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THE CORRUPTION CONTINUES: New Financial Scandals Threaten to Topple New Hawaii GOP State Chair Tamara McKay

Breaking News: Illegal HRP Fundraiser Under Investigation By Law Enforcement

THE CORRUPTION CONTINUES:  New Financial Scandals Threaten to Topple New Hawaii GOP State Chair

Honolulu, Hawaii – As of this past Saturday night, the selection of a new state chair – the sixth chair since February – for the Hawaii Republican Party (HRP) is now over and the state party now has a chairperson to last through the 2024 election.  Or will she?  In a fast-moving case of buyer’s remorse, a growing number of party officers who supported the winning candidate at Saturday night’s election held at HRP headquarters and via Zoom have contacted HIRA News since they are having second thoughts after learning about the fast-growing campaign finance scandal which threatens to put the party into even deeper debt.

While Cheatin’ Sheila Walker may have lost the close and hard fought campaign with just 25 votes to Tamara McKay’s 31 votes on the party’s governing ‘State Committee’ (no thanks to the hamfisted attempts by self-destructive interim chair Clueless Laura Nakanelua and her RINO comrades to rig the outcome in favor of Walker), HRP’s finance chair turned state chair McKay has quickly embroiled the state GOP in a scandal already under investigation by state attorney general Anne Lopez and the Honolulu city prosecutor Steven Alm, in addition to lawyers and staffers at the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission (CSC).

Long story short:  the recent micro-fundraiser organized by McKay and held at party headquarters only last month (on August 19th) may end up costing HRP more money in fines and legal defense fees than the paltry $6,200 raised.

That’s a really serious problem for a party which ended up $70,000+ in debt following McKay’s tumultuous two-year tenure on HRP’s ‘Executive Committee’ – during which time McKay reportedly did and said absolutely nothing in the face of unauthorized spending, phony bookkeeping, and bogus treasurer’s reports; the very fiscally reckless circumstances which led to the party’s massive (and growing) debt problem.

The “revive and thrive” fundraiser, which was apparently envisioned by McKay as an opportunity to impress potential State Committee voters before announcing her campaign for state chair, was operated illegally as an under-the-table, off-the-radar fundraiser which clearly violates state laws designed to ensure transparency in the world of campaign finance.  McKay, the sixth individual since the start of 2023 to lead the troubled party, knowingly failed to register the event as required by law with the CSC before the event was to take place.

Yes, state law requires that all political fundraisers be registered in advance with the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission in furtherance of transparency.  Voters have a right to know which politicians, which political parties, and which special interest groups are holding fundraisers, along with when, where, and how much tickets sell for, and who is paying for the fundraiser (and who is benefitting from the proceeds).  McKay knows this registration is required and has done it before, such as she did for this GOP fundraiser last year:

Now, there’s no question that McKay knows she must notify the CSC in advance of a fundraiser, that it was her responsibility and that she already knew how to do so.

Well, the event’s organizer, HRP finance chair (now HRP State Chair) Tamara McKay, broke that law.  Hawaii Revised Statute §11-342:

Following interim chair Laura Nakanelua’s takeover of the vacant state chair position (departed by Lohi Goodwin who assumed power briefly after the resignation of Tom Dilhouse), Nakanelua quickly moved to fire Brett Kulbis as chairman of HRP’s powerful rules committee.  However, despite their frosty relationship, Nakanelua opted to retain HRP finance chair Tamara McKay in that fundraising position, as McKay had already taken charge of the ‘revive and thrive’ event and the pressure was building to pay HRP’s $70,000 in unpaid bills.  As the law reads:  “The person in charge of the fundraiser shall file the notice with the commission prior to the fundraiser.”  That ‘person’ is the “Event Organizer”:  HRP’s new state chair Tamara McKay.

 

To be sure, at this point in 2023, there are three different ‘noncandidate committees’ which have given notice to the CSC about fundraisers since the last election:  Hawaii Democrats, Hawaii Republicans, and RINO Women on Oahu.  All five of the group’s registered fundraising events have been held in 2023.  Two fundraisers in question were organized by HRP:  the “Kuhio Day” fundraiser on March 26th and the Oahu county GOP’s “painting party” on July 22nd.  HOWEVER, as you can see, HRP’s August 19th “Revive and Thrive” fundraiser is nowhere to be found as a legally registered fundraiser.  That’s because the event was kept secret from the CSC and from the public.  A deliberate and knowing violation of §11-342.

 

Under Tamara McKay’s, HRP knowingly failed to file a notice of this fundraiser before the HRP microfundraising event and that failure continues to this very day, nearly one month later.

 

Just ask RINO and fake ‘hate crime’ victim Andria Tupola about the $1,150 fine her campaign committee was forced by the CSC to pay for the exact same violation.  Just like HRP finance chair (now state chair) McKay with last month’s HRP event, Tupola didn’t bother to register her secret February 2021 fundraiser in advance with the CSC.  It wasn’t until HIRA News alerted the CSC about Tupola’s secret fundraiser that Tupola finally complied with the law . . . and was fined $1,150 for her violation of §11-342.  By the time the civil component of this lawbreaking was adjudicated, Tupola belatedly registered her February fundraiser at the end of September that same year.

