GOP Hawaii County

Pelosi buys votes - LOSER!

2007-03-30T10:27:00.000-10:00

Nancy Pelosi spent $28 billion taxpayer dollars in one week to round up the bare minimum of 218 votes that she needed, the exact number to get her majority. It works out to $130 million or so per vote. The president detailed some of this and here is the laundry list of the pork that is in the bill that the Senate passed yesterday.

$25 million for a spinach farmer;
$24 million for funding for sugar beets;
$3 million in funding for sugar cane going to one Hawaiian co-op;
$20 million for insect infestation damage reimbursements in Nevada, Idaho and Utah;
$2.1 billion for crop production losses; one and a half billion for livestock production losses;
$100 million for dairy production losses;
$13 million for ewe lamb replacement and retention;
$32 million for the livestock indemnity program;
$40 million for the Tree Assistance Program -- speaking of this, the Tree Assistance Program is going to really need some help now. In San Francisco, have you heard about this? They're banning the plastic bags at the grocery stores.

That's democrat supply-side economics at work for Americans--right out of taxpayer wallets and into a defeatist, anti-American political agenda!

THE DEMOCRATS OWN DEFEAT--THEY BOUGHT AND PAID FOR IT WITH OUR MONEY!

In 2008 we need to support the conservative agenda and that means supporting either Rudy Guilani, Mit Romney, Newt Gingrich (if he runs) and possibly, Fred Thompson (again, if he runs).

NOT >>> JOHN McCAIN. This guy cannot be trusted. He is the GOP / MALE version of Hillary Clinton.

Pelosi buys votes - LOSER!

2007-03-30T10:06:00.000-10:00

$25 million for a spinach farmer;
$24 million for funding for sugar beets;
$3 million in funding for sugar cane going to one Hawaiian co-op;
$20 million for insect infestation damage reimbursements in Nevada, Idaho and Utah;
$2.1 billion for crop production losses; one and a half billion for livestock production losses;
$100 million for dairy production losses;
$13 million for ewe lamb replacement and retention;
$32 million for the livestock indemnity program;
$40 million for the Tree Assistance Program -- speaking of this, the Tree Assistance Program is going to really need some help now. In San Francisco, have you heard about this? They're banning the plastic bags at the grocery stores.

What a man!

2006-07-13T10:44:00.000-10:00

Courtesy of Lorraine Shin...this story was sent to her from her boss in Washington, Michael Sanders, Deputy Chief of Staff, USDA Rural Development. This was at a USDA awards ceremony at the White House.

GOD BLESS PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH.

Story by: Bruce Vincent

For those of us who sometimes find ourselves having doubts about our
President, here is an excellent piece -- worth every minute it takes to
read it. This story is from Bruce Vincent of Libby, Montana who had
gone to the White House with others to receive an award from the
President. He writes:

I've written the following narrative to chronicle the day of the award
ceremony in DC. I'm still working on a press release but the White
House press corps has yet to provide a photo to go with it. When the
photo comes I'll ship it out. When you get done reading this you'll
understand the dilemma I face in telling this story beyond my circle of
close friends.

Stepping into the Oval Office, each of us was introduced to the
President and Mrs. Bush. We shook hands and participated in small talk.
When the President was told that we were from Libby, Montana, I reminded
him that Marc Racicot is our native son and the President offered his
warm thoughts about Governor Racicot. I have to tell you, I was blown
away by two things upon entering the office.

First, the Oval Office sense of 'place' is unreal. The President later
shared a story of Russian President Putin entering the room prepared to
tackle the President in a tough negotiation and upon entering, the
atheist muttered his first words to the President and they were "Oh, my
God."

I concurred. I could feel the history in my bones. Second, the man
that inhabits the office engaged me with a firm handshake and a look
that can only be described as penetrating. Warm, alive, fully engaged,
disarmingly penetrating. I was admittedly concerned about meeting the
man. I think all of us have an inner hope that the most powerful man in
our country is worthy of the responsibility and authority that we bestow
upon them through our vote.

I admit that part of me was afraid that I would be let down by the
moment -- that the person and the place could not meet the lofty
expectations of my fantasy world. This says nothing about my esteem for
President Bush but just my practical realization that reality may not
match my 'dream.'

Once inside the office, President Bush got right down to business and,
standing in front of his desk, handed out the awards one at a time while
posing for photos with the winners and Mrs. Bush. With the mission
accomplished, the President and Mrs. Bush relaxed and initiated a
lengthy, informal conversation about a number of things with our entire
small group. He and the First Lady talked about such things as the rug
in the office. It is traditionally designed by the First Lady to make a
statement about the President, and Mrs. Bush chose a brilliant yellow
sunburst pattern to reflect 'hope.' President Bush talked about the
absolute need to believe that with hard work and faith in God there is
every reason to start each day in the Oval Office with hope. He and the
First Lady were asked about the impact of the Presidency on their
marriage and, with an arm casually wrapped around Laura, he said that he
thought the place may be hard on weak marriages but that it had the
ability to make strong marriages even stronger and that he was blessed
with a strong one.

After about 30 or 35 minutes, it was time to go. By then we were all
relaxed and I felt as if I had just had an excellent visit with a
friend. The President and First Lady made one more pass down the line
of awardees, shaking hands and offering congratulations. When the
President shook my hand I said, "Thank you Mr. President and God bless
you and your family." He was already in motion to the next person in
line, but he stopped abruptly turned fully back to me, gave me a
piercing look, renewed the vigor of his handshake and said, "Thank you
-- and God bless you and yours as well."

On our way out of the office we were to leave by the glass doors on the
west side of the office. I was the last person in the exit line. As I
shook his hand one final time, President Bush said, "I'll be sure to
tell Marc hello and give him your regards."

I then did something that surprised even me. I said to him, "Mr.
President, I know you are a busy man and your time is precious. I also
know you to be a man of strong faith and I have a favor to ask of you."

As he shook my hand he looked me in the eye and said, "Just name it." I
told him that my step-Mom was at that moment in a hospital in Kalispell,
Montana, having a tumor removed from her skull and it would mean a great
deal to me if he would consider adding her to his prayers that day. He
grabbed me by the arm and took me back toward his desk as he said, "So
that's it. I could tell that something is weighing heavy on your heart
today. I could see it in your eyes. This explains it."

From the top drawer of his desk he retrieved a pen and a note card with
his seal on it and asked, "How do you spell her name?" He then jotted a
note to her while discussing the importance of family and the strength
of prayer. When he handed me the card, he asked about the surgery and
the prognosis. I told him we were hoping that it is not a recurrence of
an earlier cancer and that, if it is, they can get it all with this
surgery.

He said, "If it's okay with you, we'll take care of the prayer right
now. Would you pray with me?" I told him yes and he turned to the
staff that remained in the office and hand motioned the folks to step
back or leave. He said, "Bruce and I would like some private time for a
prayer."

As they left he turned back to me and took my hands in his. I was
prepared to do a traditional prayer stance -- standing with each other
with heads bowed. Instead, he reached for my head with his right hand
and pulling gently forward, he placed my head on his shoulder. With his
left arm on my mid-back, he pulled me to him in a prayerful embrace.

He started to pray softly. I started to cry. He continued his prayer
for Loretta and for God's perfect will to be done. I cried some more.
My body shook a bit as I cried and he just held tighter. He closed by
asking God's blessing on Loretta and the family during the coming
months. I stepped away from our embrace, wiped my eyes, swiped at the
tears I'd left on his shoulder, and looked into the eyes of our
president. I thanked him as best I could and told him that me and my
family would continue praying for him and his.

As I write this account down and reflect upon what it means, I have to
tell you that all I really know is that his simple act left me humbled
and believing. I so hoped that the man I thought him to be was the man
that he is. I know that our nation needs a man such as this in the Oval
Office. George W. Bush is the real deal. I've read Internet stories
about the President praying with troops in hospitals and other such
uplifting accounts. Each time I read them I hoped them to be true and
not an Internet perpetuated myth. This one, I know to be true. I was
there. He is real. He has a pile of incredible stuff on his plate each
day -- and yet he is tuned in so well to the here and now that he
'sensed' something heavy on my heart. He took time out of his life to
care, to share, and to seek God's blessing for my family in a simple
man-to-man, father-to-father, son-to-son, husband-to-husband,
Christian-to-Christian prayerful embrace. He's not what I had hoped he
would be. He is, in fact, so very, very much more.

A Midweek article by Gerry Coffee

2006-07-12T09:14:00.000-10:00

Hawaii Should Copy Sheriff Joe

June 28, 2006
By Jerry Coffee

Joe Arpaio is the sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County, and according to an Associated Press article in July 2003, and an overview of Arpaio websites, the people of Phoenix and the rest of the county just keep on electing him “over and over again.” He must be doing something right!

Well, you be the judge.

Prison overcrowding is no problem in Maricopa County, not since Sheriff Arpaio created his “Tent City Jail.” Nearly 2,000 inmates live in Korean War surplus tents within the razor-wired compound adjacent to the county jail. Obviously, air conditioning is nonexistent, so during the 100-plus degree summers Arpaio allows inmates to strip down to their “government-issued pink boxer shorts, and dry off with their pink towels to keep the sweat from running into their pink socks.” There’s your first clue that publicity prone Sheriff Joe doesn’t cotton to mainstream “corrections” philosophy.

