“Dick Rowland Image”

”Shoots (News, Views and Quotes)”

– Movin’ Juice: Making Electricity Transmission More Competitive

The recent blackouts in the Midwest and Northeast shed light to the
flaws in the electricity transmission grid. Recommendations to remedy
this situation include building and upgrading transmission, constructing
generation facilities closer to population centers, and reducing demand
for transmission services.

– Transportation Costs and The American Dream

Given a choice between automobiles and heavily subsidized transit
systems, the vast majority of people recognize that autos are faster,
less expensive, more convenient, and more productive than transit.

Above articles are quoted from Reason Foundation, Reason Alert 9/5/03
https://www.rppi.org

”Roots (Food for Thought)”

– A Decade of Tabor

By Fred Holden

“Its preferred interpretation shall reasonably restrain most the growth
of government.”
– Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, TABOR Amendment: Colorado Constitution,
Article X-Revenue, Section 20

TABOR (the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights) is a tax-and-spending limitation,
constitutional amendment. TABOR was passed in 1992 by the voters, and is
contained in Article X, Section 20, of the Colorado Constitution.
TABOR’s stated mission is to “reasonably restrain most the growth of
government.” It allows only those tax rate increases approved by voters;
while fees are not directly restricted, state government spending is
limited to growth of Colorado’s population-plus-inflation in the prior
year.

Colorado has in TABOR the strictest tax-and-spending limitation of the
50 states. This Issue Paper analyzes TABOR’s effect on Colorado,
contrasting taxing and spending before and after enactment of TABOR.

Ten fiscal years have passed since 1992; this Issue Paper compares ten
years of TABOR performance to the preceding ten years. Colorado state
documents-Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFR) and “Colorado
Economic Perspective” (Office of State Planning and Budgeting)-provide
the data.

In the decade before TABOR, Colorado state revenues and outlays
(spending) grew well over twice the population-plus-inflation growth
(See Fig. 1). With TABOR, all three were very close, indicating TABOR
had significantly restrained and controlled Colorado government growth.

Though TABOR was part of the “go-go nineties,” its measured effects on
government and non-government employment and distribution were quite
impressive (See Fig. 2). Pre-TABOR, government jobs grew slightly more
than business or total employment. After TABOR, business job growth
nearly doubled that of government job growth.

The TABOR surplus rebate mechanism returned to taxpayers some $3.25
billion over five years, fiscal 1997 to 2001, amounting to about $800
per capita-$3,200 for an average family of four.

TABOR is a success. It passed its own test to reasonably contain growth
of Colorado government, taxing and spending.

Above article is quoted from The Independence Institute https://www.i2i.org

”Evergreen (Today’s Quote)”

“Failure to sign the no-new-taxes pledge is the hole in the bottom of
the Arnold Schwarzenegger boat. Schwarzenegger is not Ronald Reagan.
Without the pledge, he’s not the anti-tax candidate.” –Americans for
Tax Reform president Grover Norquist, 08/26/03

”’Edited by Richard O. Rowland, president of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, 1314 S. King Street, Suite 1163, Honolulu, HI 96814. Phone/fax is 808-591-9193, cell phone is 808-864-1776. Send him an email at:”’ mailto:grassroot@hawaii.rr.com ”’See the Web site at:”’ https://www.grassrootinstitute.org/

“Dick Rowland Image”

”Shoots (News, Views and Quotes)”

– Movin’ Juice: Making Electricity Transmission More Competitive

The recent blackouts in the Midwest and Northeast shed light to the
flaws in the electricity transmission grid. Recommendations to remedy
this situation include building and upgrading transmission, constructing
generation facilities closer to population centers, and reducing demand
for transmission services.

– Transportation Costs and The American Dream

Given a choice between automobiles and heavily subsidized transit
systems, the vast majority of people recognize that autos are faster,
less expensive, more convenient, and more productive than transit.

Above articles are quoted from Reason Foundation, Reason Alert 9/5/03
https://www.rppi.org

”Roots (Food for Thought)”

– A Decade of Tabor

By Fred Holden

“Its preferred interpretation shall reasonably restrain most the growth
of government.”
– Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, TABOR Amendment: Colorado Constitution,
Article X-Revenue, Section 20

TABOR (the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights) is a tax-and-spending limitation,
constitutional amendment. TABOR was passed in 1992 by the voters, and is
contained in Article X, Section 20, of the Colorado Constitution.
TABOR’s stated mission is to “reasonably restrain most the growth of
government.” It allows only those tax rate increases approved by voters;
while fees are not directly restricted, state government spending is
limited to growth of Colorado’s population-plus-inflation in the prior
year.

Colorado has in TABOR the strictest tax-and-spending limitation of the
50 states. This Issue Paper analyzes TABOR’s effect on Colorado,
contrasting taxing and spending before and after enactment of TABOR.