Tommy Waters and Rail Transit Cabal Leaders all showed up for the Tupola fundraiser

 

That’s right.  Tupola’s fundraiser, held ostensibly to shakedown the rail industry and other special interests (which enjoy being showered with taxpayer money by Tupola and her equally ‘generous’ big spending pals on the Honolulu City Council), was held in February.  But the suddenly pro-rail councilmember didn’t get around to notifying the CSC about the fundraiser for seven months.  SHE WAS FINED $1,150, as shown in this never before published screenshot from her campaign finance report on file with the CSC.

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That’s the price for failing to uphold transparency and failure to obey the law.

But that’s the least of the fines that HRP needs to worry about, because that’s not Tamara McKay’s only problem.

The stated goal of HRP’s August 2023 ‘revive and thrive’ fundraiser was to sell 200 tickets at $75 each and raise $15,000 for HRP.  One week before the event, only 15 tickets had been sold.  Then, on August 8th, the Maui wildfire ravaged Lahaina.  With ticket sales for McKay’s HRP event stalling and the fundraiser about to become a total flop, the Lahaina wildfire disaster hit the news and sparked an idea.  This tragedy gave McKay and her finance committee the notion to adopt a predatory fundraising strategy which exploited the public sympathy for Maui wildfire’s devastation to put money in HRP’s coffers.

The problem is that this clever rebranding of HRP’s fundraiser into a Maui Wildfire Relief event is completely illegal.  State regulated political parties, operating as ‘noncandidate committees’ are prevented from raising monies and then spending monies on unauthorized expenditures which are unrelated to the political mission of the committee.  The rules are even tighter for political parties than for candidates.  So when McKay promoted last month’s party fundraiser with the promise that “a portion of the proceeds from this event will be donated to Maui Wildfire Relief”, that placed HRP in the position of engaging in fraudusing an illegal tactic to sell political fundraiser tickets.  Sources at the CSC tell HIRA News that HRP treasurer Jodi Beaty inquired ahead of time with CSC about the legality of using this event to raise money for HRP and for Maui and was told “not legal”.  Clearly, HRP went ahead anyway and exploited the tragedy to sell tickets which weren’t selling well before the rebranding.

 

Suddenly, it’s no longer a mystery why HRP’s leaders attempted to keep a lid on the illegality by forging ahead with an under-the-radar, unregistered fundraiser in the hopes that law enforcement would never find out.  Such lawbreaking constitutes a deliberate and knowing violation of §11-342.  This gets into felony territory . . . but more about felonies later this week.

 

Ultimately, just 50 people showed up which brought in a little over $6,000 . . . most or all of which could very well be seized from HRP by law enforcement agencies to cover fines.  Even if the rumors are true and that HRP has disbursed some of this money to the Maui County GOP for charitable purposes, the party is stuck with having illegally raised monies from this unlawfully unregistered and fraudulent event.

In her campaign speech on Saturday night, McKay boasted about the fundraiser, stating: “We showed what we could do on a small scale . . . We raised $5,000 for the party and we raised over $1,200 to give to Maui county.”  Members of HRP’s State Committee probably don’t recall approving any expenditures from this event because they didn’t.  Just like they didn’t approve laws being casually broken by rookie party leaders desperate to show that they ‘know’ how to deal with a desperate financial situation . . . and hoping they wouldn’t get caught.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the campaign finance violations and other laws broken by HRP in just the last few months.  In the days ahead, HIRA News will present Part Two of the self-inflicted Tamara McKay financial scandal and related lawbreaking which will consume time and money and energy from HRP – time and money and energy which was supposed to be put into ending the dominance of Democrats in Hawaii since 1954, 70 years ago next year.

Will the Hawai’i GOP become infamous before Election Day for being led by a criminal?  Someone who knowingly broke the law and will soon cost the Hawaii GOP more in BRAND NEW FINES than was raised in its recent fundraiser??  All we can tell you at this point is that Saturday night’s celebration has quickly turned to scandal, as HRP treasurer Jodi Beaty and chairman Tamara McKay are embroiled in more financial scandals than meets the eye.  And HRP simply doesn’t have the funds to mount a criminal defense of McKay, Beaty and other implicated officers.

HRP State Treasurer Jodi Beaty celebrating her official nominee Tamara McKay upon her election as new HRP Chair on Saturday night

As the focus of a new criminal investigation by the Hawaii Attorney General, the Honolulu Prosecutor and the State Campaign Spending Commission, Ms. McKay’s recent, poorly-attended HRP fundraiser is likely to cost the party more money in fines than the piddly $6,000+ it raised off the backs of Lahaina victims.

The chronically uninformed and uninvolved State Committee – which should have been performing due diligence as the oversight and governing body for HRP – was instead so busy imitating immature teenagers in high school cliques picking a class president, that they didn’t bother to do any vetting of the candidates for State Chair.  When Tamara McKay boasted of raising $30,000+ for the Maui County GOP (which has no headquarters, no infrastructure, no utilities, and no overhead), they didn’t bother questioning her next claim that all Maui candidates got funds for their campaigns.  Okay, according to campaign finance reports, six candidates got a mere $500 each.  That’s just $3,000 total.  SO, WHERE DID THE OTHER $27,000 GO?!?  Merely having legitimate contempt for McKay rival Cheatin’ Sheila Walker doesn’t excuse failing to pursue answers to this or any legitimate question before electing a new state chair.

