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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 will:  RELIGIOUS 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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MASS EXODUS CONTINUES: Hawaii GOP National Committeeman and Top Honolulu GOP Officer Nolan Chang Resigns in Disgust

 

Honolulu, Hawaii – Just days after HIRA News chief correspondent Kai Lorinc raised critical questions with Hawaii GOP national committeeman and Oahu GOP chairman Nolan Chang, Mr. Chang tendered his resignation effective immediately and shut down the county party organization indefinitely.

Nolan Chang with Laura Nakanelua in 2024 when they were elected national committeeman and national committeewoman respectively at the Hawaii GOP state convention held in Mililani, Oahu

 

On the heels of state chair Art Hannemann and several other top Hawaii GOP officers who bailed after only a few weeks in office, Nolan Chang jumped ship on his county chair job after less than eight months and simultaneously said ‘goodbye’ to his national committeeman job (a four-year term) after less than 18 months.  His top reason?  The “sustained pattern of misconduct, mismanagement, and abuse of authority” by the state GOP’s top executive officers and “their close collaborators”.  Whoa!!!

Citing some of the very same reasons as Hannemann when he resigned, Chang pointed his finger at the remaining party leaders whose loyalty is primarily to failed former state chair, Shirlene “Big Shirl” Ostrov, who now leads the struggling organization as its ‘interim’ state chair following her campaign to be Hannemann’s second fiddle on “Team Art” back in May at the Hawaii GOP’s most recent state convention.  That was before Ostrov stabbed Hannemann in the back and pushed him out the door with the help of her cronies on Oahu and the Big Island.

Just before 7pm Saturday night, November 15th, party insiders and members of the news media were greeted with Chang’s sudden e-mail resignation from both high level party posts.

Chang – who publicly blamed government space lasers for the Maui fires that killed more than 100 people and destroyed homes and businesses two years ago – listed more than a dozen powerful reasons for vacating the top party posts after riding his notoriety into both offices with the support of other tinfoil hatters.  His surprisingly sane reasons for quitting are summarized here.

 

You can read Chang’s entire resignation letter HERE, which is posted on the Oahu GOP county website; a site which the country club establishment RINO wing of the Hawaii GOP has long hoped to force offline as it usually conveyed more conservative sentiments than the very nonthreatening state party website.

 

Visitors to the Oahu GOP’s official website got to see this page (shown above) which boldly asserts that Chang’s departure renders the work of the Honolulu county party “paused until further notice”.  Moreover, both the new web page and an auto-reply email sent by HIRA News to OahuGOP@gmail.com stated that “official county business is on hold”.  It also contained the directive that urgent inquiries and urgent matters are now being handled by the state party’s highly compensated ($6,700/month) executive director Ronette “Ola” Souza.  Ms. Souza should have time to assist the defunct county party since it’s not known if she’s actually done anything to earn her salary for the past four months; not even updating the party’s own outdated state GOP website which contains names of party officers who have long been gone since the mass exodus began with Art Hannemann’s departure (still listed as state chairman).

 

With the 2026 general election taking place less than one year from now, it’s unknown if the party can make up for lost time since the 2024 election.  Or if party leaders plan to ask the state elections commission for more time to organize, recruit candidates and campaign by pushing the general election back until mid-2027 (if that’s even legal).  According to the party’s official budget, nearly $800,000 was supposed to have ALREADY been spent on political advertising since July 1, 2025 through the end of November 2025 in order to soften up Hawaii voters and make them more open to voting Republican.  However, absolutely NONE of that money has been spent and is still sitting in the bank (with the exception of funds blown on Ronette Souza’s insane salary to oversee a campaign of nothingness).  This means that Hawaii voters only know about what Republicans stand for when they hear it from the mouths of Democrats and their mouthpieces at Hawaii News Now, Civil Beat, and the Honolulu Star-BirdCageLiner.  Perhaps that was Team Ostrov’s plan all along, like it was during her previous stints as state chair during the disastrous 2018 and 2020 election campaigns.

 

After Nolan Chang was backed for the top jobs by BJ Penn’s dubious campaign team Andy Crossland and Lynn Surayan (pictured above and below) over at Surfing 4 Truth – as well as failed Hawaii GOP chair Tamara McKay and other ‘iffy’ endorsers – Chang led an internal campaign in recent weeks which demanded financial transparency, adherence to party rules, and an end to the turf warfare which has plagued the troubled Hawaii chapter of the Republican National Committee for decades.

However, his sad echo of concerns about the Hawaii GOP raised perennially by HIRA News made no impact as a party insider who was regarded by many as a nutjob, possibly because he believes that government space lasers destroyed Lahaina, rather than state and county government incompetence and longstanding Democrat failure to prepare for wildfires.  Those who wish to join Nolan Chang on the crazy train can learn from the many YouTube videos showing how to make your very own tin foil hat.

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In fact, Chang’s internal campaign for change at the state party appears to have petered out (leading him to prematurely terminate his own unproductive tenure in office); with crooked interim state chair Shirlene Ostrov fully expected to seize a golden opportunity to remake the Hawaii GOP in her image now that Art Hannemann and Nolan Chang and other former top leaders are out of her way thanks to a flurry of resignations reported on by HIRA News.  In fact, Ostrov has already begun installing RINO loyalists like Jill “Lani” Stone-Kaaa, Sheila “chief election interference coordinator” Walker, Fenton “Kaulana” Lee, and Boyd “Not-So” Ready.  More Ostrov loyalists are expected to be named in the near future so the internal destruction of the party can accelerate with all hands on deck pouring gasoline and lighting matches.

