Aloha Friends, welcome back. Part One.

Writing to Republicans and conservatives, mostly in Hawaii, I email rather than blog because this is a (quasi-) private discussion. These reports augment what you should hear from the Republican Party, what you don’t have on your radar, or things you should look up. My perspective is that of conservative Republican, former State Party Chairman and Vice Chairman and member of the RNC. The past five reports are listed at the bottom. We won’t always agree but we should be informed. Feel free to forward this report to other conservatives or let me know if you want to be removed from the list. Conservatives need to know that they are not alone in Hawaii.

-July 19 11:30 AM Rusty Humphries www.RustyLive.com

-August 2&3 RedState Gathering New Orleans http://www.redstate.com/Gathering2013

-August 3 8:30 AM HD17/18 monthly meeting Marian243@hawaiiantel.net

-August 10-17 Freedom Cruise Montreal www.Freedomcruise.com

-September 7 10 AM HD25 Obamacare briefing beverly2008hawaii@clearwire.net

-September 20 Smart Business Hawaii Banquet Sbh@lava.net

-October 5 & 6 Honolulu Gun Show http://www.hawaiihistoricarms.com
-November 10 Oahu Friends of NRA banquet DawnHorn@lava.net

-There are many strong and energy-filled conservatives and Republicans in Hawaii. Thank you. The Hawaii Republican Party can be better. Let’s get started.

-More policy this month, with immigration reform, DOMA, GRIH & Trippi and whatnot. HRP still having trouble getting the train to the station, much less on time, beginning with finances.

-HRP FEC. Party ‘leaders’ – Ready, Klompus, Chang – announced just before their Convention elections that HRP debt was cleared AND CoH was high. Uh oh. But, we’ll get to that. Per the end of May FEC report: Receipts of $36,764 which includes $21.1k simply transferred from the state to the federal account, and convention registration fees to pay for Convention. Disbursements are $51,361. Another month in the red. In paying some debt, the reported CoH isn’t so high. HRP began the month with 74k and ended it with less than 60k CoH, which includes funds ‘designated’ for the mortgage. Remaining debt = $14,245, which is more than Ready’s “virtually zero.” Debt decrease comes with a decrease in CoH (‘somehow’ ‘accidentally’ misstated at Convention). We won’t see the State account until the end of July but our estimates have that account back down to 5k-8k including counties’ monies.

–Expenditures in May include Blom’s salary $3334+payroll tax 1598+unemployment insurance 709, $1520 to IMS for accounting, 389 for the copier, more travel for Chang with $1326 for his LA air and car rental (why?) in addition to the 1262 of lodging on the previous report just for that one trip, mortgage $1500 and building maintenance fee at 2755. Chang’s Charlotte trip air fare is not yet reported. Chang spent about $5500 of your donations for his travel so far this year. We’d like to know the return on that investment, he has yet to provide donors a report of his business, if any. Next meeting is August in Boston.

–Debt is to UnisourceDirect mail vendor for $14.2k. HRP pays a portion of this debt with each new mail contract. HRP doesn’t have to pay all at once but it favors the vendor who locked HRP into prices of their choosing. At least one vendor took issue over not receiving their money for several years. “Arena [communications] legal settlement agreement for resolution of disputed finance charges resulted in total amount due of $14,307.” Instead of electioneering, our donations went to pay finance charges because Chang/Hellrich/Liu couldn’t clear the debt incurred by Kaauwai/Nonaka. Party of fiscal responsibility has been in debt for 32 consecutive months. HRP has been in the red three of five months of 2013, and five of seven months since before the November election. The past 16 FEC reports, HRP is 10 months in the red vs only 6 black, even with the huge election-time national transfers for Lingle and Djou.

-Chang wrote a Midweek article advising of two ways to eliminate debt, though he has carried the HRP debt for more than two and a half years. Following the obfuscation at Convention, a reader “I guess he forgot to add in the 3rd way of dealing with debt; don’t pay it off, but tell everybody you did!”

