Mufi threatened President with retaliation!

[Frankie's Market]

People are beginning to talk about it, even if the mainstream print and broadcast media outlets are ignoring it. All I can say is, thank goodness to the blogosphere for letting us know.

Hawaii Reporter

Hawaii Free Press

Mayor Mufi rushed over to Hanauma Bay the moment he learned that President Obama and his family was there last Dec. 29 during his visit to Hawaii. This was on a Tuesday, when the park is normally closed off to the public. No doubt, Mufi thought his status as mayor would allow him free access to the bay and give him yet another photo op with Obama.

When told by Secret Service that he would not be allowed in there, the Mayor blew a fuse and threatened to pull out all the city employees working at Hanauma Bay.

When Secret Service would still not budge, Mufi relented, settling for the parks manager to be allowed in. But still fuming over being turned away by the president's security detail, he let slip a quote to Politico correspondent Carol Lee.

“All I was there for was to make sure — I never even wanted to go down — my guy was told he couldn’t go down, he’s the head of the bay, so I had to straighten out the White House staff and say, ‘He goes down; this is our city,’” Hannemann said defensively.

"Straighten out the White House Staff?" "This is our (in Mayor Mufi speak, he actually means my) city?"

If the Mufster thinks he can bully and intimidate the president's staff to get his way, it makes me shudder at the thought of how this man will conduct himself as the executive-in-chief of this state.

[scrivener]

Re: Mufi threatened President with retaliation!

The record will show that I am no fan of the mayor, but he's probably right about this one. Was the President's staff trying to block the city's access to its own grounds without prior arrangement? That seems undiplomatic.

[Adri]

Re: Mufi threatened President with retaliation!

What I also find odd and objectionable, if it's true, is that a neighborhood board member would be threatened with sanctions and that an apology would be demanded of him for simply asking about the incident.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Mufi threatened President with retaliation!

The record will show that I am no fan of the mayor, but he's probably right about this one. Was the President's staff trying to block the city's access to its own grounds without prior arrangement?

One one hand Scrive, the idealistic, populist side of me sees your point.

But my practical, realistic side prevails.

You want the President's staff to make prior arrangements with city officials to visit Hanauma Bay? Now, stop and think, really think about that for a moment.

Do you realize that a confidential, unannounced itinerary is, in and of itself, a vital security measure in protecting the President?

If the President's itinerary is publicly announced, that is inviting a lot of trouble. People with good and bad intentions would try to conceal themselves in areas where visits are planned.

Oh, I know that the President's staff could have just told Mayor Mufi about the visit to Hanauma Bay and told him to keep it under his hat. But this isn't fun and games here. We are talking about providing protection for the leader of the free world! Loose lips sink ships, as history has shown us time and time again. Ultimately, it's not the mayor or the Hanauma Bay manager who is responsible for the President's well-being. That responsibilty falls upon Secret Service. When JFK was shot down, it wasn't the Dallas mayor and police chief who were grilled before Congress. It was the Secret Service agents.

So AFAIAC, if the Secret Service feels that keeping Obama's visit to Hanauma Bay on Dec. 29 a secret from everyone outside of the Presidential entourage (including city officials) was in the best interests of security, you can't question it.

That seems undiplomatic.

Undiplomatic? Oh, boo-hoo! The security and protection for the First Family easily outweighs any concerns I have for the mayor's feelings getting hurt.

Interesting that you haven't addressed my earlier concern about Mayor Mufi threatening to withdraw all the city workers at Hanauma Bay as a response to being turned away from the park by the Secret Service. Think about it. In all the years that the USSS has been in charge of protecting the President, no doubt there's been many times when that agency has clashed with local officials on how best to handle a Presidential visit. But no matter how a disagreement is ultimately resolved, you can't have state/local officials deliberately being uncooperative and derelict in their duty just because they don't see eye-to-eye with how the Feds decide to go about it.

