Fake it til you make it: Well, so much for that Hawaiʻi law that was supposed to keep deepfake political material out of the elections here. U.S. District Court Judge Shanlyn Park ruled last week that it’s OK for The Babylon Bee (literally a fake news site) and local conservative activist Dawn O’Brien to publish totally made-up stuff including photo-shopped pictures of political candidates.

The Legislature in 2024 passed a law prohibiting deceptive media unless it was accompanied by a disclaimer that screamed the legalese equivalent of “this is totally false.” The Babylon Bee, a national conservative-leaning political satire site, and O’Brien sued contending among other things the law violated their First Amendment rights to publish whatever they feel like.

In a 38-page ruling, the judge agreed even though she recognized that the Bee’s content is knowingly not true, later becomes mistaken for truth and has been “denounced and/or censored for spreading misinformation, conspiracy, and purportedly hateful content.”

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But the state law “discriminates based on content and speaker and, in doing so, restricts constitutionally protected political speech, making Act 191 presumptively invalid and subject to strict scrutiny,” Park wrote.

The ruling notes that the very helpful Babylon Bee suggests other things the state could do to counter the complete B.S. it was planning to spread. Those things include starting “a government database or committee dedicated to tracking and flagging materially deceptive content” or, hey, just explain what is true when the Bee or others spoof a political figure.

The judge also liked the Bee’s idea that the state could increase “electoral literacy” by launching educational campaigns teaching people how to spot deceptive political content. That, in fact, might be more effective in the long run than a ban on B.S., as the state’s expert also noted. Unfortunately, it “would require a larger investment of resources” than a ban, the ruling says.

To which The Blog says: Just do it already. The First Amendment is here to stay and really terrible deceptive political speech seems to be, too. The Blog, for one, would rather see the state spend money on a great public service like an easily accessible fact-checker of political misinformation than, say, a new Aloha Stadium.

The Babylon Bee touted the ruling as a righteous blow against Hawaiʻi’s “satire censorship law.” The Attorney General’s Office, predictably, had nothing to say except it was reviewing the ruling.

Read Park’s ruling here:

Fraud fighter: Back about 10 years ago, federal prosecutor Colin McDonald was a regular visitor to Hawaiʻi where he was helping Michael Wheat lead the public corruption cases against former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, his wife, Katherine, and a bunch of other cops.

Now McDonald, currently an associate deputy attorney general, has been tapped by President Donald Trump to join the administration’s battle against fraud.

“I am pleased to nominate Colin McDonald to serve as the first ever Assistant Attorney General for National FRAUD Enforcement, a new Division at the Department of Justice, which I created to catch and stop FRAUDSTERS that have been STEALING from the American People,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, according to a story in The New York Post.

He still needs Senate approval.

Resolution evolution: A large dark cloud continues to hang over the State Capitol. But hey, it makes for news stories and Blog items, so The Blog is cool with it.

The sad saga of the “influential state legislator,” as the U.S. Attorney’s Office deemed them in a now-much-reported court memo, is the tale that happily does not seem to be going away anytime soon.

On Friday, the House took up two resolutions relating to the case of the person who took $35,000 in a paper bag, as the FBI recorded it. House Resolution 8, drafted by House leaders who have been trying to position themselves as the earnest concerned good guys in this situation, urges state Attorney General Anne Lopez to “prioritize and expedite” her Johnny-come-lately investigation into the mystery lawmaker. That resolution passed on a voice vote.

But the House took no action on House Resolution 9, which was offered by the scrappy underdogs. Introduced by Rep. Kanani Souza, a Republican who usually plays with the Democrats, it would establish a House investigative committee to probe the alleged transaction to determine if laws or rules were broken, and whether existing anti-corruption safeguards are adequate.

Souza is part of a group of obstreperous House members who are willing to buck leadership on certain issues. She and Democratic Rep. Della Au Belatti have been urging the AG and House leadership to investigate the potential bribe-taking by one of their own for months.

They were basically ignored until the whole issue picked up steam (thanks, Ali Silvert!) with a formal petition to the Legislature to empanel an investigative committee with subpoena power that could compel testimony, primarily from former Rep. Ty Cullen, who was sitting right there recording the whole deal for his FBI handlers when the money changed hands.

Souza said Friday that her proposal would be referred to committee, “where we don’t know what’s going to happen at that point.”

We do know that both the House and the Senate have yet to address Silvert’s petition, which was signed by more than 900 Hawaiʻi residents and dozens of other people from out of state. Lawmakers are expected to vote on that petition (i.e., likely to kill it) sometime … soon.

Some Democrats argue against an internal investigation, which could blow back on them if people think they are covering for one of their own.

House Judiciary Chair David Tarnas, who argued for the HR 8 on the House floor, is one who acknowledges that the whole thing reflects badly on all lawmakers and is “personally outraged by any illegal conduct by our colleagues in the House or Senate.”

He said the issue needs to be addressed as quickly as possible, and said he expects the professional staff in the attorney general’s office will do that.

“This body does not have all of those powers and authorities,” Tarnas said. “We can investigate our own members and discipline our own members, but we don’t have the authority that the attorney general has to follow through in the full process.”

Meanwhile, the bag of money has some (wobbly) legs in the Senate, where all the three Republicans in that chamber introduced a resolution last week urging the Senate to initiate its own investigation.

“Transparency, oversight, and public inquiry are essential components of ethical governance and are necessary to preserve public trust and ensure adherence to the rule of law,” the reso states.

The majority Democrats in the Senate offered a collective shrug, having already said they will wait for the AG to do her work.

Look who’s running: Monday marks the first day for Hawaiʻi folks considering running for office this year to begin the filing process. The deadline is June 2, and there are more than 100 offices up this year.

Of course, there are already many announced candidates for the Aug. 8 primary election, including a growing field of folks willing to take on Maui Mayor Richard Bissen, who has already announced for a second term.

Last week Denise La Costa, a former member of the Maui Planning Commission, said she’s running in the nonpartisan contest. La Costa joins Maui County Councilwoman Yuki Lei Sugimura and Justin Herrmann, who calls himself an entrepreneur and community organizer.

Spoiler alert: Sugimura is considered to have a great chance of unseating the incumbent mayor. The Blog hears early polling shows Bissen with serious negative numbers in general and that a head-to-head survey showed Sugimura winning.

In the House, meanwhile, our former columnist Danny de Gracia is seeking the Republican primary nomination for the District 39 (Royal Kunia, Village Park, Honouliuli, Ho‘opili and Waipahu) seat. We hear the current seat-holder, GOP Rep. Elijah Pierick, has decided to run for the Senate District 19 seat (Pearl City, Waipahu, West Loch Estates, Honouliuli, Ho‘opili) recently vacated by Henry Aquino and now occupied by Rachele Lamosao, who is already running to keep the seat.

De Gracia is a Department of Health program specialist. Civil Beat readers will recall he quit writing for us last year when he was selected for the Carpenters Union training program for candidate wannabes. Maybe that means Be Change Now and Pacific Resource Partnership will throw some kālā his way and possibly their considerable political muscle.

That all might bode ill for Corey Rosenlee, the Democrat who has already said he is running — again — for the House D39 seat. Rosenlee is a Campbell High School teacher and former head of the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association who has lost twice to Pierick, most recently two years ago by a mere 11 votes.

The primary is still more than six months away and The Blog’s head is already spinning.