Since the sale of the only existing headquarters for the state party was engineered by Ostrov and former state chair Tamara McKay last year, the now homeless party exists solely as an occasional and highly choreographed Zoom meeting in cyberspace.  For all practical purposes, there is no ‘party’ other than an online spreadsheet containing some names and ‘titles’, a Zoom videoconferencing subscription, and several mysterious bank accounts which nobody seems to have answers about.

Rumors are swirling that Chang’s own resignation serves as a signal for even more disaffected party officers to abandon their posts.  This rumor seems confirmed by reports that Chang sent his resignation letter to allies (self-described “patriots”) in the party along with instructions on how they too can formally resign their posts as he did.  Given the overwhelming number of party posts already held by those on Team Ostrov, you can bank on the Hawaii GOP returning to its roots of being liberal, incompetent, corrupt, and no threat to the Democrat stranglehold on Hawaii.  Tamara McKay did a great job during her term as state chair in achieving those four traditional goals of RINOs.  But Shirlene Ostrov is expected to be even more masterful in her ‘controlled opposition’ approach to libtard leadership of the state party going forward.  While the rats might be jumping off the sinking ship, new rats are needed to help Ostrov ensure the Hawaii GOP reaches the very bottom of the ocean and stays there; right where Democrats want us to be.

Finally, as to those very serious questions from HIRA News put to Nolan Chang – but left decidedly unanswered by him – only a few days before he pulled the plug on his own career at the Hawaii GOP, it appears we may never know more about the sordid tales of how party leaders affiliated with Chang and McKay unlawfully campaigned and raised secret, unreported funds for an illegal noncitizen to run for office in Hawaii in order to assist ‘statehood deniers’ to pursue their anti-American ‘sovereignty’ agenda to separate Hawaii from the USA.

HIRA News’ Kai Lorinc worked to expose illegal fundraising for a noncitizen campaigning to “overthrow the Hawaii Republican Party to aid in overtaking the State of Hawaii for implementation of a Political Kingdom”

 

Sadly, Shirlene Ostrov did the same thing in 2018, using party resources to assist an illegal noncitizen (who had already voted illegally in Hawaii elections) to run for state house until HIRA worked with state elections authorities to have that illegal candidate hoping to replace corrupt liberal gubernatorial aspirant Andria Tupola in the State House removed from the ballot.  Chang’s associates also tried (with some success) to install anti-American activists into party leadership posts across the state in furtherance of their ‘statehood denier’ agenda.  Wait until Donald Trump hears about this treachery!

Likewise, as to HIRA’s unanswered questions, we may never uncover the full story about how secret and very NON-TRANSPARENT Signal communications were used by Chang, McKay and other party officers to improperly circumvent Hawaii GOP committees and secretly coordinate ‘actual’ party policies which rivalled the corrupt and nontransparent machinations of past and present party leaders, including Gaudencia “Lynn” Finnegan, Diamond “Still No Wife or Girlfriend” Garcia, and “Big Shirl” Ostrov-Blackburn.

Ultimately, there wasn’t a dime’s worth of difference between the failed ‘leadership’ brought by ‘Surfing 4 Truth’ and the always terrible ‘leadership’ brought by the old guard RINO’s who appear poised to take back 100% of the power in the powerless organization.

In the end, one clear answer that HIRA News did obtain merely by watching all of this unfold is that fake patriots like Nolan Chang never intended to stick around to do the heavy lifting of unseating Democrats and elected Republicans; the work of repealing bad liberal policies and enacting solid conservative reforms.  Hawaii is now nowhere closer to realizing a successful Republican movement with wasted year after wasted year spent watching unqualified influencers and political neophytes pretend to have leadership skills and political experience.  We are all victims of the Hawaii GOP’s failed experiments with rotten leaders rearranging deck chairs on this sinking ship.  Until every last one of these RINOs is gone from leadership of our party, don’t waste a penny of your money or a second of your time if they come asking.  From our perspective, every single reason Nolan Chang just gave for quitting is 100% true.  With his departure, every single problem he pointed out just became 1,000 times more intractable.  Campaign 2026 in Hawaii Nei is nothing more than pure hype now.  Going through the motions to put more Kurt Fevella and Kanani Souza types into office is still the plan.  Stay tuned for HIRA News’ assessment of the “Republican” candidates being fielded next year.  It’s not pretty.  And Hawaii Deserves Better.

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EXCLUSIVE: HAWAII GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE FOUND GUILTY ON BOTH COUNTS — Assault of Law Enforcement Officer + Driving Without a License

 

Honolulu, Hawaii – “Alright Ms. Akana, you will rise for the reading of the jury’s verdict at this time.”  With those words, following a three-day trial last week, a jury found 2026 (and 2022) gubernatorial candidate, financial grifter, and rabid statehood denier Kelei Taylor a.k.a. “Kelei Akana” guilty in the 1st degree of the Class C felony of assaulting police officers and guilty of driving without a driver’s license in a traffic stop in Ewa Beach that was deliberately escalated by Taylor into an altercation back on May 5th of this year when she violently resisted arrest while claiming to be a “repatriated citizen” of the nonexistent Hawaiian kingdom – a ‘kingdom’ where she imagines anyone without a license can drive a car with expired tags anywhere they like on kingdom roads and then abuse police officers with the complete blessing of the monarchy.

