Reshaping the Hawaii travel industry, big questions have been raised about transparency and fairness amid questionable practices and results.
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Reshaping the Hawaii travel industry, big questions have been raised about transparency and fairness amid questionable practices and results.
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Very sad indeed.
I don’t see the tie to Hawaii’s tourism industry. Where is it?
Don’t forget, our major source of funding has been the TAT until it was completely removed by the legislature and taken into general funding. Over $1 billion.
I’m not shocked at all. There also needs to be an investigation of the Palehua Community Association, especially Cameo Fong and Stacey (the President) role. And an investigation of Hawaiiana Management Company, and Sue Saveo (insurance broker on the island). All of these entities and people have a lock and monopoly going on.
Funny. After the federal government gave Hawaii 95 million for disaster relief the state said that is not enough. I saw on Yahoo news that they were requesting 1.3 billion extra to satisfy the needs. Didn’t Hawaii’s government learn from the “Be careful what you ask for” phrase. It all spells out Greed and Karma has a way of coming back and biting you where the tropical sun don’t shine. IMO that should have triggered some government red flag or investigation.
They need to send their accountant to see where those dollars went. Tourism is down. We are short on jobs and even the jobs that we have are not paying enough because tourism is down. They stopped unemployment and are now shutting down the food hubs. A friend that lost everything in the fire received 800.00 and housing from FEMA and assistance for a few months from Oprah. Where did the millions go? We would like to know.
This is my home and where my heart is, but I’m sorry to say “Hawaii is the most incestuous place!”
I think they Washington DC. Should move the Main headquarters of the FBI to Hawaii?
Are you really certain that moving the main offices of the FBI to Hawaii would be a good idea, it really hasn’t helped Washington DC at all. Many times I think that it has made things much worse.
Mine comment was a joke. The FBI is as corrupt as the leadership that Hawaii has rubber stamped to elect each cycle. Should have added my real thoughts on the prior comment. John C.
As a yearly visitor to the small island of Kauai (since 1975), over the last few years I would regularly scratch my head and wonder, ‘where does all the tourism dollars go?’ Over 2 billion a year in tourism spending, for an island the size of Kauai. It shouldn’t take years to stabilize the Princeville to Hanalei hill, to twin the Wailua River bridge, to repave some of the major highway. No worry, just keep raising visitor taxes and imposing new fees, the minions will still come. The state needs accountability. The state is the problem, not tourism.
But yet you keep electing the same people year after year.
The government is the issue not the people!
The people Are the government! You get what you vote for and elections do indeed have consequences! As long as Hawaii citizens keep voting the way they do then nothing will change. Right now the politicians across the state Own your minds just like the people that live in the inner cities across the rest of America. Promise everything to get elected but then do nothing after being elected. You have been had!
The problem is endemic to ‘One Party Rule’, look to NY, NJ, Pa., Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Washington State, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Maryland, DC (the Mayor Muriel Bowser takes herself to The Masters, First Class), Ct., Massachusetts (now referred to as Taxachusetts), add-in Hawaii, Common Denominator Governor, Mayor’s, State House (of 51 Seats, all Democrat but 6), Congress and Senate, all One Party!
As someone who has had dealings with Maui County, and had dinner a couple of times with one of the recipients of Milton Choy’s generosity, and has read the newspaper from time to time, and sees what goes on here daily, it is really my expectation that whenever you lift a rock here you will find a corrupt politician under it. Your odds are much better if you assume all of them are doing something at least shady, than if you assume they are on the up-and-up and corruption is the exception. I haven’t thought of a solution, but maybe getting a 3rd party to write the ethics, contracting, and campaign legislation for the state, because we know the leg. can’t be trusted to do it right themselves.
Wow, corrupt politicians. Whodathunkit.
And this took an article in the NYT to figure out? The money just doesn’t evaporate. This is a deep seated corrupt system that virtue signals at every step of the way. And the local population eats it up and continues to vote them in.
“airports… less than world class…” Ha ha ha … that’s too funny. We just arrive on the Big Island yesterday at KOA. it took the ground crew 3 attempts and 15-20 minutes to get exit ramp put in place and secure. we’ve come to expect such entertainment. can’t say the same for many of the others on the plane. sadly, the ground crew thought it was quite amusing as well. not good.
