The silence is deafening: The Sunshine Blog was probably not the only one that eagerly read all 24 pages of the attorney general’s blockbuster indictment Friday of Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke and four others to see — finally — what the heck was up with the most talked about public corruption case in, well, at least a year. (Google Donna Leong, Max Sword, Roy Amemiya, Keith Kaneshiro et al.)

But The Blog is definitely not the only one astounded that Attorney General Anne Lopez wouldn’t answer any questions about the long-awaited development even though she called a press conference shortly after the grand jury wrapped up. In fact, she and her deputies practically ran from the room after she thanked her staff for a job well done.

The Blog is calling total BS on this one. Especially after Lopez has kept everyone dangling for months with bi-weekly press releases that touted her commitment to transparency. She owes it to the public to at least take questions and answer the ones she can and tell us why she can’t talk about other things. Turning on her heel and walking away is unacceptable.

For starters, here’s a few things we are wondering (and she ought to be following the public comments on the news stories that came out Friday if she wants to know the public’s concerns):

• What happened to the $35,000 that the feds said in a court document were “provided” to an “influential state legislator” at a meeting on Jan. 20, 2022? That’s the day the indictment says Luke had dinner at Morton’s steakhouse with Rep. Ty Cullen, lobbyist Tobi Solidum and his stepdaughter, Kristen Pae, and took two $5,000 checks from Solidum and Pae.

The indictment includes a transcript of the dinner conversation in which Solidum promises to get Luke $35,000 and even $70,000 for her campaign. But that’s not what the feds said in the court doc that was used to get Cullen a lighter sentence since he was such a helpful snitch and recorded the meeting (among other things).

• What happened to the paper bag? On Nov. 10, 2025, Hawaiʻi U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson doubled down on this tantalizing tidbit and wrote a letter to House Speaker Nadine Nakamura saying: “I can clear up some confusion generated by the partial unsealing of the Cullen filing. The filing references a ‘chargeable bribery offense’ and many have erroneously arrived at the conclusion that this is a reference to the ‘approximately $35,000 in funds’ mentioned in previous paragraph of the motion. To clear up any misconception, the referenced ‘bribery offense’ is unrelated to the $35,000 in the paper bag. Put another way, the so named ‘influential state legislator’ was not involved in the ‘bribery offense’ alluded to in the filing.”

The AG’s indictment (which is in large part based on evidence collected by the FBI and handed over to her in February after much public outcry) doesn’t mention a paper bag.

• Why didn’t the U.S. attorney take on this case years ago, as part of the investigation into Cullen and former state Sen. J. Kalani English? Luke was running for LG at the time and this seems like something the voters might have wanted to know. Sorenson’s letter to Nakamura says this whole incident involving dinner with Solidum did not involve a “chargeable bribery offense.” Yet the AG’s indictment lays it out as a pretty clear bribery case against Luke.

• Why isn’t Kristen Pae being charged with anything if she handed over a $5,000 check alongside her stepdad ostensibly for the same reason, allegedly to get Luke to push through state money for Covid testing his company was doing?

• What is happening with the supposedly ongoing investigation that the feds are still doing? The one where Civil Beat has filed a lawsuit because the federal government won’t turn over the investigative files on Cullen and English because prosecutors insist doing so would blow whatever case(s) is still in the works. So who’s next? And when?

What a mess, right? Doesn’t it seem like a bunch of lawmakers and staff were coincidentally cashing checks from different lobbyists for years? Are the cases of English and Cullen and Milton Choy (the late Honolulu businessman trying to sway wastewater legislation) somehow connected, or not, to these new charges against Luke, former Rep. Ryan Yamane, Senate Ways and Means Committee staffer Ford Fuchigami, campaign finance manager Leo Asuncion Jr. and Solidum (a Honolulu businessman, who has skipped town, trying to sway funding for Covid testing)?

And who else is out there that state and federal investigators know about but still aren’t telling us? With two weeks to go before an election that likely will decide who’s in office for the next two or four years, doesn’t the public deserve as much information as possible? It’s not the first time the government has let a dirty lawmaker get elected.

As commenter Natalie Iwasa put it on a Civil Beat story Friday: “Any shred of public faith in government is very likely gone for a very long time. This is so very disappointing.”

By thumbing her nose at the press and public and declining to even discuss the case, Lopez is adding to that loss of faith in our government big time. And The Blog is certainly disappointed in her, too.

Let’s try this. Post your questions for the AG in the comments below or send to sunshine@civilbeat.org. We’ll add yours to our list and send them along and see if she answers.

