A newly formed political committee has been running last-minute television ads attacking Honolulul mayor candidate Keith Amemiya with sharp blasts of implication and innuendo.
Aloha Aina Oiaio was registered with the Campaign Spending Commission as an independent expenditure organization on July 11, 2020, followed by two amended organizational statements in quick succession, the latest on July 28.
The organizational report filed by the group lists Lokahi Cuban as chairperson, treasurer and custodian of the group’s books. He is the only name associated with the group. Cuban’s address is given as 2149 Booth Road.
The organization is registered at 727 Kinau Street in Honolulu. It is the same address as Exclusive Distribution and Wholesale LLC, a business registered last year by Lokahi Cuban. The state’s business registration division lists the business as “Not in Good Standing.”
Cuban also registered a limited liability company using the same name (Aloha Aina Oiaio, LLC) on June 29, 2020 and at the same Kinau Street address, state business registration records show.
The name Aloha Aina Oiaio was appropriated from a Hawaiian newspaper in the late 19th century, and was recently made popular with social media videos of a sovereignty song by the same name being performed.
Back in February, Lokahi Cuban identified himself in a social media post as “a 100% Hanabusa supporter.”
He was mentioned in a post on this blog back in 2014 when he made four $500 contributions on the same day to a little known Republican political action committee which was backing Republican Richard Fale against Democratic challenger Gil Riviere.
Earle Kealoha is registered as the treasurer of Hawaii Solutions, a little-known Republican political action committee that sent out a flyer attacking Democrat Gil Riviere, who is running against Republican Rep. Richard Fale for the District 23 Senate seat vacated by Clayton Hee.
Kealoha’s daughter, Erin Kealoha Fale, is candidate Fale’s wife. Erin Kealoha Fale is an account executive with Communications Pacific, and served as vice-president of the Hawaii for Romney campaign in 2012.
Aloha Aina Oiaio recently disclosed its contributors.
A quick check turned up a bit of information on some contributors.
James Branda is an attorney in Naperville, Illinois, who previously contributed $3,000 in September 2017 to Colleen Hanabusa’s run for governor.
Robert Hsia also contributed $2,000 to Hanabusa’s campaign on the same day in September 2017. Christina Louie lists the same address as Robert Hsia.
Wilson Lau is the registered agent for Island Wide Flooring. He has no recent reported campaign contributions, but gave $200 to Mufi Hannemann’s campaign in 2010, and another $200 to Kirk Caldwell in 2012.
Myles Kawakami, who lists himself as a move driver with the Teamsters Union, contributed a total of $3,328 to Megan Kau’s campaign for prosecutor in 2019.
Travis McKay contributed $1,000 to Hanabusa’s campaign on June 2, 2020.
Robert Park lists the same address as Jimmy Up Home, which made a separate contribution to Aloha Aina Oiaio.
Rinell Riberia is a family member of Lokahi Cuban, and they share a residential address, along with Junoe Savea.
Dexter Sato has not made any recent campaign contributions, but in 2010 gave $4,000 to the gubernatorial campaign of Neil Abercrombie. At that time he was identified as president of Punaluu Builders.
You can see a list of expenditures reported by Aloha Aina Oiaio on the Campaign Spending Commission’s website.
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Heard a new anti-Amemiya TV ad dropped last night but haven’t seen it yet.
Well, Ian, without mentioning any current endorsements, back on January 2, 2014 you did write of Hanabusa that she was “the poster child for that sense of entitlement,” referring to her insistence that “I deserve this [Senatorial] seat because Senator [Inouye] said so in a letter he wrote on the very day he died.” As you then added: “Or, more correctly, supposedly wrote.” I?m not fond of Keith (Midweek) Amemiya either, but the letter he circulated recently accusing Hananbusa of unprincipled campaign tactics now seems even more spot on. Thanks for the characteristically great investigative work.
Excellent points. Ian’s Hanabusa endorsement seems an outlier to me given his normal proclivities, but even with Trump as president it’s still a semi-free country.
And now Hanabusa is the attorney for the state legislature defending gut-and-replace at the Hawaii Supreme Court.
Ian thank you for this work. I would hope that at some point someone takes a look at what they have said and disputes it point by point or verifies it point by point. It seems that with our present state it is easy to say false to everything and no explanation needed, when it does appears there is something there. How can voters know where the truth lies without engaged investigative reporting. Thanks again for your work.
The anti-Amemiya TV ad just ran at 5:20 pm on KGMB and acknowledged sponsorship by Cuban and Aloha Aina Oiaio.
I’m still startled by your endorsement of Hanabusa, but you do have your conservative side which is understandable in a septuagenarian. Hawaii politics has become so sclerotic that I’m willing to vote for anyone younger than fifty-five on the basis of ideological vigor alone.
Republican lawmakers in Washington might be surprised to hear Colleen Hanabusa described as conservative!
What would we do without you?