In that regard, “he has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them. He stopped smoking and porno magazines in his jail, and cut off all but ‘G’ rated movies,” which he augments with educational videos. He allows cable TV only because a federal court order requires it for jails, but restricts it to the Disney and weather channels. “He started chain gangs with black-and-white-striped uniforms so inmates could do free work on city and county projects, then did the same for women so he wouldn’t get sued for discrimination.” He beat the lawsuits that arose when he added teen offenders to the chain gangs. The “tough-guy” sheriff serves bologna sandwiches and makes the inmates wear pink underwear, and is totally unsym-pathetic to complaints about the rations and the heat.

“It’s 120 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents and have to wear full battle gear, and they aren’t there for committing crimes, so shut your d-n mouths!”

Among Arpaio’s creations is “Hard Knocks High,” the country’s first accredited prison high school, which along with his anti-drug programs, tends to counter the “revolving door” syndrome. He insists upon nothing but healthy fare for both mind and body. When he cut out coffee and porno mags he told complaining inmates: “This isn’t the Ritz Carlton. If you don’t like it, don’t come back!”

“Don’t come back!” Isn’t that the point? Although Arpaio has his detractors, and his techniques may be controversial, philosophically they are right on the mark. Prison should be unpleasant, period! But that doesn’t mean “doin’ the time” can’t be a positive experience, the breaking of bad habits and the inculcation of good ones, for example. I know that to be true from personal experience. But the point is: What can Hawaii learn from this Arizona lawman?

For starters, we should be inspired to replicate Arpaio’s tent and barbed-wire jail right here on state-owned land at Barbers Point (Kalaeloa). Unlike the Maricopa desert, there are plenty of tree-shaded acres there, many adjacent to fixed facilities for administration, food preparation and medical needs. Hawaii’s agreeable climate would enable such a facility at an affordable price, alleviate the current overcrowding, and allow us to return some 400 Hawaii convicts from Mainland jails for hire. The millions of dollars going for their keep could then be redirected to facilities and programs that would enhance the effectiveness of our own corrections

Perhaps the most important benefit for Hawaii’s inmates and their future success would be the renewed accessibility to families and loved ones. Current research confirms the positive effects on inmates’attitudes, morale, and substance rehabilitation by having periodic access to family. A commendable example is a Maui program, “No Na Kamali’i,” which - over and above the allowable visits with wives and family - brings “selected” prison fathers together with their keiki periodically for activities and field trips. What a great incentive for prisoners to “earn” the right to family time by fulfilling their rehab requirements! Besides reducing recidivism rates, such programs could reverse statistical trends showing the propensity for off-spring to follow in dad’s footprints to prison.

Without further delay, the governor should task her director of Public Safety to pay a visit to Maricopa County, formulate a plan - not a feasibility study - to determine costs and means to actually implement such a project, and then present it to the Legislature for priority passage in ‘07.

We should take the best of Joe Arpaio’s creation, “Hawaiianize” it, and bring our inmates home. If it can work in Arizona, it can work even better here.

Political Consultant For Hire.

2006-07-12T09:00:00.000-10:00

Great news.

Casmpaign consultant Liz Lewis is on the Big Island from Phoenix TODAY through Sunday. She is a campaign consultant who helped Elroy Osorio win election. and has / is working on numerous campaigns. She is interested to meet you and discuss ways she can help your campaign. Even if you are not able to use her services, this will be an excellent FREE educational opportunity which could make the difference between win and lose.

I encourage you to call Elroy and/or Walter Moe to check out her qualifications. They both recommend her highly. They believe her organizational skills and message skills can help you sharpen your campaign and avoid political dead-ends.

You can communicate with her at lizlewis@prontomail.com or her cell 520-444-9400.

Call Andrew Walden, GOP Chief Strategerist to schedule a meeting at 640-4782

Can I change my status to an "illegal alien"?

2006-07-12T08:18:00.000-10:00

The truth hurts and sucks!

The Honorable Paul S. Sarbanes
309 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington DC, 20510

Dear Senator Sarbanes,

As a native Marylander and excellent customer of the Internal Revenue
Service, I am writing to ask for your assistance. I have contacted the
Immigration and Naturalization Service in an effort to determine the
process for becoming an illegal alien and they referred me to you.

My reasons for wishing to change my status from U.S. Citizen to illegal
alien stem from the bill which was recently passed by the Senate and for
which you voted. If my understanding of this bill's provisions is accurate,
as an illegal alien who has been in the United States for five years, what I
need to do to become a citizen is to pay a $2,000 fine and income taxes
for three of the last five years.

I know a good deal when I see one and I am anxious to get the process started
before everyone figures it out. Simply put, those of us who have been here
legally have had to pay taxes every year so I'm excited about the prospect of
avoiding two years of the last five years taxes in return for paying a $2,000
fine. Is there any way that I can apply to be illegal retroactively? This would
yield an excellent return for me and my family because we paid heavy taxes in
2004 and 2005 and I estimated a gross savings approximating $72,000. After
the fine this would yield me a net savings of $70,000.

In addition, I would reap the other benefits of being an illegal alien such as
free healthcare, avoidance of paying Social Security taxes, buying automobile
insurance, serving on jury panels, etc.

If you would provide me with an outline of the process to become illegal
(retroactively if possible) and copies of the necessary forms, I would
be most appreciative. Thank you for your assistance.

Your Loyal Constituent,

Pete McGlaughlin

LUNATICS!!!!!

2006-07-06T08:28:00.000-10:00

(sing to the nursery rhyme of "I'm a little teapot")

I'm a little despot, short and stout. Look at my hairdo, see Maddy's snout. We play together nice and sweet. Follow the money and see how she speaks. She tells the world that I'm okay. She and Bill are good friends and I'm really gay!

My people are starving but that's okay. I'm always full and really, really gay. I taught the world a lesson the other day. Launched a bunch of missles and really made "A". But that's okay and all is good. I'm still the leader and dog taste good.

Oh! And I'm really, really gay and she's a man. I know, because I checked. Peace out.

North Korea's missile Test - MAKE ASS!

2006-07-06T08:13:00.000-10:00

Sorry for the crude headline, but you gotta admit that this was a huge embarrassment for the "Supreme Leader" and their backwards-ass government.

Just how bad is that government? While watching Fox News, they showed a satellite picture of the country of Korea that was taken at night (see left) and you can clearly see where South Korea ends and North Korea begins. It appears that the DMZ serves as a "on/off" switch for electricity in Korea.

GOP Headquarters Work Party

2006-07-06T08:04:00.000-10:00

Where: Hilo Hotel across of Kalakaua Park in downtown Hilo
When: Saturday, 7/8
Time: 9:00 am - Noon
What: Work Party

FYI...we are gathering at the new headquarters of the GOP/Lingle Campaign to prep our new headquarters for a planned grand opening in late July, early August.

Most of the heavy lifting and clean up work has already been done. We still need help from volunteers that have light carpentry skills to help make some minor, cosmetic repairs to make the place look good. We also plan to do some painting to spruce up the entry way and meeting room.

If you're available and want to help. Join us on Saturday @ 9:00 am and bring your tools, paint brushes, extra tables and chairs that you don't mind leaving at the headquarters (make sure that you label anything you want back) and anything else that you think we could use at our new headquarters!

A big MAHALO once again to Monica Mallick for generously donating the space for use by the GOP Hawaii County Crew.

SEE YOU THERE!

Democrats starting to see the light

2006-07-06T08:02:00.000-10:00

Democrats for Tax Cuts
Supply-siders in the state houses

WSJ July 5, 2006; Page A24

Democrats in Congress should get out more -- out of Washington, that is, and into state capitals, where some of their fellow party members are embracing tax cuts, and even supply-side logic in the bargain.

Only last week, the very blue state of Rhode Island adopted one of the most sweeping pro-growth tax reforms in any state in recent years. Democrats, who control 70% of the state legislature, teamed up with Republican Governor Donald L. Carcieri to enact a plan that allows residents the choice of a flat tax that cuts the top tax rate on high income earners to 5.5% from 9.9% if they voluntarily give up deductions. In an instant, Rhode Island has gone from the state with the third highest income tax rate in the nation to the 27th, according to the Tax Foundation.

For good measure, the state also cut property taxes, passed a tax credit of up to $1 million for businesses to help fund private school tuition, and reformed the health insurance market by allowing small businesses to buy "stripped down" health insurance free of many costly mandates. The latter could save employers 25% while expanding the number of insured workers.

Just as impressive is the economic logic that Rhode Island Democrats used to justify the tax cuts. "Our high tax rates make us uncompetitive," says Democratic House Speaker William Murphy. "Business leaders with incomes of more than $250,000 look at Massachusetts and see a 5.3% income tax, Connecticut with a 5% tax, and Rhode Island with a 9.9% tax. They make a choice on where to move and create jobs, and that difference in tax rates is a big factor in where they go." Art Laffer couldn't have said it better.

A handful of Democratic Governors have also signed tax cut bills in recent weeks. Arizona's Janet Napolitano agreed to a 10% across-the-board cut in income tax rates, and Oklahoma's Brad Henry signed into law a budget that will cut rates by nearly 20%, from 6.25% to 5.25% and abolish the state estate tax.

Governors Henry and Napolitano resisted the tax cuts for much of this year, but now they are taking political credit for signing them. Maybe they learned from Bill Clinton, who signed a reduction in the capital gains tax in 1997 after campaigning against "tax cuts for the rich" and basked in the stock market rise and strong economy for much of the rest of his second term.

