Disappeared News

“…there is a moment when confusion turns into chaos or assault turns into murder. For the American political system that moment was the Supreme Court decision on corporations a year ago. Historians - if such people are permitted to exist in the future - will probably see this as one of the great tipping points in the collapse of America.

Further, what has happened in the last year - including the Tea Party surge in the 2010 election - is not so much the result of an intrinsic mental breakdown in the GOP as it is the conscious selection of candidates who would once have been considered absurd, but now can be safely used to carry out corporatist goals because the public no longer has the power to defeat the money.

A Scott Walker or Paul LePage can say and do anything that their campaign contributors want because it is assumed by the latter that money now inevitably trumps public will.

Yes, Scott Walker may be a sadist and Paule LePage a dumb bully, but they are merely tools of those who fund them. All they have to do is be pluto pimps for the corporate agenda.

This is scheme wouldn't work so well if their funders mainly wanted something, but what they really want is the absence of something -namely a government that might stand in their way. So long as Walker and LePage are destroying things, their backers are quite content.

These Republicans are wrecking trucks for the big businesses that want to tear down the neighborhood we call America.”

---

It’s hard to snip from Sam Smith’s writing—like many experienced and successful writers, he has a development which is broken by a blog snip.

Just click over to this article in his Undernews of 3/30/2011.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today questioned why the Federal Reserve provided more than $26 billion in credit to an Arab intermediary for the Central Bank of Libya.

The total includes at least $3.2 billion in loans that the Fed was forced to make public today in addition to earlier revelations under a Sanders provision in the Wall Street reform law.
…
“It is incomprehensible to me that while creditworthy small businesses in Vermont and throughout the country could not receive affordable loans, the Federal Reserve was providing tens of billions of dollars in credit to a bank that is substantially owned by the Central Bank of Libya,” Sanders said.

[Sanders press release, Release: Why Did the Fed Bail Out the Bank of Libya?, 3/31/2011]

Worse, read the full article to learn how the Libyan bank borrowed money at almost no interest and then loaned it back to the US at a higher rate.

by Larry Geller

It’s not disappeared news because it will be everywhere. The chair of the House Judiciary Committee recommended that the bill be deferred. That usually means it is dead, though it could be resurrected up until April 8.  Considering the almost universal condemnation of this bill, that probably won’t happen.

For those who have not seen prior articles, this is the bill that would have opened the floodgates for gifts, junkets, boondoggles, etc., to legislators and state employees.

Good riddance.

by Larry Geller

Keep the leaks coming folks (to leak [at] disappearednews.com), and thanks to all those who care about honest government.

Just to let legislators know that some of us do care, here’s a meeting held on March 28 by the Senate Committee on Water, Land and Housing. It was held in the auditorium at the Capitol, but no public notice was posted as appears to be required by Senate Rule 21 of the 2011-2012 rules of the Hawaii Senate. Instead, the committee sent out a press release (see below)..

The subject matter is of interest not only to the public but to a hoard of developers and contractors. Some of the topics covered included

Mixed Use Development
Transfer of Density Rights
Transit-Ready Development

Ok, mistake number one, no public notice to a meeting the public should have been invited to, held by a committee of the Hawaii State Senate.

Second mistake: it was scheduled for the same day, and immediately before, a fundraiser held by the Chair, Senator Donavan Dela Cruz (see bottom document).

That’s too close for comfort. It’s like saying, “Hey guys, come to this informational meeting at the Capitol then come n over to the nearby Mandalay Restaurant for a little fundraising and partying!”

Plus, of course, the fundraiser is being held during session while these matters and others are before the chair of the committee who’s holding the fund raiser.  Too, too close for comfort.

Where is the Senate President on this? I called the committee clerk and he did not see a problem with holding the meeting. I’d love to know whether the Senate intends to enforce its rules, and how.

 

Download Unnoticed Meeting 20110328

Click image below for larger

 

Keep those leaks coming. leak [at] disappearednews.com

by Larry Geller

Decision making is today for SB671, the bill that has been universally blasted because it would allow 501(c)  corporations to provide legislators with virtually unlimited meals, golf tickets, even junkets to the Mainland and to exotic overseas locations.

That would open the door to wholesale influence buying by chambers of commerce, unions, service providers to the state, contractors, and so many other organizations that it will be like a second income for lawmakers. Why buy your own lunch ever again when the law allows free meals? And for their staff, too, and for other state workers. Update: In my original post this morning I forgot that language in the current draft includes Hawaii Chapter 414D corporations:

"Charitable entity" means an entity that has received recognition of tax exempt status under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code or recognition as a nonprofit corporation under chapter 414D.

