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Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Monkeys don't like the stringy things on the banana either..."}]

Smile 26 5 1 2

<title>Daily Smile: Friday, May 1, 2026</title>

Monkeys don't like the stringy things on the banana either...

Daily Smile: Friday, May 1, 2026

 Monkeys don&#039;t like the stringy things on the banana either...

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

MĀNOA — The emotion was still fresh on Kaleo Baxter's face when asked to recall the program-altering announcement made less than 24 hours before he spoke to local media on Thursday afternoon. 

Citing a desire to spend more time with her family, 

Robyn Ah Mow announced she was stepping down as the program's head coach

 after nine years at the helm late Wednesday afternoon. In doing so, Ah Mow had to say goodbye to her other family — the same UH women's volleyball program where she was a two-time All-American setter after joining the 'Bows out of McKinley High School. 

Ah Mow elevated in the sport even further, becoming a three-time Olympian with the U.S. national team. After a handful of years as an assistant coach under former UH head coach Dave Shoji, she was named the program's head coach following his retirement, beginning in 2017. Ah Mow led the Rainbow Wahine to seven consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament and was named Big West Conference Coach of the Year three times. 

The Rainbow Wahine went 165-78 under Ah Mow, missing the Big West Tournament in what turned out to be her final season in 2025. Once Ah Mow decided volleyball was taking a backseat, the team was notified in an emotional meeting. 

Baxter, Ah Mow's former associate head coach, is now the program's interim head coach. As he discussed Wednesday's events, as well as what Ah Mow means to him, his eyes began to water and his nose reddened. 

"I think a lot of people's hearts are heavy right now," Baxter said on Thursday. "We've had a lot of conversations, a lot of tough conversations, over the course of the last couple weeks. I'm happy that she's choosing family for the first time in a very long time, because she's chosen this sport her entire life. What an icon, a complete legend, and what she's given to this university and to this sport is immeasurable."

Baxter's appointment of interim head coach comes during a hectic time in the calendar. The transfer portal for women's volleyball reopens on Friday, while the UH-Mānoa spring semester ends two weeks later on May 15, where players on the current roster are expected to disperse for the summer. 

"My priorities right now are making sure that this team stays unified and together, and just making sure that I'm taking care of all the logistics moving forward, so that whoever is named the next head coach can come in here with a seamless transition, and they can make tweaks to what they need but for the most part, that everything's kind of set and set in place so that they can hit the ground running the day step on campus," Baxter said. 

Shortly after Ah Mow's resignation announcement, the school announced a national search for the program's next head coach was imminent. The search is already underway. 

When asked if he has applied for the job or is planning to, Baxter said he preferred to play things close to the vest publicly. 

"I'll keep this decision close to my heart," Baxter said. "The people who I consider my inner circle, I'll let them know my decision on that, but I just know this program deserves a phenomenal coach, and I know that the administration is going to get one with whoever they hire."

Baxter, a 2005 graduate of Kaua‘i High School, was a volunteer assistant coach under Shoji from 2011 to 2014. After two years away in California, Baxter returned home in 2016 as the program's director of operations. When Ah Mow got the head job in 2017, she made Baxter one of the team's assistant coaches. Baxter and Ah Mow stayed loyal to each other over the years. Regardless of where the sport takes both of them next, they know they can lean on each other each step of the way. 

"I see her as mom, friend, family, sister, we've coached club together," Baxter said of Ah Mow. "It comes with a heavy heart knowing she's not going to be the head coach of the Rainbow Wahine, but the legacy she left here in this in this community, at this university and for this program, it's not anything that anyone's going to be able to match."

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Kaleo Baxter 043026

<title>Hawai‘i women's volleyball program carries on with heavy hearts following Robyn Ah Mow's…</title>

Former associate head coach Kaleo Baxter was named the program's interim head coach following Ah Mow's announcement to step down on Thursday.

Hawai‘i women's volleyball program carries on with heavy hearts following Robyn Ah Mow's resignation

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Honolulu residents’ sewer bills could be reduced or zeroed out completely for a few months under a city program launching Friday.

Beginning May 1, the City and County of Honolulu will launch the 

Customer Assistance for Residential Environmental Services

 — or CARES — program, where eligible customers can apply for a credit to reduce their sewer bills.