Another Democratic Governor who's embraced tax cutting and benefited politically is New Mexico's Bill Richardson. Since winning the state house in 2002, he has cut the state's top income tax rate to 4.9% from 8.2% and cut the capital gains tax in half. "This was our way of declaring to the world that New Mexico is open for business," Mr. Richardson tells us. "After all, businesses move to states where taxes are falling, not rising." But don't tax cuts produce budget deficits? Not in New Mexico, which now has a half-billion-dollar surplus and has seen tax revenues soar by 27% this year, faster than in any other state over the past year, according to the Rockefeller Institute state revenue report.

We asked Mr. Richardson how he thought his party could regain its competitiveness with the GOP on the national level. His answer is good advice for Democrats everywhere: "We have to be the party of growth and the American dream, not the party of redistribution."

The Grand Plan of the Democrats

2006-05-22T08:00:00.000-10:00

An interesting exchange between a conservative and a liberal.

2006-05-03T10:57:00.000-10:00

www.Freerepublic.com

Posted on 05/03/2006 10:35:22 AM PDT by MikeA

I don't know if this will interest anyone, but I had an e-mail exchange yesterday with a former co-worker now working for a different company out in New York City. He was a major lib. when he worked for the company I'm with and he and I use to get into some heated exchanges. I'm providing this not to pat myself on the back, but to provide something you can use when you get similar boilerplate attacks from your liberal friends since they're all basically reading off the same script.

Anyway, after first e-mailing me yesterday saying he doesn't know how the Republican party has survived all this horrible P.R. of late, I told him this:

Hi Chris:

Hey, we’re surviving just fine! It’s your party you should worry about. “Bush sucks” just isn’t an agenda that’s going to inspire anyone other than those who’d just be voting Democrat anyway. In any event, the economy is growing faster than the 90s and I think most people recognize the country feels safer than after 9-11. True opinion polls aren’t necessarily reflecting that (I won’t get into what I think is wrong with these polls, i.e. over-representation of Democratic respondents relative to their actual numbers in the voting population), but 7 months is a lifetime in politics and I’m convinced Bush’s new communications team will do a better job of getting the message out. Those are some pretty strong trump cards to go into the election with, it’s just Bush has been terrible at putting forth those accomplishments. I think that’s going to begin to change.

Then he responded with this:

You're funny, someone really did a job on you. You're like Rumsfeld who has an inability to assume any responsibility for, or admit to, things gone wrong--I suppose you're going to tell me the war is going well and that Fox news is neutral. Interesting choice for director of communications, however, not surprising in the least. And, please don't reiterate the Party line on that one because I've heard it enough already. You are 100% right about the Democrats (I now consider myself an Independent) when you speak about messaging--it's ridiculous, especially when there are so many opportunities to exploit the happenings in the current administration. By the way, the third rationale for invading Iraq, which was oil, has gone awry. Please educate me on why prices are ballooning when control well above 50% of the worlds oil supply because I know you'll have an answer--other than Saddam was a terrible dictator and that's why we invaded. There are too many of those around to have that be the rationale. Democrats can't stick to a message to save anyone's life, that's for sure and you'll get no argument here. That's why I'm so impressed, and disgusted, by the administration--anyone in jail yet? Oh, yes, Cheney's chief of staff, right? How many billions have been squandered in the pipeline issue by Halliburton (I can't even spell it b/c I have to turn the page when another story appears)?, any more leaks about CIA agents? Any more Republican lobbyists arrested? Where did Tom Delay go? Give me something, you're a smart man--good thing I don't have to debate you in person!

My lengthy reply which I hope you all enjoy:

Hi Chris:

Wow, where to begin! Well I’ll just jump right in.

"I suppose you're going to tell me the war is going well and that Fox news is neutral"

I wouldn’t say the war is great, but it’s not the disaster the media makes it out to be either. A lot is happening that’s positive in Iraq and I talk to people who are over there as part of the reconstruction effort and they say much of Baghdad is quiet, peaceful and going about its business. They say the media just has a “if it bleeds it leads” focus on Iraq that ignores all the progress being made to focus on the negative instead. More and more Iraqis are working to root out the terrorists, and we finally seem to have a unity government forming there.

Their economy is actually booming at like something along the lines of 17% a year, higher than before the war and unemployment is dropping. We are destroying a great deal of Al Qaeda’s best troops there, keeping their focus distracted on Iraq instead of attacking the West as a 2004 FBI report indicated. Territory once held by the terrorists is now in the government’s hands, forcing Zarqawi by all accounts to have to move the bulk of his Al Qaeda force out of Western Iraq and to mountain havens along the Iranian border. Even Sunni insurgents have been turning on the Al Qaeda murderers, fed up with the mass murder and terror they’ve sown, seeing them as the bigger threats than the Americans. It has also helped bring some of the Sunni insurgents into negotiations with the government, realizing they have a common interest in expelling Al Qaeda from Iraq.

That fact also helped to create a highly successful national election in December, where Sunnis admitted to the need of participating which they did in large numbers. All of the elections in Iraq last year saw large turnout, far in excess of any typical US national election.

I have some good articles I’ve saved detailing many other aspects of the progress and positives in Iraq if you’re interested. Yes, there are still big problems to overcome, but Iraq was a nation brought to its knees under half a century of tyranny. The problems that history created will not be corrected overnight, but a lot of things people said could never happen in Iraq, have happened. We were told Iraqis were unsuited for democracy and would never participate. Yet they came out in droves. We were told Iraq would never hold together as a nation. But so far it has, remarkably, even after the Samarra mosque bombing. No civil war broke out there contrary to the media’s incessant use of boilerplate like “on the brink of civil war.” And in the end all the ethnic factions finally seem in agreement on forming a national government.

As for Fox, compared to CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS etc. they certainly appear more neutral. To me, a big part of balanced coverage isn’t so much how the news is reported but WHAT news is reported. It seems to me Fox reports all the significant goings-on, not just that which makes Republicans look bad which is all I see out of the other networks. Fox to me reports both that which is positive for Republicans and negative, ditto that on the Democrats.

"By the way, the third rationale for invading Iraq, which was oil, has gone awry. Please educate me on why prices are ballooning when control well above 50% of the worlds oil supply because I know you'll have an answer--other than Saddam was a terrible dictator and that's why we invaded. There are too many of those around to have that be the rationale"

I’m not sure when oil was given as a rational for the war other than by the far left and their boilerplate mantra of “It’s a war for oil!” If anything, the fact we’ve not absconded with Iraq’s oil to increase supplies and bring down pump prices here in the US disproves a left wing article of faith, not a Bush administration rational for the war. Anyway, if you have a statement by someone in the administration justifying the war by saying “We’ll have lots more oil,” then I’ll concede the point. But it’s nothing I ever heard and I doubt any of them would say that thus lending legitimacy to the “war for oil” charge.

As for why prices on gas have gone up, it is a “perfect storm” as it were of multiple events. First we have the onerous fuel blend regulations of the Carol Browner EPA of 1997 that created nearly 30 different fuel blends throughout the nation taxing already over-stretched refinery capacity. Those fuel blends have spiked oil prices every spring since because they come on-line every year at that time, but particularly so in the last couple years as demand in the US has risen sharply outstripping refinery capacity to keep up with it (since we’ve not built a refinery in this country since 1977 thanks to enviro regs. making them too costly to build).

Additionally, this year the MTBE additive industry has finally gone out of business having been put there by endless lawsuits against the industry due to ground water contamination issues and so forth. As a result, we’ve had to rely much more heavily on ethanol as an EPA mandated fuel additive that kicks in this time of year to replace the loss of the MTBE additive. Ethanol cannot be produced as easily, cheaply or in the same quantities as MTBE. It is also far more difficult to ship. MTBE could be shipped through pipelines. Ethanol cannot because it takes on water condensation from the pipelines, therefore it has to be trucked from Midwestern hubs. That means gasoline supplies have been terribly squeezed this spring due to the shortage of additive supplies, driving up gas prices.

Congress should have provided liability protection to keep the MTBE industry in business, but failed to. Obviously the ground water issue had to be addressed and there were ways of doing that without putting a needed additive maker out of business further constraining gasoline supplies.

Other factors of course include skyrocketing US demand that went up 8% in the 1st quarter, (which tracked with the increase in oil company profits at 7%, so this “price gouging” nonsense of the Democrats is a bunch of hot air). Additionally, India and China’s demand for oil is through the stratosphere adding to the per barrel price on the spot market too. You will be surprised to learn as a result of demand outstripping supply and refinery capacity, I have become an advocate of conservation. Time to get rid of the SUVs!

Also, add into the mix that the damage from Katrina has still not been fully repaired at Gulf Coast refinery and drilling operations and you have an even bigger squeeze on fuel supplies. So these 4 factors as I say have come together like the “perfect storm” at the wrong time to drive up pump prices.

Back to Saddam. You indicated somehow it was inconsistent of us to invade Iraq for humanitarian reasons if there are so many other tyrants in the world, which there are. But I’ve never understood this “if we can’t do everything we should do nothing” mindset. To me and what I know of Saddam’s regime, he was among the worst. I had been reading about Iraq under Saddam’s rule for years and I was for his overthrow long before I even knew who George W. Bush was or heard arguments about WMD.

If we had an all or nothing mindset or thought it hypocritical to fight one dictator while leaving others in place during WW2, we wouldn’t have fought the Third Reich because Stalin and General Franco as well as dictators throughout the world continued to exist after the overthrow of the Nazis. The fact is, just like with the Nazis we assessed Saddam as a threat to US national security. Perhaps the WMD thing proved to be wrong, though I still say they were moved out before the war as do two top officers of Saddam’s former military General Georges Sada and another guy whose name I forget who was a top officer of the Saddam Fedeyean.

