Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Musings: More Good than Bad

It's over. And it's one of those post-election mornings where I didn't wake up despairing, depressed, disheartened. Shoots, we even had a rain shower. Yay!

I confess I experienced a few nerve-wracking moments at the beginning, when much of the nation was turning up red on those color-coded Electoral College maps. But in the end Obama pulled it off, and I'm glad. Because although my first choice would be honey-sweetened root beer, I've always preferred Coke to Pepsi.

It was especially exciting to see more women elected to the Senate, including Claire McCaskill, who beat that idiot Todd AkinElizabeth Warren, our own Mazie Hirono, who trounced Linda Lingle, and Tammy Baldwin, the first openly gay candidate to serve in that body. Tulsi Gabbard, meanwhile, became the first Hindu elected to Congress.

Disappointingly, the GMO labeling initiative failed in California, though what do you expect, when the opposition, led by Monsanto, poured at least $45.6 million into defeating the measure? Kinda tells you something when they're willing to spend that large to make sure folks don't know what's really in their food. Will Obama finally get out of bed with the chemical companies and honor his 2007 campaign promise to label genetically modified foods? “Because,” as he said then, “Americans have a right to know what they're buying.”
On a brighter note, both Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana. Aurai! Finally a few glimmers of light at the end of the drug war tunnel. Now we'll see if Obama's Justice Department sides with the drug czars and drug cartels and tries to beat them down with the supremacy of federal law. I love that this is now turning into a states' rights issue.

Locally, of course, the big news was Justin Kollar's big win over Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho. As in 55.8% to 37.1%. As in soundly defeated. As in people literally dancing in the streets, according to a text from one of the reveler's at his campaign party.

One reason I supported Justin – aside from the fact that he isn't Shay — was hearing him say that he is not into criminalizing addiction or poverty, factors that play a prominent role in the majority of prosecutions on Kauai. I know Justin is really smart, so I'm hoping he'll be able to pair that intelligence with compassion and develop some innovative programs. I'd really love to see him expand and enrich the diversion programs offered by the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney and come up with more “give back” options, like community service.

Now that Police Chief Darryl Perry has been kind of isolated by Shay's defeat and Judge Randal Valenciano's ruling that the mayor can discipline him, perhaps he and Justin can mend fences and work together again — the way KPD and OPA are supposed to. Solette, my dear, can you bury the hatchet? And Shay, can you depart gracefully, without leaving the office in shambles? 

The other big news was the change on the Council. I thought Gary Hooser was going to replace Tim Bynum and Ross Kagawa was going to fill in for Dickie Chang, leaving us with essentially the same Council makeup. But the voters kicked out KipuKai Kualii instead of Tim, which changes the power dynamics considerably. As in Mel Rapozo has lost his two sidekicks, and will need to play a little nicer if he wants to get anywhere.

And since Nadine Nakamura and JoAnn Yukimura were the top vote-getters, respectively, perhaps Jay Furfaro will relinquish his role as Council Chair. I give him credit for managing Council sessions that became particularly unruly when Shay was going nuts, but Nadine is extremely competent and understands the value of decorum. Why not let her run the show?

I'm super glad to see Gary Hooser back in local government. Is it too much to hope that Gary, Nadine, JoAnn and Tim will form a progressive coalition? We'll have to wait and see how Ross Kagawa works out, though I can't say I was encouraged to read he'd learned the Council ropes at Ron Kouchi's elbow...

The county charter amendments were poorly worded, and the explanations were not especially helpful or objective, which perhaps explains why voters approved measures that make it even harder for citizens to get initiatives and referendums on the ballot. Auwe.

They did, however, wisely defeat a measure that would have made it easier to keep appointing the same-old, same-olds to county boards and commissions without requiring them to take a year's break in between. Can we please freshen up some of those panels?

