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THE EVERETT SCANDAL – PART ONE: Republican Candidate Sues Over Alleged Sabotage by Party Leaders

Honolulu, Hawaii – What started as a battle over control of the already weak Hawaii Republican Party quickly exploded into the threatened sabotage of a political campaign and a major new defamation lawsuit demanding three quarters of a million dollars in damages from the party and its past and present leaders.

Waipahu Republican and 2026 state house candidate Christina Everett wanted to become a delegate to the Hawaii GOP’s May 2025 state convention on Kauai, where two opposing factions would be vying for top posts at the state organization in just a few days.  Delegates would choose between a slate headed by then current party chair and failed 2022 state senate candidate Tamara McKay and a rival slate headed by restaurant owner and failed 2022 state senate candidate Art Hannemann.

With Everett finding herself unable to get a response to phone calls and e-mails so she could make travel arrangements knowing whether she could be a convention delegate, Everett complained to party leaders that she was getting the runaround and no straight answers;  probably getting ignored because Everett was going to support Hannemann over McKay.

24 hours later, an executive officer of the party loyal to McKay did something shocking that changed the subject (and the hope for a peaceful resolution) in an instant.

Sheryl Bieler, McKay’s Vice Chair of Coalitions, suddenly inserted herself into the back and forth of a group e-mail between Everett and several dozen party leaders and VIPs.  Bieler shared a screenshot of a newspaper story which revealed Everett’s past criminal history, adding:  “Oooh everyone look what I just found out about Christina Everett.  Anybody else want to know about this?  Christina, I’m sure the news and Social Media would love to get their hands on this as you are a declared candidate for District 35.”

Shared with all those recipients by Bieler was a screenshot of the 2010 story from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin which read:  “A federal judge sentenced a 34-year old woman to six months in prison for trying to import more than 4 tons of illegal aerial fireworks and then lying to federal agents about it.”  The article goes on to identify Christina Everett as the minister who pleaded guilty to fireworks smuggling and that she was sentenced to six months in prison, with federal prosecutors wanting her to serve 15 months.

Interestingly, HIRA News’ review of case records reveals that Samuel P. King Jr., the husband of two-time Republican National Convention delegate and 2010 lieutenant governor candidate Adrienne King, was Everett’s criminal defense attorney in the fireworks smuggling case.  Mr. King requested but was denied a lesser sentence of community service for his client, which would have allowed Everett to keep her minister job at the Salvation Army.  Had Everett avoided prison altogether, Sheryl Bieler might NOT have had the juicy newspaper article to bludgeon her with.  Indeed, Everett might have made it as far as the general election ballot with the endorsements and support of quite a few party insiders, from elected GOP officials in office to VIPs associated with the GOP.

In response to Bieler’s circulation of the unflattering story, Everett filed a new complaint with party leaders demanding an apology for Bieler’s “malicious” attempt to “shame me or weaponize my past to discredit me as a candidate” using what Everett described as “defamatory” content.  Also, Everett wanted to see Bieler – and all party officials who refused to discipline Bieler – censured or even removed from their posts.  Astonishingly, Bieler actually wrote back to Everett saying that, “My intent was not to shame or embarrass you” by sending the embarrassing article exposing Everett’s shameful criminality.  Bieler added, “It was merely a response to your tantrum and threatening the party to let Social media outlets and the news become aware of your victimhood (in the convention delegate matter).  I mean seriously let’s expose it all right?”

Indeed, Christina Everett did take to social media to press her case in the wake of Sheryl Bieler’s “harassment” and the alleged malfeasance by other party officers, as seen in this Facebook post.  But news media outlets in Hawaii didn’t seem interested in this conflict.

Still, the deliberate exposure of her criminal past in the middle of a political campaign clearly bothered state house candidate Everett; with Bieler having disseminated harmful opposition research against Everett in the manner of a political operative looking to take down an opposing candidate.  The escalation of this conflict showed no signs of stopping in the days before the state party’s annual convention.