The program comes amidst a series of incremental hikes to sewer fees. Last year, the city announced that it will increase fees annually over the next six years in order to raise the additional revenue required to complete federally mandated upgrades to wastewater systems — most significantly, upgrades to the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, for which an environmental impact statement is 

The Department of Environmental Services (ENV) 

 that a median single-family residential sewer bill — about $100 monthly — will increase to more than $160 by 2031. The first rate hike has already taken effect in January, and the next is set to take place in July.

The CARES program was devised to help defray these costs, said city Managing Director Mike Formby on Thursday.

The $10 million program is available to active residential sewer customers who are up to date on their sewer bills and with a household income below 80% of the area median income — ENV estimates some 41,000 households meet these criteria. Successful applicants will receive a credit of $240 for the year.

ENV Director Roger Babcock said Thursday that the initial concept for CARES would grant eligible sewer users a $20 credit per month: “something large enough to make a difference,” he said, noting that $20 is about one-fifth of the median household sewer bill.

[{"type":"text","text":"However, CARES will dole out benefits in a single annual $240 credit."}]

While ENV describes the credit as “equivalent to a credit of $20 [per] month,” in practice the credit will likely only last for a few months for most users. Babcock said the credit is applied to users’ accounts all at once, with each monthly bill drawing from the credit until it is spent.

Babcock said it is simpler for ENV to apply the credit all at once in this way, and that applying monthly $20 credits would be a greater logistical challenge.

Meanwhile, Babcock said users can change their own water usage habits to save money further. At the start of the year, ENV reconfigured its fee structure to reduce the percentage of a sewer bill made up by fixed fees and increase the percentage made up by volumetric fees — in other words, a greater portion of sewer bills are based on how much water is used, meaning that conserving water now has a greater impact on reducing one’s sewer bill.

City Councilman Tyler Dos Santos-Tam said users who conserve water use could get several months of sewer bills completely zeroed out; Babcock said some households have sewer bills of only around $40 or $50, which would allow them to have five to six months of bills completely paid for through CARES.

It is free to apply for CARES and applications can be found online or at satellite city halls or O‘ahu public libraries. However, ENV can only accept physical applications, either via mail or dropped off at ENV offices.

Applicants must submit their most recent sewer bill and their 2025 federal and state tax returns. Applications take at least 30 days to be processed, and will be approved on a first-come-first-served basis.

More information about how to apply can be found 

Formby

<title>City launches program to reduce residential sewer bills</title>

The Customer Assistance Residential Environmental Services, or CARES, program can drop users' sewer bills to zero for a few months.

City launches program to reduce residential sewer bills

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Real Estate

Construction on a new affordable housing project in Central O‘ahu is complete and tenant applications are now being accepted.

Koa Vista is a new two-phase development located within Koa Ridge, Castle & Cooke Hawai‘i's 576-acre 

 situated between Mililani and Waipi‘o, that will offer a total of 192 affordable senior and family rentals in two mid-rise buildings. The project was developed by the nonprofit Homes Hawai‘i Inc. in partnership with GSF LLC.

Applications are now being accepted for the project's second phase. 

Koa Vista II has 97 one-bedroom apartment units for families with incomes at or below 80% of the area median income. Income limits vary by household size. For a household of two that's a limit of $97,280, and for a family of four it's $121,600. Find 

Rents, based on income levels, will range from $1,800 to $2,280, an announcement Thursday noted.

According to that announcement, each unit includes a refrigerator and range/oven, cable and high-speed internet access, window coverings and VCT flooring. Meanwhile, common areas include a multi-purpose room, laundry and office space, a victory garden and open park. There also will be about 110 parking stalls available for residents and guests.

The Koa Vista II building is complete and has passed all inspections, a representative for the developer told Aloha State Daily. The developer hopes the first qualified tenants can move in this summer, after a certificate of occupancy is issued, they said.

Property manager Hawai‘i Affordable Properties Inc. is handling the application process. Starting Friday, May 1, you'll be able to find and submit applications online at 

. Applications can also be picked up at and dropped off or mailed to the adjacent Koa Vista I at 94-1230 Hulukupuna St.

May 21 is the deadline to submit an application, which must be postmarked on or before that date to be accepted.