As a convicted felon whose comical ‘Hawaiian sovereignty defense’ went nowhere, the self-described “Queen of Hawaii” Kelei Taylor now awaits sentencing in February when she could possibly receive the maximum penalty of five years in prison plus a fine of up to $10,000.  In addition, she owes the State of Hawaii money for an earlier cancelled jury trial back in August after some of her antics in court didn’t pay off, not to mention restitution to the officer whose arm she bit (seen above in an HPD bodycam video) while she was punching and kicking officers trying to remove the uncooperative Taylor from her husband’s Mercedes with the expired tags.  In addition to the cost of medical treatment, the bitten officer had to be tested for HIV and Hepatitis.  [Ms. Taylor is fortunate that the woke DEI prosecutor opted to drop the original third criminal charge, which was for resisting arrest.]

Ms. Taylor goes by the alias of “Mrs. Kelei Akana”, alleging that the man who stood by her throughout this legal ordeal is her husband, perennial Hawaii GOP congressional candidate Joe Akana, whose character and judgement the Republican Party repeatedly assured everyone could be trusted.  To be sure, top GOP leaders and candidates and elected officials never warned voters that Mr. Akana was harboring dual hatreds for the United States and for law enforcement.  But HIRA News has uncovered shocking truths about both Akana’s.  For now, know that Mr. Akana is deeply involved in Ms. Taylor’s many problems, including this criminal conviction.  But, more about all of that later.

So what REALLY happened that day?  The story of that day (and leading up to that fateful day) is quite simple.  The Akana’s had been evicted from a rental home in Ewa Beach for nonpayment of rent.  While they crashed at his elderly parents’ Maaloa Street home in Nanakuli, Joe’s parents reportedly evicted an allegedly ungrateful Kelei from their house after she called them “pedophiles” (a term which, like her other favorite epithet “traffickers”, Ms. Taylor calls anyone she doesn’t like, despite their having zero involvement in pedophilia or trafficking).  Reportedly, Joe Akana was recovering from surgery after Kelei had attacked and injured him during a fight while they were actually in a car driving down the road, possibly even this same Mercedes.  After being kicked out of his parents’ Nanakuli house, Ms. Taylor took Joe’s Mercedes and drove to Pu‘uloa Beach Park in Ewa Beach (a.k.a. “Hau Bush”) where she was basically staying the night and living in the car (though she later pretended she was there at this infamous city park to ‘minister’ to victims of trafficking).

The police and prosecution say that Ms. Taylor was sitting behind the wheel in the driver’s seat of a Mercedes in the early morning hours at Hau Bush in Ewa Beach.  Police officers on patrol encountered the expired tags on Joe’s car and an unidentified woman sitting in the car (who did not match the gender of the owner).  The police radioed and found that the registration and safety stickers for that Mercedes were EXPIRED.  Police intervention was guaranteed at this point.

From HPD’s first interaction with her, she was uncooperative; demanding names and badge numbers.  When asked why the car’s vehicle tags were expired, Akana replied, “We going through hard times right now.”  Police reportedly asked Taylor multiple times for her driver’s license to which she refused (“No!”); instead handing officers a pamphlet claiming that her name was on it, while demanding to see the USA’s “treaty of annexation” for Hawaii.  Police again requested she provide her driver’s license or identification card as the name shown on the pamphlet (“Kelei Akana”) was not coming up in their checks as someone with a valid license.  According to the City Prosecutor’s office, Akana continued refusing and argued with officers for several minutes, accusing the officers as having participated in human trafficking and for being pedophiles, while also insisting the officers had “no authority” over her and that the police “are a cabal deep state operation” and that she does not need provide identification to the police because she is “not a citizen”.

Akana also proceeded to deny that officers had any right to stop her as she was “traveling”.  Yes, traveling.  In case you weren’t aware, these ‘sovereign citizen’ nutjobs across the country attempt to differentiate between “driving” and “traveling” in a lame tinfoil hat attempt to circumvent traffic laws. They claim that “driving” refers to commercial activity, while “traveling” is a right provided by the U.S. Constitution. In the grand delusion shared by Mrs. Akana with her crazy compatriots, this distinction without a difference allows them to argue they don’t need licenses, registrations, or insurance when “traveling” in their personal vehicles, since it’s obviously not the same thing as “driving”.  Yeah, right.

One of the fake ‘sovereign citizen’ kingdom plates used by many of Kelei Akana’s compatriots in Hawaii’s statehood denier movement of anti-USA extremists

Anyway, each refusal to comply, each refusal to answer questions, each refusal to provide identification, and then blowing them off for 17 long minutes while they ordered and tried to convince her to exit the vehicle was met with more of Ms. Taylor’s sovereignty nonsense and increasing hostility.  It’s as if she was daring them to do something.  And clearly she was daring them.  Why provoke an incident?  You’ll understand the likely motive shortly.

