House Speaker Calvin Say’s office responded quickly to the State Ethics Commission’s request for further information about meetings with representatives of Hollywood movie company, Relativity Media, during which gift sets of DVDs were distributed, but his response provided little information. Say told the commission he does not recall any details of his meetings with representatives [...]
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An investigation by the State Ethics Commission is asking legislators to step forward and report if they or their staff accepted boxed sets of DVDs from a Hollywood-based film company that was lobbying for bills that would have boosted tax credits to movie productions in the state. Relativity Media, a major Hollywood-based production company, reported [...]
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In November 1999, former Honolulu reporter Rick Daysog, now at the Sacremento Bee, wrote about the former Bishop Estate’s attempts to derail federal reforms in nonprofit laws. Ousted trustees of the Bishop Estate paid former Gov. John Waihee to lobby top White House officials in an effort to protect their hefty paychecks, according to internal [...]
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Key portion of an on-the-fly interview by Adreinne LaFrance with a Honolulu rail delegation in D.C., published as part of her Civil Beat story on Thursday. Civil Beat, catching up with man walking ahead of the group: Hi, sir. I’m Adrienne LaFrance with Civil Beat. What’s your name? Dennis Dwyer: My name is Dennis Dwyer. [...]
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I got to wondering just how many lobbyists are serving on state boards and commissions after dissecting the debate over a recent State Ethics Commission advisory sent to members of the Mortgage Foreclosure Task Force. The presence of lobbyists raises potential issues where the issues they are paid to pursue as lobbyists overlap with the [...]
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There are obviously many different approaches to the issues created by lobbyists serving on state boards and commissions. I ran across several interesting items while researching yesterday’s lengthy entry, including several states that would agree with the Hawaii State Ethics Commission’s recent advice regarding lobbying by board and commission members. Maryland requires lobbyists serving on [...]
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The State Ethics Commission’s relatively new executive director, Les Kondo, has been leading the commission towards a more aggressive enforcement posture. I generally welcome the move as overdue and very much needed, and he’s doing a good job. But, at the same time, I have concerns about at least one of Kondo’s recent moves. During [...]
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A lessee group and its director violated state ethics law by lobbying from 2009-2011 without registering with the State Ethics Commission or filing required lobbyist reports, according to a statement recently posted on the commission’s web site. The commission’s announcement does not name the organization due to confidentiality requirements in the lobbyist law. However, Michael [...]
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