A blessing and dedication ceremony for the first phase of the project and a groundbreaking ceremony for the second phase 

. The general contractor for the $28 million second phase is 

, which opened to qualified seniors in the spring of 2025, is a $39 million, seven-story, 95-unit rental apartment building available to seniors who make between 30% and 60% of the annual median income, ASD previously reported.

 after two decades of planning and development, and welcomed its 

, its website notes. Approximately 3,500 new residential homes are planned for the development, along with shops and retailers, restaurants, parks and more, 

For more information on the application process, contact Jeanette Orrantia at 808-677-0309 or 

Koa Vista II apartment building 1

<title>Applications opening for new affordable rental project in Central O‘ahu</title>

The second phase of Koa Vista, a new two-phase development located within Castle & Cooke's Koa Ridge, has 97 one-bedroom apartment units for families with incomes at or below 80% of the area median income.

Applications opening for new affordable rental project in Central O‘ahu

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Aloha Spirit

 has appeared in “Madama Butterfly,” “Aida,” “Tosca,” “Rigoletto” and more at The Metropolitan Opera. 

This week, you can catch him as Timoteo Ha‘alilio with Hawaiʻi Opera Theatre in the world premiere of “Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree” at the Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall. The opera, which was 

, is performed in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and English.

For Kelsey, the rehearsals for upcoming performances were his first chance to hear some of the orchestral music.

“This is the deal with the brand new pieces — you don't normally get to hear the orchestration until later on,” Kelsey told Aloha State Daily. “We were already excited about the piece, but to sit down and have all the orchestral music as we're singing — I mean, we are just over the moon.”

“Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree" follows the story of Timoteo Ha‘alilio — played by Kelsey — who sets out on a mission to secure treaties from the United States, Great Britain, Belgium and France, which recognize Hawaiʻi as a sovereign nation. Performances of “Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree" take place May 1, 3, and 5 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall. 

 who is a Punahou School graduate and the opera’s principal guest conductor. “Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree” was written by Librettist Victoria Nālani Kneubuhl, with music by Composer Herb Mahelona. 

Kumu Hula Patrick Keʻaniniʻulaookalani Makuakāne

, who was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2023, is the opera’s director and choreographer.

“The majority of it is composed in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, in the Hawaiian language,” Kelsey told ASD. “It’s just never been done before. A fully staged opera production with the Hawaiian language in the song text. … We’ve never had an opera anywhere in the world — but especially here in Hawaiʻi — composed for Hawaii's heritage, for Hawaii's people, for a story that relates to part of Hawaiʻi’s history.”

Kelsey got his start in opera more than 30 years ago, in 1991, as part of HOT's chorus. He and his sister joined their parents, 

, on stage. In 1993, HOT got funding to start a companywide internship program for high school and college students. He signed up.

“That was the in for me and my sister to sing with mom and dad until we graduated from high school,” Kelsey said.

Singing in operas became something the family did together.  

As Kelsey considered careers, he tried marine biology, visual arts and finally Hawaiian studies. But ultimately, music called him back.

“I tried some Hawaiian studies and language because I am part Hawaiian, and I feel very strongly about my heritage,” he said. “But in the end, there was kind of no question. Opera was just so natural.”

For audience members who are making “Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree” their first opera, Kelsey wants them to know they don’t need to understand another language.

“First of all, we want them to know that no matter what opera it is — except if it's in English — there will always be translated English text above the stage. It's called supertitles," he said. "So, first-time opera goers never have to worry that they're not going to be able to understand what's going on, because the text will always be projected above the stage.”

Kelsey hopes this opera might bring in new fans.

“I feel much pride in the fact that this piece is being showcased period — but also here on the stage, in Hawaiʻi,” Kelsey said. “We don't care where you're from, what your background is, if you know what opera is at all. We just want you to come and enjoy. We want you to sit there and put everything aside and absorb it in whatever way is possible. … And then hopefully, we get them back for one of these general rep shows in the fall.”

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“Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree"

<title>Baritone Quinn Kelsey returns to stage where he started his career</title>

The opera singer who performed as Sharpless in Giacomo Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” at The Metropolitan Opera in March, has roots in the Islands. This week, baritone Quinn Kelsey is back on stage where he started his career: Hawaiʻi Opera Theatre. Catch him in one of the lead roles of “Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree,” which is performed in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and English and will have its world premiere this week.

