Some survived the Ides of March better than others as we "flASHback" on the month’s news that amused and confused:
» After his nomination of lobbyist Carleton Ching for state land director crash landed, Gov. David Ige bemoaned the difficulty of finding "committed, qualified leaders." Now he knows what voters feel like when we see the ballot.
» Ige said the big surprise in his first 100 days was how much there was to do in the job. He must be thinking, "Dang, I should have run for lieutenant governor."
» Mayor Kirk Caldwell declared everything is on the table for an Ala Moana Park master plan, and said if it was up to him he’d add a restaurant. The man never saw a piece of land he didn’t want to develop.
» A City Council committee voted 5-0 to approve a rezoning for D.R. Horton-Schuler’s Hoopili development after all five members disclosed potential conflicts of interest because of Schuler-related campaign donations and other relationships. City ethics disclosures double as advertisements that you get what you pay for.
» State legislators berated the city for prematurely seeking a tax bailout for Oahu’s over-budget rail project, but now seem poised to roll over and grant it. Cowboys have a term for such legislative leadership: all hat, no cattle.
» A bill in the Legislature would allow corporations to buy the right to put their names on public facilities. If companies could so decorate the legislators they buy with campaign donations, floor sessions would look like a NASCAR pit.
» Lawmakers grumbled that a new $2 million Capitol fire alarm system sets off false alarms and announces, "Please cease operations and leave the building." Considering the mischief our Legislature is usually up to, that’s $2 million worth of excellent advice.
» Hawaii’s low- and middle-income residents have the worst tax burden in the country, according to WalletHub. But we get such wonderful schools, roads and hospitals for our money.
» New University of Hawaii athletic director David Matlin said it’s "a dream opportunity" and promised to be a good steward. To borrow from Don O’Shaughnessy, it’s nice to see an AD fired with enthusiasm at the start of his tenure instead of the end.
» The Howard Hughes Corp. said nearly half the buyers of its luxury condos in Kakaako are from Japan, Canada, China, South Korea, Australia and the mainland. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot for other people’s money.
And the quote of the month … from Senate President Donna Mercado Kim on the pay raise given rail CEO Daniel Grabauskas as the project ran a $900 million deficit: "I don’t understand who would get a raise based on that." It meant a lot coming from a legislator who took a 36 percent pay raise as the state wallowed in the Great Recession.
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Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.
