Hawaii
Now We Know The Scale Of Pay-To-Play Politics In Hawaii. It's Long Past Time To Act
A Civil Beat/New York Times report published last week unveiled just how deeply the pay-to-play culture is ingrained in Hawaii politics.
By examining hundreds of thousands of campaign contributions and more than 70,000 government contracts, reporters discovered that nearly $1 out of every $5 donated to politicians came from people tied to companies doing business with state and local governments.
And when some companies were on the verge of winning big government contracts, people connected to them donated larger amounts of money to the relevant officials.
Even though those contributors generally didn’t acknowledge their connections to the companies, they were not violating Hawaii law, which only prohibits donations directly from the firms.
“Everyone gets very upset with pay-to-play, but it’s legal,” said Kristin Izumi-Nitao, executive director of the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission.
What’s especially galling is that the commission proposed measures to close the gaping loophole this session and they were ignored by the Judiciary chairs in the House and the Senate, never even receiving a public hearing.
Now that the gargantuan scale of the problem has been defined, that has to change when the Legislature reconvenes in 2025.
Stopped Dead in the Judiciary Committees
The commission was clearly aware of the issue when it proposed Senate Bill 2214 and House Bill 1849, but after reading the Civil Beat/New York Times report, even Izumi-Nitao found that “the numbers were a bit surprising. And if the bill had been in effect, I believe those numbers would not be as high.”
The identical measures introduced in the House and Senate would have expanded a 2006 ban on campaign contributions from government contractors to include the officers and immediate family members of the company owners. It also would have applied the same prohibitions to recipients of government grants.
They were modified versions of a measure that unanimously passed the House and Senate in 2023 but died during the secretive conference committee period when disagreements between the two chambers must be resolved if a bill is to become law.
Far less love was shown to the proposal this session by the Judiciary chairs, Rep. David Tarnas and Sen. Karl Rhoads.
Tarnas had said during a pre-session interview that when it came to government reform measures, he would prioritize consideration of bills that had made it to conference committee the previous year.
That didn’t happen with HB 1849, and Tarnas didn’t respond to a Civil Beat request to explain why.
For his part, Rhoads said he didn’t give SB 2214 a hearing in his committee because he thought his measure to offer full public financing of political campaigns “was more important.”
Full public campaign financing would go a long way toward reforming the pay-to-play landscape, but accepting the public money instead of continuing to solicit private funds would be voluntary. And even though it passed the Senate unanimously, Tarnas led the effort to kill that measure when it got to his committee.
Credit Rhoads for his efforts on behalf of public campaign financing, but this shouldn’t have been a one-or-the-other matter — he didn’t have to derail the effort to turn off the tap on political contributions tied to government contracts.
‘I Will Look At The Issue With More Urgency’
Rhoads also expressed concern that if SB 2214 had passed, candidates would have no way of knowing they were accepting illegal contributions. He’s apparently developed those concerns since last year’s session, when his committee unanimously approved a similar measure.
Still, the senator acknowledged that the number of pay-to-play contributions documented in the recent report is “surprisingly high,” and added, “with this new information, I will look at the issue with more urgency next session.”
Urgency. Government reform efforts seemingly achieved that two years ago after a series of public scandals — including the bribery convictions of two former legislators — led to the creation of a special state commission that proposed numerous good government measures.
Some were adopted by the Legislature, but the major ones — including closing the loophole on contractor contributions — were not.
So here we sit with a well-documented culture of political pay-to-play and a Campaign Spending Commission that is so understaffed that it would have a hard time enforcing new restrictions on campaign contributions even if the Legislature had the courage to approve them.
Izumi-Nitao said the commission will “absolutely” propose restrictions on pay-to-play donations again next session. Presumably it will also again seek an appropriation to enlarge its staff of 5, which hasn’t grown since it was established in 1973 even as it struggles to regulate more and more candidates and campaign committees.
Before that will come an election in which voters can deliver their own message about the need for reform in state and local government.
The Civil Beat/New York Times report broke new ground in connecting campaign contributions to the people who benefit from government contracts. Over the last 2 years, our “Let the Sunshine In” project has lit up many other dark corners of political dysfunction.
Our collective eyes are open wider now. It shouldn’t take another round of scandals to re-energize momentum for reform.
Sign up for our FREE morning newsletter and face each day more informed.
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii (KHON) — A strange glow in the night sky over Hawaiʻi Island is raising eyebrows – and questions – after a Kona resident captured unusual green lights on camera over the weekend.
Jake Asuncion says he was filming sunset near Keahole Point when he unknowingly recorded the phenomenon. It wasn’t until he got home and reviewed the footage that he noticed a faint green glow appear in the sky.
“I got home, I was going to post it, and then towards the end of the video I saw the green come out—I said, what was that?” Asuncion said. He said he enhanced the color to show the movement.
Curious, he returned the following night—and saw it again.
“I wanted to go back the next night and see if I could capture the same thing—and it came out even more the second night,” he said.
He said the glow appeared roughly 15 to 20 minutes after sunset, looking northwest toward Maui. While faint to the naked eye, the green hue was more visible through his phone camera.
The sightings have caught the attention of local astronomers, including Nick Bradley with Stargazers of Hawaiʻi, who says the color resembles aurora, but likely isn’t.
“It looked very interesting. The green color looks like aurora, but honestly, we don’t really get that in Hawaiʻi,” Bradley explained.
Data from the weekend shows no significant geomagnetic storm activity that would produce aurora visible in the islands. The KP index—a measure used to track aurora strength—was only between 3 and 4. By comparison, a rare aurora visible in Hawaiʻi in 2024 required a KP index of 8.
Bradley says other common explanations don’t seem to match what was captured either.