Baritone Quinn Kelsey returns to stage where he started his career

Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

Columnists

 last week. In that suit, the former chief of staff to Maui Mayor Richard Bissen alleges that in March 2024 he found a $45,532.32 invoice in the County’s Office of Economic Development.

The invoice was dated August 16, 2023 — about one week after the Maui fires.

The company on the invoice was RTFEX Depot. The address listed was in Scottsdale, Arizona. Caires called the number on the invoice. An answering machine picked up. It did not say the company’s name. He called the Arizona Corporation Commission. It had no record of the company.

Caires was a former commercial banker. He suspected fraud. He asked Maui’s Corporation Counsel for advice, and they recommended a formal investigation.

During the investigation, Caires says he found that one of Bissen’s executive assistants was part of the deal. The assistant was Mayson “Pono” Asano. Asano said he picked up the equipment in the parking lot of the Kahului Target. He said he would deliver it to the grantee on Moloka‘i. But when Caires asked for receipts and bank records, Asano had none.

Caires also spoke with Cynthia Lallo. She supervised the mayor’s executive assistants at the time. Lallo said Asano had acted as an agent on other grants. That work had nothing to do with his job.

Caires believed Asano was breaking the terms of the grants. He believed it was fraud. A mayor’s office employee was defrauding the County of Maui.

When Caires gave the mayor an update, Bissen told him to back off. Bissen also told him to turn the investigation into an audit.

When Caires kept going, he was cut out of meetings, then demoted and finally fired. Lallo replaced him as chief of staff.

This is not the first time Bissen’s team has been in the news for alleged misuse of funds.

 marketing contract with the County. Both Lallos had worked on Bissen’s campaign, with Rachael building Bissen’s website and designing logos, lawn signs and digital ads. In 

, Rachael listed Bissen’s campaign chair, Charlene Schulenburg, as a reference. That contract was later 

Luana Mahi was the director of Maui’s Office of Economic Development. She was placed on paid leave after nonprofits tied to her family 

in county grants. Mahi’s former business associate also 

In February 2026, the County of Maui released a 

. The County Auditor had ordered it. Spire Hawai‘i LLP wrote it. The assessment found that the County’s controls against fraud are “not adequate to mitigate likely fraud risks.”

Spire surveyed the people who run the County. Ninety-five percent of department heads rated their own department’s fraud risk as low. None said it was high. The elected officials — the mayor and councilmembers — answered the other way. Eighty-six percent rated the County’s fraud risk as medium. Fourteen percent rated it high. None rated it low. The people closest to where fraud would happen were the most convinced it could not happen.

According to Caires’ complaint, he reported what he had found up the chain. The mayor first sent him to the OED director. When Caires pressed on, the mayor told him to stop the investigation and turn it into an audit. Corporation Counsel attorneys did not agree.

The Office of Economic Development is where Caires says he found the invoice. But the Office of Economic Development is not its own department. It is a program inside the Office of the Mayor.

The Spire report does not assess fraud risk in the Mayor’s office, though it ranks the risk for 20 other departments.

There is no single process in Maui County for reporting, investigating, or responding to fraud. Nine separate offices receive fraud reports. Each applies its own standards. They are the Department of Finance, the Department of Management, the Mayor, the Department of Personnel Services, Corporation Counsel, the Police, the Prosecuting Attorney, individual department heads, and the Ethics Commission.

The American founders separated powers and set up checks and balances. They were realists about human nature. Madison’s line about men not being angels was not rhetoric. Man is sinful. Executives asked to investigate themselves do not investigate themselves. A system that routes fraud reports through the people accused of fraud is not an oversight system.

Accountability happens in Hawaiʻi, sometimes. Earlier this month, Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke 

. She had received a target letter from the state attorney general’s office. Campaign finance questions remained. Last week, the state auditor took a rare step. He 

 problems with $40 million of emergency contracts to HomeAid Hawaiʻi. Both show a system that can check itself.

After Caires made his claims, Bissen issued a statement. “As Mayor,” he said, “I have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure our team delivers for the people of Maui County.”

Bissen should start with the recommendations in the Spire report.

This is not a progressive agenda or a conservative agenda. It is the limited-government agenda. Government power must be limited and held to account because government is made of fallen men and women.

The invoice was for $45,532.32. The county has 

 in legal fees to defend itself against Caires. The cost of a trial or settlement will likely run much higher. The people of Maui will foot the bill.

