The Hawaii Supreme Court has denied efforts by mainland political columnist Andy Martin to obtain a copy of Barack Obama’s original Hawaiian birth certificate. See the full ruling here:

http://www.state.hi.us/jud/opinions/sct/2008/29414ord.pdf

Martin, a self-described “legendary Chicago muckraker”, issued a press statement several days ago to announce that he is in Honolulu to “investigate” Obama’s background in Hawaii.

Part of his examination was to include obtaining a copy of Obama’s birth certificate, verifying that Obama was in fact born in Hawaii and not out of country. To be qualified to run for president, candidates must be born in America.

Obama has refused to release personal documents including his birth certificate, leading to suspicion among some voters that he’s covering up his true place of birth out of country.

Martin, who authored “Obama: The Man Behind The Mask”, is the Executive Editor and publisher of http://www.ContrarianCommentary.com

Key Hawaii GOP Incumbents Aggressively Targeted This Election

A recent Hawaii political poll reveals some of the few remaining local Republicans in the Hawaii State Legislature are in trouble this November 4 election – and they have little time to get their campaigns back on track.

While polls aren’t always correct, The People’s Poll shows Sen. Gordon Trimble, R-Waikiki-Ala Moana, is behind his challenger, radio personality Brickwood Galleteria.

Despite Galleteria’s three past DUI arrests and two DUI convictions, Galleteria is using his celebrity friends and union connections to pull ahead.

See his full criminal history here: Brickwood Galleteria Criminal Report

Galleteria, the former head of the Hawaii Democratic Party, is calling on the powerful political players he once answered to.

One primary reason is Trimble’s resistance, along with the reluctance of other Republicans and Democrats in the legislature, to support the unions’ check card bill.

Union leaders want the bill, which would eliminate secrecy of union members’ voting, passed next session in 2009. It passed in the 2008 legislative session, but Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed the bill, and the Legislature’s Democratic Majority didn’t have the two-thirds required to override her veto.

There are only four Republicans in the 25-member Senate now, including Sen. Paul Whalen, R-Kona, is not running for re-election. If Trimble goes, and no new Republicans are elected, there will be just two Republicans remaining, including Senators Fred Hemmings and Sam Slom.

For Republicans, conditions aren’t much better in the House.

There are just 8 House Republicans in the 51-member body. One member, in particular, has been targeted.

Rep. Colleen Meyer, R-Kaawa, is one of the most outstanding taxpayer advocates and pro-business lawmakers in the 76-member legislature. Meyer has won numerous awards for her pro-business stance and her consistent pro-taxpayer voting record. She’s signed and kept her pledge not to raise taxes or introduce bills to raise taxes. She’s also been loved in her district and easily re-elected for several terms. But she’s now under attack by so called environmentalists who are launching a smear campaign to portray Meyer as anti-environmentally friendly, and recent polls show their tactic is working.

Unless both Trimble and Meyer campaign hard with dedicated volunteers, get every vote out for them to the polls, and pour some money into their final mailing and advertising push, they will lose.

The polls show some possible good news for Republicans in three House races: Tom Berg is beating incumbent Rep. Rida Cabanilla, D-Ewa, by a substanial margin; Gil Riviere is ahead of Rep. Michael Magaoay, D-North Shore, and Anne Stevens is in a close race with Rep. Tom Brower, D-Waikiki.

Hawaii Reporter asked Gov. Linda Lingle, who’s campaigning aggressively for Senator John McCain in the mainland, what she’s doing to help the local Republican candidates ensure they can return in 2009.

Lingle says she’s spoken at their fundraisers and contributed the maximum she can to their campaigns.

Several Republicans have commented that they believe the popular Republican governor could do much more for local candidates who really could see their races impacted by her hands on campaigning, and they’d prefer that to her leaving the state to work for McCain.

The Prince and The So Called Progressives

Quentin Kuhio Kawananakoa, a 47-year-old wealthy Hawaiian prince who works as an attorney at Case Bigelow & Lombardi, is running for the state House, but surprisingly polls show him behind his young opponent.

A former Republican House Minority Leader in the Hawaii State Legislature, Kawananakoa left the safe House position to run for Congress in 1998 and lost. He ran again for Congress in 2006 and lost in the primary to Republican candidate Bob Hogue.

This election, he opted to return to the state House and is running for an open seat left by former Rep. Tommy Waters, a Democrat, who represented Waimanalo and parts of Kailua including Lanikai. Waters was extremely unpopular last session because of his pro-criminal stance on legislation as the Judiciary chair and he chose not to run again.

Many thought Kawananakoa easily had that race. He is running against Chris Lee, a political newcomer, and Kawananakoa has the money to beat him. But Kawananakoa is trailing in a recent poll.

Part of the reason for his success, Lee is backed by a new younger generation of Democrats, including Reps. Sylvia Luke and Scott Saiki, who want to take over the House leadership. In fact, Lee worked for them and now they are helping him get the union votes.

Kawananakoa could pull off a victory, but only if he does much more to make himself standout in a positive way.

He could use his considerable wealth to fix up school and community libraries, to boost the faded Waimanalo business community storefront with a little paint and repair, and to help some of the very poor people in Waimanalo who live in deplorable housing conditions. He could do remarkable community acts of kindness to help others in need.

In these tough economic times, when so many people are struggling financially, and Waimanalo’s and Kailua’s homeless community continues to grow, people just can’t relate to a prince who doesn’t have these same economic concerns or experiences.

Kawananakoa must come out of his castle, not just for sign waving and door-to-door campaigning, but to show that he really cares about his community and will help where he can, regardless of the election.

And if Kawananakoa needs any incentive to rev up his campaign – if he doesn’t win this election, and he loses to a newcomer, it will be difficult to take him seriously as a political candidate in the future.

Hawaii GOP Files Ethics Complaint Against Dems

Hawaii GOP Chairman Willes K. Lee says the Democratic Party of Hawaii’s has not paid for its use of state public facilities, and he’s filed an ethics complaint.

On February 19, 2008, Lee says Democrats held caucus meetings in Department of Education schools and “failed to pay for at least three of them and maybe as many as six.”

"The state and county chairmen of the Democrat Party of Hawai’i know the law. It is inexcusable that they did not pay the state for use of the Department of Education facilities and have still not come forward to pay what they owe, eight months later. Public confidence in the fair and equal treatment of all citizens, regardless of political affiliation, is essential. Even inadvertent errors must be corrected and publicly announced.”

Lee says the ethics commission has since confirmed that Democrats are required to pay for renting Department of Education facilities.

Hawaii Kai Chamber Leader Makes Political Faux Pas

Hawaii Kai Chamber of Commerce leader Noble Turner endorsed Democratic House candidate Amy Monk over Republican House incumbent Gene Ward, allowing her to use the Commerce along with his on her campaign mailer last week.

However, the newly formed Chamber has applied for its 501-c-3 tax exempt status with the IRS, and 501-c-3s aren’t supposed to be involved in political activities because it jeopardizes the tax-exempt non-profit status.

The political faux pas has upset the Republicans who support the new organization.

Monk issued a statement and Turner has apologized noting his decision was personal and his alone.

Reach Malia Zimmerman, editor of Hawaii Reporter, at mailto:Malia@hawaiireporter.com

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