The lack of due diligence by the State Committee has everything to do with why Republicans keep losing in Hawaii and why the party is broke and why HRP is getting into legal hot water, right after a shocking $60,000 fine was assessed by the FEC without waking up these sleepy party officers that they need to wake up and pay attention.  With debt up to their eyeballs in unpaid property taxes, unpaid maintenance fees, unpaid legal bills, unpaid printing bills and more, top party officers need to wipe the sleep out of their eyes and take a look at the unfolding scandals which are increasing in number, rather than decreasing.  Voters and the media are sure to take notice.

When the full picture of wrongdoing and corruption emerges, it’s unlikely that HRP will either ‘revive’ or ‘thrive’ in the wake of Tamara McKay’s questionable leadership and illegal acts, not to mention McKay’s colleagues on HRP’s Executive Committee.  Members of HRP’s governing State Committee and the Executive Committee, expected to meet this week, may or may not care about obeying the law.  But they definitely need to care about what voters will surely see as reckless disregard for lawbreaking.  

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As HIRA News pursued this story, McKay told us she has “nothing to hide” and that she’s “very aware of the laws”. Then, threateningly added “But there is liable for lies and slander. Ask CNN.”  With facts being facts, HIRA News is more interested in finding out what the liability is for HRP when the misdeeds of its officers, such as those of its new chairman and treasurer, end up costing the party a bundle of money as well as goodwill with voters. With one year until the election, we’ll find out soon enough.

 

STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO

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HIRA News

HAWAIIAN HISTORY MONTH: US Court Thankfully Ended Religious Bigotry at Kamehameha Despite Pauahi’s Will and Legacy

 

In the United States, we take constitutional rights very seriously, or at least we really, really should in ALL fifty states, to include the Aloha State, from Hilo to Hanalei.

Lately, there’s been endless talk about the will and ‘the legacy’ of Bernice Pauahi Bishop as it relates to Kamehameha Schools and its infamous admissions policy, because it appears the school is about to be sued yet again for its discriminatory policies.  Many triggered news media outlets, reporters, influencers, politicians, and other race baiters have been blathering endlessly about how Mrs. Bishop’s ‘legacy’ and her will are somehow sacred artifacts which must be preserved 100% with zero changes ever for the rest of time.  If only that were so.

For the moment, forget about the admissions policy and think about Kamehameha’s HIRING POLICY.  HIRA News cannot help but notice how almost nobody seem to be aware that, in 1993, an American court had already taken strong action to correct a MAJOR and very explicit imperfection in Mrs. Bishop’s willRELIGIOUS BIGOTRY AND DISCRIMINATION IN HIRING.

Yes, in case the talking heads have forgotten, Mrs. Bishop’s ‘sacred will’ required all teachers at her essentially secular school hired to be Protestant without exception:  teachers of said schools shall forever be persons of the Protestant religion.”  Forever.  For the rest of time.  And with no exceptions.  Keep in mind, the will of Mrs. Bishop did NOT direct the trustees to establish religious schools.  Can you imagine if a new school in 2025 opened and banned the hiring of certain religions or ethnic groups?  Forever?!?  There would be wall to wall news coverage about the scandal until heads rolled.

Fortunately, in 1993, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stepped in and sued Bishop Estate (Kam Schools), which happens to be one of the wealthiest charitable trusts in the world.  The EEOC is a federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee (religion, race, color sex, age, disability, national origin, genetic information), which is precisely what Kamehameha Schools was deliberately doing . . . and was doing based on the explicit words of Mrs. Bishop in her sacred will with its supposedly ‘sacred’ legacy.

YOU CAN READ THE CASE FOR YOURSELF HERE

https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914bea1add7b049347a953a

 

As you can see from the ruling, Mrs. Bishop’s will and legacy are not sacred.  When her explicit policy violated the U.S. Constitution’s protections, her policy was STRUCK DOWN, as it should have been by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  The court found the ‘Protestants only’ policy to be “a discriminatory practice”.  Yes, the very words of Mrs. Bishop were found to be DISCRIMINATORY.  The court ruled that being Protestant is NOT a bona fide occupational qualification [BFOQ].  “There is nothing to suggest that adherence to the Protestant faith is essential to the performance of this job.”  The ‘sacred will and legacy’ were struck down in 1993, just like it should have been.  Discrimination has no place in the United States of America, just as it shouldn’t have had any place in the Kingdom of Hawaii.