Ten fiscal years have passed since 1992; this Issue Paper compares ten
years of TABOR performance to the preceding ten years. Colorado state
documents-Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFR) and “Colorado
Economic Perspective” (Office of State Planning and Budgeting)-provide
the data.

In the decade before TABOR, Colorado state revenues and outlays
(spending) grew well over twice the population-plus-inflation growth
(See Fig. 1). With TABOR, all three were very close, indicating TABOR
had significantly restrained and controlled Colorado government growth.

Though TABOR was part of the “go-go nineties,” its measured effects on
government and non-government employment and distribution were quite
impressive (See Fig. 2). Pre-TABOR, government jobs grew slightly more
than business or total employment. After TABOR, business job growth
nearly doubled that of government job growth.

The TABOR surplus rebate mechanism returned to taxpayers some $3.25
billion over five years, fiscal 1997 to 2001, amounting to about $800
per capita-$3,200 for an average family of four.

TABOR is a success. It passed its own test to reasonably contain growth
of Colorado government, taxing and spending.

Above article is quoted from The Independence Institute https://www.i2i.org

”Evergreen (Today’s Quote)”

“Failure to sign the no-new-taxes pledge is the hole in the bottom of
the Arnold Schwarzenegger boat. Schwarzenegger is not Ronald Reagan.
Without the pledge, he’s not the anti-tax candidate.” –Americans for
Tax Reform president Grover Norquist, 08/26/03

”’Edited by Richard O. Rowland, president of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, 1314 S. King Street, Suite 1163, Honolulu, HI 96814. Phone/fax is 808-591-9193, cell phone is 808-864-1776. Send him an email at:”’ mailto:grassroot@hawaii.rr.com ”’See the Web site at:”’ https://www.grassrootinstitute.org/

“Malia Lt Blue top Image”

Three Honolulu-based neighborhood boards met Wednesday, Aug. 20, at the Ala Wai Golf Course Club House for an informational briefing on the city’s proposed $1 billion Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT), a controversial transit system with semi exclusive and exclusive lanes the city wants to construct between now and 2007. Around 70 people attended, including at least four from the City & County of Honolulu, and many other concerned citizens and those with private transportation businesses such as taxi and bus companies and tour operators. Others were elected neighborhood board officials from the three neighborhood boards hosting the briefing: Diamond Head/Kapahulu, St. Louis Heights No. 5, and McCully/Moilili Neighborhood Boards.

Representatives from the City & County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services pushing the BRT presented a slick power point presentation, essentially promoting the BRT as the answer to many of Oahu’s problems, several of which are completely unrelated to transportation.

Not only will the BRT solve Oahu’s traffic congestion problems, but also it will help small businesses prosper and create jobs in Hawaii, the city says in this presentation.

There was no mention of the small business owners who say the BRT will cause them great hardship and possibly put them out of business because the proposed routes will deter customers from traveling to their stores and restaurants.

There also was no mention of the number of people who will lose jobs in the private market because the city’s BRT will cause many of Hawaii’s private transportation companies to lose a substantial bit of business, or even be forced to shut down altogether and eliminate jobs.

During Wednesday’s briefing, some debate was permitted by the chair of the meeting. Cliff Slater, one of the nation’s leading transportation experts and a co-founder of The Alliance for Traffic Improvement and HonoluluTraffic.com, countered many of the city’s claims about the BRT, while others from the audience were able to ask questions of the city officials.

Through this limited debate and discussion, it became clear the city has not thought through many of the problems the BRT will cause for people traveling in Honolulu, whether by car, bus or BRT.

In fact, some of the oversights are so outlandish that they almost sound like candidates for Late Night Talk Show Host Dave Letterman’s Top 10 report if he were reviewing the city’s top 10 most outrageous oversights to date on the BRT project.

Since David Letterman wasn’t available, here’s the top 10 compiled by Hawaii Reporter:

”Number 10: No Mo’ Money”

The city is proposing to spend $1 billion just to build a fancier, supposedly faster transportation system when it cannot even afford to fund the one it already has, TheBus. TheBus, which has routes all over the island, loses $110 million a year and is 70 percent subsidized by the taxpayers. Drivers are about to go on strike because they claim they are underpaid at more than $40,000 a year. The city administration and Council have approved within the last couple of months a hike in bus fares that took effect July 1. And already they are considering another hike to cover a shortfall that is causing the city to cut back the routes to pre-2000, the year TheBus routes were beefed up and the mayor was planning to run for governor.

”Number 9: Yup, It is 13 Inches”

The city plans to add platforms all around the city that are 13 inches high so passengers can step right off the BRT onto a level surface. The platforms will be in the middle of the roadway, so passengers have to get off in the middle of major busy thoroughfares and then cross already traffic-congested streets to get to their destination.