-C/H/L were so afraid of Hayes winning the chair election that HRP paid parliamentarian Balch $2800 to fly from Virginia to Hawaii for four days for Convention. $2800 could be a mailer or two weeks on the radio. It took 56 delegates’ registration fees to cover just that expense. Yes, they thought I was going to run for Chairman (several sources) but, nonetheless, they wasted your donated funds in an attempt to stay in power. Obama-like. While Conventions are not allowed to be fundraisers, organizations try to not lose money. State Cmte should ask how they did. HRP needed 200 delegates to break even for the shortened schedule, less-expensive Koolau Ballroom… they had only 177 attend. Add the unnecessary cost of the traveling parliamentarian and they are in the red.

-Appears HRP has 16 sustaining donors. Chang says he brought in 5000 new HRP members. Walden ran a ‘closed’ Presidential Primary to identify 10,000 HRP members. Chang tells the RNC we have 26,000 members. 16 donors. Chang budget says he’d have 400 providing $10k/month. Neither Chang, Liu, nor any legislator, nor any legislative staffer is a sustaining donor. Not Ready, Chong Kee, Yim, Schaedel. Those are the officers you just elected. Not Rolhfing, Smith, Fontaine, Georgi. Those are your county chairs. Not Blom, that is your whole paid staff. I didn’t scan for district chairs but I’ll guess two of a possible 51 and allow you to tell me different. When leaders don’t buy in, don’t expect members to do so. Mukk, Pecheur, Hellriech, Klompus are sustaining donors.

-Remember when Kaauwai & Nonaka ran the party with Chang, Fukumoto, Hellriech, Morioka and Klompus on the Exec Cmte? That was ’09 & ’10 when the downward spiral began. By January ’11 HRP was in debt. After Chang, Lingle, Klompus, Morioka, Fukumoto and Hellriech ousted Kaauwai/Nonaka and placed Chang as chair, the debt went up to $110,000. This is why HRP has no electioneering effort, no campaign, no candidates, no message, and no staff.

-HRP is paying a Nevada-based phone bank to make money calls, this one on June 27. The woman said HRP wanted money to support our Hawaii Gubernatorial and Senate candidates. Asked who ‘our’ candidates are, she replied “They haven’t released that information to us yet.” She changed direction and asked for $75 or $100 to renew HRP membership. Asked when HRP began charging a membership fee, she closed with “Go to the Hawaii GOP website for a list of candidates.” I did, there isn’t. Borreca “with no GOP or Democratic opposition on the horizon, Abercrombie appears [set for a second term.]”

–HRP mail appeal dated three weeks ago arrived this week telling you to contribute $75 or 50 or 25 to stay, update or become a member of HRP. Chang was on the Exec Cmte when Kaauwai got hammered by members for deceiving dedicated, though unsuspecting, party members. There are no membership fees or dues for HRP. This is the ‘membership mail’ which should come in January, complete with a 2013 calendar and “HRP is off to a very strong start in 2013.” Calling HRP the statewide organization to help Rs, he throws the YRs and CRs under the bus (though he aims at HIRA which promotes a CONSERVATIVE message, not just ANY message). Chang writes that his LLIFE party ‘platform’ “still resonates with the majority of voters” so apparently he has not seen last November’s election results or his finance report. He will build an “unstoppable grassroots organization” though district and precinct chairs are empty and county organizations are inactive. “Hanabusa is expected to run for US Senate.” Please tell him that Hanabusa IS running for Senate. Chang will win the governorship, US Senate seat and CD1 (no mention of CD2) though he has no candidates or even rumor of candidates. Finances in shambles, 177 Convention delegates, no principles, no message, no candidates and no grassroots leaders …Chang closes with “Our party is growing, and it’s getting younger.” Uh huh. We just want the truth.

-To a sincere supporter (of OLRW, if not HRP) “..with HRP spending money on things which are not electioneering – Chang’s trips, Blom’s salary, self-induced debt – how do you convince people to contribute to HRP? I understand how to convince the uninformed, but how would you sell one of my readers that HRP is a good investment? There is nothing in the HRP budget for political activity to win elections. HRP has no platform, no message, the ‘leaders’ as you write are not in charge, we don’t follow our rules, have no candidates, have 2/3 of district chairs. Usually, the chair is a major donor, to set the tone for others. Usually, the Exec cmte raises or certainly contributes to set the example. Send me the amounts Chang and Liu and Ready, for example, have contributed to HRP this year so we can see how confident they are in their own organization.” No response.