With the Taser’s barbed, dart-shaped projectiles still attached to Kelei Taylor, and with wires stretching to the Taser gun, Taylor tearfully yet reluctantly surrenders after the needless yet very deliberate standoff with HPD.

Officers then offered “Kelei Akana” a choice:  (1) To provide her license and be cited for the expired safety and registration and exit the undriveable vehicle as it would have to be towed away –or– (2) She would be arrested for driving without a license and for obstruction.  Not happy with either option presented by police (or sensing an opportunity to go viral), Ms. Taylor a.k.a. “Mrs. Akana” reportedly escalated her argumentativeness, started the vehicle and attempted to roll up her window.  Officers instructed her to exit the vehicle and proceeded to prevent her from rolling up the window.  That’s when, prosecutors say, Joe Akana’s wife became combative; ultimately striking one officer when he attempted to reach into the vehicle and secure her hands.  Ms. Taylor was ordered multiple times without success to stop resisting.  Another officer went around to the passenger side of the vehicle and entered to assist the first officer who was being repeatedly struck and kicked by Joe Akana’s ‘wife’, who then grabbed the first officer’s right forearm arm and bit him for 5-10 painful seconds, refusing to let go.  WIth Akana continuing to resist by punching and kicking officers working from both front doors of the Mercedes, they needed to increase the level of force used to detain her, with one officer using strikes to her face and head area; ultimately using a Taser more than once to subdue her.  The zaps from the Taser made it possible to grab her arms and finally handcuff the self-employed mother/consultant/minister/politician/grifter.

Excerpt from police report for Kelei Taylor’s arrest on 05 May 2025.

 

Following her arrest in Ewa Beach, Kelei Taylor was transported to nearby Queen’s hospital where she could begin faking injuries and justifying the need to utilize a sympathy-inducing wheelchair. The jury was a lot less impressed than Taylor’s social media influencer comrades.

Unspoken in the trial was the video on social media of anti-statehood sovereignty activist Regina “Nani” Peterson which went viral just days before Kelei Taylor’s incident.  The English-speaking Peterson regularly drives around Oahu without a license and uses fake “Hawaiian Kingdom” license plates and a fake ‘kingdom’ driver’s license; making a political statement rather than paying for vehicle registration fees, safety inspections and auto insurance like the rest of us.  In the viral video, the police encounter a highly uncooperative “repatriated citizen” of the kingdom who repeatedly refuses to cooperate because Hawaii is a “fake state”, leading her to taunt them by pretending to only speak Hawaiian and ignore their orders.  Ultimately, police smash Peterson’s window in order to open her door so they can rightfully arrest her.  This viral video appears to be the source of Kelei Taylor’s inspiration for how she stupidly reacted in Ewa Beach.  With Taylor already upset at being kicked out of her “husband’s” parents’ home the night before, why not try to ‘go viral’ like statehood denier and anti-USA role model Regina “Nani” Peterson and become a heroine to the Hawaiian sovereignty community?

Statehood denier and Kelei Taylor role model Regina “Nani” Peterson showing off her fake ‘kingdom’ license plates, fake driver’s license and fake ID card

Or, why not?  For those who actually saw the mountain of evidence against Taylor (which included multiple body camera videos), the guilty verdict was not at all surprising.  Jurors could be seen rolling their eyes at the nutty defenses both Akana’s tried to give in court, while Judge Kevin Souza worked evenhandedly to rein in Joe and Kelei’s many sad and apparently perjurious attempts at jury nullification.  It’s no wonder that a verdict was reached in just 30 minutes.  As they say these days, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

But, prior to trial, the Akana’s and their severely misguided social media ‘influencer’ allies did everything they could since the May 5th incident to portray Kelei Taylor’s self-inflicted fate as “attempted murder” and “attempted assassination” by the Honolulu Police Department.  Their dramatic fantasy retelling of the Ewa Beach ‘police attack’ story at the Honolulu City Council elicited a profuse apology from braindead, pandering Councilwoman Andria Tupola who recently divorced her husband, widely known to be an HPD officer (though Tupola’s husband’s cover at HPD was publicly blown by Taylor’s friend Shelby “Pikachu” Brown).  [Will Tupola now apologize to the police officers and to the community for siding with her Kamehameha Class of 1998 classmate Ms. Taylor and for endorsing her B.S. story?  How about some post-verdict apologies from Taylor’s influencer allies who always omitted Ms. Taylor’s horrible behavior in their completely phony retelling of her story?]  In their crusade to turn Taylor into a celebrity, you’d even see Taylor, Joe Akana and their statehood denying influencer buddies going to meetings of the Honolulu Police Commission where they whined about the fake state’s unreasonable laws requiring cooperation during a traffic stop, rather than being able to punch, kick and bite police officers while resisting arrest in the name of the kingdom.  The Akana’s and their ilk are truly an abomination.

Kelei Taylor testifies at a meeting of the Honolulu Police Commission, with former HPD chief Joe Logan looking on.