”Number 8: A Whack Upside the Head”

TheBus drivers say the 13-inch platforms are just the right height for passengers standing there to get whacked in the head with TheBus mirrors. They say that the mirrors are at just the right angle and height to do some serious damage to the skulls of both residents and visitors, they say. As if there aren’t enough whacked people running around Oahu. But hey, what are a few less people in a town with 1 million people, and what are a few more lawsuits paid for by the taxpayers?

”Number 7: Emergency? Tough S#!@”

The city plans to cut down traffic lanes on the BRT route from 12 feet to 10 feet. Only trouble is the city’s largest emergency vehicles are 10’6″ and cannot fit properly in the 10-foot lanes. So much for racing to the scene, some of the drivers of these vehicles say.

”Number 6: Put That Bus on a Diet”

The city’s plans to cut down traffic lanes from 12 feet to 10 feet on the BRT route affects more than just emergency vehicles traveling through Honolulu — TheBus vehicles are 10’4″ across. City officials denied it would be a problem for TheBus passengers and drivers, as well as for other drivers on the road, to squeeze a steel bus larger than the lane into the lane when steel cars are flying by.

”Number 5: Tough Squeeze”

When asked at the Wednesday meeting what will happen when a 10’4″ bus and 10’6″ emergency vehicle are side by side on Oahu’s roadways narrowed because of the BRT, which include many of Honolulu’s major thoroughfares, city officials promised: “That will never happen.”

”Number 4: Shrinkage?”

The city plans to cut Kapiolani Boulevard, one of Oahu’s busiest roads, from three lanes to two in each direction. The major problem will come during peak traffic hours when city workers typically cone off lanes so four lanes move in the direction of the traffic and two against, thereby improving the traffic flow. With the dedicated lanes planned for this street, there will be only two lanes during peak traffic hours, cut down from four.

”Number 3: That Stinks”

One of Oahu’s streets most often under construction is Dillingham Boulevard in Kalihi. This busy street, which connects Kalihi’s business district to downtown Honolulu, currently has two lanes in each direction, but more often then not, construction crews have two of the four closed off because of work on sewage pipes, utilities and road paving. With the BRT taking up two more of the four lanes, business owners say they might as well shut down their businesses and walk away because their customers will never be able to get to their stores.

”Number 2: The Most Expensive 1.9 Minutes”

The city claims the BRT will shave 1.9 minutes off of a ride on TheBus from Aala Park to Waikiki. Those knowledgeable in transportation, including some who testified at the Wednesday hearing, say the 1.9 minute figure is a made up, pie-in-the-sky number. No matter, for a reported 1.9 minutes, taxpayers will pay $228 million just to start.

”Number 1: Traffic Gridlock Lockdown”

Traffic will actually get worse because people will not give up their cars as the city hopes through this social engineering plan. Yet the city, instead of building new lanes for dedication to the BRT, will take away lanes, thus doubling and tripling the traffic congestion, increasing road rage and generally just outraging Oahu’s biggest voting base — the more than 400,000 registered drivers.

”The good news:” A wise entrepreneur can start making those stress squeeze balls, featuring the face of Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris, and walk car to car during peak traffic times — sure to be worse gridlock than ever imagined — selling them by the handful to frustrated drivers. Talk about a hot commodity. Then Oahu’s drivers, who will have awokened to Harris’ BRT nightmare a little too late to save $1 billion and a great deal of stress, will give a whole new meaning to the saying “putting the squeeze on” the mayor.

”’Reach Malia Zimmerman, editor and president of Hawaii Reporter, at:”’ mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com

“Malia Lt Blue top Image”

Three Honolulu-based neighborhood boards met Wednesday, Aug. 20, at the Ala Wai Golf Course Club House for an informational briefing on the city’s proposed $1 billion Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT), a controversial transit system with semi exclusive and exclusive lanes the city wants to construct between now and 2007. Around 70 people attended, including at least four from the City & County of Honolulu, and many other concerned citizens and those with private transportation businesses such as taxi and bus companies and tour operators. Others were elected neighborhood board officials from the three neighborhood boards hosting the briefing: Diamond Head/Kapahulu, St. Louis Heights No. 5, and McCully/Moilili Neighborhood Boards.

Representatives from the City & County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services pushing the BRT presented a slick power point presentation, essentially promoting the BRT as the answer to many of Oahu’s problems, several of which are completely unrelated to transportation.

Not only will the BRT solve Oahu’s traffic congestion problems, but also it will help small businesses prosper and create jobs in Hawaii, the city says in this presentation.

There was no mention of the small business owners who say the BRT will cause them great hardship and possibly put them out of business because the proposed routes will deter customers from traveling to their stores and restaurants.