Unimpressed by Bieler’s downplaying of her action, Everett shot back with both barrels:  “Sheryl, your response to my email is not only unprofessional—it reveals a level of incompetence that should concern anyone watching. Instead of engaging the actual issue, you’ve chosen mockery, personal attacks, and a dismissive tone that’s completely unbecoming of someone representing the Republican Party.  To those in leadership—who is responsible for monitoring this behavior? Who is holding people like Sheryl accountable?  Is this what the Republican Party stands for now—open disrespect, character attacks, and unchecked hostility?  Your silence is just as damaging as her behavior.  This is no longer a matter of internal disagreement. This is now entering the realm of defamation, and I will be pursuing legal counsel accordingly. You may think it’s acceptable to belittle or slander someone publicly, but I suggest you be very careful who you choose to attack. Not everyone will stay silent or back down.”

Everett soon sent a formal, internal complaint to state chair Tamara McKay, in which she commented, “This is not merely a personal matter. It is a serious concern about how our Party treats candidates with lived experiences, how internal power is used to silence others, and whether we will lead with conviction or corruption,” as she demanded speedy action to address the wrongs she explicitly attributed to vice chair Bieler, state chair McKay, vice chair Teri Savaiinaea, county chair Nolan Chang, and the chairman of her state house district, Enoka-Shayne Bingo, whom she blamed for the initial grievance of delaying and then denying her a seat in House District 35’s delegation to the state convention; the incident leading to the whole brouhaha.

Now that the cat was out of the bag about her criminal history, Everett had already prepared and filed a civil lawsuit against the party and its top officers whom she blamed for conspiring against her using defamation and tortious interference with her political career.  While Everett was ultimately denied a spot as delegate to the state convention, she did obtain a guest pass and used the opportunity of being present in the Kauai convention hall to distribute copies of her newly-filed lawsuit.  Helping Everett to hand out copies of the lawsuit was her close associate Sheila Medeiros, a failed 2024 state house candidate also aligned with the Art Hanneman slate.  Their hamfisted attempt at ‘serving’ the defendants during the convention actually resulted in court delays, since Everett and Medeiros reportedly forgot to provide a court summons along with the lawsuit.  Perhaps this oversight transpired because Everett never retained a lawyer as she threatened, opting instead to represent herself in court.

After a few tumultuous days of wrangling between Everett and party leaders, Everett’s delegate vote for Art Hannemann’s slate turned out to be unnecessary.  When the convention ended, Tamara McKay and her running mates all lost their executive officer positions to Art Hannemann and his allies.  During the few days between Sheryl Bieler’s “I’m sure the news and Social Media would love to get their hands on this” mass e-mail circulating the newspaper story and the drastic change in leadership at the Hawaii GOP, no censures nor expulsions were initiated by the Tamara McKay leadership team.  To this end, it is unknown if the new Art Hannemann team will proceed with investigating or acting upon Everett’s unresolved complaint.

BUT ONE THING IS CERTAIN:  The case is now before the Circuit Court of the First Circuit, with Judge Steven Nichols presiding.  Everett is demanding $750,000 in general, special, and punitive damages from the party and its top officers for reputational harm, emotional distress, and campaign-related losses.  Everett’s specific charges are:  (1) Defamation since Defendants’ statements were false, malicious, and intended to cause political and reputational harm to the Plaintiff and Plaintiff has suffered significant harm to her public reputation, emotional well-being, and campaign efforts, (2) Tortious Interference with prospective economic advantage by interfering with her pursuit of public office whereby defendants knowingly interfered with Plaintiff s political campaign, community support, and credibility, and (3) Civil Conspiracy whereby Defendants acted in concert to discredit Plaintiff and suppress her political campaign through coordinated defamatory actions.  Judge Nichols made it clear that a political career counts as the kind of career which, if wrongfully torpedoed, has value which can be sued over.

A copy of the complaint can be found HERE.  Everett is her own lawyer.  A copy of the defendants’ response is HERE.  The defendants have FOUR attorneys total.