Various GOP affiliated groups like Karl Dick’s Kleen House Hawaii, Maui Freedom TV, and others jumped on the Kelei Akana bandwagon in a desperate and reckless attempt to be relevant.  Among them, braindead influencer and fellow “statehood denier” Andrew Aker claimed that “Honolulu Police thugs brutally beat and repeatedly tased Kelei Akana“, frequently providing her an online platform for her shameless victimization nonsense.  Some loser influencer in a yellow plastic mask (calls himself “Pikachu”) wildly proclaimed online moments before the verdict was announced that “the prosecution cannot prove on the video evidence of her assaulting an officer and committing the bite which the officer complains about . . . there’s no video evidence.”  Except there was evidence galore, including video evidence.  Sadly, just like Ms. Taylor, this delusional “Pikachu” also claims that the trial was being held in the “Hawaiian Kingdom”, adding the revealing comment “Hopefully, we can find her not guilty.”  Yep, there’s definitely one born every minute.

Kelei Taylor with her post-arrest fan club comprised of Shelby Brown, Karl Dicks, Robert Santillan and Joe Akana

In the end, the 12 reasonable jurors weren’t buying what she was selling, even if she gave it away for free.  To ensure a fair outcome, the judge made it clear in his jury instructions that Hawaii courts don’t dabble in sovereign citizen, Hawaiian kingdom nonsense.  Only U.S. and State of Hawaii law applies in state court.  Tell that to Regina “Nani” Peterson and the many other delusional hooligans who play this game on a regular basis while their friends in the news media provide cover for them by NOT reporting their antics or the consequences.  Stay tuned for stories exposing recent and ongoing cases mirroring Ms. Taylor’s antics.

For HIRA News, it was truly cringe-inducing to watch Hawaii Republican Party icon Joe Akana lying down on the floor outside the courtroom on Day Two of the trial, apparently in a panic from knowing he and Kelei were being caught in lies and knowing that nobody was buying their bullshit, even after months of peddling said bullshit all over social media with the help of their disgruntled anti-USA allies.  To be sure, this is the very same Joe Akana whose character and judgement the Hawaii GOP regularly told us we could trust and who still DENIES losing the last few congressional elections he decisively lost against Jill Tokuda and Kai Kahele.  On the bright side, investigators from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) were in court to observe the Akana’s and got to see Joe and Kelei perjuring themselves.  Why would the SEC be interested in the Akana’s, you may ask?  More about that in a shocking story coming soon from HIRA News.

The well-run trial was a model of criminal justice.  While the Akana’s tried to turn the entire process from May to October into a circus, everyone else kept their cool and remained focused on whether or not any laws were actually broken.  Judge Kevin Souza is a 1988 Kam School graduate (10 years before Taylor and Tupola and six years after Joe Akana) who was endorsed by fellow part-Hawaiians for his “cultural credentials” during his elevation from defense attorney to a $200,000+ per year state judge in 2019.  The David Ige judicial nominee been criticized by some as a liberal for several allegedly pro-criminal rulings, but appears capable of finding criminals guilty and sentencing them with just punishments.  Typically, left-leaning judges are par for the course in the Hawaii judiciary where Republicans have zero role in putting judges on the bench.  According to Judge Souza, HIRA News is the first news organization which he has ever allowed to provide ‘extended news coverage’ in any of his cases.  Mahalo for that.

What’s next?  Can Kelei Taylor appeal the verdict?  No, not successfully.  Any grounds for an appeal in this case simply do not exist.  She insisted on representing herself.  The evidence introduced by the prosecution was very typical.  There was no entrapment, no attempted murder, no assassination attempt, and no government conspiracy to silence her.  The lawbreaking was proven beyond a reasonable doubt.  Hawaii Revised Statutes §707-712.5 makes it crystal clear:  “Assault against a law enforcement officer in the first degree. (1) A person commits the offense of assault against a law enforcement officer in the first degree if the person: (a) Intentionally or knowingly causes bodily injury to a law enforcement officer who is engaged in the performance of duty.”  Punching, kicking and biting police officers are obviously intentional actions designed to cause bodily injury to those officers.  Case closed.  As for the ridiculous claim stated by both Joe Akana and Kelei Taylor that Joe dropped off Kelei in his Mercedes and left her alone at the dangerous Hau Bush beach park in Ewa Beach – so, therefore, she wasn’t driving without a license – not even the person who vacuums the courtroom was buying that manufactured alibi.  Guilty as charged.

Kelei Taylor and the deputy prosecutor Cherise Braxton-Brooks stand while the verdict is read

Mrs. Akana, a ‘pro se’ defendant who represented herself in court, repeatedly refused to obtain a lawyer or even accept the Judge’s repeated plea for her to be represented by the public defender (which sounds funny since people who made a fortune in cryptocurrency scams and drive Mercedes cars typically retain high powered private attorneys or even notorious self-promoting lawyers like Hawaii News Now talking head Michael Green).  In front of HIRA News and the entire courtroom during pretrial hearings, the judge CLEARLY advised Taylor that she could be imprisoned and fined if things don’t go her way.  But she, like her husband Joe Akana, believes that Hawaii is a ‘fake state’.  So, to keep up appearances as a statehood denier, she had no choice but to go along with the cliche and hackneyed martyrdom act of pretending she is a ‘repatriated Hawaiian National’ (which Kelei told the judge is precisely when she added “Akana” to her name and dropped the “Taylor”).  As a result of the statehood denying cosplay, she ignored every chance of negotiating a plea deal with those devils from the corporate entity America Inc. and those fake prosecutors in the fake state court . . . even when facing a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for the felony assault charge and a one year sentence to prison plus a $2,000 fine for the misdemeanor drivers license violation.