Maui seal 16x9

<title>"Fraud can't happen here"</title>

ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa sees a pattern on Maui, where Mayor Bissen's former chief of staff has filed a whistleblower lawsuit over how he was allegedly treated after reporting what he considered fraud in county government and where a recent fraud risk assessment commissioned by the county found that controls were inadequate to prevent fraud.

"Fraud can't happen here"

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

The state Legislature’s attempt to overturn Citizens United, as it applies to Hawai‘i, keeps advancing. The latest step will be a hearing Wednesday, April 29, at 2:40 p.m., deferred from Monday and again from Tuesday as lawmakers tweak the wording of 

, “Relating to the powers of artificial persons.”

, the bill is an attempt to create a backdoor to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which held that it is unconstitutional to prohibit political spending by corporations. Doing so violates their First Amendment right to free speech.

That backdoor is being built on the fact that the states grant corporations the powers they have under law, so Hawai‘i, and about a dozen other states this year introduced nearly identical legislation — total coincidence, I’m sure! — to change those laws. Hawai‘i law, for example currently 

“[E]very corporation has … the same powers as an individual to do all things necessary or convenient to carry out its business and affairs…”

It then goes on to specify such powers as “to sue and be sued,” to own land, make contracts, lend money, “make donations for the public welfare or for charitable, scientific, or educational purposes,” and more.

SB 2471 would add language stating that corporations can keep on acting in every way like an individual with one new exception — no spending on political speech. From the bill’s latest version:

“[A]rtificial persons created under state law possess only those powers that are necessary or convenient to carry out lawful business and organizational purposes, and that those powers do not include the power to spend money or contribute anything of value to influence elections or ballot measures.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Why? Why is this even necessary?"}]

Well, for all the furor over this bill, the bill itself doesn’t really say.

Its defenders do say why they think it’s necessary in testimony and editorials, but their arguments are heavy on vague threats, light on evidence.

“Dark money is poisoning our democracy,” wrote state Rep. Della Au Belatti (D), District 26, and state Rep. Kanani Souza (R), District 43, 

The two make much of the fact that one of them is a Democrat, the other a Republican. They go on about the genius of this “genuinely historic” approach to “stop giving the corporations that operate on our Islands the power to spend in our politics.”

Please do read the whole thing and look not only at what they say, but what they don’t say.

They don’t name a single example of a specific corporation whose spending affected any election or ballot measure in Hawai‘i. Not one.

Perhaps in the House? Au Belatti spoke about the bill in an April 14 floor session (

, at 4:41:00). We’ve always had this power to redefine corporations, she said, and we must do so to “rein in undue influence of monies flowing from unlimited corporate treasuries that undermine our political process and has fueled voters’ distrust and disenchantment with government.”

She says that in Hawai‘i’s 2024 election, three PACs spent $13 million, whereas the candidates themselves spent only $10 million they raised directly from donors.

That $13 million, she said, “is the dark money that SB 2417 is striking at.”

But which PACs spent the money? On which candidates or issues? What did their spending achieve and how was Hawai‘i harmed? 

She didn't say. She won’t name the threat but does emphasize the “we’ve always had this power” argument, urging, “We need to be brave and take up this mantle and let this legislation move forward.”

OK. Citizens United was decided in 2010. Did Hawai‘i lawmakers have amnesia about their powers for the past 16 years? Or is it more accurate to say they’ve spent 16 years with their lawyers digging through the lawbooks looking for some way to try to outsmart the Supreme Court? Something tells me, if this was the obvious slam-dunk they’re making it out to be, state legislatures would’ve done this long ago, and Hawai‘i's current legislators wouldn't still be fussing with the draft. 

Since lawmakers won’t identify a single clear instance of “dark money” yielding a specific bad result for Hawai‘i, we have to guess at their target. Who is this bill trying to silence that the U.S. Supreme Court otherwise gave a voice to?

A little history lesson, because you might not remember who Citizens United was or what it wanted to do.

, a conservative 501(C)4 public policy nonprofit, founded in 1988. In 2007, the group wanted to take out advertisements telling people to watch a documentary it made, “

,” critical of Clinton as a presidential candidate. It challenged Federal Election Commission rules that would’ve prevented it from doing so.