It’s very easy to form a 414D non-profit. So that would mean that any for-profit company could form a gift-giving subsidiary that would be legal under the new law. That’s a loophole big enough to drive a Superferry through.

Ok, you know it’s bad. Will that stop the Judiciary committee chair from passing the bill today?

It’s important, I think, to let legislators know that passing a law legalizing bribery doesn’t make it ok.

My parents used to say something like “sprinkling holy water on a pork chop doesn’t make it kosher.” 

Equally important for legislators and state workers to understand is that their activities are going to be subject to even more scrutiny should this bill pass into law. It still requires disclosure, so sooner or later the media are going to find out how big a ticket each state legislator accepted. We’ll know how many lunches were bought for their staff. How many fundraisers they held during session. Their votes will be examined more carefully than now to ferret out any possibility of influence.

We have tools now that can locate most every announcement, every ad, every invitation.

And I have confidence that the media will do its job. Voters need to know which of their representatives are on the dole and who is sustaining them.

Look, it’s only fair. Our government is talking about increasing our taxes and stealing from our pensions, but they want unlimited freebies for themselves?

Speaking of fundraisers, the illustration above shows that Judiciary Chair Gilbert Keith-Agaran held a fundraiser during session, and the day before this ethics bill comes up for decisonmaking before his committee.  Is that against the law? No. But many consider holding fundraisers during session to be questionable, if not unethical. The practice is common enough among a few of our state legislators. It’s questionable because it gives big-buck lobbyists and organizations with business with the state or bills before the Legislature the chance to purchase influence.

Let’s just call a spade a spade. This bill would open up investment opportunities in Hawaii that have not existed before. By neutering the long-standing gift law, corporations will be able to invest in the legislator of their choice, just at the right time to bring maximal returns.

If we were talking philanthropy, that is, giving gifts of money, food or travel to legislators, it could be done after session, when lawmaking is finished (though “thank you” gifts have been prohibited under current law).. The fact that so many legislators beg money during session should concern us all. No, Virginia, it’s not philanthropy. It’s actually a good thing that the Legislature is not in session during Christmas. Santa brings gifts to children if they’re good, but companies and lobbyists contribute money because they expect something in return.

The time to stop this game is now.

Let’s see if Judiciary committee members want to expose all legislators to the kind of scrutiny that passing this bill will bring.

More news after they vote.

by Larry Geller

Today the IAEA has finally confirmed what some analysts have suspected for days: that the concentration per area of long-lived cesium-137 (Cs-137) is extremely high as far as tens of kilometers from the release site at Fukushima Dai-Ichi, and in fact would trigger compulsory evacuation under IAEA guidelines.

[Union of Concerned Scientists-All Things Nuclear, IAEA Confirms Very High Levels of Contamination Far From Reactors, 3/30/2011]

by Larry Geller

April Fools Day may come a day early at the Hawaii State Legislature, if the House Judiciary committee passes that un-ethics bill SB671 that has put our lawmakers in the national spotlight this year. This morning the Star-Advertiser ran its second editorial urging lawmakers to abandon their folly (the first was here).

For those who fail to see the humor in this bill: while many lawmakers in the rest of the country would love to come to Hawaii for a boondoggle or two, but either aren’t allowed to, or worry what the voters might think, our lawmakers think they can get corporate-paid trips to Vegas or Venice just by passing a crazy law. Of course, the first one who does accept such a trip will end up in a news spotlight so hot that no one else will attempt it.

Anyway, I brought my camera to the lege yesterday to see what funny things I could find.

None of these rose to a David Shapiro level of funny, though. So we’ll have to wait for the Thursday decision making on SB671 after all.

Despite the very slim pickings, here’s what I found.

Yesterday was “Caregivers Day” at the Capitol, and AARP held a rally in the rotunda as well.

So there were at least two public events.

But on the way in to the Capitol for either event, or just to go park and give testimony, visitors encountered this sign.

Many of the attendees were senior citizens who no doubt were hoping for those parking spots. They better get used to it. No parking, next thing they take from your pensions. Tough love. Sorry, granny.

No public parking at a public event for senior citizens? Only in Hawaii, maybe.

Spaces quickly filled up across the street at the Department of Health metered lot. What to do?

