Now you see it, now you don’t: Hawaiʻi Senate Education Chair Donna Kim seems hell-bent on reforming the state’s long-beleaguered K-12 school system. Kim, who has for years been the powerful overseer of higher education in Hawaiʻi, took on public schools this year, too, when it became apparent to people who were paying attention that Sen. Michelle Kidani needed some help.

The Sunshine Blog has no quibble with Kim’s renewed vigor when it comes to getting the Department of Education on a better path, including her sharp-eyed (and sharp-tongued) criticism of how the DOE is spending its considerable amount of taxpayer money. Somebody needs to do it and who better than Kim, who has spent her decades in the Legislature studying education and finances.

But the way Kim and her allies on the committee are going about it is raising some eyebrows, and not just The Blog’s. Kim’s original overhaul, Senate Bill 3334, sailed through the Senate but stalled in the House last month, probably not coincidentally in the face of strong union opposition, effectively killing it.

Since then Kim has made at least two efforts to revive major change by gutting other measures and replacing them with key elements of the original reform proposal, notably one that would bring an end to the DOE’s practice of bringing on top superintendents through temporary hires.

On Monday, the Senate Education Committee is scheduled to take up a resolution, House Concurrent Resolution 181, that began life as a way to expand access to Hawaiian immersion programs. The concurrent resolution, introduced by Rep. Trish La Chica, originally asked the education department to create a plan for establishing a Hawaiian immersion school in Kapolei.

But the new version says nada about that and instead makes a case — again — for why it’s necessary to make DOE toe the line when it comes to temporary hires. The Legislature approved the concept of temporary hires for a good reason, the reso argues, and the DOE has been ignoring that.

“WHEREAS, this interpretation of the statute is harmful, as the Department of Education could perpetually renew positions in one-year increments, effectively nullifying existing statutory safeguards for legislative scrutiny, and is inconsistent with the purpose of the statute and the overall statutory scheme of laws pertaining to the Department of Education that ensure legislative oversight, fiscal accountability, and transparency.”

Earlier this month, another bill, House Bill 2567, that was intended to create a fund to invest in early learning programs, was stripped and replaced with Kim’s vision of reforming top DOE leadership, including the superintendent cap and requirements for the state education board to regularly evaluate the performance of complex area superintendents. 

Critics, including the attorney general, warned that the revised bill risked running afoul of a 2021 Supreme Court ruling essentially prohibiting gut-and-replace tactics. Still it passed the full Senate too and is now headed for conference committee which begins this week.

Numbers game: The Blog can only assume Kauaʻi Mayor Derek Kawakami is delighted with new poll numbers that are being circulated showing him doing significantly better in his bid for lieutenant governor than the current officeholder, Sylvia Luke.

No need to repeat the details of Luke’s troubles, which Blog readers know all too well (she’s in real political trouble, read more here). And now two recent polls shared with The Blog for obvious reasons would seem to confirm that. And yes, these are both polls done by the candidate himself or the people supporting him so take them with a huge pile of grains of salt.

The first was done March 25-31 by For A Better Tomorrow, the Pacific Resource Partnership/Carpenters Union super PAC that is hoping to oust Luke in the Democratic primary. Sample size was 800 likely Democratic primary voters statewide via landline, cellphone and online surveys with a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

The poll, by Tulchin Research, has Kawakami at 54% to Luke’s 26% with 19% undecided. The narrative accompanying the numbers suggests the research shows that Kawakami is relatively well known statewide (which had been a question given what happened the last time a Kauaʻi mayor ran for statewide office) and that while Luke is better known, Kawakami is better liked.

“In conclusion, the poll shows Derek Kawakami entering the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor in a commanding position, anchored by a decisive lead and a strong well-defined profile,” the poll says.

A second poll conducted April 6-9 for Kawakami’s own campaign puts him at 55% to Luke’s 19% with 27% undecided.

That one included 600 statewide likely Democratic primary voters collected with a similar methodology with a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

This survey, by the national polling firm Panterra, also asked if Luke should be reelected or if voters prefer a different candidate, no matter who. Nearly half, 49%, want someone else, 23% said she should be returned to office and 28% said they’re not sure.

Read the polls yourself:

And even more numbers: It seems like this is the time of election year when politicians are worried about their numbers. No one has been more skittish recently than Gov. Josh Green who has rightly been concerned that his LG’s political dark cloud might rain on him, too. Even though they run separately in the primary the governor and lieutenant governor candidates who emerge in August are stuck with each other on the same ticket come November.

But not to worry, Gov. A new Morning Consult poll out this month shows you just as beloved — perhaps even more so — than ever.

The national political firm checks on the favorability of elected officials throughout the country every quarter. In Q1 of 2026, Green “is the strongest-performing elected official in Hawaii. His net approval jumped from +24 to +38 between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026 — normalizing his standing and outpacing both of the state’s U.S. Senators, in sharp contrast to President Donald Trump’s deeply negative standing in the state,” Morning Consult says.

Green’s approval rating stands at 64% — up from 56% — at the end of last year, which Morning Consult calls “broad-based improvement” and means “he’s converting persuadable voters into supporters.”

Luke’s political plunge has been playing out since February, well within the Q1 survey period, when she acknowledged taking thousands of dollars in campaign contributions in 2022 that she had failed to report. She did the surprising mea culpa — and finally reported the donations — four years later, after Civil Beat found out about them and asked her.

The first quarter of 2026 has not been nearly so kind to Luke as it has been to her boss. See above item on Kawakami polls.

Spooking up donors: And since we’re on the subject of the 2026 elections, U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda wants you to think the GOP cares about her race against Brenton Awa, the Republican state senator who’s hoping to square off with her in the November general election. She recently sent out a fundraising email warning about the creation of a new federal super PAC in Hawaiʻi. 

What’s more, she said, this one has ties to Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman now Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, and George Santos, the former GOP congressman and fraudster whose prison sentence was commuted by the president. 

“It’s clear National Republicans are looking for an opening here, and we could see dark money pour into this race at any moment,” Tokuda’s pitch said. “But with your support, we won’t give them an inch.”

Tokuda didn’t name the super PAC in her pitch for money, but The Blog will. It’s Hawaiʻi Voter Coalition and the treasurer is Thomas Datwyler, a GOP financial consultant who’s no stranger to controversy. Datwyler has been the treasurer for several of Gabbard’s PACs over the years and was also caught up in the scandal surrounding Santos and his many fabrications. 

So far, the Hawaiʻi Voter Coalition has yet to report raising any money, much less spending it.

The Blog doesn’t think Tokuda has much to worry about in a state as deeply blue as Hawaiʻi. Perhaps her concern stems from her 2022 primary race against Patrick Branco. If you’ll recall, the outside money pouring in reached historic levels, yet Tokuda won the race handily. 

Seems to us this is all just a play to spook up more donations.