–Yard Sale. Mortgage is $148,000. Capital Campaign’s Lee Greenwood event provided two years of mortgage payments. Yard sale should raise payments for at least a year, about $20,000. Our guesstimate is more like $10k and our ‘expert’ says not more than $5k. SA editorial “..the effort seemed somewhat pathetic, that the party was so needful that it had to scrounge goods from members as well as the public to raise money. At one time, it almost defaulted on the [mortgage].” Takahashi “There hasn’t been much promotion of the “Going Out of Business Sale” by party leaders due (reportedly) to a substantial rift between those who want to use the rummage sale monies to pay the mortgage and those who want to blow that money on paying [Kaauwai/Nonaka’s] old credit card bills and the party’s high monthly overhead.” HRP photo of their tchotchkes sale Breaking news. It looked like one of those parody emails going around HRP Promotes Responsible Reuse and Recycling to Raise Money. Transparently (thank you, very unChang-like), Hellreich writes that Capital Campaign worked with OLRW volunteers to “raise over $5000” and had “several hundred people,” and no expenses. Translating political speak, they made about $4800 on about 50-75 deal seekers, about 2 1/2 months of mortgage payments. Lots of stuff left, so Capital Campaign is considering having a continuing yard sale at HQ. Chang takes credit for everything so Hellreich sending out the results, using a GOP email address for the first time, confirms that perhaps there is still disagreement about how Capital Campaign funds should be used.

–Platform Committee. Readers “The last time Platform Committee was in action was when from HD 18, Peter Kay was our Rep. He helped draft LLIFE. Kay is no longer a Republican.” “It’s so much fun being “neutral” on the issues as a party barely surviving in an ocean of Democrats.”

-Committee questioned. From a reader: Why appoint a member from each district if “The Credentials Committee is not representatives from Districts but selected cronies by Head of Committee so is it just a formality too?”

–State Cmte meeting. Chang is afraid to address the issue of the five Rs who campaigned for Ds against Rs, except for Chang saying (1) it is alright and (2) he hasn’t had time to think about the issue. Ask for an accurate budget. Question the LD budgeted revenue of $190k while HRP still refuses to tell what they raised (this or last year), though it appears HRP raised 50-55% of budget.

–Communications. Reader “Mukk told some Kauai Chairs the communication “telephone” lines would be improved.” “It seems to me that the HRP is more jingoistic and slogan driven rather than policy solution oriented.” New media? How about old? HRP’s website as of June 12 is embarrassing. Last posted Press Release is May 2012. Last Newsletter February 2013, In The News May 2 2013. Special Events for 2013: March County Conventions, April Lincoln Dinner, May State Convention. Party Rules changed at 2013 Convention, the posted Rules are May 2011. Party ‘platform’ from 2010, not the one adopted in May 2012, and the ‘Repository of Issue Positions’ is actually a copy of the 2008 Platform. None of the resos passed the past several years included. No mention of the Yard sale. District chairs list is inaccurate, we know the calendar is hosed. Chairman on FB has no entries. The 2010 Voter Guide.

–www.HawaiiRepublicanAssembly.com “we are trying to help [HRP] grow the membership in their “ohana”, by advertising the HRP on HIRA’s website..”

-Eight months into the election cycle, no county plan, no candidates, no money, no strategic plan (or communication or finance plan), no coalitions, no community service, no candidate recruitment, no training. Noticed is the lack of a HRP conservative message, no TEA party info from any island, no HIRA info, no Christian Coalition, no Family Forum, no Republican for Life retweet, report, forward or posting.

-Ready’s three-member Phoenix cmte updated the District Handbook. “Dynamic precinct organizations are vital to the success of Republican candidates.” 98% of HRP Precincts are leaderLESS, 100% are NOT organized. “The goal at the national, state, and county levels should be fully staffed, well-led precinct organizations in every precinct in America. (we’re in charge of America?) “There is no record that is more valuable than the precinct card file.” “EQUIPMENT NEEDED A supply of file cards.” File cards? File cards? “Voter Vault…” VV went away two election cycles ago. “When you, as precinct leader, receive the last printout before the election, make certain that your card file is in alphabetical order and agrees with the printout.” Hopefully, this Phoenix iteration is a hoax and not the final work of six month’s effort.