Well, you know the old, very old, saying: ‘They may be corrupt politicos, but they’re Our corrupt politicos!’ In other words, they are going to be corrupt anyway, so best keep them ‘local.’
1.) I think it’s time for other party candidates to campaign with specific reform moves as their platform.
2.) Now it’s time to look deeper into which lawmakers are being bribed this way on behalf of Hawaiian hotels to get this earlier mentioned vacation condos rental ban into law! Exactly which lawmakers are involved???
Well, golly again!!! Corruption in state government. Who’d a thot?!
Guess this answers the questions of why we can’t seem to get things done in the Aloha State. Parties, free booze, secret hand-shakes, all just like the ‘good ol’ days’. Bet no one goes to jail as a result of this NYT ‘expose’. Probably more like a, “Now boys, you have to be more careful about this kind of thing!” in a closed room private conference.
Don’t expect any changes, or charges either, anytime soon (if at all!).
I can see some higher up politician saying,” I am going to engage an independent commission to look into this. It will be headed by my cousin and his brother along with a few of my donors.”
Corruption at its finest! To bad, Hawaii could and should be a “Destination.”
No wonder these construction projects are “retirement jobs”. The jobs are drawn out so long, the workers can retire at the end of the project.
And to know now that the HTA is and was anti-tourist. Now we know why they were never terminated. All those involved need to lose their jobs and pensions, at all levels.
Hi guys, So do these people ever get audited? Or are they going to be now that they are exposed? What about charges levied against them for mismanagement of money and corruption? This will really set back visitors when they know these facts and why they are being taxed unfairly as well as the residents. Like you two also because you live there. You must be hopping mad!!! Nothing in the past ever deterred me from visiting because I lived the islands so much. But since last year, my desire to return has really sadly, diminished. Hope you got your garage cleaned up and squared away from all the flooding. And mahalo for this revealing news. Aloha
…and to think they were just about to add a “tourism fee” — which many BOH readers, including myself, said we’d be happy to pay to contribute our share. Not any more…
When did Illinois take over Hawaii. I always said, if you want to get rich get into politics. So sad. We have been to Hawaii many times.
Did corruption by Green, Bissen and Pelletier contribute to the 100 Maui fire deaths?
Eight months later and no prosecutions or resignations.
Shame on Hawaiians.
Sad state with one party rule.
And yet the citizens of Hawaii will absolutely continue to vote the way they have for decades to keep those goons in positions of authority over their lives and then complain about it after wards because apparently the definition of the word “insanity” just doesn’t resonate in their thought processes! Again, you always get what you vote for and the citizens have obviously voted for corruption at all levels of the state government.
Great that you were brave enough to share all of this and I sure hope that the man that wore the wire does not get Jeffrey Epsteined or Vince Fosterized because of what he did.
I was shocked and grieved to read this article in the Times a few days ago. An excellent deep dive by the journalists at the Civil Beat and the Times. Mahalo for sharing it with your readers.
“Shocked”? Really??? This is ‘good ol’ boy’ town, almost a reflection the politics you may have read about in Mexico. It’s not ‘what you know’, it’s ‘Who you know’ that counts. This should not come as any surprise if you have read the news. I wish it wasn’t this bad, but it is.
And in bed with hotels to push out private rental owners! Hope you vote these people out before your economy is destroyed!
This is not a problem unique to Hawaii.
Most states and large cities have the same problems.
Wealth and power tend to dominate our governmental decision making!
Hmmm, no…HI is a Very special case. The corruption throughout the political structure has oppressed the people of HI and visitors for years.
There is simply no hope for restoration of the islands except to vote the corruption out, fund and enable law enforcement to clean it up, and even call in outside help if needed to root it out completely.
Just one more reason pushing us to move out of state. The corruption here is simply not fixable. The conditions of airports on neighborhood islands are embarrassing, even life threatening (Kona). The lack of services at public beaches is unacceptable (Hapuna especially) and now charging all of us for parking at the few places to park, well, just bye bye Hawaii.
I left Maui for several reasons, but the corruption, nepotism, and incompetance of civil servants was at the top of the list. My naive Maui home buble was burst after 5 years on Maui.