It was kind of gagging to see Billy Swain — as in Hanalei boater and Maryanne Kusaka supporter — win the Kauai vote for the Kauai OHA seat, but when the rest of the state's vote was factored in, he lost soundly and Dan Ahuna got in. Haunani Apoliona, meanwhile, retained her at-large seat. I thought Walter Ritte would do better than fourth place, coming in behind even Kelii Akina, the anti-Hawaiian candidate. Still, when you look at all the blank votes statewide in the OHA races, it's time to revamp that election process.

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ding Dong the witch is.......

Anonymous said...

Dan Ahuna says Cataluna was a great role model in leadership.

Guess what Hawaiians youʻre in trouble.

Isnʻt cataluna the guy that never showed up to a meeting in 4 years.

Oh maybe he was the role model in campaigning and getting corporate votes.

Nice spread at JJs, Dan. Did you already know you were going to win?

Hawaii, you in trouble!!!!

Anonymous said...

I can't tell you how pleased I am that Justin Kollar won. Thank you Joan for all your great investigative reporting on Shaylene. No matter how biased our newspaper is, the people still got the message.

Anonymous said...

Ross sure as hell learned from Kouchi alright...that's why the article in TGI never got printed! The connection inside the TGI the in-law of Kouchi that use to run the papers...that's alright though, it'll all come out in due time, HOIKE is just as bad...where was the last county council candidate forum that was held in Princeville? You promised the people that it was going to be shown before elections! It wasn't shown because all eyes that watch woulda known the ass he made of himself at that meeting, Including after, right Mr.Kagawa? The people that were in that room saw and heard...and like it was stated to you, it might be better for you to have won, you only made it a much higher profile case than you would ever imagine it to be! So as Solette Perry so eloquently warned the people of Kaua'i with regards to Shaylene being "unchained" (yeah right!), you too need to fasten your seat belt, you'll be taken on a ride just as well!

Erin Wilson said...

Justice has been served.

Congratulations Justin Kollar!

Anonymous said...

I agree 100% Erin...Justice has been served...

From 8:59am

Anonymous said...

Shay should do roller derby next.
Lets hope they have the decency to prepare the files and make for a smooth transition to the new team, especially the murder cases.

Anonymous said...

Someone calling herself Solette Perry posted the following on Shaylene's facebook this morning.... "Shay unchained! Watch out Kauai! Shay is back! And now, she is not saddled with the barriers, restrictions and beinging stifled as a "County employee"! With you Shay on the next ride ahead - we better put on our seatbelts!"
Scary...

Anonymous said...

The wording on the charter amendments were either written by someone who wanted to confuse people on purpose.. or written for lawyers.

Thank you Joan again! Without your investigating Blog and KKCR's interviews with Kollar and Shayme......most people would not care who won.
....and now?

Take a vacation and get a massage!

Dr Shibai

One Nation One Law 50 said...

I would not call Kelii Akina anti-Hawaiian. He seeks to transform OHA into an agency that serves the interests of both native and non native Hawaiians which is the legal mandate of OHA.

Duties: The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) holds title to all real and personal property held in trust for native Hawaiians and Hawaiians. OHA Board of Trustees formulate policy and manage the agency's trust which includes income derived from whatever sources for native Hawaiians and Hawaiians, such as the management, sale or disposition of land, natural resources and minerals. OHA was established as a trust, administered with a mandate to better the conditions of both native Hawaiians and the Hawaiian community in general.

Anonymous said...

Shay took us all for fools!

Anonymous said...

Hum...... Shay a roller derby queen.....what a Kodak moment! Can't you see her pushing all the other players out of the way? Perhaps she should try mainland roller derby first....don't hurry back!
Oh and NO we are not fools...we voted her out!

Anonymous said...

You may think this is funny.
You may think there was corruption here with Shaylene as prosecutor.
You may not have thought this through.
You may not realize what chaos and favoritism there is going to be because of a prosecutor that is indebted and not strong enough to say no to his masters.
You may not have realized just what corruption looks like until we go a little further down the road.

Think about it now. He owes.

This is a heads up. One thing about Shaylene, she was her own person and not puppeteered or easily intimidated.

The prosecutorʻs office is not something to fuk with.
The pandoraʻs box has opened.
They are lining up with their hands out.

Anonymous said...

