flASHback: Gaveling in the dark
November 6th, 2009
By David Shapiro
By David Shapiro
Justice gets trampled by the furlough parade as we "flASHback" on the week's news that amused and confused:
- State courts closed for their first "furlough Friday," but Chief Justice Ronald Moon ordered judges to report to work. He said they could do research, catch up on paperwork and issue contempt citations against the furloughed maintenance guy who left off the air conditioning.
- Because of mismatched furlough days, on some Fridays courts are open but state parking lots are closed. It's an experiment in judicial sustainability. While you're paying off one parking ticket, a cop is already writing your next.
- An appeals court ruled that the state underpaid substitute teachers for years and may owe them as much as $40 million. Uh-oh. Can anybody say "furlough Thursdays?"
- After Gov. Linda Lingle left on her goodwill trip to China, a top Chinese general arrived in Honolulu. If he's here to arrange the terms of her return, I hope he enjoys the beach while he waits for somebody to negotiate with him.
- Mayor Mufi Hannemann is touring Japan and the Philippines to cement Honolulu's sister-city relationships. The guy will go anywhere they'll let him pour cement while he sweats out the delay in starting his rail project.
- The state plans to install buoys at Ala Moana Beach Park to keep stand-up paddleboarders and swimmers safely apart. If it works, a similar system will be set up to separate state Senate factions.
- Hawai'i Sen. Daniel Inouye, the self-proclaimed "No. 1 earmarks guy" in Congress, handed out much of his pork to big campaign donors, a watchdog group said. Sounds like the political equivalent of a VIP luau.
- A new city ordinance makes it easier for O'ahu churches to lease space in industrial neighborhoods. Baptisms could get really interesting with forklifts involved.
- A Big Island judge allowed a man convicted of drunken driving for the 14th time to serve his jail sentence on weekends only. I'll bet the Philadelphia Phillies wish they could also play by 15 strikes and you're out.
And the quote of the week ...
... from Hawai'i Democratic Party chairman Brian Schatz on next year's elections:
"The party that will be successful is the one that can articulate a way to navigate through this difficult economic period."
That's the problem — all articulation and no navigation.
Posted in Volcanic Ash | 10 Comments »
Volcanic Ash
November 6th, 2009 at 5:56 am
Some of your best work ever. Keep up the commentary.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:18 am
Dave,
I had a question about Brian Schatz. Obviously he is using his Hawaii Democratic Party chairman position as a platform to run for Lieutenant Governor. Do you know why the several other candidates who are running as democrats in the Lieutenant Governor's race are not making a fuss about this situation? Are there not any party rules that would require Mr. Schatz to step down from his chairmanship post or is it that the other candidates simply do not view Schatz as a serious candidate for Lieutenant Governor?
November 6th, 2009 at 6:47 am
Um, it's not Mufi's rail project. It's _our_ rail project. We voted for it and we need it. Go rail go, baby!
November 6th, 2009 at 7:21 am
Mufi's confirming that citizens of Japan and the Philippines who travel by rail are still zipping around town at light speed compared to his Honolulu constituents, who anxiously anticipate rail's groundbreaking here.
November 6th, 2009 at 7:55 am
As the supporter of another candidate for LG, let me suggest so long as Brian does things in accordance with his duties as State Chair, there is no conflict. If he gets credit for doing a good job and people thereby think well of him and decide to vote for him as LG, how can others in the Party complain? If he does a good job for the Party, he looks good. If he does a BAD job, he looks bad. Perhaps those of us who prefer another candidate should hope Brian does an embarrassingly bad job as Chair? Or perhaps we want our chair to remain silent about the issues of concern to Hawaii's people?
Interesting logic.
So long as the things he says as Party chair reflect the views of the Party, how can he be faulted? I would point out every other candidate for LG is an elected official and has an opportunity to use their office as an opportunity to speak out on the economic crisis. Some have chosen to remain silent, some have spoken out on matters like the teacher's furlough. Each office has its advantages. In many ways, the chair of the Party has less freedom to openly and actively campaign than the others and is put at a disadvantage.
If and when Brian actually files for office, the rules will come into play and he will step down.
November 6th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Good thoughts on the matter, kolea. Pretty much sums it up. As long as he doesn't start saying things like, "If I were LG, I'd be doing this..." in his DP statements, he's pretty safe.
Good blog today, Dave. Thanks for the laugh. This, combined with the story on the HPD joke (and the morons Perry and Price reading it as news) has already made my day.
November 6th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Kaimuki Sam, I think Kolea pretty much covered your question from the rules standpoint. Brian Schatz isn't the first to use the party chairmanship to gain visibility or to remain visible between offices. His predecessors Mike McCartney and Brickwood Galuteria both considered runs for LG and Galuteria ended up running for the Senate. Linda Lingle, of course, used the Republican chairmanship as a launch pad for her successful run for governor. Schatz and his current GOP counterpart Jonah Kaauwai have both been publicly aggressive in advocating for their parties and I can't see where that's a bad thing.
November 6th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Aloha ~
As the economy is massively critical to all of us and it's growth or collapse has direct implications to all these topics, I want to point out the statistics we should be talking about today. HA headlines read, "Unemployment tops 10 percent for first time since 1983."
This isn't even close to the important news. Buried beneath the "leads if it bleeds" story line is information on productivity ...
From today's HA article, "Companies are squeezing more production from their existing work forces. Productivity, the amount of output per hour worked, jumped 9.5 percent in the third quarter ... and followed a 6.9 percent rise in the second quarter. The increases enable companies to produce more without hiring extra people."
Companies in America COULD be hiring more workers. Instead they are asking existing workers to do more.
This would be PONO if they were paying workers more for the added work. Yet companies are not giving raises. You are not getting raises.
Instead we are distracted by petty dramas while our families are collapsing. Productivity has increased by more than 16% over the last two quarters - the past six months. Who got a raise? Who got hired?
Where did this increased revenue of 16% go?
A*L*O*H*A
November 7th, 2009 at 8:20 am
I don't understand why no one plays you in the Gridiron. There certainly has to be skit here!
November 9th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Management of the "furloughs" has showed that more power needs to be given to elected leaders to manage the government work force.
Aloha,
Keahi