There also was no mention of the number of people who will lose jobs in the private market because the city’s BRT will cause many of Hawaii’s private transportation companies to lose a substantial bit of business, or even be forced to shut down altogether and eliminate jobs.

During Wednesday’s briefing, some debate was permitted by the chair of the meeting. Cliff Slater, one of the nation’s leading transportation experts and a co-founder of The Alliance for Traffic Improvement and HonoluluTraffic.com, countered many of the city’s claims about the BRT, while others from the audience were able to ask questions of the city officials.

Through this limited debate and discussion, it became clear the city has not thought through many of the problems the BRT will cause for people traveling in Honolulu, whether by car, bus or BRT.

In fact, some of the oversights are so outlandish that they almost sound like candidates for Late Night Talk Show Host Dave Letterman’s Top 10 report if he were reviewing the city’s top 10 most outrageous oversights to date on the BRT project.

Since David Letterman wasn’t available, here’s the top 10 compiled by Hawaii Reporter:

”Number 10: No Mo’ Money”

The city is proposing to spend $1 billion just to build a fancier, supposedly faster transportation system when it cannot even afford to fund the one it already has, TheBus. TheBus, which has routes all over the island, loses $110 million a year and is 70 percent subsidized by the taxpayers. Drivers are about to go on strike because they claim they are underpaid at more than $40,000 a year. The city administration and Council have approved within the last couple of months a hike in bus fares that took effect July 1. And already they are considering another hike to cover a shortfall that is causing the city to cut back the routes to pre-2000, the year TheBus routes were beefed up and the mayor was planning to run for governor.

”Number 9: Yup, It is 13 Inches”

The city plans to add platforms all around the city that are 13 inches high so passengers can step right off the BRT onto a level surface. The platforms will be in the middle of the roadway, so passengers have to get off in the middle of major busy thoroughfares and then cross already traffic-congested streets to get to their destination.

”Number 8: A Whack Upside the Head”

TheBus drivers say the 13-inch platforms are just the right height for passengers standing there to get whacked in the head with TheBus mirrors. They say that the mirrors are at just the right angle and height to do some serious damage to the skulls of both residents and visitors, they say. As if there aren’t enough whacked people running around Oahu. But hey, what are a few less people in a town with 1 million people, and what are a few more lawsuits paid for by the taxpayers?

”Number 7: Emergency? Tough S#!@”

The city plans to cut down traffic lanes on the BRT route from 12 feet to 10 feet. Only trouble is the city’s largest emergency vehicles are 10’6″ and cannot fit properly in the 10-foot lanes. So much for racing to the scene, some of the drivers of these vehicles say.

”Number 6: Put That Bus on a Diet”

The city’s plans to cut down traffic lanes from 12 feet to 10 feet on the BRT route affects more than just emergency vehicles traveling through Honolulu — TheBus vehicles are 10’4″ across. City officials denied it would be a problem for TheBus passengers and drivers, as well as for other drivers on the road, to squeeze a steel bus larger than the lane into the lane when steel cars are flying by.

”Number 5: Tough Squeeze”

When asked at the Wednesday meeting what will happen when a 10’4″ bus and 10’6″ emergency vehicle are side by side on Oahu’s roadways narrowed because of the BRT, which include many of Honolulu’s major thoroughfares, city officials promised: “That will never happen.”

”Number 4: Shrinkage?”

The city plans to cut Kapiolani Boulevard, one of Oahu’s busiest roads, from three lanes to two in each direction. The major problem will come during peak traffic hours when city workers typically cone off lanes so four lanes move in the direction of the traffic and two against, thereby improving the traffic flow. With the dedicated lanes planned for this street, there will be only two lanes during peak traffic hours, cut down from four.

”Number 3: That Stinks”

One of Oahu’s streets most often under construction is Dillingham Boulevard in Kalihi. This busy street, which connects Kalihi’s business district to downtown Honolulu, currently has two lanes in each direction, but more often then not, construction crews have two of the four closed off because of work on sewage pipes, utilities and road paving. With the BRT taking up two more of the four lanes, business owners say they might as well shut down their businesses and walk away because their customers will never be able to get to their stores.

”Number 2: The Most Expensive 1.9 Minutes”

The city claims the BRT will shave 1.9 minutes off of a ride on TheBus from Aala Park to Waikiki. Those knowledgeable in transportation, including some who testified at the Wednesday hearing, say the 1.9 minute figure is a made up, pie-in-the-sky number. No matter, for a reported 1.9 minutes, taxpayers will pay $228 million just to start.

”Number 1: Traffic Gridlock Lockdown”

Traffic will actually get worse because people will not give up their cars as the city hopes through this social engineering plan. Yet the city, instead of building new lanes for dedication to the BRT, will take away lanes, thus doubling and tripling the traffic congestion, increasing road rage and generally just outraging Oahu’s biggest voting base — the more than 400,000 registered drivers.