I met some out-of-town visitors who came from Maui to testify at a hearing. One said that he could not find parking for his rental car and came into the meeting room well into the hearing, even though he planned to be there early. He was screwed by whatever perverse logic prohibited public parking on that day.

Usually, there are little baggies placed on meters to warn motorists not to park in reserved spaces. They look like this:

Yesterday, though, people were putting coins in the meters. I wonder if they got towed…

The baggies are bad enough. The bagging severely restricts available parking at the Capitol, making participation by ordinary citizens difficult or sometimes impossible.

Coming up from the basement level, I found this sign on an elevator:

So the elevator is only (temporarily) out of service. As opposed to… maybe if the Governor can’t find any more pensions to tax, it would just stay that way?

Anyway, people were in a hurry, but the other elevator was packed and taking its own sweet time.

This next pic is old, not from this session, but if I don’t post it here, I’ll never post it. It documents the Official House of Representatives Rest Room.

Curious about whether senators who might be in need could also use the restroom, I asked a nearby sheriff if they could. Perhaps jokingly, perhaps not, he replied, “Nope.”

 

As long as I’ve got the photos on the screen, might as well prepare for April Fools Day.

 

 

 

 

If you have $200 or golf or plane tickets, you get in.

If not, call your legislator for an appointment.

April Fool? We’ll see Thursday.

 

Common Cause Hawaii ED Nikki Love will be speaking at the Kokua Council meeting today at Harris United Methodist Church, Vineyard Blvd. and Nuuanu Ave.  Plenty of free parking. Lunch (optional) $5 donation.

Come if you would like to hear about how Nikki has re-started Hawaii’s chapter of Common Cause and made it into perhaps the strongest advocacy organization for good government in Hawaii. Probably there will be time to discuss some current bills moving through the Hawaii state legislature.

Nikki was featured by the Star-Advertiser as their “Name in the News” on March 18.

Lunch available from 11:30, program begins at about 11:55.

"Who the rebels are is not clear; no doubt many, most, all, are strongly and rightly against Gadhafi’s dictatorship. But what are they for, their goals? Educated guess: they will accommodate direct foreign investment, in oil, and a base or two; out of gratitude and to solidify the victory. And the USA has what it has tried for a long time: a NATO base in Africa; and the more so the less peace."

---

Libya: The War Is On

by Johan Galtung, 28 Mar 2011 - TRANSCEND Media Service

From Washington

Indeed.  A physician who heals only friends, not foes, is no physician but party to a war.  An organization that protects only our side civilians not the other side is not humanitarian but belligerent.  We are far from the Hippocratic Oath in world affairs.  Thus, there is nothing historical about the March 17 Security Council Resolution 1973.

Historical would have been a resolution protecting possible foes and restraining friends of the Anglo-American-French trio dominating the UN Security Council, putting their NATO at the UN disposal as a world cop.  The NATO that made headlines the same day exactly for killing civilians, a daily routine it seems, in Afghanistan.  Historical would have been R2P, a no-fly zone over Gaza, over Bahrain, over Pakistan, Afghanistan; against themselves.  What happens now is intervention supporting one side against the other.  It is normally called war.

True, President Obama became more multilateral than Bush.  But that is a formalistic perspective.  The problem is not who and how many decide but what they decide.  Also true, the resolution excluded the Fidel Castro prediction of 21 February that NATO will occupy Libya: “a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory”.  But it included the US rider: “by all necessary measures”.  There may be more UNSC resolutions.

Then a closer look, starting with the vote.  The majority 10/15 and no veto is clear.  But the Western trio represents less than half a billion whereas the 5 abstainers, BRIC + Germany, are close to half of humanity.  To abstain, regardless of political motivation, may be something beyond voting against: a No accepts the discourse but is against, Abstain rejects the whole approach.

The German abstention withdrew the biggest European NATO member digging a hole as it is supposed to be based on consensus.

More important among the abstainers are the two pillars of SCO, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, one observer, India, and the biggest country in Latin America.  By and large the West against the Rest and articulation of NATO vs. the SCO opposition.  And they all talk about a vague alternative, ceasefire, mediation.  Hopefully they will translate that rhetoric into action, and soon.

The third power is Islam; but whereas NATO-SCO use state terrorism some elements in Islam specialized in terrorism.  Who gets Islam on their side will rule the world, and NATO is now at war with 4 and has a Secretary General with solid anti-Islamic credentials.

