Why do I write so much about Hawaii politics in Substack?
Even though I believe Hawaii is of geopolitical importance - the USSA is not going to happily hand over this place to anyone - Native Hawaiian or otherwicse - the politicians here don’t matter. What they do has little effect on Americans outside Hawaii. Their government is a parasite on the rest of the Union - an irritant whose disappearance would barely be noticed on the continent. And they are irrelevant to non-Americans.
Nonetheless, I still think my rulers are of interest because they provide the Waste with a glimpse of the low-IQ, no-ideology future that may result from cultural and demographic shifts. Moreover, they exemplify universals of corruption and incompetence. And lastly and most importantly, they might make readers take a look at mismanagement in their region. While eyes are on national leaders like Trump, all sorts of shenanigans get ignored. Like these …
Two years ago, Honolulu City Council members
Andria Tupola, Augie Tulba and Radiant Cordero who rode a wave of public outrage over the 64% pay hikes and very publicly opposed them. When the raises couldn’t be stopped, Tupola, Tulba and Cordero made quite the show out of refusing the raises individually, telling everyone they would stick with $69,000 a year rather then abuse the public trust by accepting a boost to $113,000 annually.
Well, that was then and this is now.
Guess who is getting paychecks of $113,000 a year. Uh huh.
Tupola and Tulba. And pretty soon Cordero too, now that she knows the other two have been taking them.
I know I’m still naive. Case in point. I believed in Tulba two years ago. So did whoever made this sign back then:
When not on the City Council which is a part-time job (paying $113,000!), Tulba was a professional comedian with a morning show that I used to listen to on the radio. Used to. Never again. Not that he’d know. He disgusts me.
How could I have believed that there were actual people of principle on the Honolulu City Council!?
They’re not the only local politicians getting richer off us (emphasis mine):
The state Legislature expects the cash to flow — if for no other reason than the extra money that legislators will be getting that includes take-home pay.
Yes, pay increases recommended by a state salary commission are coming to legislators, judges and others in the top levels of state government.
The proposed pay package includes a 32% raise for state lawmakers, increasing their salaries from $74,160 today to $97,896 starting Jan. 1, 2027. After that, lawmakers are expected to get 4% pay increases in each of the following two years and another 8% pay increase on Jan. 1, 2030, for a total 48% pay increase over six years.
The process for raises is fashioned to give legislators the ability to say they didn’t vote for a pay raise. The law is written to say the salary commission recommends the increases, and unless the Legislature votes against them, the raises become law.
Legislators would have to actually vote to kill the raises, not pass them. Legislators get both the increase plus the deniability that they voted for a raise.
To sum it up, you will be getting a lot more governing, or at least more meetings, speeches and promises.
It will be up to voters to decide if all that adds up to honest action and solutions.
Voters here don’t care. Most have no idea this is happening. Most don’t read Pravda or the more obscure Hipsta Pravda. And even some of the few who do know excuse it: e.g., this comment got the second highest number of upvotes:1
I'm glad Augie [Tulba] took the raise. He voted against it. He tried to stop it. But this is what the job pays now, and he'd be silly to not cash the checks they giving him. Don't hate the player, hate the game.
I have no problem with them resetting their salaries with the rest.
But I have a problem, and so does Hawaiian007:
Surprised these part time legislators didn't give themselves 500 percent raises, because in reality the Hawaii sheep will not do a dang thing about it. We get the government we deserve. Raises for all my friends! Why, because we can.
YES WE CAN!!
The comment with the highest number of upvotes excuses the City Council as a whole:
The Honolulu city council doesn’t have the heaviest schedule, but at least they do meet throughout the year, and furthermore, there’s only 9 of them.
That comment was twice as popular as my favorite critical comment:
This is the problem with local politics you complain that nothing changes but will always make excuses for politicians.
[…]
The article says he [Tulba] took the raises earlier on which means he went behind your back and took it anyways and never said anything til [Hipsta Pravda] brought it up.
He has been commenting on the state of the economy and telling people to calm down. He makes more than anyone on the council now so he can weather it just fine, his constituents on the other hand, well he clearly doesn’t care about them.
It’s both disgusting and discouraging that it’s tolerated by his supporters. […] All while enriching his comedy career. I wonder how much more business he’s gotten while being a council member.
The most popular critical comment is by Natalie Iwasa who adds
that councilmembers also receive a car allowance of $350 per month in their $25,000 expense accounts. They all take it, so add another $4,200 onto those $100,000+ salaries. I've asked several times for them to make a goodwill gesture of cutting their expense accounts, but so far no amendments have been proposed.
Why would they listen to her? She has no power over them. But they have the power to take her money - and mine.
I appreciate commentary and happenings from other Progressive bastions. Baltimore is corrupt AF too. 20 million disappears from a special mayoral program and there's no investigation. A gang uses a city office to run drugs out of, FBI raids, and still no real indictments. Thanks for sharing the insanity in your neck of the woods.