That last post was meant to be a joke, right?

Anonymous said...

Mahalo, Joan! The community owes you big time for your reporting these past few years. Let them complain all they want about your editorializing. What you wrote was the truth and it was not being exposed anywhere except here and Andy's blog.

Anonymous said...

I hears that the next Bernard Carvalho is Lenny Rapozo. We are screwed.

Kiss our asses.

John Wehrheim said...

Joan,
With the highest respect and deepest gratitude I thank you for your endurance, diligence and courage.

Anonymous said...

Joan
Have you seen the next BOE agenda? Could it be that they will share their findings from the investigations we all paid $50,000.00 for or will they just let it go now that Shsy is on the way out the door? Seem s that after all the debate they should bring it to some conclusion!.

Anonymous said...

A true testament to Shay's REAL character and professionalism will be how she leaves her office. Let's see if she has her big girl panties on or not because many cases depend on it.

Anonymous said...

Do not start to celebrate yet only because we have won a few battles against corruption by voting Asing, Kualii, Shayme out of office. We must continue the fight because there are many more GOBAGs that we need to get rid of. We have 2 more years so someone call General Shinseki or Rolf Bieber to run for Mayor of Kauai. We can End the reign of terror by the Powers!

Anonymous said...

Shaylene was independent to the point of alienating many. Independence is good when tempered with integrity and moral ethics. That has been called in to question w/ her. Her tendency to be vindictive and racially biased was revealed. Too many negatives to outweigh the good. Justin may or may NOT be a strong independent prosecutor but he will be given the chance to prove himself. He can always be voted out too. Shay needed to be held accountable for her blunders.

Anonymous said...

Kualii's mistake and he paid for it by loosing, was his alliance with Shay. Otherwise I don't believe he belongs in the GOBAG category. Mel's obvious bias and collusion should've been cause to vote him out more than Kualii. Didn't Kualii at least recuse himself from voting when budgetary decisions that concerned his employer came up? I don't recall Mel doing that and in fact he censored others from questioning Shay. Rather have seen him eliminated than Kualii.

Anonymous said...

I agree. KipuKai is a good guy. Mel is a bully like Shay.

Anonymous said...

Mel is a good ol boy connected to the most dangerous men on Kauai and he has ties with the old syndicate guards dogs in KPD and so is Shayme so don't be BS'ing about she is independent. You all didn't know about how that pohaku Program was so corrupt and it was a program created to protect the powers and their militia. That's the reason the OPA is so hush about the people who were rewarded with a get out of jail for 200 monopoly dollars and a Pass to Go commit more crimes. It's a Sick game that they play.

Anonymous said...

Mel will give Grove Farm and his buddy Mike anything they want.

Anonymous said...

TO: November 8, 2012 7:25 AM

You speak like an uneducated idiot.
For one thing why do call Kipikai corrupted? He hasnʻt been there long enough. Are you just in ʻgossip modeʻ?

Anonymous said...

TO: November 8, 2012 11:41 AM

Man o man, you guys are sick and off and present nothing concrete in you rants.
Speak intelligently. Can you do that?

Anonymous said...

You all have to know the history of the low income housing, YWCA, Drug dealers, syndicates and how they are all tied together to understand why we believe Kipu is apart of a criminal organization.

The connections of Moore's murder, the prostitutes niece/KPD informant murder, the serial killer, murders made to look like suicides when feet touch the ground, disappearances, unattended deaths, false coroners reports, and KPD cover ups to understand that all of this is not just a coincidence.

Kauai has to End the corruption and take everyone down who is involved !

Anonymous said...

You're the idiota you can't even spell his name correct you turd. you will soon find out what dirty deeds these folks were up to.

Anonymous said...

I was one o the few people who Shayme did not give a 30K raise so I could not afford to go back to school but she did hiire drug addict relatives. You're probably one who got a raise but will soon be unemployed.

Anonymous said...

November 8, 2012 7:21 PM:

Youʻre not providing an intelligent argument for yourself or against Shaylene and maybe that basic lack of competency has got something to do with why youʻre complaining.