So, WHAT do the defendants have to say for themselves?  Well, in their motion to dismiss the case, McKay, Bieler and the rest allege that they have endured reputational harm, lack of sleep, loss of work, public humiliation, mental anguish, physical distress, and interference in the election of officers at HRP’s state convention.  So, Team Tamara McKay seems to blame Everett for losing re-election to their party posts rather than their checkered time in office since 2023.  Has anyone told them that lack of sleep, mental anguish, physical distress and occasional humiliation are integral to politics?  Perhaps that’s why the judge rejected the motion to dismiss Everett’s lawsuit.  Still, these defendants believe Everett brought her problems upon herself by going public with a matter which was of limited distribution; arguing that Everett’s lawsuit is legally deficient since the court has nothing serious to rule on, as the information shared about the fireworks conviction was factually true.  As they say, truth is an absolute defense to a claim of defamation.  They add that if anyone has committed harassment, character assassination, defamation and tortious behavior it would be Christina Everett.  To be sure, the defendants have yet to indicate they have any plans to counter-sue Everett.  As of today, they haven’t.

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS OPPOSED BY THE HAWAII GOP AND BY CHRISTINA EVERETT

Ms. Everett and the many defendants from the Hawaii GOP all fought against this story being told.  On the morning of July 16th, one week ago today, HIRA News’ chief correspondent Kai Lorinc attended the first court hearing for this lawsuit with video camera and tripod in hand.  The party’s officers and its candidate stood before the judge and argued unanimously against HIRA News being allowed to film and report on the action in court.  Our own Ms. Lorinc elaborated on the application HIRA News had already submitted to the court, arguing that the issues before the court were in the public interest.  Thanks to Judge Nichols, who supports freedom of the press, HIRA News prevailed and the opponents of freedom of the press failed.

COMING TOMORROW . . .

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In tomorrow’s edition of HIRA News, we’ll tell you what happened in court and where the case goes from here.  Then, on Friday, we’ll turn our attention to the many ugly revelations this case has dredged to the surface.

Here’s a telling tidbit.  Neither Art Hannemann nor an attorney for the Hawaii GOP either showed up at court or even sent any kind of written response.  By failing to appear, even though the party has ‘directors and officers’ insurance which can pay for legal representation (and any losses), it seems that Hannemann has decided to let Tamara McKay, Sheryl Bieler and the rest take the fall now that most of the defendants no longer hold leadership positions in the party.  Of course, the party has deep pockets, with more than $500,000 in the party’s bank account.  It is not known if the defendants have the assets to pay the damages.  Moreover, at least two of those defendants, Bieler and Bingo, are NOT represented by lawyers.

Art Hannemann (left) being sworn in along with other newly-elected executive officers at the GOP’s Kauai state convention

 

Getting hauled into court for defamation and tortious interference and conspiracy largely due to Vice Chair of Coalitions Sheryl Bieler’s childish and unprofessional lashing out at Ms. Everett came at a time when Bieler’s boss Tamara McKay was desperately clinging to power at the very unpowerful Hawaii Republican Party.  Every vote of every delegate at the Kauai state convention seemed to matter, as both competing slates were engaged in paying to fly supportive delegates to Kauai while being engaged in disqualifying each other’s delegates from participating.  Yet while Everett’s criminal record is fair game in determining fitness for public office, it seems that Bieler used this nuclear option to tip the scales and help her boss Tamara McKay to deny Art Hannemann one likely vote by justifying keeping Christina Everett from becoming a delegate.

Parties to lawsuit and their supporters exit the courtroom.

Maybe the stakes really were high.  Since the convention, victorious Art Hannemann is already spending party money like a drunken sailor; hiring his friends and associates with paid party jobs and preparing to have the state party spend a small fortune between now and the end of 2025 with no controls to prevent Hannemann from steering even more money to his friends, since no debate or even questions were allowed during an official meeting called to discuss and approve the party’s million dollar budget.  STORY HERE.  For Sheryl Bieler, stopping Christina Everett was merely collateral damage in a larger fight for control which ended with a clean sweep back in May.

Controversial figure Sheryl Bieler is now flashing the middle finger to HIRA News for telling you this story.  No other news media in Hawaii will report on this lawsuit.  But our own Kai Lorinc was there.  She successfully fought for media access and then documented serious legal action and court proceedings that the public deserves to know about.  In addition, HIRA News uncovered many ugly revelations and dysfunction galore exposed by this scandal.  Stay tuned for more and you’ll see . . .

COMING STORIES:

  • TOMORROW: Lots of Ugly Revelations
  • FRIDAY: The Candidate Vetting Failures (too many to count)
  • NEXT FRIDAY: Back to Court for the Grand Finale

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 . . .

———————————————————————————————————–

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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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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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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