–Districts. To prepare a Platform Cmte meeting, Moses wrote to district chairs. 35 chairs = HRP missing 30% of the essential grassroots leadership. 1/3 of districts without a chair: less than 1/2 the BI, 2/3 of Kauai, 30% of Oahu, Maui is under all sorts of suspicion as the people listed respond with ‘not me.’ 10/35 do not participate at all = effectively 50% of districts without active chairs, much less organized. Reader “I laugh as we are down to thirty Chairs for 51 Districts.” “[Maui district chair] resigned. Good guy but he just couldn’t see the purpose.” Hard to recruit when ‘leadership’ won’t support: HQ announced a Windward meeting but refused to send out a similar email for a district meeting downtown.

–Counties. From BI “I was wrong…apparently we had a convention. 3 people that attended. Can’t imagine why David Chang didn’t boast about this from the podium at the state convention as an example of how his inspiring leadership has gotten this party off its ass.” From Maui “It seems the Maui County Republican Party has died a slow, silent death brought about by those more interested in the title than the work.” Maui GOP website went away. Maui TEA is on the web and a BI reader sent me to FB “It’s called CIA Maui- the Constitution is Alive on Maui.” BI Kona TEA “We want to let our friends and supporters know that the Kona Tea Party and Kona Beer Party Facebook pages have been hijacked by a former Kona Tea Party member. ” NI leader “folks on Oahu think that folks on the neighbor islands are better informed on State issues than we [NI] are.” On only seven day’s notice, HNL County announces an inaugural county meeting.

–Young Republicans initially replied with gusto to an offer of a signature event for their resume by helping or running the Republican booth at Hawaii Kai’s Independence Day celebration. Then…nothing. Following his ‘leadership’ example, Caires never got back to the organizer.

–HIRA, Hawaii Republican Assembly. Does Hawaii need a conservative message? Do we need a message before next summer? Welcome vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4ktL-7IrK0. Budget video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbzlHWaS0CQ. “Open for business” e-blast: http://hawaiirepublicanassembly.com/enews/hira_news_060613.html. Slom “HIRA are the GOOD Republicans who still stand for something in Hawaii.”

–Midterms. Sabato, UVA, Since WWII, the incumbent President’s party lost an average of 27 House seats, four Senate and four governorships. There have been several instances of gains for the incumbent Party.

-Presidential elections are important. SCOTUS tubes one of three DOMA sections. Kennedy “criticizes DOMA as an intrusion on states’ traditional role defining marriage.” Bad call. However, to be consistent SCOTUS must rule the same on Roe v Wade – ditch it and let the states decide. Obama would recognize marriage across state lines, consistency would allow me to carry my concealed weapon across state lines. Reed beats up Maddow http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/30/was-obama-a-bigot-14-months-ago-ralph-reed-schools-rachel-maddow-rips-liberal-hypocrisy-over-who-is-labeled-anti-gay/ Boylan “Never underestimate the cowardice of a legislator up for reelection.” HIRA’s take http://hawaiirepublicanassembly.com/enews/hira_red_alert_062813.html

-Conservative sums up Obama from US House floor (even before UK Guardian broke Verizon and Prism). 1:23 min. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86UL9ekiXDk&feature=player_embedded

-Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition met in June. Speakers included Paul, Rubio, Ryan, Bush, Palin, Johnson. Walker not on the agenda. Christie spoke at Clinton’s Global Initiative in Chicago. National Right to Life Convention met in Dallas in June. Not enough room to report on all that’s happening.

-Heritage Foundation. Your share of the national debt now $53,769.

-In July ’10 Rolling Stone published Hastings’ article about McChrystal, the most effective US terrorist hunter and killer, and his Special Operations combat staff (mostly Delta and SEAL operators) in which the staff made disparaging (and accurate) comments about Biden and indirectly about Obama. The article effectively ended McChrystal’s (and many of his staff) military career. In June ’13, Rolling Stone published Hastings’ obit. Hastings ran a red light and minutes later hit a tree to die in a single car, fiery crash in Los Angeles.

-Internet “Chuck Norris doesn’t call the wrong number. You answer the wrong phone.”

You’re through Part One. Part Two is Tuesday.

 

ARE YOU SATISFIED? HRP needs leadership focused on HRP.

 

Willes

Last five: Moving On/ Convention Special/ What a Month/ Spring Party Update/ February-March/ Weekend update