Gannett negotiator John Jaske, the company’s retired top labor lawyer who has been hired back on special assignment to handle contract talks with the Hawaii Newspaper Guild and the other newspaper unions at the Honolulu Advertiser, was in town for another round of negotiations this week. But talks broke off early yesterday and no follow-up has been scheduled.
Negotiations are also underway with Stephens Media Group and the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, where there hasn’t been good news on the labor front for quite a while.
Yesterday’s reference to a Hawaii Tribune-Herald story on the removal of a Ted Hong campaign sign on the Big Island drew a couple of disbelieving comments. It should obviously be noted that vandalism or theft of campaign signs is certainly not unknown and Hong’s campaign is not the first to report it, although in keeping with his reputation for blunt speaking, his response was much more pointed than the norm. In another high profile case, Duke Bainum’s mayoral campaign in 2004 also reported vandalism and theft of their signs.
I spoke to Hong yesterday about this incident and his campaign. Hong said he has been told that Department of Transportation employees who removed the sign last weekend failed to follow normal procedures because they had been directed to take the sign down.
Hong also complained that Rep. Dwight Takamine held a series of meetings at senior citizen centers, but he has been denied a similar opportunity to speak to the same groups.
Takamine, who announced last year that he is a candidate for the 1st Senate District (Hilo to Waimea) but has not yet filed his nomination papers, has billed the sessions as community updates on activity and issues in the current legislative session. Hong views the sessions as thinly disguised campaign opportunities, but says he has been told by county officials that he cannot be given equal access because meetings with elected officials are allowed in the senior centers while campaigning is prohibited.
I guess it’s safe to say that the 1st District race will be a lively campaign!
I hope to have a recording of my interview with Hong available here soon (as soon as I figure out how to do some simple edits and then compress it down to a reasonable size), due in part to a new gizmo, a small microphone that turns an iPod into a digital recorder capable of pretty good audio quality. It was an interesting conversation and I hope to share it soon.
It’s Feline Friday again, and I decided to let Mr. Toby make another appearance. Just click for the larger photos.
Hard to believe that Toby is already five years old and counting, while Duke has his 6th birthday in another couple of months, just before the end of the legislative session.
2 responses so far ↓
1 kunihi // Mar 7, 2008 at 7:20 am
Hong is now offering a $300 bounty!
“Recently, you may have read about our campaign yard signs and banners being stolen. Since the newspaper articles, the theft has actually increased. I’m using this email to announce a $300.00 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of any individuals responsible for taking my campaign’s signs and banners without permission.”
“Blunt speaking” is part of his reputation yes… the reputation that prevented his newfound buddy Linda from being able to give him jobs?
2 charles // Mar 7, 2008 at 10:17 am
Hong is paranoid. Signs get ripped off and taken down all the time. Ask Cal Kawamoto who offered a $1000 to ferret out the culprits who were vandalizing his signs. (Must be cause he had more money than Hong or maybe signs in Waipahu are more valuable than in Hilo.)
As far as Takamine attending meetings, why does Hong expect Takamine to do? Not attend any meetings whatsover lest it be construed as “campaigning”?
Silly.
If he truly believes this, he ought to have told his old boss, Lingle, to cease and desist all meetings when she was running for re-election.
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