That the USA wants to recede into the background is easily explained.  They have all reasons not to front the empire, leaving that job to the allies.  The USA is bankrupt, and wants to share economic, military and above all political risks.  There are noises in Congress about the constitution; moreover, we cannot afford it, this could become a deeper quagmire than Afghanistan.  The NATO action has confirmed all the predictions about the colonizers of Africa–UK-France-Italy.  He can now try a second revolution.  He may not win, but may not lose either; for that NATO ground troops could be needed.  And 20 years of war and occupation.

Of course nobody should just watch a regime brutalizing its own people as would happen if-when Gadhafi turns rhetoric into reality.  All other measures should have been used, including hitting his planes by sea-born missiles. But, as someone on National Public Radio quipped, “President Obama has fired more cruise missiles than all other Nobel Peace Prize winners combined”, and they have hit all kinds of targets, flying, driving, walking, being.  What is next?

Well, what does this remind us of?  The NATO action against Serbia, of course, as Michel Collon points out in Salon.  They did not have a UNSC mandate; but used “all necessary measures”.

Like for Libya, for Serbia-Kosovo the West made its usual propaganda.  There is that reduction of the enemy to one person, to be hated, using faithfully the Orwell recipe in 1984.  Milosevic, Hussein, Osama bin Laden, now Gadhafi.  That groundwork has been done for Castro-Chávez, but with no UNSC 1973 follow-up, so far.  Strange that the West that produced the idea of a social contract that the people could revise, Rousseau against Hobbes, is focused on only one person and so little on the people, and only on the bad, nothing good that could explain why so many are on his side. And so ignorant of history in spite of its high education.

But the goals in Serbia were clear: bombing state enterprises not the privatized ones, opening for transnational to get hold of natural resources, getting that huge military base Camp Bondsteel, supporting a liberation army (UCK) with a track record of horrors. The weapons used included cluster bombs, graphite bombs to hit electricity, depleted uranium with well known consequences.

We do not know that this will apply to the Libyan exercise, with the threat to flatten Tripoli.  Who the rebels are is not clear; no doubt many, most, all, are strongly and rightly against Gadhafi’s dictatorship.  But what are they for, their goals?  Educated guess: they will accommodate direct foreign investment, in oil, and a base or two; out of gratitude and to solidify the victory.  And the USA has what it has tried for a long time: a NATO base in Africa; and the more so the less peace.  Withdraw the foreign presence in Bosnia and Kosovo and the order imposed by the West may unravel, even quickly.  From a US to a Western empire?

In Libya there may be millions who dislike the man but like much of what he stood for.  The West may become an easy victim of its own one-country-one-person doctrine. And we are in for one more long-lasting, tragic, crime against humanity. With no exit.

 

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by Larry Geller

I’m all in favor of buying local, but some things just can’t be found here. Like all those grains we are supposed to eat. They’re at the base of the food pyramid, but they’re not grown in Hawaii. No wheat, rice, oatmeal, anything. So they all have to come here from outside.

I ordered whole wheat couscous from a vendor in Arizona. Since Huckleberry Farms closed, we haven’t found it in a local store. It was organic. They ship to Hawaii via US Postal Service, the cheapest way. So why not.

It was shipped March 10, and is still expected to be delivered March 21. Yeah, it’s already March 24, so where is it?

Here’s the tracking information as of this afternoon (read from the bottom up):

Detailed Results: Processed through Sort Facility, March 24, 2011, 5:20 am, RICHMOND, CA 94804 Processed through Sort Facility, March 17, 2011, 11:51 am, SPRINGFIELD, MA 01152 Processed through Sort Facility, March 12, 2011, 5:50 am, BELL GARDENS, CA 90201 Acceptance, March 10, 2011, 11:26 am, TUCSON, AZ 85713 Electronic Shipping Info Received, March 10, 2011

The tracking message still says that delivery is expected by March 21. But check out where this package has gone—from the vendor in Arizona, to California, then to Massachusetts (??!) then back to California.

Who knows where it will go next. A lot of expensive jet fuel has been expended to carry this package across the country and back.

Perhaps it is related to the tsunami, but Bell Gardens, CA is well inland, and the tsunami hit California two days before the package arrived.

So it may be organic, but it’s no longer “green.” Unless it gets moldy in transit.

There’s probably an explanation, but still, there’s gotta be a better way to run a postal service.

Read David Shapiro’s article today: Time for legislators to back off on ethics loopholes including comments. Excellent.