BUT IT NEVER SHOULD HAVE GONE TO COURT AT ALL:  Before the matter went to court, Kamehameha School had its own opportunity to do the right thing and strike down Mrs. Bishop’s discriminatory policy via its board of trustees or perhaps at an administrative level.  They could have looked themselves in the mirror and realized that what they were doing was wrong and downright un-American.  They could even have asked themselves if the Aloha Spirit commanded them to deny jobs to non-Protestants?  The easy answer is that banning the hiring of Buddhists, Catholics, Jews, and qualified teachers from other denominations based on the applicant’s religious beliefs is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.  But Kam Schools didn’t back down until a U.S. Court told them they were wrong.  In the biggest smackdown of all, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, letting the Ninth Circuit’s ruling stand.  This ended any and all dispute about the discriminatory policy written by Mrs. Bishop herself.  Bye bye.  [Apologies to those radicalized persons who regard Mrs. Bishop as a goddess of some sort, as those people are easily triggered by facts.]  Not so sacred after all.

Anyway, that ruling was in 1993.  Bill Clinton had just become U.S. president.  Political correctness was everywhere.  Discussion of civil rights was all the rage.  But NOT at Kamehameha Schools.  Then, as now, the folks who run the school and its supporters were HIDING BEHIND HER WILL AND LEGACY to defend the indefensible.  Then, as now, politicians and media mouthpieces were pushing the idea that the only way to preserve her legacy (and by extension the good old days of the monarchy and feudalism and the caste system and kaua slavery) is to look the other way at discrimination, as long as that discrimination is being done by part-Hawaiian/part-haoles against non-part-Hawaiians.  That makes it okay.  Well, NOPE, it doesn’t.  You can’t simply ‘grandfather in’ bigotry and discrimination because the will was written and went into effect when King Kalakaua was the reigning monarch.  Nope, that discrimination needs to go.  Forever.

Ultimately, the court did the right thing in the case of EEOC vs. Bishop Estate/Kamehameha Schools.  IT STRUCK DOWN RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY at an institution which 99.9% of island residents will NEVER attend, yet some of whom believe is a sacred institution which reminds them of the good old days of the monarchy and about living the feudal commoner life, working for the chief on the ahupuaa and harvesting sandalwood during the good old kingdom days.  That’s too bad if these radicalized anti-statehood anti-US Constitution extremists are bothered.  The truth is that there’s a bright future for all who live in Hawaii if they stop doomscrolling on Instagram and build great lives for themselves and their families.  Neither religious bigotry nor ethnic bigotry is necessary to get ahead.

As American taxpayers, we expect our courts to always do the right thing, even if it stings a little.  Was Mrs. Bishop a religious bigot?  By 2025 standards, of course she was, if she was to pull that “PROTESTANTS ONLY” hiring policy today.  However, by 1884 standards, when her will went into effect upon her death, you can decide for yourself if she was a bigot.  She probably had very good intentions.  However, times change.  That change can be hard for some people who are reluctant to live in the year 2025.  These extremists and radicals desperately try to argue that because the laws regarding ‘trusts’ established by ‘wills’ are somehow exempt from the protections of constitutional rights.  WRONG.  Trust law does not allow Kamehameha Schools to discriminate in hiring teachers on the basis of religion (or ethnicity or race either). While the schools were established as a charitable trust with a will that included a preference for Protestant teachers (and trustees for her trust), this preference was found to be in violation of federal law.  Period.  God Bless America!

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HIRA NEWS CAN LET YOU IN ON A LITTLE SECRET:  The ‘sacred will’ considered to be Mrs. Bishop’s ‘sacred legacy’ and ‘sacred vision’ hasn’t just been altered by the U.S. Judiciary.  It was altered by the school itself, without her permission, after she died.  NO WAY!!!, you might react.  There’s simply no way that the school would possibly make its own changes to her will’s intent.  HOW CAN THIS BE???  That’s an injustice bigger than the overthrow of the kingdom!!!

Well, it’s true.  Kamehameha Schools has undergone several significant changes to its policies that have, at times, either been in direct conflict with or a reinterpretation of Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s will.  Mrs. Bishop wrote a will which set forth some very explicit policies for her new school.  Three of the most notable changes are:

MERGING TWO SEPARATE GENDER SCHOOLS:  Pauahi’s sacred will only recognized two genders (male and female only, no mahus or bicurious or gender fluid or queer or nonbinary or whatever).  To this end, she explicitly directed her trustees “to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools, each for boarding and day scholars, one for boys and one for girls, to be known as, and called, The Kamehameha Schools.”  Well, that changed.  In 1965, the Kamehameha School for Boys and the Kamehameha School for Girls were merged into a single, co-educational institution on the Kapālama campus. Without any permission from Mrs. Bishop, this was a major change from the separate-sex schools specified in the will.  The school’s official history notes this as a deliberate shift to adapt to the changing needs of education and prepare students for a co-ed world.  [That rationale is pretty thought-provoking when you consider ethnicity, religion and more.]