Is one of the big arguments based on who got raises and who didnʻt? Remember thatʻs the citizensʻ tax dollars people like you are fighting over and in your case, Iʻm glad you didnʻt get it because you donʻt deserve it.

Anyway I donʻt really believe you were hired over there at any time. Thatʻs just too far a stretch of the imagination.

People should not be rewarded if they are incompetent and someone in the prosecutorʻs office should not be talking the way you are; no one should feel safe as to confidentiality with employees that talk the way you do.

I did not know that one can expect to go the OPA, get paid to do a job they arenʻt qualified for, and get paid to go to school at the same time.
Wow. Expectations a little high or what?
Make an argument next time. This one insults everyone intelligence and if it doesnʻt, well what can I say?

Anonymous said...

Check the record of your court employees you effing idiot, there's proof that people are not qualified and are going to school to obtain qualifications. So suck it fool

Anonymous said...

Amazing its all quiet on the Planet Kauai front.

Also amazing, I just learned from 20/20 what Shaylene's problem was. She was a "BOSSHOLE"!

Anonymous said...

Shay's problem was that she could not control her mean streak. She has some great attributes. But, it seems, whenever someone disagreed with her, she berated, accused, blamed, punished, and alienated. Pretty soon it was a small army working to beat her. Didn't matter how qualified the opposition was. As the election results showed, its hard to get elected when so many people feel like they need to get rid of you just to get a fair shake. She should really work the program and when the time comes, apologize to those she wronged. The Bynam case was the perfect illustration of the hate boomerang coming back and hitting her in the face.

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness, one more head of the snake has been cut off. Strong win for Justin Kollar.

How 'bout one of those infamous Shay-Delaplane pie charts and shamelessly manipulated statistics for this one?

Wonder where Shay will pop-up next. Will her golden boy, Delaplane leave the OPA gracefully as well? I hope so.

Now there is some hope that the OPA will "function," and justice will be served in protecting the community, and cases such as the murder of Mr. Moore will see an appropriate sentencing.

What is this about Judge Valenciana ruling that Mayor Carvalho can call the shots with KPD. Unbelievable. Whose bread is buttered?

Anonymous said...

Kauai will be a much better place with Shay and Kipu Kai gone. Too bad Mel wasn't ousted as well. Looks like Mel will be mighty lonely at the Council next term.

Sadly the Chief is still around. How sad to him and his wife acting like this.

As far as the Judge's ruliing, it only allowed the Mayor to discipline the Chief, while keeping the hiring and firing of the Chief with the Commission. The Mayor is there every day, while the Commission is only there once a month. Somebody has to be watching the store while the Commission is not there.

Joan, check your sources, it seems that Shay, Jake, and all of Shay's family at the OPA did not show up last week, wonder why???

Anonymous said...

Were they paid to go to work?

Anonymous said...

Maybe they're using up backlog sick leave/vacation. Give it a rest. christ, you won already.

Erin Wilson said...

Give it a rest? Are you kidding me? They're wasting taxpayer money!

Anonymous said...

Kauai-we are not done yet! Getting rid of Kaipo, Peter, Shayme,Kipu is just the beginning of a long process to take down the GOBAG. Do not celebrate just yet because the mission is not accomplished. Jake, Charley and the rest of Shaymes supporters in the OPA will continue to sabotage the judicial system if these cancerous individuals aren't removed. The law needs to go after corrupt Judges like Valenciano. We must get rid of Chief Perry and his brother (one of Kauai's most dangerous men) and all the syndicate cops. We must go after all the guys in the national guard and prison guards who serve the evil criminal organization that serves WP. We must send te law against all of Kauai's attorney that make back room deals with Judges to be able to receive pro bono cases to supplement their income. The fight against Corruption on Kauai is done yet!

Anonymous said...

'Maybe they're using up backlog sick leave/vacation. Give it a rest. christ, you won already."

But neither one of them were in court today for a murder case that they filed. That speaks volumes does it not?

Anonymous said...

Where's the Top? His blog has been silent since the election.