Shapiro has stood firmly for ethics in government throughout his career as a newspaperman and editor.

by Larry Geller

So what’s it like to be a Hawaii state legislator? I think it’s one of the toughest jobs in the state. Long hours, great responsibilities. Some decisions directly affect life and death. They also are in great demand for fundraisers and business and community events of all kinds. It’s part of the job. They get lots of invitations. That’s how politics works anywhere.

Now, I don’t suggest that it’s all parties and pupus. But the parties are part of it, and  the subject of SB671,  a bill that’s had its final hearing and which would allow a wide range of organizations to offer legislators and state workers endless parties, golf,  junkets, even international trips. Note that those state workers include officials responsible for regulating the businesses that may invite them to, for example, a party in Vegas.

Maybe some Hawaii legislators want to pass SB671 because they could be already in trouble with the gift law? Do you think? At a recent hearing of the House Judiciary committee, lawmakers demonstrated, one after another, by their questions to the Ethics Commission ED, that they didn’t understand the current law.

Right now there are limits. A gift law has been in place for many years. For example, legislators don’t have to worry if the gift is a small customary gift. In simplifying the law for the benefit of apparently clueless committee members, those were described as “gifts of Aloha,” by Les Kondo, the Executive Director of the Ethics Commission. Gifts that have “eBay value” should cause lawmakers to think before accepting.

Under the proposed new law, it would be open season on gift-giving. Of course, that’s tantamount to legalizing bribery and promoting corruption in politics.

The group of invitations below do raise some red flags. For example, if the invitation says “You are welcome to bring a guest” and they do, have they doubled the value of the gift they have received from the sponsoring organization? What state function does bringing a spouse or other family member serve?

Does a “Stew Challenge” sound like something that will bring industry knowledge to legislators who attend? Maybe, but it’s a building industry event. At least they made sure the value is under the accepted limit of $25 per lawmaker.

Some invitations offer attendees the chance to meet legislators. Probably nothing wrong with that. In fact, there’s nothing “wrong” with having a legislator over for dinner, within the rules.

One invitation states the cost of the event would be $36.75, so legislators would have to pay for themselves. The organization went to the trouble of checking with the Ethics Commission (good job!).

Hmm… There’s one with a pitch: “How to Reduce Taxes, Increase Income and Preserve Your Estate Through Charitable Giving.”  All I can say is “hmm….”

Here is a small collection of invitations to give you an idea, just a sample, of the kind of events that legislators are invited to right now. If SB671 passes, parties can be expected to become more lavish and more frequent.

Of course that would happen. Legislators, through SB671, would be sending their own invitations to all these organizations, “we’re open for business, just invite us along!”

Related:

Watchdog barks: Are lobbyists properly reporting when they throw parties for legislators? (1/27/2011)

Watchdog barks: Is the Hawaii Ethics Commission paying attention to the reports it gets? (2/7/2011)

 

Download Recent Hawaii legislative invitations

Got some news you want to share? Send leaks to leak –at- disappearednews.com

 

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Permalink posted by Larry @ 3/25/2011 07:52:00 AM   0 comments - add your comment links to this post

by Larry Geller

Yikes! This headline screaming out of newspaper boxes all over Waikiki is sure to upset tourists. Is it accurate? Reading the story, Pearl City is by no means suffering an epidemic of dengue fever.

I can imagine the tweets flying back to Japan: “OMG, ハワイでデング熱が見つかりました! 来月ハワイに来てはいけない。” [OMG, they found dengue fever in Hawaii! Don’t come next month!”]

Of course, this is news. Reading the story though, it’s not much to worry about yet. Certainly, not something to splash on front pages all over Waikiki.

Today’s AP report, in contrast:

HONOLULU — Hawaii health officials are investigating cases of Oahu residents who became ill with dengue fever.

The Hawaii State Department of Health said Thursday it is looking into two confirmed and two suspected cases of adults who were stricken with dengue fever in February.

[AP, State health officials investigating 2 confirmed cases of dengue fever in Oahu, 3/25/2011]

The four cases were nearby, and in February. All hell has not broken out in Pearl City. And as the article points out, a small number of cases are found in most years. Nor is dengue fever the plague.

Yes, residents living nearby the two confirmed cases should take precautions and doctors should be alert for new cases. But there’s no epidemic and no need for alarmist headlines like this, IMHO, anyway.