And we now have reams of documents coming out of Saddam’s intelligence files showing Saddam worked was actively involved in terrorism including working with Al Qaeda (though no direct evidence so far exists that he was involved in 9-11) and recruited and trained jihadist suicide bombers. We have discovered documents that show the lone bomber who managed to escape after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York, a man by the name of Abdul Rahman Yasin was an Iraqi trained by Saddam’s intelligence service, who then escaped back to Iraq and was given a monthly paycheck and a home in Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit. I will provide you with copies of the translated documents with the links to the original files on the Pentagon’s website if you’re interested. An extensive list of just some of the connections between Saddam and Al Qaeda can be found here, compiled from mainstream press sources including more liberal ones like the New Yorker and London Guardian: http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=092503F

I don’t think we should make any mistake that this guy was a threat to us and to security in the Middle East. After 9-11 we had to change the culture of death and chaos in the Middle East, a culture Saddam thrived on and helped instigate. Never would we be successful in the war on terror if we were just content to leave the status quo, and the forces of instability and terror, in place. Yes we’ve made mistakes in the aftermath of that effort. And contrary to what you say I think Rumsfeld has admitted to that. But that doesn’t remove the fact that Saddam had to go. Even if he didn’t have WMD, he would likely have gotten them by now or shortly. And he would have continued supporting terrorism and instability in the Middle East and throughout the world. We know from documents discovered in his files he was supporting Al Qaeda-linked terrorists even as far away as in the Phillipines! We may not know the full extent of that threat, but the picture is beginning to emerge out of Saddam’s own files and it is troubling to say the least. The US media, other than Fox, has largely ignored the story because of their anti-war bias, and the administration once again is failing to get the word out. But the facts are there.

"Oh, yes, Cheney's chief of staff, right? How many billions have been squandered in the pipeline issue by Halliburton (I can't even spell it b/c I have to turn the page when another story appears)?, any more leaks about CIA agents? Any more Republican lobbyists arrested? Where did Tom Delay go?"

I think it’s funny that Democrats, or in your case an independent, jump on Scooter Libby for being accused, (mind you he’s not been convicted of anything and probably never will be because his “lying under oath” can easily be attributed to a faulty memory), of the same things Bill Clinton was accused of and more credibly I might add, (one can easily forget which reporter out of many one talked to first 3 years ago. I doubt one forgets getting a you-know-what from an intern), and then excused of by his supporters. But I’m glad we’ve put perjury and obstruction of justice charges back on the books again after giving them the 1990s off. But hey, if they can show Libby did those things then he should pay the price. But it’s a pretty thin case and an act of desperation by a prosecutor who could find no criminal basis to convict on in the original charge. Ask any defense attorney. They’ll tell you a perjury charge is the place of last resort by desperate prosecutors in most cases. My friend’s father was indicted on that after the prosecutor couldn’t convict on dozens of other charges.

I’m not sure what the pipeline issue with Halliburton is. You’ll have to give me more information on that. Or did you just want an opportunity to apply the liberals’ favorite buzzword “Halliburton?”

And the CIA leak story is the biggest non-story of the century. Valerie Plame was a pencil pusher in Langley, nothing more. She hadn’t had covered status for 7 years and the law specifies 5 as the mandated period of secrecy. And even when she had covered status it was only the lightest of cover, NOC, which all CIA employees take when overseas, in her case in that enemy hotbed of London England. Plame’s identity has been spoken of as the poorest kept secret in DC. She was listed in Who’s Who long before her identity was “leaked.”

The fact is her husband lied about who sent him to Niger and thus in so doing he risked exposing his wife, who was actually the one who pushed for him to be sent on the CIA junket. A bipartisan and unanimous finding of the Senate Intelligence Committee proved he lied about having been sent by Dick Cheney and Colin Powell. And further they indicated he was drastically inconsistent in his report to the committee as versus his published version of his findings in the New York Times. The committee, again in a unanimous bipartisan finding, indicated his report tended to support the administration on the yellowcake story. And a full investigation of the matter by the same committee also concluded the administration was justified in claiming Saddam was searching for yellowcake in Africa because there was strong evidence he was. This was also backed up by concurrent investigations by British Intelligence and the European Intelligence Agency.

So the administration had every right and need to set the record straight on the lies Joe Wilson was telling, coincidentally while being a paid advisor to the Kerry campaign, and to expose his lie about having been on the payroll of the administration. And in so doing pointing out that his wife was a CIA bureaucrat in no way violated the law. Indeed, Fitzpatrick has not, and likely will not, brought any charges on the original supposed violation because the law will not support an indictment.

As for Delay and Abramoff, good riddance to both. I don’t know if Delay will ever be found guilty. Ronnie Earle seems partisan and feckless, even indicting Delay on something that’s not against the law that the court embarrassed him by dropping! So instead he reinvented the term “money laundering” to mean legal money being used illegally which is the opposite of money laundering. But that sounds more ominous for the sake of public consumption than what the actual charge could be, illegal diversion of campaign funds. As for Abramoff, I notice Democrats have been content to let that one drop now that their Senate Minority Leader has been shown to have been one of the biggest takers of Abramoff money in the Senate.

But Delay is small potatoes next to the breathtaking campaign violations of the Clintons during the 90s which Janet Reno as Clinton’s Justice Dept. refused to ever appoint an independent counsel to investigate. Dick Morris alleges Clinton illegally converted soft money adds through illegal campaign coordination with the DNC. And we all know about the illegal foreign monies the Clintons happily gobbled up. And that’s only scratching the surface.

And Hillary continues to be under the gun for $2 million plus in illegal use of hard campaign dollars from her 2000 Senate campaign as alleged by the guy who donated it, Peter Paul. He’s got the cancelled checks and the thank you letters to prove it. But again, why does the media ignore this to focus on flimsy allegations against Republicans instead? Then you wonder why I think Fox is neutral!!

Anyway, kudos on going independent. I have toyed with the idea myself because I am fed up with the Republican party and how they’ve become an institutionalized party in D.C. I don’t like their big spending ways, their pork barrel budgets, their refusal to fight for conservative policy principles, etc. That’s why I said “good riddance” to Delay. I was never particularly fond of him, but I lost all use for him when he laughably claimed there is nothing left in federal budgets that can be cut. We’re better off without a pol like that who just became part of the wallpaper inside the Beltway.

I continue to think Bush is doing a good job though I find his administration’s inability to get its message out frustrating, it’s unwillingness to veto spending bills galling and its lack of border enforcement inexcusable. But I think overall he’s been good for the nation. I honestly believe despite the lack of full border enforcement we’re more secure and there’s no arguing the economy is on better footing than when he took office. But this Congress is a joke, full of cowards and fools who look more to their own re-election than what’s good for the nation, and that criticism applies to BOTH parties. I think the Republicans deserve to lose the majority. Maybe some time spent in the political wilderness will do them some good and remind them of their principles.

Anyway smoke is coming from my keyboard and my fingers are beginning to bleed, so I better stop. On a more personal note, how is the social scene in New York City? Are you dating anyone? I’m still thinking of coming out there some time for a visit. We’ll have to get together for dinner if I do so I can further indoctrinate you in conservative ideals. HAHA. I just don’t know when I’ll be coming. Anyway, stay in touch. I’m sure I’ll be receiving a scorching reply to all of this.

Mike

How not to solve high energy prices

2006-04-25T13:27:00.000-10:00

April 25, 2006 | By Nathaniel Ward - Heritage Foundation

Gasoline prices have surged in the past few weeks, cracking three dollars a gallon in places. In fact, a gallon of gas runs at $3.15 at the gas station next to Heritage’s headquarters—an increase of more than 50 cents in a month or so. And some gas stations have even run out of gasoline entirely in recent days.

So what do we do about it? Liberals have proposed raising taxes on gasoline and increasing fuel economy in automobiles. But, as Heritage’s Ben Lieberman explains, “the last thing consumers struggling with $2.60-a-gallon gas need is the government deliberately raising the price even higher” by tacking on new taxes. And new fuel economy standards will not only do nothing to help consumers, since extremely efficient vehicles are already available, but they will also make roads less safe as smaller cars increase the annual highway death toll.

Another ham-handed proposal, suggested most recently by a Republican, is for a “windfall profits tax,” a mechanism whereby the government would decide whether a company is too successful and impose a tax if it is. Congress should know better. The last time Congress imposed a windfall profits tax, Lieberman notes, the program backfired badly: “It discouraged expansion of domestic energy supplies and led to increased oil imports.” All things considered, “the WPT probably hurt consumers more through higher energy prices than the increased tax revenues helped them.”

Congress can do a lot to lower gas prices by eliminating counterproductive regulations.

Liberals and even Congressional leaders have also started talking about new laws against “price-gouging,” a practice whereby a retailer sells gasoline for more than some people think is “fair.” The only way to prevent something from being sold for “too much” is to impose a price cap, where the government arbitrarily decides how much something should cost. America tried price caps before, Ben Lieberman reminded us in September, the last time “price-gouging” came up, “and they were an unmitigated disaster. In fact, the attempts by Washington to force down prices during that decade backfired so badly—resulting in shortages and gas lines—that they should have served as a permanent cautionary tale.”

It should be remembered that one of Ronald Reagan’s first acts as President in 1981 was to remove gasoline price controls and other counterproductive regulations. Prices dropped and remained low for another two decades.