LAND USAGE FROM TRUST:  Kamehameha Schools and the Bishop Estate have deviated from the land use dictates in Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s will, primarily due to external forces and a reinterpretation of the will’s intent over time.  Her sacred will directed them “not to sell any real estate . . . but to continue and manage the same, unless in their opinion a sale may be necessary for the establishment or maintenance of said schools, or for the best interest of my estate.”  Without any permission from Mrs. Bishop, most people know that Bishop Estate / Kamehameha Schools (KSBE) evolved into a MAJOR player in the Hawaii real estate scene.  Despite the billions that flowed, the maximum number of enrolled students didn’t see a major boost.  Instead, Bishop Estate trustees got caught up feathering their own nests with huge compensation packages, as documented in the “Broken Trust” books and news coverage in the 1990’s, one hundred years after Mrs. Bishop’s death.  Even after those trustees got into trouble and were removed and the name of the trust was changed (“Bishop Estate” got dropped in favor of just using “Kamehameha Schools”), Mrs. Bishop’s concept of land use for the benefit of the school combined with cultural and environmental stewardship went up in flames.  Without consulting Mrs. Bishop, the gang that’s been running the Kapalama Heights school has moved away from traditional ranching and agricultural leases to more diversified holdings, including commercial real estate, residential developments, and strategic investments in mainland and international markets.  This is a far, far cry from Mrs. Bishop’s wishes.  These are the very real estate projects which many Kam School policy defenders often spend their time protesting.  Super ironic.

TRUSTEES NO LONGER SELECTED BY HAWAII SUPREME COURT:  Speaking of the “Broken Trust” scandal mentioned above, Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s sacred will specifically directed that trustees for her estate be appointed by the justices of the Supreme Court of the Hawaiian Islands.  After the huge scandal involving some really creepy and greedy people who turned their appointment by the judiciary wing of Hawaii’s Democrat Party Monopoly into a chance to self-deal their way into becoming the biggest and richest community celebrities in the islands.  Notwithstanding Pauahi’s explicit terms in her will that specifically directed how the trustees for her estate would forever be appointed by the justices of the Supreme Court of the Hawaiian Islands, court-ordered reforms (yes, COURT ORDERED) in the wake of the scandal created a new system for selecting trustees; requiring a court-appointed screening committee to vet candidates based on professional qualifications, not political connections. And, contrary to her will, the schools’ governance was separated from the trust’s financial management, creating a more professional and accountable structure.  So, trustees are NO LONGER ALLOWED to appoint their own successors, as Mrs. Bishop’s will directed.  And the Hawaii Supreme Court is NO LONGER ALLOWED to pick trustees either.

Lokelani Lindsey, Henry Peters, Richard “Dickie” Wong, Oswald Stender and Gerard Jervis, left to right, in 1995. (from the now defunct Honolulu Star-Bulletin)

 

So, you see, Pauahi’s will is not so sacred.  There have been internal deviations and court-ordered deviations from her explicit directives.  Major ones, not manini.  But you won’t see or hear Hawaii News Now’s Mahealani Richardson or other pretenders to the Hawaii throne using their perches in the media or politics to inform their viewers about how many times Pauahi’s sacred will has been ignored and revised.  Instead, most media and political partisans and influencers are trying to light as much gasoline as they can pour with misinformation, race-baiting, and fake history for their own political or ratings purposes.  In the end, more misery will result from the inevitable striking down of the discriminatory admissions policy after the court sees right through the contradictory shibai about Kamehameha Schools being the #1 repository of Hawaiian culture juxtaposed against the reality that 99.9% of island residents will never attend the school.  Can it really be that without Kamehameha School, Hawaiian dance, language, culture and history will vanish from Hawaii and from the face of the Earth?  Baloney.  Hawaiiana, if you will, is all around us and expanding each day, with or without Kamehameha School.  Everyone knows that Kam School is basically Punahou School for part-Hawaiians.  It doesn’t need to keep playing the race card.

Then or now, those who hide behind Mrs. Bishop’s ‘sacred will’, her ‘legacy’ and her ‘vision’ to justify any kind of discrimination at Kam Schools in 1993 or 2025 are as cowardly as those who pretend that breaking the law and violating civil rights is perfectly okay.  The situational ethics invoked by race hustlers that defend ethnic discrimination in the admissions policy is 100% shameless and bound for judicial failure.  You gotta ask:  WHERE were today’s protesters hoping in 2025 to protect ethnic discrimination when that illegally discriminatory religious job requirement of ‘Protestants only’ was invalidated in 1993?  NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.  It’s like they don’t even know that this EEOC ruling was delivered 32 short years ago.  So much for the sacredness of her will.  The courts and the school itself are making changes to her sacred will and her sacred legacy left and right.  Deal with it.

Thankfully, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (and the U.S. Supreme Court) made sure that Pauahi’s ‘legacy’ will not include religious bigotry.  Soon, it certainly appears likely, the courts may step in to ensure her ‘legacy’ is not forever tarnished by a policy of ethnic bigotry.  It’s obvious to anyone paying attention that Kamehameha Schools has long been braced for the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court will overthrow the discriminatory admissions policy once a case reaches the high court.  Back in 2007, the famous Doe v. Kamehameha Schools case concerning Kamehameha Schools’ notorious admissions policy did reach the U.S. Supreme Court, but it was settled before the Court could issue a ruling.  Moments before the Court was to hear oral arguments, Kamehameha Schools magically and quickly reached a settlement with the plaintiff, giving the family $7 million to go away and let the racism continue.  As a result of the last minute settlement, the case was dismissed, and the U.S. Supreme Court did not issue a final ruling.

WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN NOW?  With a new legal challenge on its way in 2025, a lot less energy should be expended working to radicalize people into a frenzy over the possible end of ethnic bigotry and discrimination at Kamehameha Schools.  Instead, a lot more work should be done to prepare all of Hawaii’s children for an undeniable future which relies on working together with others from diverse backgrounds from birth to death, including time spent in school.  Perhaps that path forward is not ‘the Hawaiian way’ (as defined by radicalized activists and their pandering political friends and media mouthpieces).  But it IS the American way.  And this is the United States of America, annexed and admitted into the union forever.  Period.

Thankfully, the courts ended religious bigotry at Kamehameha despite Pauahi’s will and legacy.  Now, the question arises:  Will Pauahi’s Unfortunate Legacy of Racism and Ethnic Bigotry and Discrimination Be Overthrown?  STAY TUNED.

Next up, HIRA News will reveal the ACTUAL WORDS of Mrs. Bishop in her ‘sacred will’ which pertain to the actual admissions policy she explicitly desired.  Brace yourself, since it’s NOT AT ALL what Kamehameha Schools and its supporters have told you.  For now, we leave you with the extremely wise words of Thomas Sowell; words which have great significance for all of us in Hawaii in 2025 . . .

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A LITTLE HISTORY ABOUT MRS. (and Mr.) BISHOP:   Bernice Pauahi was a trust fund baby with good intentions.  As the last royal descendant of the Kamehameha line, she inherited a vast estate, becoming the largest landowner in the Hawaiian Kingdom thanks to the violent and deadly conquest and land acquisition by Kamehameha and his army against fellow Hawaiians who did not want to live under his rule.  In 1850, Bernice Pauahi married against her parents wishes and against the official policy of the kingdom’s line of succession and arranged marriages to keep the monarchy going.  She was supposed to marry her cousin, Prince Lot Kapuāiwa, who would later become King Kamehameha V.  This arranged marriage was a significant matter of state policy, as both Pauahi and Lot were of high rank in the royal line of succession, and their union was seen as a way to strengthen the royal family’s claim to the throne and secure the kingdom’s future.  However, Pauahi fell in love with Charles Reed Bishop, a frequently overlooked and rarely thanked American businessman who had settled in Hawaii.  Bishop arrived in Hawaii in 1846 and became a naturalized citizen in 1849.  So, she went against her parents’ wishes and terminated her arranged marriage.  Pauahi and Bishop were married on June 4, 1850, in a private ceremony at the Royal School. Her parents did not attend the wedding. Over time, however, Pauahi’s parents came to accept the marriage after it proved to be a happy one and they saw that Bishop had the interests of their daughter and the Kamehameha family at heart.

Wedding portrait of the happy couple, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Reed Bishop, June 4, 1850

Charles Bishop held a variety of positions under several Hawaiian monarchs, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and a member of the Privy Council.  He was a successful businessman who founded Hawaii’s first chartered bank, Bishop and Co., which later became First Hawaiian Bank.  Just before King Kamehameha V, Lot Kapuāiwa died in 1872, he offered the throne to his cousin and former fiancee, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, from his deathbed.  But she declined.  Since no successor had been named by Lot, the Kamehameha line of royalty ended in 1872 with his death.  Because he died without a designated heir, the legislature was tasked with electing a new monarch.  Then, after Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s death twelve years later in 1884, Charles Bishop was instrumental in carrying out her will. He served as a co-executor and one of the original five trustees of her estate. Because the estate was “land rich and cash poor,” he used his own funds to help establish Kamehameha Schools, which opened in 1887. He also founded the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in 1889 as a memorial to his wife, to house the cultural heirlooms of the Kamehameha family. He continued to support these institutions and various other charities in Hawaii until his death in 1915.

 

99% of people in Hawai’i don’t know

REAL Hawai’i history.  Now YOU do!

From sources below and more, HIRA News and Keep Hawaii United urge you to learn more about Hawaii’s Sandalwood Trade and visualize the greed and brutality involved during this 50 year period under the Hawaiian Kingdom.  You simply won’t hear about this from any other news source during “Hawaii History Month” or any other month because it doesn’t advance the separatist sovereignty narrative and doesn’t propagandize using the ‘our kingdom was great in every way’ narrative; both of which are essential in keeping the money flowing to single-ethnicity programs, quotas, discounts, set-asides, subsidies, and freebies while attempting to systematically destroy Hawaii’s enviable melting pot in favor of the disintegration and ‘Balkanization’ of the Aloha State.

