Friends in high places: The Sunshine Blog has been keeping an eye on the race for Honolulu City Council District 4, which has become one of the most interesting political battles this year as incumbent Tommy Waters fights off a challenge from his old political rival Trevor Ozawa. So far, Ozawa is mainly going after Waters for overstaying his welcome, arguing Waters has already served two terms and should be prohibited from running again. Not much in the way of issue discussion in this one.

That is all playing out in court where Ozawa is seeking a legal ruling on the matter. Meanwhile, The Blog happened to notice that Waters’ friends over at Pacific Resource Partnership and its For A Better Tomorrow super PAC posted an interesting poll earlier this month showing him leading Ozawa in the race 33% to 23% with a whopping 29% undecided.

The poll, by PRP’s longtime pollster Tulchin Research, would appear to be independent. But we all know how that works, especially considering Waters is a product of PRP’s Partners for Democracy program. The influential political organization — a consortium of the Hawaiʻi Carpenters Union and the 250 contractors who do business with it — makes no secret that the program is a training ground for potential political candidates and others who can further the union’s interests.

So is it really any surprise the PAC did some helpful polling and posted it on its website for Waters to “discover”? The Blog found no such expenditure for voter surveys on Waters’ latest campaign finance reports.

What was a bit more of a shocker is the blatant laying out of the path to political victory that Waters needs to follow that is a central part of the latest Tulchin poll. The survey notes that with 3 in 10 voters undecided the field could shift, presumably away from Waters, and goes on to helpfully provide a roadmap for him, including “several strong well-tested messages to drive home with these remaining voters.” This advice is teased out of how voters responded when asked about certain issues.

Those strong areas are, the poll says, affordability, clean water and public safety.

And yet, The Blog was still surprised to see Waters pretty blatantly following PRP’s free political advice at the expense of the taxpayers. In a classic example of an incumbent using his public office for messaging that — gosh, coincidentally — helps his campaign, the press releases from Waters’ City Council office have been coming fast and furious just as PRP advised.

The Tulchin poll was conducted June 22-27. The written summary is dated July 1. Here’s the suggested messaging it advises:

On July 2, Waters sent out his District 4 newsletter. “These days, families across Oʻahu are feeling the crushing and unabating pressure of rising costs,” his signed message begins. “Groceries, utility bills, insurance premiums, and housing costs (to name a few) are all creeping up in unison, making more of us work harder than ever just to make ends meet — and there are even more increases on the horizon.”

The newsletter prominently features a separate writeup on the fight over the sewer fee and the ʻĀina Haina Citizen Patrol Team (“keeping our community safe”).

On July 8, Waters’ office sent around a press release on emergency preparedness for Oʻahu and what residents can do to stay safe.

A second press release that same day touts Waters’ efforts to secure $7 million from the Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund to buy about 3 acres in the Wailupe area to protect cultural resources, including clean water.

On July 9, we got a press release about Waters’ plans to put working families first with a childcare tax cut.

On July 10, the press release from Waters’ staff was about how he was fighting rising costs with plans for expanded tax relief for homeowners and kūpuna.

On July 13, we have Waters again safeguarding clean water, natural lands and cultural heritage through the Wailupe deal.

On July 15, he is helping Oʻahu families make ends meet, according to the press release.

A quick peruse of Waters’ campaign website doesn’t show nearly as much of a push to get his messaging out there as is happening with the taxpayer-funded press releases.

The Blog is just thankful PRP isn’t doing the same thing for Waters it’s been doing for Derek Kawakami and flooding the evening news with relentless commercials promoting a surfing, dancing, chatting Kawakami as the next lieutenant governor.

Let the sunshine in: The big news out of the nation’s capital last week wasn’t that China had hacked the 2020 elections and cost Donald Trump the presidency (or whatever that was all about). Nope. It was that the United States might be finally on the verge of not having to change our clocks twice a year.

The U.S. House passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would keep the states that don’t opt out on Daylight Savings Times year round. The Senate is now considering the same measure.

Hawaiʻi and most of Arizona are the only states that don’t observe the practice and remain on standard time. And that is just how Hawaiʻi Reps. Ed Case and Jill Tokuda think it should be. Both voted against the measure, which passed by a wide bipartisan margin, 308-117.

Here’s what they told The Blog via our Washington, D.C., reporter Nick Grube, who passed their emails along:

“Hawai‘i Standard Time (HST) has been fixed year-round since 1967 because we felt that shifting our clocks twice a year to match the continental U.S. Daylight Savings Time changes was confusing and not relevant to our part of the country, and that doesn’t change under this proposal,” says Case. “Nationally, there’s a wide consensus that we should return to common time-zones year-round. The question is whether that should be Standard Time (for Hawai‘i five hours behind the East Coast) or Daylight Savings Time (six hours behind the East Coast). This legislation says Daylight Savings Time.