The real solution

Instead of looking at new and creative ways to make the problem worse, we should try to define the problem we’re facing. As Reuters reported on Sunday,

Nearly all of [the price] increase came as benchmark U.S. crude futures surged $8 a barrel over the two-week period, Lundberg said, reaching $75.17 on Friday amid strong demand and fears of supply disruptions in exporting countries like Nigeria.

Yet prices at the pump also reflect the higher cost of delivering and blending ethanol into gasoline, as mandated by federal and state laws designed to combat air pollution.

"Not only are these costs higher than for the additive ethanol replaced, MTBE, but ethanol is also in tight supply," analyst Trilby Lundberg told Reuters on Sunday.

In short, the problem is threefold: there’s more demand for oil than there is supply; foreign oil supplies might be disrupted; government regulations have increased the cost of production. The solution to high prices, then, is to increase production from more reliable domestic sources and to reduce the government regulations that drive up costs.

Much of the problem is self-imposed, Ben Lieberman explains. “Thanks to restrictions put in place years ago when energy was much cheaper, many promising areas in the U.S. are off limits to oil and gas production,” he says. “Not only has oil become more expensive, but the cost of turning that oil into gasoline has also increased. This is due partly to expensive and complicated regulations that dictate the recipes for gasoline (more than a dozen of them) and other regulations that have made it difficult for refineries to expand to meet growing demand.”

Heritage’s Andrew Grossman notes that not all of the absurd regulations are old. In fact, some of them date from last year, when Congress passed a new energy bill. “So a government-mandated change in formulations, combined with the switch to government-mandated summer recipes, which differ, as mandated by government, between different regions are causing regional price spikes,” he writes.

Ben Lieberman spells out a common-sense solution: “In a time of high oil prices, high natural gas prices, and political uncertainty in many oil-producing nations, America should make good use of the energy available here at home.” Congress should look to cut the red tape that prevents new oil and gas exploration and drives up the cost of energy for consumers.

President Bush took a solid step forward today by suspending a number of environmental regulations, allowing refiners to better meet demand. “Easing the environmental rules will allow refiners greater flexibility in providing oil supplies since they will not have to use certain additives such as ethanol to meet clean air standards,” the AP reports. It’s already working: the wholesale price of gasoline dropped eight cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange as soon as the President announced the change.

It’s an easy lesson that Congress keeps forgetting: the economy does best when the government gets out of the way.

Congress’s ‘emergency’ spending

So why does moving a railroad a couple miles so Mississippi can build casinos qualify as "emergency spending?"

Congress is continuing to debate an emergency bill to allocate funds for Iraq, Afghanistan and hurricane relief—a bill that also includes dozens of pork projects, like the $700 million proposed for the “railroad to nowhere” in Mississippi.

Brian Riedl, Heritage’s Grover Hermann Fellow, told The New York Times that much of the spending hardly qualifies as emergency spending:

“Emergencies are not true emergencies when you’re repairing highway backlogs that go back several years, when Congress is giving large handouts to farmers despite record farm incomes and when you’re relocating a rail line” whose change of course was proposed decades ago, said Brian M. Riedl, a budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “That doesn't sound like an emergency to me.”

In fact, there’s already $14 billion of this sort of spending tacked onto President Bush’s $92 billion request—and Congress is poised to add $11 billion more, Riedl and Ron Utt report in a new paper. If Congress is “unable to muster a modicum of fiscal responsibility,” they write, this would be an ideal time for President Bush to dust off the veto pen.

“Federal taxpayers should not be forced to spend $700 million to reroute a working rail line—especially one that just received $300 million in repairs—to make room for casino development,” Riedl and Utt conclude. “This extravagant expenditure is an insult to those wanting to rebuild homes and schools destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Senators should remove this provision from the supplemental legislation, and if they do not, President Bush should draw a line in the sand declaring this special interest addition to an emergency bill unacceptable.”

Bob Hogue 2 Congress

2006-04-16T09:58:00.000-10:00

WHY I AM RUNNING FOR CONGRESS

Sunday, 26 March 2006

I'm running for all the people who feel that Congress is too far away. I'm running for all the people who feel that Congressmen are inaccessible. I'm running because Hawaii needs help from the Federal government to improve its education system. I'm running because Hawaii needs help to improve its highways. I'm running because people are tired of the rancor of partisan politics. I'm running for Congress because I believe that one person....one person who is courteous and respectful and who believes in other people....can make a difference. I'm Bob Hogue and I'm running for Congress in the district I live in....and the district I believe in........I would be humbled to receive your support.

Visit Bob Hogue's website to learn more: www.bob2congress.org

Governor Linda Lingle in Hilo

2006-04-11T08:57:00.000-10:00

You are invited to meet Governor Linda Lingle and become a vital part of her re-election Campaign in Hilo. Please join us and be a part of a winning team!

The Linda Lingle Campaign Commitee Hilo Organizational Meeting

Monday, April 17, 2006

3:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Naniloa Hotel - Kilohana Room

Refreshments - No charge

RSVP for this meeting by April 15th to:

PHONE: (808) 935-6086

EMAIL: HiloBB06@hotmail.com

Peter Carlisle in Hilo

2006-04-07T10:09:00.000-10:00

Honolulu City & County Prosecutor, Peter Carlisle will be in Hilo today to discuss his potential candidacy for the 2nd Congressional district and this will be a great opportunity to get to know him and understand his motivations for running for Congress. The meeting takes place today at 3:00 pm in the banquet room of the Firehouse Restaurant in Hilo.

WORKSHOPS: CAMPAIGN SPENDING COMMISSION

2006-04-07T10:01:00.000-10:00

2006 CANDIDATE AND COMMITTEE WORKSHOPS

July - August, 2006

The Campaign Spending Commission announces the second round of candidate and committee workshops for the 2006 elections. The workshops provide a review of the requirements for record keeping and reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures and provide a general overview of campaign finance law, as well as the new Hawaii Administrative Rules and 2006 legislative update.

Certified Public Accountants may earn two (2) Professional Continuing Education credits. The Campaign Spending Commission is registered with the Hawaii State Board of Accountancy as a sponsor of continuing professional education. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to: Hawaii State Board of Public Accountancy, P.O. Box 3469, Honolulu, HI 96801, phone (808)-586-2696.

The locations and dates for the workshops are as follows:

For Kaua’i, Kona, Hilo:

Each workshop will be divided into two sessions

Session (1) 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. - new candidates (previous candidates welcome, too)

Session (2) 10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. – Hawaii Administrative Rules and 2006 legislative update for all

KAUA’I
State Office Building Friday, July 21, 2006
Conference Room A-B-C, 2^nd Fl
3060 Eiwa Street
Lihue, Hawaii

KONA
Kona Civic Center Thursday, July 27, 2006
82-6130 Mamalahoa Hwy
Kona, Hawaii

HILO
State Office Building Friday, July 28, 2006
Conference Rooms A-B-C
75 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii

For Maui and O’ahu:

Each workshop will be divided into two sessions

Session (1) 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. - new candidates (previous candidates welcome, too)

Session (2) 2:45 p.m. - 3:45 a.m. – Hawaii Administrative Rules and 2006 legislative update for all

MAUI
State Office Building Friday, August 4, 2006
Conference Room B, 3^rd Floor
54 High Street
Wailuku, Hawaii

O’AHU
Leiopapa A Kamehameha Bldg Friday, August 11, 2006
Conference Room 204
235 S. Beretania Street
Honolulu, Hawaii

If you have any questions, please call the Campaign Spending Commission at 808-586-0285. If you are a CPA, please call in your name so we will have your CPE attendance certificate ready for you at the completion of training.

Food For Thought...

2006-04-05T14:40:00.000-10:00

The more people you talk to, the higher the odds that somethingwonderful and unexpected will come out of that conversation. The more people you talk to...the more irons go into the fire...and the more opportunities you'll have to grow your business and improve your life. Just hold out your hand and initiate a friendly conversation with a friendly "hello".

Weekly GOP Meeting

2006-04-05T12:45:00.000-10:00

Attention Big Island Republicans: Spread the word. We are holding the weekly County GOP meeting at UH Hilo for this special event. This is the best campaign training seminar ever to have been held in the entire history (104 years) of the Hawaii County Republican Party. You will want to be able to tell your grandchildren that you were here. So don't miss out.

Leadership Institute Training

Comes to the Big Island

Monday April 10, 5pm-8pm, UH Hilo Campus Ctr, Rm. 301

NOTE: With the resignation of Tom DeLay, one of our speakers, Steve Stockman, is now the only Republican running for DeLay's seat in Texas! (see bios below)

***see description of the full two day training bootcamp in Honolulu. Hawaii County will receive the mini-boot camp version focusing on voter ID, voter registration and absentee ballots--the keys to beating the Democrat machine. If you would like to come to Honolulu for the full seminar, free airfare and hotel is available.

Call Andrew Walden 808-640-4782 or respond to this email.

How Cool is "W"? Very Cool.

2006-04-04T18:56:00.000-10:00

Loud and proud! Show the liberals that you support President George "W" Bush by proudly displaying this bumper sticker or any other of the very cool items found on the W Online store. Items are reasonably priced and you'll be one of the proud and unabashed supporter of our President and our ideals.

Host a GOP Party in 2006!

2006-04-04T18:44:00.000-10:00

A GOP House Party is a grassroots tool that brings together people who support the President and the Republican ticket. Parties all across the nation can be easily organized and coordinated through the Republican National Party site at the GOP Party site!

