Updated: The Legislature is considering a bill to ban legislators from holding fundraisers during session.

The bottlenecks for power in Hawaii are obvious and the rewards for kowtowing are consistent.

What two former lawmakers did was so simplistic, obvious and tragically comical that it’s easy to miss the real point: Legal influence is another sign of American inequality.

Amid a new push for change, critics say the process surrounding legal campaign contributions urgently needs to be reformed.

As Scott Saiki put it, “We want to believe these kinds of things only happen on the mainland.”

The owner of a wastewater business has been a prolific campaign donor and received millions in sole-source government contracts over the years.

Democrats have such a complete lock on power in Hawaii — and Republicans are so marginalized —  that there may be little political fallout from even these egregious cases.

J. Kalani English and Ty Cullen are accused of accepting thousands of dollars to alter the course of certain measures in 2020.

The former Honolulu managing director and two other defendants have been charged with participating in a conspiracy to misappropriate government funds.

The $250,000 retirement payment to disgraced police chief Louis Kealoha was done legally, Leong’s attorney says.