“I voted against it because for Hawai‘i, on balance, we are better off being closer timewise to the continent year round, including for families and businesses that regularly communicate throughout the continent. For many communities across the country, it is also the safer choice especially for children going to school in the mornings.”

And this from Tokuda:

“I voted against the Sunshine Protection Act because decisions about our national time standard should be guided by science and what best supports the health and well-being of the American people. For decades, Hawaiʻi has chosen to remain on standard time year-round because it provides the consistency that works best for our residents and businesses.

“I heard from many of my constituents who opposed making Daylight Saving Time permanent, citing concerns that a longer time difference with the continent would make it difficult to conduct business, coordinate with employers and partners, and stay connected with loved ones. Leading medical organizations like the American Academy of Sleep Medicine agree that permanent standard time is the healthiest choice for our biological clocks and the safest option for children commuting to school in the morning.

“For these reasons, I support the Sunshine for Our Kids Act. Making standard time the national standard is a practical step that would improve public health, reduce confusion, and provide greater certainty for families, businesses, and states like Hawaiʻi.”

There oughta be a law: Wednesday was Gov. Josh Green’s deadline to sign bills, let them become law without his signature or to veto them. All told, Green signed 265 bills, vetoed another and let one more become law without signing it.

The veto was for Senate Bill 3262, which came from Sen. Donna Kim, chair of the Senate Education Committee. It would have required the Hawaiʻi Teacher Standards Board (which opposed the bill, as did more than a dozen legislators) to submit three nominees for its executive director to the Board of Education and then have the favored nominee be subject to advice and consent of the Senate — namely, Sen. Kim.

Green rationalized that SB 3262 warranted further consideration due to the separation of responsibilities between the HTSB and the BOE.

The bill without a signature was Senate Bill 847, which sets up a three-year pilot program in the counties of Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi to allow qualified psychologists under supervision prescribe some psychotropic medications to patients.

Primary instructions: Some Hawaiʻi voters have already received their ballot for the Aug. 8 primary election, ahead of Tuesday’s scheduled arrival date. The Hawaiʻi Office of Elections now offers this advice to voters:

• Sign your ballot return envelope. Your signature is required for your ballot to be accepted.
• Return your ballot as soon as possible. Ballots must be received, not postmarked, by 7 p.m. on Aug. 8. Ballots received after the deadline cannot be counted.
• Track your ballot. Sign up for free ballot notifications at elections.hawaii.gov or call (808) 453-VOTE (8683) for assistance with enrolling. You’ll be alerted when your ballot is mailed to you and when your voted ballot has been accepted for counting.
• If you make a mistake on your ballot, do not attempt to correct it. Instructions are provided on your ballot on how to request a replacement.
• Ballots are only sent to active voters. If you have moved or changed your mailing address since the 2024 Elections, you need to update your registration. Update online at elections.hawaii.gov or complete a paper Voter Registration Application available at all state libraries and post offices.
• Accessible voting options are available for voters in need of assistance casting their ballot. You can request an electronic ballot or visit a voter service center to cast your ballot using accessible voting equipment.

The usual: And here’s Friday’s update from the Attorney General’s Office on you know what. One day she will surprise us! But not today.

HONOLULU – The Department of the Attorney General today confirmed that work continues without interruption on its ongoing public corruption investigation.

Investigators and prosecutors with the department’s Special Investigation and Prosecution Division (SIPD) are evaluating information as they work toward completing the investigation. The work underway requires them to carefully evaluate information and complete necessary investigative steps before reaching conclusions.

Attorney General Anne Lopez issued the following statement:

“Our investigators and prosecutors remain fully engaged and focused on bringing this investigation to a conclusion. They are doing the complex work necessary to ensure our decisions are grounded in verified facts and supported by the law. We remain committed to completing this investigation as expeditiously and responsibly as possible.”

The investigation remains active. The department cannot comment on specific evidence, investigative steps, individuals who may have been interviewed or contacted, subpoenas, notifications, or potential charging decisions.

The Department of the Attorney General will continue to provide biweekly updates in accordance with its commitment to public transparency and will provide additional information when it is appropriate to do so.

CORRECTION: A proposal to put a measure on the Maui County general election ballot to allow the county to publish meeting notices on the county website and not in the local paper is no longer under consideration by the Maui County Council.