Republican politician Joe Akana being sworn in at the trial of his ‘wife’ for assaulting a police officer after being stopped for driving his car with expired tags

Weeks ago, Ms. Taylor and Mr. Akana posted a video on social media in which she said she expected to collect money from the City in a ‘settlement’ resulting from her forthcoming lawsuit concerning this ‘attempted murder’ in which “someone tried to kill me that day”, possibly from the “deep state cabal” who are ‘trying to stop Joe and Kelei from their work as ministers’ . . . or perhaps simply from HPD “targeting of native Hawaiians” in West Oahu.  Such paranoid sentiments from someone who repeatedly refused to show an ID or driver’s license and then worried why these police unsurprisingly asked for another form of identification, such as her name, her birth date and her social security number.  Paranoid?  Or maybe she’s just a world class bullshitter whose luck finally ran out when a jury of her peers voted unanimously to convict her lock, stock and barrel.

Before the judge imposes sentence on convicted felon Kelei Taylor in February 2026 (three short months from now), personnel from the Hawaii Paroling Authority (HPA) will investigate Taylor to help determine the minimum length of her imprisonment and also if she is a good candidate for probation.  Based on what they learn about Ms. Taylor and her other crimes which HIRA News will soon report on, the HPA may come to realize that the longer she spends behind bars, the safer we will all be from this violent and unpatriotic grifter . . . not to mention her ‘husband’ Joe Akana, whom the Hawaii GOP and many, many other Republicans repeatedly vouched for.  Auwe!

COMING SOON – More Stories HIRA News is working on . . .

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  • Which political figures violated our trust when vouching for Joe and Kelei Akana?
  • Is Akana a grifter running a fake sex trafficking advocacy group?
  • Who tried to clog the courts with ‘sovereign citizen’ nonsense and ‘paper terrorism’?
  • Who illegally acted like Kelei Akana’s lawyer and hasn’t been prosecuted yet?
  • Does the Statehood Denier sovereignty defense work in Hawaii?
  • How many lies did Kelei Taylor and Joe Akana tell under oath on the witness stand?
  • Did Kelei Akana snap because the Feds are readying charges against her?
  • What were Kelei Akana’s craziest defenses and defense strategies?
  • Which Hawaiian Sovereignty organizations is Kelei working with?
  • Who is breaking financial laws with ‘fake state’ justification and mentality?
  • Who from HRP has been advising criminal defendants to use the sovereignty defense?
  • Who calls state judges and leaves angry, threatening voicemail messages?
  • Which prosecutor let Kelei Akana off lightly due to her woke, liberal philosophy?
  • What surprising ways Kelei Akana defines and uses “trafficking”?
  • Why were Kelei’s kids taken away from her? Domestic abuse cases?
  • Is Kelei Akana part of a network of fake ministers chasing after money?

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HIRA News

BACKSTABBER: Conniving Shirlene Ostrov’s Full-Blown Coup D’Etat to Oust Art Hannemann and Take Over His Job as State Chair

 

Honolulu, Hawaii – HIRA News just completed an exclusive on-the-record interview with the Hawaii Republican Party’s newly-resigned state chairman Art Hannemann, who has been leading the state party organization since May 2025 and representing Hawaii Republicans at the Republican National Committee (RNC).

Party leaders and members locally and nationally should pay close attention to the revelations about why Hannemann made the difficult decision to step down and to step away from HRP.  Big problems lie ahead, now that a leadership coup planned for weeks by Art’s second in command Shirlene Ostrov has been executed in a manner which would make Augusto Pinochet and Muammar Gaddafi proud.

The shocking situation at HRP is a LOT more dire than either Art’s resignation letter or Shirlene’s subsequent ‘statement’ about Art’s resignation reveals.  With five resignations of top HRP officers since the May state convention (resignations that were kept secret from other party leaders and from party members), there’s no point in pretending that everything is just fine as we get ready for the 2026 election.

For starters, even though Art’s resignation letter yesterday was pointedly vague about the intrigue and civil war raging inside HRP, it was clear from our interview with him that the #1, #2 and #3 reasons Art Hannemann resigned is because of the backstabbing and conspiring undertaken by his vice-chair Shirlene Ostrov; someone that Art believed in enough to support being his running mate.

As a Trump supporter, Art was impressed by Ostrov being named the head of Hawaii Trump campaign and Hawaii’s delegation to the Republican National Convention.  He really believed in her and had no idea he was only being used to help Ostrov regain power.  Hannemann was also really shocked that his lifelong friend and comrade Bob McDermott joined forces with Ostrov to stab Art in the back.

Last night, in the wake of Hannemann’s resignation, Ostrov moved quickly to consolidate power by taking over Art’s top job while moving to fill other top jobs that nobody outside of Ostrov’s circle even knew had been vacated.  It seems that Ostrov had been scheming for some time to jettison Hannemann, as it recently became clear that Ostrov had only been using Hannemann to get back into the party leadership following her disgraceful exit four years ago in the wake of multiple embarrassing scandals centered around Ostrov.  [If you know, you know.  If you don’t know, stay tuned.]