How To Use the Internet in Your Campaign

2006-04-04T18:38:00.000-10:00

By William S. Bike

In 1995, candidate Lamar Alexander announced he was entering the presidential race not at a rally or press conference, but on the Internet. This action is credited as the beginning of a whole new world of political campaigning. The Jesse Ventura Minnesota gubernatorial campaign of 1998 conquered that world, because he could not have won without the Internet.

The Internet already has significantly changed campaigning forever, and it will continue to do so. E-technology never will replace grassroots activity, but it has become a mandatory addition to it in terms of getting your message out to voters, volunteer recruitment, communicating with staff and volunteers, fundraising, media relations, overcoming an opponent’s superior resources, doing research, and in defending against negative campaigning.

With a majority of registered voters connected to the Internet, campaigns cannot afford not to jump into this vote-rich pool.

According to Michael Cornfield of George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, in six of the eight House and Senate races won by challengers against incumbents in 2000, the challenger spent less, but had a better web site, and won.

Web site maintenance is inexpensive, and helps level the playing field between candidates with widely differing monetary and volunteer and staff resources. A web site can raise money and volunteer staff, and also can take the place of broadcast and print advertising for the severely underfunded campaign. What formerly was an afterthought now has become the place to begin.

Long before you announce, start buying up web site domain names for your campaign. Also, buy web site names that your opponents could use against you, as when the 2000 George W. Bush campaign bought up web sites like to preempt pranksters.

Put your web address on all your campaign literature, and mention it whenever possible. Some candidates even have put it on the roofs of their cars and campaign buses so helicopter TV cameras will pick it up when covering a campaign caravan.

You’ll use the Internet a lot, so consider a service that offers unlimited use for a flat rate. The Ventura campaign was billed a minuscule $30 per month, after paying startup costs of under $200.

Here are a few web page creation tips found in the publication The A3C Connection from consultant Joy Hyzny:

Use cascading style sheets. These make sure your pages have similar structures and layouts.
Use “relative” font sizes. The user can then read the pages no matter what his or her browser settings.
Choose text colors that provide enough contrast from the background color. This way, the text will be easy to read both on screen and printed out.
Create a text-only version of your web site. Voters with older computers that just cannot download graphics will therefore not be shut out of your site.
Guarantee ease of navigation by not requiring multiple mouse clicks to get to basic information.

The home page should contain a short biography of the candidate, a photo (but make sure it does not take forever to download on older systems), information from news releases, and the candidate’s stand on issues.

Also, make sure your web page can collect the e-mail addresses of people who access it. This will be your database of online supporters, all of whom are potential voters, funders, and campaign volunteers.

Several political consultants now offer CD-ROMs for sale that provide all the information a campaign could need for getting Internet access, setting up a web page, and more.

The campaign must publicize the web page on all advertising materials. Because surfers want new material constantly, the page must be updated frequently, and a staffer must be assigned to the task. For a barebones campaign, this could even mean a volunteer high school or college student, but spend the money on a pro if you have it.

It always has been difficult to get the media to cover lower-ballot races; now with the Internet, you can do the media’s job for them. You can load up your web site with all the information you want about you and the office you’re seeking.

This makes for a fundamental change in voter contact. Voters formerly were passive recipients of information from campaigns. For the first time ever, the Internet allows the interested to actively seek and obtain information easily.

Not only will voters who are interested (or whom you make interested by your other campaign efforts) look at it, but the media will, too. With the information right in front of them with no digging required, the chances that they’ll actually cover your race are increased.

While the initial information on your web site should be short and sweet, you can link your page to additional pages where you have put everything--press releases, speeches, position papers, and more--on the web. This allows the truly interested voters and the media to get all the information they will ever want.

The Ventura campaign set up its page to be easy to link into, but difficult to link out of--on purpose. Once surfers entered the Ventura web site, they stayed a while.

Your web page also allows you to “cover” a large geographic area. If you’re running a barebones campaign that just doesn’t have the fieldworkers to get everywhere, heavily promote your web site in your literature and advertising to help do your “fieldwork” for you.

For campaigns with fieldworkers, e-mail has revolutionized campaigns’ ability to communicate both with them and with others related to the campaign, such as the party or multiple campaign offices. “E-mail takes hours off your day,” noted Al Gore for President 2000 staffer Becky Carroll. “You used to have to try to page people, track them down on the phone, leave a message, call them back if you think they missed the message, plus spend time talking to them once you reached them. When you send an e-mail, boom, it’s there, and you wasted no time.”

E-mail also is vital when something big happens and you need everyone in the campaign to speak with the same voice and message. “Before, you’d have to fax pages to maybe hundreds of people or call everyone,” Carroll explained. “Now in one minute you can send three pages of talking points to hundreds of people.”

For campaigns without fieldworkers, the Internet can obtain them. The Ventura campaign used the Internet, and no other source, to announce a meeting late in the campaign. More than 250 people attended, and were persuaded to help run a “Jesse Drive to Victory” tour by which a Ventura auto caravan would travel the state. These volunteers contacted friends to attend rallies along the caravan route, and the tour was a huge success. Some of them also became “lead local organizers,” who got their instructions on how to organize a rally from the Ventura web site.

The Internet allows even the smallest campaign to provide a daily update for the staff, the public, and the press. It also allows rapid response to a negative attack or other surprise development.

It may even allow the particularly financially strapped campaign to operate without a campaign office. That was true for the Ventura effort, which ran a full campaign through its web site and did not even open a physical office until very late in the race.

The Internet provides a different way to use volunteers. With no money to hire data entry professionals, the Ventura campaign asked for volunteers online. It mailed packets of information to the volunteers, who entered the data on behalf of the campaign on their home computers.

Consider also holding a chat session between the candidate and Internet users.

Monitor your web page constantly, and have a web pro, such as the person whom you’ve already assigned to do the updating, available to quickly deal with any dirty tricks.

The Internet opens the possibility for success of something that almost always was doomed to failure before: the “flash campaign.” A flash campaign is a last minute entry into the political process due to unforeseen circumstances, such as another candidate dropping out, getting involved in a scandal, going to jail, or changing his or her views on a hot topic. “A flash campaign is a completely new phenomenon emerging from the radically reduced cost of communicating,” notes the web page of MoveOn.org .

MoveOn.org’s campaign to stop the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton was a flash campaign. On Sept. 18, 1998, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Joan Blades and Wes Boyd launched their web site. By Sept. 29, they had garnered 100,000 names for an anti-impeachment petition. By Oct. 1, they had gotten 80,000 people to call or fax their representatives. They also raised volunteers. More importantly, they raised money: $5 million pledged to 2000 congressional campaigns. They were racking up numbers that had never been achieved by political organizations that had existed for decades.

MoveOn.org proved that neophytes can enter the political process through the Internet and, through judicious use of it, become major players immediately.

Just as some jurisdictions have begun mail-in voter registration and voting, some will experiment Internet registration and voting in the near future. Moves also are afoot to allow e-mail “signatures” to count in petitions for getting candidates and initiatives on the ballot.

Such changes will change campaigning forever, and they’re coming.

William S. Bike is the author of the book Winning Political Campaigns (Denali Press, 2001), a how-to guide on political campaigning, and is vice president of the media consulting firm ANB Communications in Chicago, IL.

Monday GOP Meetings

2006-04-03T08:15:00.000-10:00

Calling all Hawaii County GOP Faithful!

Don't forget....every Monday we (the GOP faithful) meet at Frank De Luz's home at 330 Huali Way in Hilo. 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm. BYOB and BYOI&E (Bring Your Own Ideas & Energy)!

Call John Kai @ 933-1828 if you have any questions.

District & Precinct Leaders Needed!

2006-04-02T13:26:00.001-10:00

Hawaii County is divided into a single Congressional district, 3 State Senate districts, 7 State House districts and 9 County Council districts.

To gain success in this year's elections we need to organize our efforts and make inroads into each precinct within each district in Hawaii County. This means identifying key leaders who have the passion, energy and conviction to spread the word about the positive changes that can come about when we have a balanced government of political representatives representing our varied views.

The various districts are made up of 8-15 precincts and each precint (voting location) is comprised of community leaders that have a pulse on the issues that are important to members of that community.

Our hope is to identify the key people in these precints and pursuade them to join our crusade to bring balance and sensibility to local government.

What kind of work might be involved? Perhaps identifying community events and meetings that our GOP candidates can attend to meet & greet residents and to learn first-hand about the local issues. It may also involve identifying fund raising opportunities, setting up coffee talks, and keeping the candidates and the local party aware of developments in the area. You can actually get creative as a precinct leader and it doesn't have to take up a lot of time. The internet, email, phone calls, etc. can make this job a whole lot easier and more efficient.

Are you that person? Do you someone who is and would like to get more involved? It's time for all of us to step up and be a part of the solution, instead of a complaining bystander. Postive change can only happen if we show up and make a diferrence. Join us!

More Fundraising Tips For Candidates

2006-04-02T13:21:00.000-10:00

by Carol Hess

Once you have decided to run for office, one of the first questions you should ask is, can I raise enough money to win? In an ideal world, the best person would win whether or not he or she can raise sufficient funds. However, in reality, if you are not independently wealthy and can't ask for money, you should reconsider running for elective office.