“Satellites look like small pinpoint lights moving across the sky, we see them every night. This doesn’t look like that,” he said.
He also ruled out meteor showers, lasers, and the well-known “green flash” that sometimes occurs at sunset, noting the lights appeared well after the sun had already set and higher in the sky.
The Army said there were no lasers being used or any training in that area.
The Hawaii Department of Transportation said Kona airport used to have a laser bird hazing gun, but it was red and would not come close in scale to what is shown in the photos. Standard airport rotating beacons also would not have the scale as shown in the photos.
Keck Observatories suggest it could be STEVE or ‘strong thermal emissions velocity enhancement,’ which is similar to aurora but seen further south than aurora. But not as much is known about STEVE and it’s typically seen with aurora present.
Astronomers note that smartphone cameras can enhance colors in low-light conditions, meaning the green glow may appear brighter on video than in real life.
Still, the exact cause remains unknown — and experts are asking the public to keep an eye out and capture the moment if they can.
“I would love more eyes on it — more data, the better,” Bradley said.
As for Asuncion, he plans to keep watching the skies.
“I just appreciate the beauty of nature and whatever comes,” he said.
Forecast for Big Island Windward and Southeast
| Shores | Tonight | Tuesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| North Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| East Facing | 3-5 | 3-5 | 2-4 | 2-4 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly cloudy. Occasional showers. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | In the upper 60s. | |||||
| Winds | Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph, becoming north after midnight. |
|||||
|
||||||
| Weather | Mostly cloudy. Numerous showers. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | Around 80. | |||||
| Winds | Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph. | |||||
|
||||||
| Sunrise | 5:53 AM HST. | |||||
| Sunset | 6:42 PM HST. | |||||
Forecast for Big Island Leeward
| Shores | Tonight | Tuesday | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surf | Surf | |||
| PM | AM | AM | PM | |
| West Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| South Facing | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 |
| Weather | Mostly cloudy until 12 AM, then partly cloudy. Scattered showers. |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Temperature | Around 70. | ||||||||
| Winds | Northwest winds around 5 mph, becoming east in the evening, then becoming southeast after midnight. |
||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Weather | Mostly sunny. Scattered showers. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Temperature | In the lower 80s. | ||||||||
| Winds | Southwest winds around 5 mph. | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Sunrise | 5:57 AM HST. | ||||||||
| Sunset | 6:46 PM HST. | ||||||||
Surf along north and west facing shores will remain small through midweek. A small bump in surf is expected with the arrival of a northwest swell on Tuesday. An upward trend is expected during the second half of the week as another northwest swell arrives. This is likely to be followed by a larger northwest swell over the weekend, with surf heights nearing advisory level.
Surf along south-facing shores will remain small through much of the week, with mainly background south to southwest swell expected. Another south-southwest pulse may arrive by this weekend from recent activity within our swell window east of New Zealand, providing a small increase in surf. Surf along east-facing shores will remain relatively small and choppy through midweek, with a slight rise possible later in the week as trades strengthen.
NORTH EAST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Semi choppy with ESE winds 5-10mph in the morning increasing to 10-15mph in the afternoon.
NORTH WEST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Clean in the morning with ESE winds less than 5mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions for the afternoon with the winds shifting W 5-10mph.
WEST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Light sideshore texture in the morning with NNW winds 5-10mph. Bumpy/semi bumpy conditions for the afternoon with the winds shifting to the WNW.
SOUTH EAST
am pm
Surf: Minimal (ankle high or less) surf.
Conditions: Sideshore texture/chop with NE winds 10-15mph.
Data Courtesy of NOAA.gov and SwellInfo.com
HENDERSON. Nev. – A fundraiser was held at Liberty High School on Saturday to support victims in Hawaii still struggling to get back on their feet after Kona Low storms in March battered parts of O’ahu.
Shai Walter, owner of 2 Scoops of Aloha and one of the fundraiser’s organizers, said several businesses across the valley donated food, drinks, plates, and more for the fundraiser.
“We know the situation that they’re in. We’re far away, but we want to make sure we help from the Ninth Island,” Walter said. “All these businesses came together to actually do a fundraiser for our people.”
2 Scoops of Aloha, Grindz 2 Da Max, Shaka on Point, Al Pono Café, Ono Manju, Fresh Off the Boat, Mongos Hood, Leilani’s Attic, Ninth Island, Le Umu, Da Hawaiian Snack Man, Hapahoales, Noms, Maui Goddess, Sweet Kings, and Str8 Twisted are some of the businesses, organizations, and friends of the fundraiser’s organizers that made some form of donation to the fundraiser.
Cathi Minami, founder of Ninth Island Aunties, helped organize Saturday’s fundraiser. She said she moved to Las Vegas in 2001, but like many Hawaiians, never lost touch with the community on the Islands.
“We’re just trying to show that you know they’re thought of. They’re not forgotten. Our hearts are still with them, and Hawaii will always be our home,” Minami said. “So we wanted to see what we can do.”
Minami said that although her family was not severely impacted by the March storms and flooding, the tight-knit inner circles she is a part of tie her to a lot of families who are struggling to get back on their feet from the storms.
“Over 70 families, two of which have lost their homes. So we’re just trying to show that they’re thought of. They’re not forgotten. Our hearts are still with them and Hawaii will always be our home,” Minami said.
Minami said funds raised from Saturday’s event will go towards Vibrant Hawaii, a non-profit that is currently working to help impacted families directly in Hawaii.
The 9th Island Cultural Club of Las Vegas is hosting a breakfast fundraiser for the victims on Sunday, April 26, at the North Rainbow Boulevard Applebee’s Location between 8 am and 10 am.
Another breakfast fundraiser is planned on May 2.
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