Frankly, thanks to the bad taste left in the mouths of so many party members, Ostrov could never have been elected at any state convention since she was forced from the state chair job by one embarrassing revelation after another in news stories following the 2020 elections.  One of those scandals resulted in a $60,000 fine to HRP which the broke state party had to rely on the RNC to cover.  Another scandal was loony and antisemitic messaging from HRP.  More about these and dozens of other Ostrov scandals coming soon.

Art made the mistake of not vetting Ostrov before agreeing to put her on his “Team Art” leadership slate at the May 2025 state convention on Kauai.  Somewhat starstruck by her association with the Trump campaign, he assumed she could be trusted and that she wanted the best for HRP.  Hannemann found out the hard way that two of his running mates intended for his two-year tenure as state chair to be very brief . . . just enough time to emerge from his shadow and quickly take over.  Ostrov was one of those running mates.  The other is Hannemann’s lifelong friend and political ally Bob McDermott.

And quickly take over they have.  Based on our reporting and our interview with Art, during a secret emergency meeting of HRP’s few remaining executive officers called together by Ostrov last night, HIRA News can report that Art Hannemann was replaced by Shirlene Ostrov as state chair.  Moments later during this same meeting, Ostrov moved quickly to consolidate power with loyalists . . . operatives who are as corrupt, liberal and incompetent as she is . . . but most importantly – LOYAL TO OSTROV.

Dennis Mataia resigned and was replaced as treasurer by former Democrat staffer Lani Kaaa (a wannabe political operative with a long losing streak who herself fell short back in March when running for Honolulu GOP county chair, despite VIP endorsements galore).  Susan Duffy resigned and was replaced as vice-chair of coalitions by election cheating and interference specialist Sheila Walker.  Steve Yoder resigned (another specialist in cheating and election interference) and was replaced as vice-chair of communications by Ostrov loyalist Fenton “Kaulana” Lee.  Ostrov loyalist Boyd Ready resigned (apparently as a pretext to accuse Hannemann of wrongdoing) and was reappointed as chairman of HRP’s powerful Rules Committee by Ostrov, who knows she can count on Ready to do her bidding.

One way that Boyd Ready proved himself to Ostrov was by helping to create a brand new “Disciplinary Committee” for dealing with alleged party ‘rulebreakers’.  Ostrov herself ensured just one month ago that Art Hannemann, her running mate at the state HRP convention just weeks earlier, would be referred to that committee to stand trial for accusations made by supporters of Art’s predecessor Tamara McKay, whom Art bested at the state convention and unseated.  Normally, Ostrov wouldn’t care about complaints levied by opponents of “Team Art”, especially the likes of Honolulu GOP county chairman Nolan Chang or Maui GOP county chair Tammy Perkins.  But at a special secret meeting a few weeks ago (to which then state chair Hannemann wasn’t even invited to), Ostrov pushed for the new disciplinary committee to fast track an investigation into some pretty questionable allegations against Hannemann and to set the stage for putting Hannemann on trial.

Here’s where our interview with Art and the timeline of events gets interesting . . .

Days before this secret meeting last month to lay the groundwork for ousting Hannemann, Art had caught wind that Ostrov and McDermott were actively plotting against him (including lying about Art and his alleged misdeeds to influence and recruit other party leaders to join their coup) and learned they had only used him as ‘top of the ticket’ on the ‘Team Art’ leadership slate so they could get into power at HRP.  Once Art understood what they were up to, he asked them both to resign their executive officer posts at HRP; a bold move which Hannemann now knows forced their hand and caused them to dig deeper and expedite their plans.

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Little did Art know how much work these two had already done to set in motion the campaign to eliminate Art Hannemann as state chair.  With his insistence that they step aside, they moved even faster to tighten the noose.  Days later, in early October, Ostrov (possibly the most corrupt state chair HRP has ever endured) had secured enough votes on HRP’s executive committee to launch her nuclear option:  approve her motion to file a set of charges with the new Disciplinary Committee and obtain expedited handling of the ‘case’ to ratchet up the pressure on Hannemann . . . because she ‘cares’ so much about integrity, transparency, and obedience to party rules that she was willing to sacrifice the leader of “Team Art” to maintain the illusion that her opportunistic power grab was actually about ‘doing the right thing’ because “Art declared he would never follow the rules”.  Hannemann tells HIRA News this fake quote was peddled by Ostrov to secure the votes to put him on trial.

With lightning speed, the new ‘disciplinary committee’ made recommendations that Art’s power be taken away while he is put on trial to answer for the allegations made by a Hannemann opposing dissident faction of HRP, which is usually ignored by party insiders like Ostrov, McDermott and their allies, such as Big Island county chair Monique Perreira.  Suddenly, Team Ostrov was ratcheting up the pressure on Art to resign; demanding a special meeting to present Art with the charges against him.  This is when Art saw the writing on the wall and probably wished he had learned more about Shirlene Ostrov before agreeing to allow her to be his running mate.

Some background about that slate:  Hannemann started promoting his interest in running for state chair after the November 2024 General Election.  As he put the “Team Art” slate together, he told his running mates that he was busy launching a new business in Samoa, so he’d not be able to attend every single meeting of party leaders.  Ostrov did indeed lead many if not most party meetings held since May.  But Hannemann did actively organize and fund trips to the neighbor islands, where he and Bob McDermott provided training of grassroots volunteers for canvassing.