The U.S. Supreme Court said it could go forward and Democrats, in particular, have hated this decision ever since.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision led to the creation of political action committees, PACs and Super PACs, which can spend money they raise on candidates and issues. These entities are not bound by the campaign donation limits set when one gives directly to a specific candidate. If you want to read a better criticism of “dark money” then than the one being made locally, check out 

this piece on Citizens United from the Brennan Center for Justice

There’s a lot going on here, a lot of complicated motivations and I don’t trust the people who won’t tell us who took the $35,000, and who won’t let us have real elections, when they say we need to take on the U.S. Supreme Court to protect democracy.

Maybe they don’t like seeing all that money spent independently, rather than getting donated to them.

[{"type":"text","text":"Maybe they don’t like that conservatives had a win."}]

Maybe they’re sacrificing the “dark money” they’ve benefitted from — there are plenty of progressive Super PACs that support Democrats, after all — because they are certain they have other kinds of corporations on their side.

Namely, the media. Search SB 2471 for “news” and it shows up 20 times. Example: “‘Election activity’ does not include any bona fide news story, commentary, or editorial distributed through the facilities of a broadcasting station or of any print, online, or digital newspaper, magazine, blog, or other periodical publication, unless the broadcasting, print, online, or digital facility is owned or controlled by a candidate, political committee, or political party.”

No one has said so, to my knowledge, but this may be the biggest vulnerability of SB 2471.

[{"type":"text","text":"Here’s the First Amendment:"}]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

States, in turn, are bound by this as well. They also shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.

Remember, Citizens United made a documentary. From its preview, it’s a mix of clips from Clinton’s own speeches (reporting), close-ups of news headlines critical of Clinton (second-hand reporting) and commentary from political observers, including one Barack Obama.

In other words, it’s a “60 Minutes” segment, only one “60 Minutes” would never do.

If SB 2471 becomes law, I’d expect a PAC to take Hawai‘i to court demanding a clear explanation of why its reporting and editorializing in a documentary, an advertisement or a direct mail piece is any different than what I do here at Aloha State Daily in my column, or what Civil Beat does when it hosts an essay from the defenders of SB 2471, or what the Star-Advertiser does when it endorses candidates.

, for example, endorsed Kamala Harris for president, among other candidates in other races, and told voters how they ought to vote on State Constitution and City Charter amendments.

In the latest version of the bill, our lawmakers are arguing that this is OK, but identical speech from other groups structured as corporations is not.

Then there’s the convoluted language of “artificial persons,” and, again, I think our lawmakers are being too cute for their own good. They are arguing in the bill and in their testimony that they are not silencing the natural rights of individuals to speak, only that of “artificial persons.”

But they know perfectly well that corporate structures don’t just spring from the ground of their own accord, staffed by no one. They’re made of people, who have rights. Do those rights vanish because those people found it beneficial to incorporate? If so, then, again, one would have to wonder why a newspaper that makes endorsements, or a cable news network that blasts President Donald Trump all day, can benefit from being a corporation, but other people with a political message can’t.

Hawai‘i might expensively push this all the way back to the U.S. Supreme Court only to find that the definition of “the press” gets put on trial, in which case, I’d say, journalism as we know it has no special privilege. Freedom of the press is the freedom to publish, no more, no less. 

Well, look, I’m not an attorney. On SB 2471, all I know is, my alarm bells are going off.

When lawmakers tell me we need to act now in the face of a dire threat, but the threat is unnamed, the harm ill-defined, I get suspicious.

When lawmakers say somebody needs to shut up, but they won't say who or why, I wonder what sneaky stuff they're up to.

And when lawmakers tell us we need to be brave and charge ahead, regardless of obvious risks, I have to point out: It’s easy to be brave with other people’s money, isn’t it?

Remember, this is a Legislature insisting that Hawai‘i is so broke, it can’t afford to let taxpayers keep the tax cuts we were promised. 

But to get cute with the U.S. Supreme Court? Suddenly, money is no object!

UPDATED It seems there is some "dark money" Hawai‘i lawmakers don't mind as they continue to haggle over Senate Bill 2471, seeking to nullify for the Islands the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. As ASD Editor A. Kam Napier observes, lawmakers are offering more argument than evidence for the bill while being vague about whose speech they really mean to curtail — or protect.

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