My goodness! If a mayor clashes with Secret Service over some petty jurisdictional matter, does anyone else here find it an appropriate response for that mayor to suddenly tell the local police officers to withdraw their services in protecting the Presidential motorcade and to go on home? Ai-yai-yai!

What I also find odd and objectionable, if it's true, is that a neighborhood board member would be threatened with sanctions and that an apology would be demanded of him for simply asking about the incident.

A friend of mine who attended that Pearl City neighborhood board meeting said that state Rep. Mark Takai intervened after board member Chris Lum Lee had the city's spokesperson (Sandra Sagisi) all flustered with the questions regarding Hannemann's personal conduct and statement in the Politico.com article. Takai is in Mufi's pocket. But whatever. Chris wasn't intimidated in the least by Takai's empty threats.

[MyopicJoe]

Re: Mufi threatened President with retaliation!

...told by Secret Service that he would not be allowed in there...

You see what happens when you fail to rename a state park after the prez? Me thinks it's a message for Mufi to do a lot more a$$ licking. Time to bust out the shoyu, local boy.

Was the President's staff trying to block the city's access to its own grounds without prior arrangement?

I'm guessing if Mufi threatened to remove staff from the bay, then at least the necessary workers had access to do their jobs. Then the question becomes how necessary that park manager was to the operation of the bay, for one day while it was being managed by the Secret Service? Was Mufi's main concern really manager's access, or was it just an excuse to save face?


On a tangent, a guy I talked to claimed he was no longer able to work in Hawaii after Mufi's brother blacklisted him. Supposedly the guy warned Mufi's brother about the inadequacy of some equipment, Mufi's brother ignored him, and there was a technical snafu which marred our great singing mayor's performance. Of course this was just his side of the story, so I just filed it way in the back of my head, but my general opinion of politicians is this:

Only the punks and bullies can handle being in politics for years. Those with a good heart get burned out and don't last long. The corrupt will close ranks, to keep the boy scouts out.


On yet another tangent, we had a tour of Punahou. We were shown a piece of cement where Obama scratched in "King Obama", when he was a student there.

[TuNnL]

Good job, Mufi!

The record will show that I am no fan of the mayor, but he's probably right about this one. Was the President's staff trying to block the city's access to its own grounds without prior arrangement? That seems undiplomatic.

I know that the President's staff could have just told Mayor Mufi about the visit to Hanauma Bay and told him to keep it under his hat. But ... AFAIAC, if the Secret Service feels that keeping Obama's visit to Hanauma Bay on Dec. 29 a secret from everyone outside of the Presidential entourage (including city officials) was in the best interests of security, you can't question it.

Bull! I question it, and every responsible Honolulu citizen would do well to question it. I’m with Scriv on this one. Just what expertise does the the Secret Service think it has when it comes to ocean currents? Let’s not forget this park is not just shut down frequently for maintenance, but for serious threats to public safety. From the mundane jellyfish invasion to the more urgent tsunami alert, Hanauma Bay manager Alan Hong plays a critical role in addressing unpredictable threats the natural elements may pose to public safety. If the Secret Service learned a valuable lesson, it’s that they need to stop bullying local officials if they hope to be effective at working together to protect the President.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Mufi threatened President with retaliation!

I'm guessing if Mufi threatened to remove staff from the bay, then at least the necessary workers had access to do their jobs. Then the question becomes how necessary that park manager was to the operation of the bay, for one day while it was being managed by the Secret Service? Was Mufi's main concern really manager's access, or was it just an excuse to save face?

Indeed! Contrary to your screen-name, you're not myopic, Joe. You're seeing things picture perfect.

Furthermore, if the mayor has a straight-forward and logical explanation as to what happened that day at Hanauma, then why isn't he and his spokespeople responding to Chris Lum Lee and Malia Zimmerman's inquiries into the matter?

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Good job, Mufi!

Just what expertise does the the Secret Service think it has when it comes to ocean currents? Let’s not forget this park is not just shut down frequently for maintenance, but for serious threats to public safety. From the mundane jellyfish invasion to the more urgent tsunami alert, Hanauma Bay manager Alan Hong plays a critical role in addressing unpredictable threats the natural elements may pose to public safety. If the Secret Service learned a valuable lesson, it’s that they need to stop bullying local officials if they hope to be effective at working together to protect the President.