As a candidate, you need to raise money early and raise money often. This advice holds true for the incumbent as well as the challenger. The best contributors are those who have already contributed to your campaign. Having made a contribution, your donors already have a vested interest in your success. Don't be afraid to ask them again. A professional should help you plan how much you will need to run a successful campaign and to develop a fundraising strategy. Some basic tips to consider:

1. First you must examine your own reserves. If you are not willing to make a contribution toward your own campaign, you can't realistically ask others to contribute.

2. Next you should ask your family and friends. While this may seem awkward, your family and friends are your early seed money, to get you started. Your close family and friends should be approached in person. But - do not sit down with your family and friends until you have a good reason as to why you are running and an explanation as to how you will use their money. You should have the written outline of a plan of action. If you can't ask this close-knit circle for donations, you should reconsider running for office.

3. Next you should compile a list of your acquaintances, your business associates, your high school and college friends, etc. They should be called or sent a personal letter from you. What you say and how you say it is important. Consider having a professional write this letter for you. Once you have a commitment from your friend, get this person to spread the word for you. They can write letters on your behalf, call their friends, hold fundraising parties, etc.

4. Next try to get hold of member lists of your life's activities: college class, any civic or professional or religious association you are member of. If you are active in any group, this should be on the top of your list. People who know you or have heard of you are more likely to give to your campaign than strangers.

5. Next, if you not in a primary, you should approach your local, county or state party organization. They won't make any lists available if your election is contested, but, if you are the party's candidate, you should press them to share their lists or do a mailing for you.

6. If you are an incumbent, you should contact every person who contributed to you in your past campaigns. People often feel insulted or neglected if they supported you in the past and they are not contacted again.

7. Next, contact former candidates or officeholders. If they share your political beliefs, they may allow you to use their lists. At minimum, they may suggest some prominent individuals to contact or they can share their own fundraising experiences.

8. If you are the challenger, your opponent may have made some enemies. You should contact these groups or individuals and let them know that you are running and can offer an alternative.

9. Next, go to the Board of Elections and check on their filing reports of past candidates for local and state elections. Since all candidates must file a list of donors to their campaign, this might be an excellent list to pursue (be certain to check whether in your locality, it is legal to use those names).

10. If you are running at the state or national level, there may be some PAC money available. This requires planning and should only be considered once you are a viable candidate.

The best fundraising advise - raise money early and raise it often. Best wishes in your campaign.

Carol Hess is a List Broker and is president of Political Resources, Inc. She was a political consultant and campaign manager in the 1970's and early 1980's. The tips on raising money haven't changed.

Fundraising: Quick Tips For Candidates

2006-04-02T13:08:00.000-10:00

by Bob McDevitt, Sept. 1996

By setting up a proper fundraising system first and early, your campaign will set the foundation to raise money and meet its financial goals. Other than gathering the proper signatures to insure that you are on the ballot, nothing is more important than having your fundraising team in place. By raising money early, you will be able to have the proper resources to ensure you can afford all the additional aspects of a campaign apparatus. The basics include:

Fundraise often.
Hire a professional - Spend money to make money.
The candidate is the primary fundraiser.
KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid.
Be prepared to work - HARD!

Fundraise often.

There is limited time in campaigns. The candidate should spend four to five hours six days a week fundraising. Just as those who invest early in retirement have more money later, those campaigns that start fundraising early and dedicate the time are able to resolicit donors and amass a war-chest. A candidate who is serious about winning will do this. Creating a sense of urgency with your fundraising is critical. One successful way of doing this is by setting up a seperate media account at the beginning of the campaign. If the campaign budget determines that 80 percent of the budget will be spent on media, then eight out of every ten dollars that comes in goes directly to the media account. By doing this, the campaign will be under constant pressure to meet its obligations. By doing this, you will position yourself to reach your paid media goals. While it is more fun to talk strategy, the bottom line is, you have to have to have money in order to get our your message. And another thing...PACs will not even look at your race seriously until they see your campaign has raised a substantial amount of money from individuals. I am often dumbfounded by candidates who think they will receive all this money from heaven. Campaigns must be viable in order for PACs to contribute more than a token amount. A big part of validity is cash-on-hand come financial filing deadlines.

Hire professionals.

Why spend weeks or months trying to figure out how to raise money? By hiring a fundraising consultant, you can turn your campaign into a fundraising machine. This may be your first, second or even third campaign. Consultants have worked dozens, even hundreds of campaigns. They know the unexpected pitfalls in fundraising and they know what works. More importantly, the right fundraising consultant will actually save you money. I am still amazed when I walk into a campaign and they are spending 50 cents to raise a dollar. Would you try to make your own commercials? Then why try to go it alone on your fundraising. The investment in a qualified consultant is like a capital investment in a business. You need to spend money to make money.

The candidate as fundraiser.

The number-one fundraiser in your campaign is the candidate. The most cost effective and successful way to raise money in open seat and challenger races is through candidate calling. Period. The candidate is the product and will reap profit if willing to fundraise. You will never receive if you do not ask, and a solicitation from the candidate is the strongest and most cost effective method of fundraising. Staff also needs to dedicate substantial blocks of time for fundraising.

Keep it simple, Stupid!

There are hundreds of ways to raise money. Your campaign should focus on approximately six or seven fundraising systems with maximum and minimum goals to achieve your overall revenue stream. Focus on systems that are the most cost effective and least staff intensive. Nine times out of ten, I know a campaign is in trouble when they tell me they are large event driven.

If you want the gold, you have to dig for it.

There are no magical lists (except for your own past contributors). Fundraising is hard work! Period! Candidates must tap into personal relationships, including social and professional, certain interests and past contributors. Often, campaigns believe that if they just mail Senator So and So's list that the flood gates will open and cash will roll into the campaign coffers. Simply not true! I have experienced campaign after campaign that have blindly mailed lists wasting thousands of dollars looking for that magic list. If you are a first-time candidate, and a fundraising firm is trying to sell you a great list, watch your wallet. Potential contributors have to be identified and targeted for specific amounts of money. If the candidate does not ask for specific amounts from individuals, then it is not a commitment on which the candidate can rely. How can you buy $300,000 of paid media down the stretch when you can not identify where it is early?

If you are serious about raising money -- particularly big money -- you have to invest in the proper fundraising staff and systems in order to achieve it. Just as you wouldn't start a small business without a budget and revenue stream, the same should apply to your campaign. If you do not, then you are kidding yourself! Avoid the pitfalls of fundraising and hire a professional, qualified fundraising firm early. They will put together your fundraising apparatus right from the beginning of your campaign so that in minimal time the kinks are worked out and you are well on your way to raising the money necessary to cover your budget. Go ahead and do it. Looking for magical shortcuts to raising a half million dollars is wasting precious fundraising time. Remember, bumper stickers and signs are fun, but it is money that wins elections. A solid fundraising system makes the difference between being a candidate...and being a winner.

Organizing Your Political Campaign: Assembling Your Political Campaign Team

2006-04-02T10:20:00.000-10:00

Benjamin A. Katz - 11/14/2005

www.completecampaigns.com

The size and nature of campaign staff varies greatly depending on the office sought and the resources available. A local campaign may be run completely by part-time volunteers while a national campaign could have a staff of hundreds.

Despite these differences and regardless of size, all campaigns must fill the same key positions While a smaller campaign may depend on a few people doing multiple jobs, it is just as important that all major roles of the campaign are occupied.

For any campaign, the three key jobs that must be fulfilled are fundraising, accounting and voter contact. If these jobs are not done well, the campaign cannot succeed.

The Fundraiser

Fundraisers are typically professional consultants. Smaller campaigns will often contract with a consultant that's working on several local races. Larger campaigns will often have a full time staff member working on fundraising and the largest campaigns will have several staff members in addition to consultants. These fundraisers will employ a variety of methods to raise funds, including:

- Drafting and overseeing direct mail and e-mail fundraising efforts
- Working with supporters to plan and host fundraising events
- Preparing call lists and meetings for the candidate with potential donors
- Soliciting Political Action Committees (PACs)
- Arranging for sitting elected officials and issue organizations to solicit their supports on behalf of the candidate.

While there is no absolute industry standard, most professional fundraisers are paid a modest monthly fee plus a 10 - 15% commission on total funds raised. While many fundraisers come to a campaign with their own list of potential donors, it is critical that the campaign maintains and builds a database of supporters and potential supporters. The more detailed information stored the more powerful and successful your fundraising efforts will be.

The Accountant (and/or Treasurer)

In most campaigns, accounting is handled by a single campaign treasurer or accountant. This may be a professional political accountant, a CPA, a full-time campaign staff member or a trusted volunteer or family member. Campaign finance reporting, while not extremely complicated, does have some very particular rules and it is critical that whoever is preparing the finance reports takes the time to learn and observe these rules. Mistakes can lead to fines and public embarrassment.

Depending on the office sought, a treasurer may be able to prepare the compliance reports by hand or with free software provided by the government agency, however it is almost always more cost-effective in the long run to invest in software that will help prepare reports quickly and avoid mistakes. The treasurer or accountant will also provide basic accounting services to the campaign including tracking total funds raised, cash-on-hand, budget details and should be able to provide these reports to the campaign as needed.

Voter Contact

While it is critical that a campaign raises money and properly tracks and reports this, the true objective of a campaign is voter contact. Voter contact is actually generally broken down into separate pieces based on the method of contact. The primary methods are:

-Field Operations
-Press Relations
-Direct Mail
-Television/Radio

Other areas, such as recorded or paid phone calls may also be a component of the voter contact.