“Today, the bribery of private campaign financing, especially following the Supreme Court's full approval of corporate contributions, has drastically changed the game. The public doesn't have to be enticed with public works, public jobs and public short cuts. Today's assumption is that with sufficient funds to mislead the public on TV, what the public thinks it thinks no longer matters. The typical politician is no longer an intermediary between grand and small constituencies and no longer feels the need to even tithe to the voter. It is enough to have the money to buy enough ads to deceive them.”

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by Larry Geller

Reading this, I was thinking that the primary beneficiary of all that campaign cash is our “free” press—the TV stations and newspapers who will collect all that corporate cash in the form of advertising, and willingly join in the deception of the public that threatens our democracy.

More:

While the major participants in this sort of politics these days are Republicans, it is probably fair to date its universal application to the Clinton years. After all, Democrats were supposed to represent the little guy, to do the most for the most. Clinton made it clear that he would go with the highest bidder. And the Obama economic recovery programs - so twisted to aid the large over the small - continues this trend.

[Progressive Review, Morning Line: The dysfunction beat, 3/23/2011]

This is a good essay, and I urge readers to click on the link and read it in its entirety. The snips don’t do it justice.

Actually, the main thrust of Sam Smith’s article is that it’s about time psychiatry looked into politics, things have gone so far over the edge. But check it out in his words.

by Larry Geller

I double-posted the video article on SB671 to DailyKos, which has a number of readers interested in Hawaii issues. Here’s a comment received on that post.

I don’t think the commenter means disrespect for Republicans, but rather is making an interesting point about what I’ll dub “banana republic politics.”

Sadly these are democrats

We like to think only the GOP could be so ethicly challenged.  It is embarrassing to witness democrats passing a law saying they can be bribed with food or free golf.  The GOP is probably thinking, 'what dummies, they can just as easily get thousands for voting the right way...'

If a legislator attends an event, the hosts can use the legislator’s presence to lure others to pay up. No doubt many business and industry representatives, lobbyists and the like would shell out for a chance to glad-hand and chat up politicians in an attempt to win them over. That elected officials would let themselves be used this way teeters on the brink of prostitution.
…
Lawmakers have framed the measure around charitable groups and nonprofit organizations, which conveys a benign character when many such groups are merely the arms of a for-profit or industry body.

If the bill becomes law, it delivers another way for moneyed and special interests to expand their influence, just as campaign contributions can push power from the people.

[Star-Advertiser, Looser ethics bill for legislators will make influence-peddling easier, 3/24/2011]

by Larry Geller

So the US and allies intervened in Libya to save civilian lives. What about Gaza? Why was the massacre by Israel of 1,400 people permitted in 2008-2009? (1/3 of those were children)

There is so much to blog about, but the real Disappeared News, every day, every night, is the continued slaughter of Palestinians by Israel. Can you find in the daily paper or on TV what is being tweeted constantly from Gaza? The attacks, drones flying, deaths…

 

by Larry Geller

There’s even a video post of today’s House Judiciary hearing on an Italian website! That was fast.

The state legislature’s attempt to grab free meals and endless junkets has made news in Hawaii and even on the Mainland. It’s not quite as hot as the Superferry stories, but hot enough to get attention. Check out some of the coverage below.

In Hawaii, articles have appeared here and on several other websites including iLind.net, VolcanicAsh, Hawaii Reporter, Hawaii Independent, Civil Beat, Kanu Hawaii, Maui Tomorrow, and in newspapers including of course the Star-Advertiser. I’m sure I’ve left some out.

These articles get picked up around the country, and even on some international websites. They can read about this awful bill in Italy! It’s been tweeted in Korea.

A quick Google search reveals:

USA Today

 

Long Island Newsday

 

The website Family Vacation even covered it:

 

Here’s the website MSG from New York:

 

The Press Enterprise, wherever they are:

 

Here are a few international websites:

The London Times (!)”

 

The Italian website with the video:

 

A website of the India Times:

 

Finally, in Korea, both a Twitter and Facebook site reflect posts made in HawaiiL

 

There were a few others I couldn’t figure out.

Now, just watch the coverage if the legislature passes this bill and the gov signs it!

by Larry Geller

SB671, in its current form, would allow unlimited free meals, golf club tickets, junkets and boondoggles for any Hawaii state employee or state legislator from a wide variety of non-profit corporations. Public opposition (including a newspaper editorial) has been universal, except, of course for the organizations salivating at the chance to buy influence.