Fine, if you want to buy into the idea that Mufi drove out all the way to Hanauma, just to get the park manager in. Alan Hong's presence might just make the snorkeling experience a safer one for the Obamas.

But there's one problem with this "Mufi, the pure-hearted altruistic" scenario. If his main concern for coming out all the way to Hanauma was just for the President's safety and nothing else, then why did he make the threat of pulling out all the city workers from the park if he didn't get his way? How is an extreme response like that supposed to convince anyone that Mufi was truly concerned for the Obama family's safety and wellbeing?

And THAT, ladies and gentleman, is the reason why the Mufster is not answering any questions and stonewalling the matter.

[Random]

Re: Mufi threatened President with retaliation!

Obama snubbed a local. Why is that not a surprise?

[Ron Whitfield]

Re: Mufi threatened President with retaliation!

Sounds like Obama doesn't care for/trust the Mufinator.

[Walkoff Balk]

Re: Mufi threatened President with retaliation!

In the words of Mufi Hannemann, "Nobody says "no" to Mufi Hannemann."

[scrivener]

Re: Mufi threatened President with retaliation!

You know, I guess it's a measure of how safe I think Hawaii is that I never even considered the security concerns. Of course that's what it was. But when the President dines at a restaurant, does the Secret Service keep the manager out? That part still seems a little weird.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Mufi threatened President with retaliation!

You know, I guess it's a measure of how safe I think Hawaii is that I never even considered the security concerns. Of course that's what it was. But when the President dines at a restaurant, does the Secret Service keep the manager out? That part still seems a little weird.

On the surface of it, it does sound wierd. Of course, there's a lot of facts about the incident that we're not privy to as yet. Unless Mayor Mufi wants to be more forthcoming about what actually happened. (Anytime you're ready to explain why you were threatening to send all the city workers home, Mufi, I'll be listenin'. )

But this much, we know for sure. Hanauma Bay is normally closed to visitors on Tuesdays and the staff there wasn't expecting any "special guests." Since Tuesday is the one day of the week the bay is closed, it's quite conceivable that this was the manager's day off and he wasn't expected to come in..... that is, until a little birdie told him that the President was there. If he dropped whatever he was doing and rushed over to the park, one can easily imagine Alan Hong being kept out by Secret Service if he wasn't carrying his employee ID/credentials with him. Let's face it. After the White House crashers incident, the Secret Service definitely does not want to go through a repeat performance.

Hong was eventually let in, so at some point, his identity must have been established. But the agents didn't let the mayor go in with him. And that was probably why Goofy Mufi was so steamed.

[turtlegirl]

Re: Mufi threatened President with retaliation!

FM, with all due respect, it seems to me that you have made yourself some sort of 'pet thread' where you can vent your displeasure with the mayor. I think so because you talk back at every comment, inject some conjecture and spin, and then finish it with some more Mufi bashing. We get it, you don't like the guy! Let the story come out naturally, wouldja.

Examples-
"...rushed over to Hanauma Bay the moment he learned that President Obama and his family was there..."
"...No doubt, Mufi thought his status as mayor would allow him free access to the bay and give him yet another photo op with Obama..."
"...the Mayor blew a fuse..."
"This is our (in Mayor Mufi speak, he actually means my) city?"

So, um, please, I'd appreciate if you just stuck to proven facts, and don't embellish quite so broadly.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Mufi threatened President with retaliation!

FM, with all due respect, it seems to me that you have made yourself some sort of 'pet thread' where you can vent your displeasure with the mayor. I think so because you talk back at every comment, inject some conjecture and spin, and then finish it with some more Mufi bashing. We get it, you don't like the guy!

Ha ha! Guilty as charged.

And in the interest of added disclosure, I will also admit my decidedly negative feelings about K. Mark Takai.