Well… I think this makes it clear that it is time for locals to start questioning the local government about the bad infrastructure, instead of blaming visitors.
It is quite frustrating that the politicians behavior has likely contributed to the divisiveness that exists between locals and visitors. It makes sense though, it gave them an excuse to continue to raise taxes and fees while lining their pockets and directing the attention elsewhere.
This is about as anti-aloha, pono as it gets. I personally with be escalating this to my Federal contacts to see what oversight can be implemented. If Hawaii and their politicians cannot do the right thing by the people, then it’s time it’s taken away. The rail is a joke, airport improvements are a joke and stealing from the people needs to come to an abrupt halt and those that do steal should get Federal time with no fluffy sentences that Hawaiian Courts are known for. Time for a major crackdown.
Sort of hilarious 800 S. Beretania is right across the street from the police department. Nothing to see there!
While we continue to live amidst this pay-to-play, our kids are moving elsewhere to be done with it.
I’ve escalated this to the Feds. Enough is enough where Hawaiian politicians steal from the people of Hawaii. This is not only not pono, not aloha, but deserves mandatory Federal monitoring and to take away financial management away from anyone or any group without outside oversight. This has long been known, but it’s time for some “teeth”.
as so many people jokingly say “Hawaii is no different than a third world country” it really is a truism.
Bob, a third-world country with US Government perks and protections, though.
Thank you for the article. Reads like something out of a mob story. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.
Thanks for flagging the NYTimes article on Hawaiian corruption. I think your headline is a little misleading though, in associating the only the Travel Industry. The corruption identified by the Times with the assistance of Civil Beat extends throughout governmental contracting in Hawaii, and is shameful, and expensive to Hawaiian citizens and visitors alike.
Does all this conjure up thoughts about the debacle with short term rentals and the hotel industry? I question whether more will come out regarding that?
What else will be uncovered and determined to be unhealthy for Hawaii tourism?
I guess we need to stay tuned?
Thank you BOH and NYT for exposing this corruption. We have none that taxes collected on the islands goes to Oahu as we noticed the disrepair of Maui roads for decades. Only recently were improvements done here. Now that this has come to light, what can we do? We have noticed that even when bills are opposed they get passed. Will this be the case with elections in November? We need change. What steps can we take? It is obvious that this is now on the Feds radar. Yay!!!
Is there a problem here? If so fix it if not then what?
So tourists are the problem in Hawaii??? Me thinks Not!! I’m form Chicago and this bit of information even has me shocked!!!
Hi Kay.
Thanks. You made us laugh!
Aloha
I lived in Honolulu for almost 12 years. When I retired in 2018, I returned to California. I loved my time in Hawaii and I miss all the friends I made. The Beat of Hawaii is a great read and I enjoy keeping up with what’s happening in the Islands. Thank you for keeping me and many others informed.
Thanks,
Jeanine
Hi Jeanine.
Thank you! Best regards.
Aloha.
“Pay to play” is not unique to Hawaii, but in light of this being public, each public official should be stripped of their responsibilities, fired and banished from receiving their pensions and no longer eligible for holding any job that is paid for by public funds.
It is not unique to Hawaii, but we’ve elevated it to an art, and mastered the process.
No surprise here. I was told a year ago that the MJ legislation would not pass until 2025 so that a high level senator would be able to claim success for their reelection.
Lots of money at risk when or if we clean up and legalize MJ.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. (John Locke)
I don’t know why any of this should come as a surprise to anyone. Graft and corruption are rampant, and the “don’t make waves” culture of turning a blind eye to the problem doesn’t help.
Nothing will ever change because those who benefit the most are the same ones who block any and all attempts to reign in corruption.
A federal sting operation will be necessary to arrest and convict corrupt lawmakers and other government officials. Only then can we clear a path for a new generation of leaders to carry Hawaii forward.
Thanks for sharing this great reporting by Blaze Lovell, Eric Sagara and Irene Casado Sanchez. Just to clarify this story was a collaboration between NYTimes and Honolulu Civil Beat.
I really like Civil Beat. They do a diligent, thorough job, unlike some of the other publications on the islands (not implying This publication of course!).