandal erupts into public view, the system goes into denial and shutdown. Perhaps because of this aversion to openness, there might be a lack of familiarity with basic issues. Also, closed systems do not adjust well to change, like we see with Native Hawaiian history.
For more then 3 decades, I have always found The-Ian view to be on point and honest. You’ld make a shitty politician — to honest and to much character.
Hubba Dubba my friend.