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HIRA News

HAWAIIAN HISTORY MONTH: 50 Years of Forced Labor of Hawaiian Commoners by Greedy Alii During Disastrous Sandalwood Trade Destroyed Lives and Economy

 

Most people in Hawaii have no idea how greedy chiefs and kings and other royal hangers on spent a fortune and ran up enormous debt from the early days of the Hawaiian kingdom because they wanted to buy imported luxuries for themselves, such as silks, satins, china, furniture, and other goods that the chiefs desired, including guns, powder, cloth, glass, whiskey and New England rum.  In addition, gambling debt was also a factor for Hawaiian royals.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, sandalwood (a.k.a. “iliahi”) became Hawaii’s first major export, in high demand in Asia for incense and other goods. Hawaiian chiefs and Kamehameha I, quickly realized they could trade this valuable fragrant wood for highly desired Western goods.  In the late 1700’s into the 1800’s, the unsustainable sandalwood trade grew and grew until the supply was gone.  But the consequences of these high maka makas chasing greed during these many decades were painful and numerous for the average Hawaiian citizen.

Forced Labor: To meet the immense demand, chiefs forced commoners (a.k.a. the makaainana) to abandon their traditional farming, fishing and hunting duties to harvest sandalwood from the mountains. This was brutal, back-breaking work involving treks into the mountains which did lead to sickness and death.  These enslaved commoners had to carry heavy bundles of wood (up to 133 pounds each) down steep, rugged terrain; eventually depleting 90% of Hawaii’s trees on orders from the kingdom.

Destruction and Famine: The over-harvesting of sandalwood at the direction of the alii led to widespread deforestation and contributed to famine, malnutrition, and disease as commoners neglected their food crops, their fishing and their hunting since their labor was diverted to helping enrich the royals. The trade was driven by the alii’s desire for Western goods, which included everything from luxuries and iron tools and furniture to booze and firearms and ships. These items, particularly the weapons, were crucial for King Kamehameha I to unify the islands, but they also fueled the chiefs’ personal accumulation of wealth under several kings.

Debt and Indulgence: After Kamehameha I’s death, the sandalwood trade spiraled out of control under Kam II and Kam III.  Many chiefs ran up massive debts to foreign merchants in exchange for luxury goods. This led to a state of economic crisis, where the entire kingdom was plunged into debt, further burdening the common people who had to pay a tax in sandalwood to settle the chiefs’ debts. The extravagant spending on foreign goods was a result of both a desire to project power, impress fellow chiefs and the unchecked pursuit of personal indulgence.  Reparations from the alii to the commoners was never paid.

Destruction of Traditional Hawaiian Life:  The unsustainable focus on fulfilling the demand for sandalwood took precedence over all other aspects of traditional Hawaiian life, leading to the enslavement of all island people and the collapse of their self-sufficient economy and social structure so that the greedy rulers could buy fancy imported goods for themselves.  Sandalwood gave way to whaling which gave way to sugar; all approved and encouraged by the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Yes, there’s a lot more to Hawaii history than aloha, hula, rainbows, and luaus.  Endless wars caused by Hawaiians.  The violent Tahitian conquerors who stole Hawaii from the original Marquesan inhabitants of these islands.  Documented and systematic abuse of commoners by Hawaiian leaders.  Feudal savagery.  Human Sacrifice and Slavery.  Seeing the whole picture of Hawaii history is vital to understanding the past and crucial to navigating the future.  Merely absorbing a few select nuggets of history which are repeatedly watered-down and advanced by the media, the activists, and the influencers only serves to advance a political agenda which is dangerous for all the people of the Hawaiian Islands.

99% of people in Hawai’i don’t know

REAL Hawai’i history.  Now YOU do!

From sources below and more, HIRA News and Keep Hawaii United urge you to learn more about Hawaii’s Sandalwood Trade and visualize the greed and brutality involved during this 50 year period under the Hawaiian Kingdom.  You simply won’t hear about this from any other news source during “Hawaii History Month” or any other month because it doesn’t advance the separatist sovereignty narrative and doesn’t propagandize using the ‘our kingdom was great in every way’ narrative; both of which are essential in keeping the money flowing to single-ethnicity programs, quotas, discounts, set-asides, subsidies, and freebies while attempting to systematically destroy Hawaii’s enviable melting pot in favor of the disintegration and ‘Balkanization’ of the Aloha State.

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII RESEARCH

https://www.hawaii.edu/uhwo/clear/home/HawaiiLaborHistory.html

 

PETER YOUNG RESEARCH

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/sandalwood-era/

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https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/?s=sandalwood

 

MARK “UMI” PERKINS RESEARCH

https://theumiverse.wordpress.com/2020/12/10/hi-lalele-%CA%BBiliahi-the-sandalwood-trade/

 

ADAM KEAWE MANALO-CAMP RESEARCH

https://adamkeawe.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/part-4-the-hawaiian-class-system/

 

KHON’S WATERED-DOWN STORY (2022)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbnMFZW5GjI

 

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HIRA News

HANNEMANN’S SIX EXECUTIONERS: Mufi’s Cousin Art Prepares to Conduct Trials and Purges

 

 Honolulu, Hawaii – More details are emerging about how the new leaders of Hawaii’s distant second place political party intend to seek retribution on perceived internal enemies at the now homeless party which only meets via Zoom meetings since losing its longtime headquarters a year ago.  Yes, a circular firing squad is how the tiny organization’s donor dollars and precious campaign time are being spent.

As HIRA News just reported on Monday, the Hawaii GOP’s state chair Art Hannemann (Mufi’s cousin) is pushing forward with a plan to launch a “Disciplinary Committee” to conduct actual trials of party officers and party members who are not to the liking of the old guard establishment which recently retook control of the party after nearly two years in the wilderness.