And why wouldn’t they? The bill is not limited to charitable fundraisers—in fact, as Les Kondo, Executive Director of the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, was trying to explain, the bill apply to any non-profit, including chambers of commerce, service providers, unions, country clubs, state contractors and vendors,  and a host of other organizations.

State employees who regulate these businesses would be eligible for what amounts to legalized bribery.

As you will see in the video, the chair of the Judiciary Committee did not want to hear the testimony.

It’s routine for state departments or agencies most concerned with proposed legislation to be allowed to testify at the beginning of a hearing. For this bill, that’s the Ethics Commission.

I have attended numerous legislative hearings and have not, to my recollection, ever heard a state representative cut off and his or her testimony refused. Nor did the chair apply a time limit to subsequent testimony. For example, I also testified, and was not cut off at two minutes, but was allowed to complete my testimony. Clearly, the chair just didn’t want to hear Mr. Kondo speak. I was going through some adjectives to fairly describe the situation but couldn’t settle on one. Watch the video and you decide.

>

Judging from the committees questions later in the hearing, it might have been a wiser course to hear what Mr. Kondo had to say.

---

Let me interject a comment here. I was surprised at the questions from several House members simply because they demonstrated an ignorance of the current law. The questioning was not so much about the proposed bill but about what they are currently allowed to accept in the way of gifts. That they were asking and arguing in public was troublesome—each of us is responsible for knowing the law. We can follow it or choose not to. The Ethics Commission does not make the law, they assist legislators and government employees in understanding the law if necessary, and handle complaints. I thought of it this way: I know the jaywalking law, and I can jaywalk if I like, but I know it’s against the law. Legislators demonstrated, at yesterday’s hearing, that they simply didn’t understand this long-standing law. Since corporations use gifts and free meals as a way to buy influence, this is bothersome.

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The next video illustrates this ignorance. In this clip, Rep. Blake Oshiro questions Kondo extensively, mostly, in line with similar questions by other committee members, about what is now allowed or not allowed. Oshiro is the author of the language in the current draft of the bill, and responsible for expanding its scope from 501(c)(3) charities to any kind of tax-exempt business. He is also an attorney, and should already be thoroughly familiar with this important law.

At the 15:30 minute point in the heated exchange he erroneously states that “suddenly, there is a flurry of activity in the form of bills“ on the gift law issue. In fact, no bill was introduced covering this issue. A bill with unrelated language, SB671 was only scheduled for a hearing by Senator Hee so that it could be discarded and replaced by a rather bad draft by Senator Galuteria attempting to blow the lid off of gift giving to legislators. That questionable draft was cut down to the final Senate version and then morphed by Oshiro into its current form. Not a single bill was introduced and heard on this subject.

More likely, a recent opinion by the Ethics Commission stating that legislators could not accept $200 tickets to a Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs (HIPA) fundraiser.spooked them, since some had perhaps already accepted gifts similar to that already. The Ethics Commission opinion was nothing new and did not change the existing law, but clearly Oshiro is not happy with the existing law.

Here’s the video.

Oshiro is in a precarious position, although it probably does not amount to a conflict of interest. He is an attorney with Alston Hunt Floyd and Ing, as is HIPA’s president and CEO. Given that relationship, Oshiro, in particular, should be alert to the possibility of improper influence by HIPA on state legislators. Instead, he’s effectively pushing for a red carpet to be spread out for state legislators and state workers to accept expensive gifts, junkets and boondoggles from organizations such as HIPA..

Decision making on the bill is scheduled for Thursday.

For more on the March 22 hearing, see the excellent article on Civil Beat, Bill to Ease Gift-Giving to Lawmakers, State Employees Finds New Life (3/22/2011), and David Shapiro’s Legislators fight for the right to freeload (cont’d) (VolcanicAsh, 3/23/2011). A snip from the latter:

Oshiro’s main motivation for loosening the rules seems to be that he’s tired of fielding calls from ethically challenged colleagues whining that they can’t have their freebies. Poor babies.

 

by Larry Geller

No matter how you look at it, SB671 is good news for legislators and bad news for voters.

It’s not so much about getting fat from endless free lunches, it’s about tit-for-tat support for rich corporations and organizations that can afford to throw lavish parties and hire lobbyists. Or to arrange for international junkets. The junkets also would allow corporations to entertain state workers who regulate them.

Of course, these organizations are investing in the legislators. They expect something back.