The field and press efforts are usually handled by campaign staff while the others managed by hired consultants. Regardless of the exact breakdown of staff and consultants, it is critical that this division of duties does not lead to a division of message. A single brand is critical for the campaign's success.

Ideally, the campaign is also sharing a single database, so that the direct mail efforts directly tie into relationships developedd by volunteers working the field program. It is also very important that the campaign makes realistic decisions about the use of campaign resources. TV ads, while more powerful, are extremely expensive and do not allow the level of targeting that is possible with direct mail, field efforts and phone calls.

Other Positions in the Campaign

In some campaigns, there is a designated technology staff, or campaign geek. While it can be useful to have someone with technology skills on staff, technology has, in reality, become part of every job in the campaign. The fundraiser, accountant, field director and the rest of the campaign staff need to be using modern campaign tools. Everyone should share information through a unified database system and communicating via email. Likewise, the campaign geek may be in charge of the website but modern tools allow those who are directly in charge of the messaging to update the website without the extra step of going through the technology staff.

As a campaign grows and more resources become available, it may make sense to invest some of these into other specialists, in particular: polling and opposition research. These expensive consultants are well worth the money, just as long as you have enough left to make good use of their information. A polling firm should be able to tell you where and how to best direct your message. For example, it may be that women under 50 are very likely to vote for your candidate if they know about his or her position on education. Likewise, a research firm can tell you about important votes or actions of your opponent that might be important to let the voters know about. A research firm might also provide you with valuable information about your own candidate's background and how this might be used against your campaign.

Your campaign team is critical to the success of your campaign. Make sure the key roles are filled with professional and committed people (from management level all the way down to volunteers.) If they're working together for your campaign, you have an excellent chance of success.

Broken Trust - The Reason Why Change Is Needed In Hawaii

2006-04-01T00:42:00.000-10:00

Check out this book review by Ted Hong on the Hawaii Reporter website. As Ted said at the Hawaii County GOP Convention, if you don't stand up and throw the book in disgust while reading it, you are part of the problem.

Read this book, get upset and get motivated to change the destiny of our state and take leadership back from the arrogant scoundrels who thrive in the culture of fear.

John Kai

To read Ted's review, go to www.hawaiireporter.com

Strategery - A great book on "W".

2006-04-01T00:12:00.000-10:00

Strategery: How George W. Bush is Defeating Terrorists, Outwitting Democrats, and Confounding the Mainstream Media.
by Bill Sammon
Regenery Publishing, Inc.

I've just completed reading Bill Sammon's book and I walk away just fascinated and impressed with the resolve of President Bush in the face of tremendous criticism, lies, distortions, personal attacks and a concerted effort by mainstream media to derail the President and the Republican party at any costs.

From the lies of "Memogate" created by Bush-haters, Dan Rather, Mary Mapes, CBS and "60-Minutes". To the "Bush hates blacks and created Katrina" squeals of the inept Ray "School Bus" Nagin, feckless Gov. Kathleen Blanco, Sen. Mary Landriuex, Charles Rangel, Calypso Louie Farrahkan and the entire left-wing media. There is enough in this book to piss you off.

On the plus side is how the left, democrats and media continue to let their arrogance prove to be their undoing. They (the left) are not at all ashamed to point out how much more superior they are to the rest of us in the Red States, thus the title of the book, Strategery.

I especially loved the chapter on the National Conventions, "More Balloons". This juxtaposition of the Democratic National Convention and the GOP Convention, clearly lays out the comical differences between the right side (that's us) and the dark side (liberal left commies).

I encourage you to pick up a copy for your personal library. A great read!

John Kai

See the reviews and buy the book at www.amazon.com

Caspar Weinberger (1917- 2006)

2006-03-29T16:13:00.000-10:00

Washington, March 28, 2006 - Former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III, the Ronald Reagan distinguished Fellow in Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation, issued the following statement on the death of former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger:

"Cap Weinberger was a great leader of our country and a close personal friend. He devoted his life to public service, from his days as an Army officer in World War II to his outstanding work as Secretary of Defense. He led the efforts of President Reagan to rebuild our Armed Forces during the 1980's, and played a great part in achieving victory in the Cold War."

Hawaii County Republican Convention

2006-03-29T15:53:00.000-10:00

The Hawaii County Republican faithful met for it's annual convention on Saturday, April 25th at Honoka'a Tex-Drive Inn, home of the world famous Malasadas.

With over 50 people in attendence, this was indeed a successful event that was highlighted by our special guest speaker, Senator Bob Houge.

Governor Lingle's East Hawaii Liaison, Dylan Nonaka was elected the Chair to represent the Big Island delegates at the State Convention in May. He then assumed the duties of master of ceremonies to keep us on track and introduced the terrific candidates who each got up for a few remarks. Candidate Brian Jordan (House District #4) brought the house down with his passion and dry wit. Other candidates who gave remarks included, Bill Sanborn (House District #7), Roger Evans (House District #5), as well as two additional candidates who exuded the excitement and optimism that embodies all Republicans throught our great nation.

Another highlight was the motiviational talk provided by Ted Hong, Hawaii's very own "Zell Miller". Ted gave a very inspirring and motivating talk about the task at hand and the opportunities that await if we are willing to work hard enough to seize the moment.

The meeting adjourned after enthusiastic comments from newly elected County Chairman, John Kai, who asked the group to recall why they align themselves with the Republican party and to never forget the ideals of integrity, optimism, self-reliance and a can-do spirit that emodies all conservatives throughout the islands!

The Hawaii County Republican Party Executive Committe that was elected at the convention are:

Chairman - John Kai
East Hawaii Vice Chair - Charles Ensey
West Hawaii Vice Chair - Bill Sanborn (interim)
Treasurer - Chris Schlueter
Secretary - Marie Ruhland

Question For The Day...

2006-03-28T08:39:00.000-10:00

What is your vision for the Republican Party in Hawaii?

Give this question some thought and post a comment. Your input is critical in helping to shape the future of our party, your party, for generations to come. We have momentum, let's keep the energy going!

Upcoming Events

2006-03-27T20:52:00.000-10:00

Tuesday, March 28 @ 8:00 am - TOMORROW!!!
Hawaii Innovation Center at Hilo - Conference Room
117 Keawe Street
Hilo, HI 96720
Guest speakers, Dick Rowland of the Grassroots Institue and Aric Nesbitt of Americans for Tax Reform will be presenting a discussion of National Tax Reform issues, challenges, ideas and strategies.

Tuesday, April 4
Prince Kuhio Plaza
Election Department Headquarters
Deputy voter registrar classes. Must RSVP at 961-8277 to attend.

Friday, April 7 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Firehouse Restaurant
Hilo, Hawaii
Peter Carlisle to speak about his possible run for the 2nd Congressional District as a Republican candidate.

Saturday, April 8 & Sunday, April 9 @ 9:00 am - 9:00pm each day.
Hawaii Pacific University
Honolulu, Hawaii
Leadership Institute Election Campaign Bootcamp. A workshop run by Congressman Steven Stockton (R-TX) and Congressional Candidate Dan Quiggle (R-FL) and Ryan Nichols of the Cconservative Leadership Institute of Washington, D.C. Purpose is to jumpstart your way to a successful campaign. Target audience is anyone currently working on a campaign, candidates, staff members, etc.

Monday, April 17 @ 5:00 pm
Hawaii Naniloa Hotel
Hilo, Hawaii
Governor Lingle's campaign bash and appreciation event.

Friday, April 21 & Saturday April 22
Hawaii Republican Party Headquarters
Honolulu, Hawaii
Candidate training.

Saturday, May 27 & Sunday, May 28
Honolulu, Hawaii
State GOP Convention

Great start for a great party!

2006-03-27T20:22:00.000-10:00

Wow! What a productive meeting and a chance to meet with like minded people that are not willing to let life happen but instead choose to make things happen! Tonight's meeting was very productive in so many ways.

Tonight we accomplished the following tasks:

We nailed down the names of people who will lead us in organizing 4 out of the 7 districts.
We identified a strong list of outstanding individuals who we believe would make excellent candidates to represent the Republican party and our conservative ideals.
We began to flesh out the objectives of the County GOP organization.
We have introduced our preferred method of communication and dissemination of information - this blogspot.
We shared the list of upcoming events to generate interest and to begin to get the word out about the GOP party that is on the move.

To learn more about how you can get involved and be a part of the process and solution instead of complaing about the problems, email or contact me and we can connect you with a dynamic bunch of people.

Aloha,

John Kai

Check out the links....

2006-03-27T17:25:00.000-10:00

FreeRepublic, Heritage Foundation, Newsmax, RealClearPolitics and more!

If you are looking to hook up with like minded people who have thoughts to share about issues that mean a lot to you and are in sync with your personal ideals as a conservative, then check out the links to a few of my favorite blogs and sites. I think you'll like what you'll find.

Monday GOP Meetings

2006-03-27T17:20:00.000-10:00

Calling all Hawaii County Republicans!

A group of us meet each Monday afternoon at 5:30 pm at the home of Frank DeLuz located at 330 Huali Way, Hilo, Hawaii 96720. BYOB and your ideas.

Welcome to GOP Hawaii County Blogspot!

2006-03-27T16:26:00.000-10:00

Save this site to your favorites and add a comment or suggestion for topics of discussion, entertainment or just to start a conversation.

www.gophawaii.blogspot.com

Enjoy and contribute at will.

Aloha,

John Kai
Hawaii Republican Party
Hawaii County Chair
jkai@hawaii.rr.com