”The good news:” A wise entrepreneur can start making those stress squeeze balls, featuring the face of Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris, and walk car to car during peak traffic times — sure to be worse gridlock than ever imagined — selling them by the handful to frustrated drivers. Talk about a hot commodity. Then Oahu’s drivers, who will have awokened to Harris’ BRT nightmare a little too late to save $1 billion and a great deal of stress, will give a whole new meaning to the saying “putting the squeeze on” the mayor.

”’Reach Malia Zimmerman, editor and president of Hawaii Reporter, at:”’ mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com

”’Editor’s Note: Hawaii Reporter has sought for more than 14 months public record documents from the City & County of Honolulu that document the city’s more than $20 million in expenditures on the $1 billion proposed Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT), a light rail system planned for various parts of Oahu beginning in Waikiki. Council Member John Henry Felix assisted Hawaii Reporter in submitting the original request for copies of the BRT contracts in March 2002, but his written request was never even acknowledged by the City administration before he left office in December 2002. Council Member Charles Djou continued where Felix left off, submitting another request when he took office in January 2003, and resubmitting follow up letters several times over the next four months. In May 2003, the city Department of Transportation Services released several file boxes of contracts that listed on each contract the primary contractors and subcontractors for more than $12 million of the $20 million reportedly expended on the BRT. Djou and Hawaii Reporter immediately resubmitted another request for the remainder of the contracts with no answer from the city Department of Transportation Services to date. This report is published after dozens of hours reviewing several thousand pages of city documents naming contractors and subcontractors working on the BRT and what they were paid, as well as state Campaign Spending and Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs records.”’

Hawaii’s powerful Democrat elected officials, in power for 40 consecutive years, have traditionally had their political campaigns funded by supporters who in return receive lucrative government contracts or zoning, permitting and other benefits for their businesses from those government officials.

This indisputable fact has been documented in thousands of pages of investigative reports at the state Campaign Spending Commission, the Honolulu Police Department and Honolulu City Prosecutor. These agencies are working to break this cycle by exposing the system and prosecuting the players.

At stake are billions of dollars collected from taxpayers in Hawaii, which in turn are paid to these contractors and then passed on to the campaigns of prominent Democrats. Former Gov. Benjamin Cayetano fed this cycle by authorizing billions of dollars from taxpayers be directed to public construction projects, bid and non-bid, saying the infusion of cash would spur the local lagging economy.

The latest major construction project that Oahu’s Democrat mayor is pushing for — the BRT — will cost taxpayers more than $1 billion just to construct and considerably more to operate and maintain. The consulting projects implemented to launch the BRT are being awarded to many companies recently in the news for making excessive and illegal contributions to the mayor and other prominent Democrats such as former Gov. Cayetano, former Lieutenant Gov. Mazie Hirono and former Maui Mayor Kimo Apana.

The system is called “pay to play,” deemed so last year by Bob Watada, director of the state Campaign Spending Commission, who has investigated and is in the process of fining more than 100 companies for violating state campaign spending laws in an effort to participate in the political pay to play game.

Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris’ campaign and administration have been under investigation by a multitude of law enforcement agencies for nearly two years for operating such a system that, according to those doing business with the city, encourages or demands contributions in exchange for city business, permitting and zoning.

No where is this more clear than when looking at the BRT and the more than $20 million in contracts awarded to date. More than 40 percent, or 16 of 36 of the consultants working on the BRT, are under investigation, indictment or have been convicted for illegal contributions, and in some cases, for money laundering contributions to these candidates. Those alphabetically include:

*”Char & Associates”, a company owned by Peter Char, close friend of the mayor and treasurer of the mayor’s campaign, who died while under investigation. His wife, Lynette, is a city employee with the Dept. of Enterprise Services. Char & Associates received up to an estimated $216,297 in BRT city contracts, though the city does not specify in the documents the exact amount this subcontractor was paid.

*”ECS Inc.” was fined $49,300 by the state Campaign Spending Commission for making a total of $80,000 in contributions including $30,000 to Harris, some of which was deemed excess and illegal. This company received up to $521,065 in consulting contracts for the BRT, though the exact amount was not disclosed by the city on the copies of the contracts reviewed by Hawaii Reporter.

*”Geolabs Inc.” was fined over $64,000 for laundering $120,000 with around $60,000 going to the campaign of Harris. In total, the people associated and employed with Geolabs Inc. gave close to $290,000 total to the campaigns of Harris, Apana, Cayetano and Hirono. The city BRT consulting contract received by Geolabs is up to $468,000, though the exact amount of the BRT contract was not disclosed by the city.

*”Hawaii Design Associates” was fined $1,000 by the state Campaign Spending Commission for making excessive contributions to the campaign of Harris. This company received up to $550,100 in the contracts reviewed by Hawaii Reporter, however the exact amount received by this company was not disclosed on the copies of the contracts provided by the city.