Hawaii legislators should just say No.

Here is a list, taken from Wikipedia, of organizations who will be able to spend big bucks on Hawaii lawmakers and government employees if this bill is passed into law:-

According to the IRS Publication 557, in the Organization Reference Chart section, the following is an exact list of 501(c) organization types and their corresponding descriptions.

• 501(c)(1) — Corporations Organized Under Act of Congress (including Federal Credit Unions)
• 501(c)(2) — Title Holding Corporation for Exempt Organization
• 501(c)(3) — Religious, Educational, Charitable, Scientific, Literary, Testing for Public Safety, to Foster National or International Amateur Sports Competition, or Prevention of Cruelty to Children or Animals Organizations
• 501(c)(4) — Civic Leagues, Social Welfare Organizations, and Local Associations of Employees
• 501(c)(5) — Labor, Agricultural, and Horticultural Organizations
• 501(c)(6) — Business Leagues, Chambers of Commerce, Real Estate Boards, etc.
• 501(c)(7) — Social and Recreational Clubs
• 501(c)(8) — Fraternal Beneficiary Societies and Associations
• 501(c)(9) — Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Associations
• 501(c)(10) — Domestic Fraternal Societies and Associations
• 501(c)(11) — Teachers' Retirement Fund Associations
• 501(c)(12) — Benevolent Life Insurance Associations, Mutual Ditch or Irrigation Companies, Mutual or Cooperative Telephone Companies, etc.
• 501(c)(13) — Cemetery Companies
• 501(c)(14) — State-Chartered Credit Unions, Mutual Reserve Funds
• 501(c)(15) — Mutual Insurance Companies or Associations
• 501(c)(16) — Cooperative Organizations to Finance Crop Operations
• 501(c)(17) — Supplemental Unemployment Benefit Trusts
• 501(c)(18) — Employee Funded Pension Trust (created before June 25, 1959)
• 501(c)(19) — Post or Organization of Past or Present Members of the Armed Forces
• 501(c)(21) — Black lung Benefit Trusts
• 501(c)(22) — Withdrawal Liability Payment Fund
• 501(c)(23) — Veterans Organization (created before 1880)
• 501(c)(25) — Title Holding Corporations or Trusts with Multiple Parents
• 501(c)(26) — State-Sponsored Organization Providing Health Coverage for High-Risk Individuals
• 501(c)(27) — State-Sponsored Workers' Compensation Reinsurance Organization
• 501(c)(28) — National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust

Many of the organizations are among Hawaii’s largest and best funded.

Should it be ok that HMSA, for example, is asking for a rate increase and would be able to use this money to invite legislators or members of the Insurance Commission staff to an all-expense-paid junket somewhere in Vegas, for example?

Testimony on this bill can still be submitted through the Capitol website, though time is running out. Better: call your legislator about this if it bothers you.

by Larry Geller

Here are a couple of snips (not all of them, check the original article linked below):

5.59 Events are moving fast so let's clear up any confusion. This is what we know now. Two pilots crash landed in a field near Benghazithis morning. One was handed over to rebels and then given to US officials before being taken to the USS Kearsarge in the Mediterranean. During the rescue of the second pilot a US heliocpter shot and injured villagers. This pilot is believed to be "safe in American hands" at an unknown location

…

16.56 Channel 4 News tweets:

Father of one of the six villagers shot by US helicopter says his young son expects to have his leg amputated. http://bit.ly/fkNW3f #c4news

…

17.49 The Guardian is reporting that the US military has issued a "100 per cent" denial that Libyan citizens were shot during a rescue mission for the stricken US pilots.

Reporter Tom Kington quotes Richard Ulsh, a spokesman for the US Marines, as saying: "It didn't happen, I can deny this 100 per cent."

…

19.09 Channel Four has obtained an interview with one of the six people who were reportedly shot by American forces as they tried to rescue the second stricken US airman today. The man, whose son was also injured, losing a leg, said he still loved the Americans, adding:

We would have picked him up and put him wherever he wanted, in a safe place. Even the first pilot, we had a celebration for him.

A man who saw the incident said:

We are disturbed by the shooting, because if they had given us a chance we would have handed over both pilots. This shooting created great panic.

…

20.58 After reports from The Guardian that US forces members had denied firing any shots during the rescue of two airmen, Sky News has reported that US military sources confirmed shots were fired during the operation.

 

The above is snipped from Libya: live (The Telegraph, 3/22/2011)