As a former candidate for office himself, Hannemann knew that anyone willing to run as a Republican in Hawaii needed party members living in those precincts and districts to do the door-to-door organizing which helped candidates to increase their chances of success.  His highest priority was organizing the party and partnering with like-minded organizations (such as Turning Point) for canvassing and identifying issues, to make it easier for candidates to succeed in hopes of getting as many as a dozen new Republicans elected in 2026.  Developing this network cost Hannemann personal money to fly himself and McDermott for these party-building initiatives.

But, in the wake of all the subterfuge and backstabbing, Art has now left the building.  Having donated $5,000 to HRP plus making recurring contributions of $250 per month, he has no plans to go near the Hawaii GOP again.  He remains a Republican and a conservative and an activist.  But Shirlene Ostrov and Bob McDermott revealed their true colors and he feels very, very betrayed and disappointed.  And it’s clear that if they have the support from other party leaders to behave this abominably, they can’t expect Art Hannemann or others objecting to such chicanery to stick around.  Art told HIRA News today that he doesn’t want to hurt the party, since so much is at stake in Hawaii and across the country.  But he is pulling out of HRP altogether.

Sickened at being used to help Ostrov and McDermott gain power and positions – and sickened at being ruthlessly tossed aside – Art looks back and realizes that he didn’t know what kind of person Ostrov really was until it was too late.  He tells us that he was warned repeatedly to not talk with HIRA News and to keep his distance from anyone at HIRA.  Our team would have happily warned him about Ostrov AND about his ‘lifelong friend’ McDermott, as both are insanely corrupt, self-serving and unprincipled; perfectly capable of backstabbing and turning on a dime.  As they say in politics, once you can fake sincerity, you’ve got it made.  And Art Hannemann put his faith in two faithless cretins who are among the biggest fakes in HRP.

OBVIOUSLY A COUP, IN RETROSPECT:  When Ostrov unveiled the brand new ‘disciplinary committee’ and then worked to move her case against Art ahead of several other existing cases just last month, that was a red flag that her coup to force out Art Hannemann was gaining steam.  When the state chair didn’t even get invited to that secret meeting of Art’s own running mates turned executive officers, that was just more evidence of the advance planning to jettison Hannemann, just days after Art found out what Big Shirl and Bob McDonut were up to.  Resignations were kept secret and Ostrov secretly got new people lined up to take their places at last night’s secret emergency meeting.  Then, last night, when Ostrov and her cronies already had people selected to fill vacant spots that nobody else knew were even vacant, that was the icing on the cake.  Ostrov planned to take over the party all along, and Art was essentially just a disguise she wore to keep the attention off her past.  Heck, Ostrov didn’t even attend the state convention.  What a better way to keep a low profile and to keep tongues from wagging about her sordid history and downfall as state chair in 2020 than to pretend you have a wedding or a funeral to attend and “can’t make the convention”.

While Hannemann feels betrayed by Ostrov and his lifelong friend Bob McDonut and their flunkies, he’s never been told about any charges against him or about any ‘trial’ until he heard it from HIRA News today.  It seems that the threatened ‘trial’ and ‘charges’ against Hannemann are likely a ruse concocted to force Hannemann to quit.  Now that he’s gone, the ruse is being kept alive just a bit longer to keep Ostrov’s cabal united behind their coup and its manufactured rationale to elevate Ostrov to the top spot.  With Hannemann saying that he didn’t handle any finances at all, rumors spreading about financial impropriety are also ‘more lies’.  But all of this intrigue happened out of the view of party members, party donors and party volunteers who are rightfully ashamed at the sad state of affairs at HRP, while Republicans nationally are making real progress.

Finally, it comes as no surprise that Art’s resignation letter endorsed someone OTHER than backstabbing Ostrov to take his place, recommending HRP national committeewoman Laura Nakanelua.  Likewise, with Hannemann’s former best friend Bob McDermott challenging state senator Kurt Fevella in next year’s Republican Primary, it’s no surprise that (in the midst of being pushed out by Ostrov and McDermott) Hannemann threw his support to Fevella.  Nakanelua tells HIRA News that she’s not interested in seeking the top job.  But sources at last night’s meeting seem certain that Nakanelua isn’t looking forward to seeing Crooked “Big Shirl” Ostrov take Hannemann’s place.

FRIENDLY WARNING:  Looking at the individuals who NOW comprise the top leadership of HRP in the wake of this coup, there can be no doubt that financial scandals, political mistakes, leftward ideological drift, and plain old corruption are right around the corner.  Art belatedly learned a valuable lesson about getting to know the players before going on the field with them.  Don’t be starstruck because Ostrov got to head up the Trump delegation from Hawaii.  Don’t assume that she is conservative, competent, experienced or full of integrity.  She’s none of those things.  The hard lesson learned by Art is just as valuable a lesson for ALL REPUBLICANS here in Hawaii.  Get to know the folks in control of HRP.  The more you know about them, the sooner you’ll understand why Democrats keep winning.  Auwe!

Bottom Line:  Hannemann left because of Shirlene Ostrov’s self-serving and destructive agenda.  Don’t make the same fatal assumption that Ostrov knows what she’s doing or that she can be trusted.  Stay tuned for HIRA News’ upcoming story with Top 25 reasons Ostrov is toxic to HRP.  Nobody with her sorry record should be anywhere near the Hawaii GOP, let alone running the party.

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