Even though no such committee exists anywhere in the party’s rules and hasn’t for the party’s hundred twenty-five year history in Hawaii – since the state GOP was established in the year 1900 – that simple fact hasn’t stopped Mufi’s cousin or his eager and starstruck enabler Boyd Ready from plucking six easily manipulated people from relative obscurity so they can sit in judgement over fellow party members that Hannemann has explicitly told a state judge he is coming after to obtain justice for convicted felon Christina Everett and her increasingly widely disseminated criminal record for smuggling many tons of illegal aerial fireworks into Hawaii, reportedly in a criminal conspiracy with Art’s cousin Mufi Hannemann according to Ms. Everett herself.

While such news probably helps Democrats to sleep even better at night here in the islands, the very first meeting is being held TONIGHT according to our source.

We are sworn to secrecy.  But our source says it’s one of the six Disciplinary Committee members that was overheard discussing their new role in the party with glee, who are in no particular order:

NEW HAWAII GOP DISCIPLINE COMMITTEE
a.k.a. “The Six Executioners”

Sylvie Madison
Larie Manutai
Rich Harper
Scott Smart
Dalene McCormick
Steve Bond

Art Hannemann flunkie Boyd Ready will be on hand to tell them what to do, what to think, and how to vote.  Most importantly, Mr. Ready will help select the targets for Hannemann’s purge.  As we’ve previously reported, immediate past state chair Tamara McKay and her supporters are at the top of the list for removal or, as they like to say, “discipline”.

Mind you, this party which you’d expect would spend some time between elections putting Josh Green, Mazie Hirono, Brian Schatz, Jill Tokuda, Ed Case and other Democrats on trial so that the public might make different choices when their ballots arrive in the mail.  However, ousting Democrats is NOT the priority.  As time gets closer to the 2026 election, ousting Republicans IS what truly matters to Mufi’s cousin.

This move comes after Art Hannemann and three others were publicly censured in recent months; with those censures still posted on the official website for the Honolulu County GOP:  http://www.OahuGOP.com.  Art and his enforcers have been trying to get those censures taken down ever since they went up on that county website.  But it looks like they’ll need to sick the Disciplinary Committee on Oahu county chairman Nolan Chang and purge him from the party in order to sanitize the website and maybe replace those censures with a prominent “Nolan Chang is no longer associated with the Hawaii GOP” message for all to read.

Needless to say, what is the true purpose of a political party but an audition for the public to see how its members would run the government if given the chance.  Putting enemies on trial is probably not what island voters crave in their politicians with so many very real problems.  And Hawaii voters probably won’t be impressed by GOP priorities in Hawaii while the cost of living continues to spiral out of control and politicians care more about posting selfies on social media than about delivering real victories for struggling taxpayers.

Ultimately, after only three months in control of the Hawaii GOP, you can clearly see the REAL priorities of Art Hannemann’s new regime as they explicitly promised to have advertising running for the past two months and spend $1 Million between now and the end of 2025 turning the Hawaii GOP into a political juggernaut which raised $2 Million during the same six month period.  But, instead they totally lied.  There’s no advertising.  There’s no case being made for better leadership and real solutions vis-a-vis the Democrat supermajority.  There’s no ‘unity’ in the party.  Instead, we just see lots of time spent infighting and now purging.  Helping to pervert priorities, GOP politicians like Lauren Matsumoto,  Diamond GarciaGarner Shimizu, and Samantha DeCorte attend party meetings and blindly vote in support of Hannemann’s every move.

Fortunately, this party is leaky, so we have information to share.  Unfortunately, the party is also sinking, so it’s just more bad news all around.  There’s still a $750,000 lawsuit against the party by the convicted felon mentioned earlier.  And Hannemann did promise the judge in an unsolicited communication that the new Hawaii GOP would discipline those responsible for discussing that plaintiff’s criminal record.

The BIG QUESTION arising from this sudden interest in ‘justice’ is this:  If this party knows that Robert’s Rules of Order calls for hearings and trials to take place whenever the membership of a party member is on the line, where was any committee before under some of these same recycled party leaders?  Heck, Art’s right hand thug Shirlene Ostrov ran over justice repeatedly during her two terms as state chair before she resigned over allegations of anti-Semitism (and her embrace of Capitol rioter Nick Ochs).  AND NOW SHE’S BACK — HANDPICKED BY HANNEMANN.  Ostrov was directly involved in two money laundering scandals with party funds.  She even fired her own executive committee for not going along with her insane agenda; later bringing them back into the fold when it was too late to prevent the 2018 election disaster.  And Ostrov unilaterally banned the party from protesting failed Democrat policies while using her position as state chair to support liberal politicians and even an illegal noncitizen for state office.

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Will the Discipline Committee start with Ostrov?  Probably not.  But the selective enforcement and selective use of a ‘just process’ casts doubt on any possible good reason for what Hannemann, Boyd Ready and the Six Executioners are planning to do in the days, weeks, and months ahead.  Auwe!

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