*”Helber Hastert Fee” was fined $500 by the state Campaign Spending Commission for excess contributions to Harris and is pending prosecution by the Honolulu City Prosecutor. This company received up to $150,000 from the city for the BRT consulting work, though the exact amount was not disclosed by the city on the BRT contracts.

*”KPMG Consulting” is one of several accounting firms under investigation by the state Campaign Spending Commission for excessive contributions to the mayor, and is the former employer of Malcolm Tom, the third highest official in the city. This accounting firm received up to $161,438 from the city for the BRT, though the exact amount was not disclosed by the city.

*”Masa Fujioka and Associates”, fined $1,000 for $2,000 in excess contributions to the campaign of Harris, received up to $324,438 for its city BRT consulting contract, though the exact amount was not disclosed on the city contract reviewed by Hawaii Reporter.

*”Mitsunaga & Associates Inc.” is owned by Dennis Mitsunaga, an individual under investigation by the federal government for more than a year and a half for a variety of illegalities including misusing federal construction funds provided to the state. Known as one of the most powerful political people in Hawaii, including a fundraiser for many high-profile Democrat candidates, Mitsunaga had to repay the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development more than $700,000 the agency considered was used inappropriately. Mitsunaga, still under investigation by the federal government, has a variety of companies. The one with his namesake received up to $399,995 so far on the BRT project, though the exact amount is not disclosed by the city.

*”MK Engineers” is currently under investigation by state Campaign Spending Commission for making excessive political contributions to Hawaii Democrat politicians. This company received BRT contracts up to $73,600, though the exact amount was not disclosed by the city. (See “BRT Sub-contractor Explains Political Contributions’ Policy” for further comments.)

*”Parsons Brinkerhoff”, which is under investigation by state Campaign Spending Commission for excessive political contributions, is one of the primary contractors on the BRT project and has overseen more than $5 million spent on the BRT, and has outsourced some of this work to many of the subcontractors listed in this story.

*”R.M. Towill” is currently under investigation by the state Campaign Spending Commission, the Honolulu Police Department and the Honolulu City Prosecutor. At least four people employed with this company have been arrested in recent weeks on suspicion of money laundering and making illegal contributions to the campaign of Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris. This company, one of the primary contractors on the BRT, is overseeing the distribution of at least $1.5 million of city funds to subcontractors named in this report.

*”SEY Inc.”, has so far been fined $32,000 by the state Campaign Spending Commission for making “false name” contributions under names of employees to the campaign of Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris. This company has received as much as $89,000 from the city for its consulting work on the BRT, though exact figures were not disclosed by the city.

*”SSFM International,” the first company whose executives were charged and arrested for their role in laundering over $400,000 in campaign funds to Democrat political candidates including $200,000 to Harris. Michael Matsumoto, president of SSFM Engineering in Hawaii, was recently convicted of the first $200,000 laundering offense involving the Harris campaign. The company also will face sizable fines from the state Campaign Spending Commission, though that fine has not yet been determined. SSFM, one of the primary contractors on the BRT, has overseen $1.8 million of expenditures for the BRT, though how much of this allocation the company has received is not disclosed in city contracts obtained by Hawaii Reporter.

*”The Limtiaco Group” was under investigation by the state Campaign Spending Commission for its involvement in the “pay to play” system, but the principal of the company died, deterring further investigation at this time. The Limtiaco Group has so far received more than $32,000 from city BRT contracts, though the city did not specify on its contracts the exact amount received by the company.

*”Verner Liipfert,” the powerful Washington D.C. law firm that once operated a branch in Hawaii where both former Gov. John Waihee and Norma Wong worked, also received contracts for the BRT, up to $97,000, though the exact amount was not disclosed by the city. This company is not under investigation per say, however it is included in the list because of its connection with Norma Wong.

*”Norma Wong”, who in addition to her own company is partner to a research company, Mattson & Sunderland, under investigation for participating in a money laundering scheme involving the campaign of Honolulu Jeremy Harris, received up to $1,600,607 from the city for the BRT, though the city did not disclose the exact amount of compensation on its contract documents.

”Consultants, Contractors that received contracts for the BRT, but to the knowledge of Hawaii Reporter are not currently under investigation”

*Air Flight Service
*Harrison Rue
*John Child & Company
*John Hara & Associates
*Julian Ng Inc.
*Kaku Associates
*Lea & Elliot
*Lester Inouye & Associates Inc.
*Maliu Communications LLC
*Mason Architects
*McNeil Wilson Technology Group
*Nicole Love
*Pat Lee & Associates
*PB Consulting
*Rider Hunt Levett & Bailey
*Scientific Consultants
*Sharon Greene & Associates
*Tam Plan
*TGN Enterprises
*The Tree People
*Urban Works

Those opposed to the BRT project and the pay to play system say the political pay offs already taking place need to stop and the only way to do so is not to allow the $1 billion BRT to move forward.