Money, money, money: And speaking of pay to play, our friends over at the Hawaiʻi Carpenters Union are spending money hand over fist on the candidates they want to see win in the Aug. 8 primary. The list of electioneering communications on the state Campaign Spending Commission’s website is something to see. The Blog also checked the filings for 2024 and 2022 and can tell you that we’ve not seen anything like this before.

As defined by state law, anyone who spends more than $2,000 on a candidate and is spending money 30 days before the primary has to disclose that right away. This does not apply to candidates or candidate committees but it does apply to everyone else including PACs such as For A Better Tomorrow, which is the Carpenters Union super PAC that, as anyone who watches TV knows, has been spending heavily on Derek Kawakami’s race for lieutenant governor.

But since July 9, according to the state filings, For A Better Tomorrow has dropped nearly $2.5 million on advertising, including those mailers you’re starting to see in your mailboxes, on about two dozen candidates, including Kawakami (although it does not appear to include the cash for all those TV ads which likely will turn out to be much much more).

It’s impossible to tell how much money the PAC spent on each candidate from these filings, because they’re often listed as a huge chunk of change going to a mainland advertising firm to apparently produce material for a whole group of candidates at the same time.

The Blog is excited to see the actual campaign finance reports from all the PACs that are due on Wednesday, which should (emphasis on should) give us more detailed information. But alas, given Hawaiʻi’s late-in-the-game filing deadlines for this stuff many people will have already filled out their ballots by then so it might not do you much good if this is the kind of thing you care about one way or the other.

Still, The Blog put together this handy list of all the candidates Pacific Resource Partnership aka the Carpenters Union aka For A Better Tomorrow is supporting:

For statewide office:

• Derek Kawakami – Lieutenant Governor

For the Legislature:

• Tricia Nakamatsu – Senate District 13
• Donna Kim – Senate District 14
• Rachele Lamosao – Senate District 19
• Andrew Phomsouvanh – House District 21
• Ian Ross – House District 26
• Michael “Cov” Ratcliffe – House District 28
• Daisy Hartsfield – House District 36
• Loren Doctolero – House District 39
• Darius Kila – House District 44

For the mayor’s races:

• Bernard Carvalho – Kauaʻi Mayor
• Yuki Lei Sugimura – Maui Mayor

For the city and county council races:

• Tommy Waters – Honolulu City Council District 4
• Heather Kimball – Hawaiʻi County Council District 1
• Chantel Perrin – Hawaiʻi County Council District 5
• Eddie Ombac – Hawaiʻi County Council District 7
• Todd Ozaki – Kauaʻi County Council
• Dane Smith – Kauaʻi County Council
• Kauanoe Batangan – Maui County Council
• Ashley Lindsey – Maui County Council
• Derrick Cabiles – Maui County Council
• Tom Cook – Maui County Council

OHA and the two Akinas: He has served as a trustee for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs since 2014 and has run the influential Grassroot Institute since 2013. But Keliʻi Akina is not — repeat, NOT — on the OHA ballot this year.

In fact Akina’s current term as an at-large trustee is not up until 2028.

(Since OHA does not have term limits, who knows, he’ll probably run again. For instance, John D. Waiheʻe IV has been a trustee since 2000. And yes, the former governor with the same name is his pops.)

But there is another Akina on the primary ballot for an OHA at-large seat this year: Adrian (Kealii) Akina. He lives in Puna on the Big Island, has been an educator for over 30 years and teaches Hawaiian history.

“While our names are similar, we are different people,” Akina (the trustee) explained in a recent press release.

How to avoid long lines: Some Hawaiʻi residents insist on standing in line on election day to cast their vote. On Aug. 8, the primary day, Honolulu Hale and Kapolei Hale will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., as will the major voting locations in each county.

But remember: The polls can’t close until the last person in line votes and the results can’t be announced until after the last voter has voted. The Blog remembers what happened just two years ago, when it took several excruciating hours for that to happen.

The Blog is begging you. Please. Vote early. The traditional newsroom pizza is very cold when we have to stay til midnight — or later — to write up the results.

The Blog, then, reminds Oʻahu voters as well as voters statewide that in-person election services like registration and accessible voting is available beginning Monday at voting service centers. The full list, locations and hours of operation can be viewed here.

If you want to save more time on voting, it’s advised that your voting information be updated ahead of time. You can do that online. There is also a voter guide online available in English, Chinese, Hawaiian, Ilocano and Tagalog.

And it is well worth your time to check out Civil Beat’s own 2026 Elections Guide, which includes the most helpful candidate Q&As in town. Those can easily be found through links on our 2026 Hawaiʻi Primary Ballot.

Chief Election Officer Scott Nago said in a press release, “We encourage Hawaii voters to adopt the mindset that voting is no longer a single-day event. Instead, voters now have an extended window of time if they want to vote in person.”