”’This article was originally published on Aug. 15, 2003.”’

”’Editor’s Note: Hawaii Reporter has sought for more than 14 months public record documents from the City & County of Honolulu that document the city’s more than $20 million in expenditures on the $1 billion proposed Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT), a light rail system planned for various parts of Oahu beginning in Waikiki. Council Member John Henry Felix assisted Hawaii Reporter in submitting the original request for copies of the BRT contracts in March 2002, but his written request was never even acknowledged by the City administration before he left office in December 2002. Council Member Charles Djou continued where Felix left off, submitting another request when he took office in January 2003, and resubmitting follow up letters several times over the next four months. In May 2003, the city Department of Transportation Services released several file boxes of contracts that listed on each contract the primary contractors and subcontractors for more than $12 million of the $20 million reportedly expended on the BRT. Djou and Hawaii Reporter immediately resubmitted another request for the remainder of the contracts with no answer from the city Department of Transportation Services to date. This report is published after dozens of hours reviewing several thousand pages of city documents naming contractors and subcontractors working on the BRT and what they were paid, as well as state Campaign Spending and Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs records.”’

Hawaii’s powerful Democrat elected officials, in power for 40 consecutive years, have traditionally had their political campaigns funded by supporters who in return receive lucrative government contracts or zoning, permitting and other benefits for their businesses from those government officials.

This indisputable fact has been documented in thousands of pages of investigative reports at the state Campaign Spending Commission, the Honolulu Police Department and Honolulu City Prosecutor. These agencies are working to break this cycle by exposing the system and prosecuting the players.

At stake are billions of dollars collected from taxpayers in Hawaii, which in turn are paid to these contractors and then passed on to the campaigns of prominent Democrats. Former Gov. Benjamin Cayetano fed this cycle by authorizing billions of dollars from taxpayers be directed to public construction projects, bid and non-bid, saying the infusion of cash would spur the local lagging economy.

The latest major construction project that Oahu’s Democrat mayor is pushing for — the BRT — will cost taxpayers more than $1 billion just to construct and considerably more to operate and maintain. The consulting projects implemented to launch the BRT are being awarded to many companies recently in the news for making excessive and illegal contributions to the mayor and other prominent Democrats such as former Gov. Cayetano, former Lieutenant Gov. Mazie Hirono and former Maui Mayor Kimo Apana.

The system is called “pay to play,” deemed so last year by Bob Watada, director of the state Campaign Spending Commission, who has investigated and is in the process of fining more than 100 companies for violating state campaign spending laws in an effort to participate in the political pay to play game.

Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris’ campaign and administration have been under investigation by a multitude of law enforcement agencies for nearly two years for operating such a system that, according to those doing business with the city, encourages or demands contributions in exchange for city business, permitting and zoning.

No where is this more clear than when looking at the BRT and the more than $20 million in contracts awarded to date. More than 40 percent, or 16 of 36 of the consultants working on the BRT, are under investigation, indictment or have been convicted for illegal contributions, and in some cases, for money laundering contributions to these candidates. Those alphabetically include:

*”Char & Associates”, a company owned by Peter Char, close friend of the mayor and treasurer of the mayor’s campaign, who died while under investigation. His wife, Lynette, is a city employee with the Dept. of Enterprise Services. Char & Associates received up to an estimated $216,297 in BRT city contracts, though the city does not specify in the documents the exact amount this subcontractor was paid.

*”ECS Inc.” was fined $49,300 by the state Campaign Spending Commission for making a total of $80,000 in contributions including $30,000 to Harris, some of which was deemed excess and illegal. This company received up to $521,065 in consulting contracts for the BRT, though the exact amount was not disclosed by the city on the copies of the contracts reviewed by Hawaii Reporter.

*”Geolabs Inc.” was fined over $64,000 for laundering $120,000 with around $60,000 going to the campaign of Harris. In total, the people associated and employed with Geolabs Inc. gave close to $290,000 total to the campaigns of Harris, Apana, Cayetano and Hirono. The city BRT consulting contract received by Geolabs is up to $468,000, though the exact amount of the BRT contract was not disclosed by the city.

*”Hawaii Design Associates” was fined $1,000 by the state Campaign Spending Commission for making excessive contributions to the campaign of Harris. This company received up to $550,100 in the contracts reviewed by Hawaii Reporter, however the exact amount received by this company was not disclosed on the copies of the contracts provided by the city.

*”Helber Hastert Fee” was fined $500 by the state Campaign Spending Commission for excess contributions to Harris and is pending prosecution by the Honolulu City Prosecutor. This company received up to $150,000 from the city for the BRT consulting work, though the exact amount was not disclosed by the city on the BRT contracts.

*”KPMG Consulting” is one of several accounting firms under investigation by the state Campaign Spending Commission for excessive contributions to the mayor, and is the former employer of Malcolm Tom, the third highest official in the city. This accounting firm received up to $161,438 from the city for the BRT, though the exact amount was not disclosed by the city.

*”Masa Fujioka and Associates”, fined $1,000 for $2,000 in excess contributions to the campaign of Harris, received up to $324,438 for its city BRT consulting contract, though the exact amount was not disclosed on the city contract reviewed by Hawaii Reporter.

*”Mitsunaga & Associates Inc.” is owned by Dennis Mitsunaga, an individual under investigation by the federal government for more than a year and a half for a variety of illegalities including misusing federal construction funds provided to the state. Known as one of the most powerful political people in Hawaii, including a fundraiser for many high-profile Democrat candidates, Mitsunaga had to repay the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development more than $700,000 the agency considered was used inappropriately. Mitsunaga, still under investigation by the federal government, has a variety of companies. The one with his namesake received up to $399,995 so far on the BRT project, though the exact amount is not disclosed by the city.

*”MK Engineers” is currently under investigation by state Campaign Spending Commission for making excessive political contributions to Hawaii Democrat politicians. This company received BRT contracts up to $73,600, though the exact amount was not disclosed by the city. (See “BRT Sub-contractor Explains Political Contributions’ Policy” for further comments.)

*”Parsons Brinkerhoff”, which is under investigation by state Campaign Spending Commission for excessive political contributions, is one of the primary contractors on the BRT project and has overseen more than $5 million spent on the BRT, and has outsourced some of this work to many of the subcontractors listed in this story.

*”R.M. Towill” is currently under investigation by the state Campaign Spending Commission, the Honolulu Police Department and the Honolulu City Prosecutor. At least four people employed with this company have been arrested in recent weeks on suspicion of money laundering and making illegal contributions to the campaign of Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris. This company, one of the primary contractors on the BRT, is overseeing the distribution of at least $1.5 million of city funds to subcontractors named in this report.

*”SEY Inc.”, has so far been fined $32,000 by the state Campaign Spending Commission for making “false name” contributions under names of employees to the campaign of Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris. This company has received as much as $89,000 from the city for its consulting work on the BRT, though exact figures were not disclosed by the city.

*”SSFM International,” the first company whose executives were charged and arrested for their role in laundering over $400,000 in campaign funds to Democrat political candidates including $200,000 to Harris. Michael Matsumoto, president of SSFM Engineering in Hawaii, was recently convicted of the first $200,000 laundering offense involving the Harris campaign. The company also will face sizable fines from the state Campaign Spending Commission, though that fine has not yet been determined. SSFM, one of the primary contractors on the BRT, has overseen $1.8 million of expenditures for the BRT, though how much of this allocation the company has received is not disclosed in city contracts obtained by Hawaii Reporter.

*”The Limtiaco Group” was under investigation by the state Campaign Spending Commission for its involvement in the “pay to play” system, but the principal of the company died, deterring further investigation at this time. The Limtiaco Group has so far received more than $32,000 from city BRT contracts, though the city did not specify on its contracts the exact amount received by the company.

*”Verner Liipfert,” the powerful Washington D.C. law firm that once operated a branch in Hawaii where both former Gov. John Waihee and Norma Wong worked, also received contracts for the BRT, up to $97,000, though the exact amount was not disclosed by the city. This company is not under investigation per say, however it is included in the list because of its connection with Norma Wong.

*”Norma Wong”, who in addition to her own company is partner to a research company, Mattson & Sunderland, under investigation for participating in a money laundering scheme involving the campaign of Honolulu Jeremy Harris, received up to $1,600,607 from the city for the BRT, though the city did not disclose the exact amount of compensation on its contract documents.

”Consultants, Contractors that received contracts for the BRT, but to the knowledge of Hawaii Reporter are not currently under investigation”

*Air Flight Service
*Harrison Rue
*John Child & Company
*John Hara & Associates
*Julian Ng Inc.
*Kaku Associates
*Lea & Elliot
*Lester Inouye & Associates Inc.
*Maliu Communications LLC
*Mason Architects
*McNeil Wilson Technology Group
*Nicole Love
*Pat Lee & Associates
*PB Consulting
*Rider Hunt Levett & Bailey
*Scientific Consultants
*Sharon Greene & Associates
*Tam Plan
*TGN Enterprises
*The Tree People
*Urban Works

Those opposed to the BRT project and the pay to play system say the political pay offs already taking place need to stop and the only way to do so is not to allow the $1 billion BRT to move forward.

”’This article was originally published on Aug. 15, 2003.”’