Hawai‘i Elects Tea Party Candidate!

[TuNnL]

Berg wins Council District 1

Voter turnout was just 23 percent in the special election to fill Todd Apo’s seat

By B.J. Reyes

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 30, 2010

After an unsuccessful run for the state House, Republican legislative aide and tea party activist Tom Berg emerged victorious yesterday in the special election for City Council.

Berg, 46, will serve the remaining two years on the term vacated by Todd Apo, the former Council chairman who resigned last month to take a job with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in Hawai‘i.

[Frankie's Market]

With Rod Tam leaving office, voters were looking for someone to provide some comic relief in council proceedings.

[Kaonohi]

With Rod Tam leaving office, voters were looking for someone to provide some comic relief in council proceedings.

Oh, Frankie... had you only known beforehand. You'd be a shoo-in!

[matapule]

Voter turnout was just 23 percent in the special election to fill Todd Apo’s seat

Now there's a mandate if I've seen one!

[Menehune Man]

Tom Berg's YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/TBERGHAWAII

He's a good man with many ideas.

[Frankie's Market]

Voter turnout was just 23 percent in the special election to fill Todd Apo’s seat

Now there's a mandate if I've seen one!

And out of that miniscule 23% voter participation, Berg got a whopping 18%, while his top two opponents effectively split the Democratic/labor vote. In a couple of years, when the seat is up for grabs again through the city's normal "non-partisan" election process, reality will hit Mr. Berg if he's planning a long-term career on the council.

[Menehune Man]

...In a couple of years, when the seat is up for grabs again through the city's normal "non-partisan" election process, reality will hit Mr. Berg if he's planning a long-term career on the council.

Yes, you're right...
And we will see...

[TuNnL]

Tom Berg's YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/TBERGHAWAII

He's a good man with many ideas.

Mahalo, Menehune Man! I hope Tom decides to reach out to other conservatives on the Council like Ikaika Anderson and newly-elected Stanley Chang. Ernie Martin is at least a social conservative, so he may find common ground among the group.

I would expect Ann Kobayashi to continue her wishy-washy opportunist ways, but she seems to be supporting ultra-liberal Nestor Garcia for now. Tulsi Gabbard-Tamayo is the wild card as she is a card-carrying democrat, but so was former councilman Gary Okino before his very public defection. And we all know Gabbard-Tamayo’s father has a history with jumping ship as well.

As for the rest of the Democratic old-boy club — Romy Cachola, Breene Harimoto, and Garcia, they could find themselves in the minority when the dust settles. I like what Harimoto did on the BOE, though.

[Menehune Man]

Here's another youtube channel with various things that Tom is involved in.
http://www.youtube.com/user/berginhawaii

Here's a TV interview with Tom from 12/30/10.
http://www.youtube.com/user/berginha.../0/iLpviiVTUGU

[Menehune Man]

No matter what folks think of Tea Party'ers or Republicans, I think Tom Berg is truly trying to clean up Hawaii politics and generally make Hawaii better.

"Our State government is overcharging taxpayers by $300 million over the life of the rail surcharge to collect the rail transit tax. This political ploy to profiteer off of taxpayers will shortchange the rail project of $300 million needed for construction at a time when tax collections are down and federal funding for the rail project is less than assured.

We can address this looting of the public treasury. On March 28th, the City Council's intergovernmental affairs committee unanimously approved my(TOM BERG'S) resolution (read it HERE) to urge the State Legislature to stop making money off the rail project. I am pleased to report that THIS WEDNESDAY MORNING, APRIL 13TH, AT 8:30AM, the full City Council will be holding a special meeting to send a message to Democrat and Republican legislators that their scheme needs to end. Since 2007, $16 million per year has been skimmed off the top by our State Legislature, which has in turn been using the rail surcharge for neighbor island projects.
Link to more info

[salmoned]

Makes no sense at all to me. The city agreed to the 10% state skim when the surtax was passed, now they want to nix it. I've got a better idea, let the city nix the whole project, then we won't have to pay any of the GE surtax and the state won't be obligated to take their skim any more either.

Besides, why complain about the 10% skim? At least that money is staying in state (Unlike a lion's share of the funds contracted out to produce a rail system - Arrivederci Moolah!).

[TuNnL]

I think Tom Berg is truly trying to clean up Hawaii politics and generally make Hawaii better.

"Our State government is overcharging taxpayers by $300 million over the life of the rail surcharge to collect the rail transit tax. This political ploy to profiteer off of taxpayers will shortchange the rail project of $300 million needed for construction at a time when tax collections are down and federal funding for the rail project is less than assured.

We can address this looting of the public treasury. On March 28th, the City Council's intergovernmental affairs committee unanimously approved my(TOM BERG'S) resolution (read it HERE) to urge the State Legislature to stop making money off the rail project. I am pleased to report that THIS WEDNESDAY MORNING, APRIL 13TH, AT 8:30AM, the full City Council will be holding a special meeting to send a message to Democrat and Republican legislators that their scheme needs to end. Since 2007, $16 million per year has been skimmed off the top by our State Legislature, which has in turn been using the rail surcharge for neighbor island projects.

Makes no sense at all to me. The city agreed to the 10% state skim when the surtax was passed, now they want to nix it.

Not exactly. The city agreed they did not have the personnel to collect a percentage of General Excise Tax (GET), and therefore agreed to the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS) request to keep 10% of the rail tax for “administrative purposes.” Both Mayor Mufi Hannemann and Governor Linda Lingle took issue with this “palm greasing” request during the summer of 2005.

Later, it was revealed that DAGS needed barely half of the revenues collected, and in fact, was accumulating a surplus. Thankfully, our judicious members of the local media uncovered this fact, which forced the Lingle Administration to defend her agency. Who knows what would have happened to that money otherwise. The City & County of Honolulu has been demanding the return of these wrongfully allocated funds ever since.

[Menehune Man]

Here's a link to the latest news... Go Tom Go!
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/1...tate-lawmakers
Check out the video on the righthand side.

[salmoned]

Not exactly. The city agreed they did not have the personnel to collect a percentage of General Excise Tax (GET), and therefore agreed to the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS) request to keep 10% of the rail tax for “administrative purposes.”

Not exactly = exactly so!!!??? Everything you state after this quote above is meaningless drivel and you know it, too.

[TuNnL]

Not exactly = exactly so!!!??? Everything you state after this quote above is meaningless drivel and you know it, too.

Negative. It means plenty. But clearly, you are too clueless to understand it, so I will break it down for you. The state legislature (specifically House Speaker Calvin Say and Senate President Bobby Bunda) tricked the governor, the mayor and the city into believing that they would fix the GET tax collection law to eliminate the 10% skim over the summer — if Ms. Lingle either signed the bill, or allowed it to become law without her signature. As this article indicates, there is reason to believe the 10% skim was just temporary, until the legislature reconvened in a special session.

...Lawmakers have the option of meeting this summer to amend the bill to address Lingle’s objections, but the governor said they also could do it next year in their regular session...

(House Speaker Calvin) Say declined to speculate if Democrats in the Legislature would agree to Lingle’s conditions.

“I don’t know what is going to happen, but I would be open to some of the proposals she may have,” he said.

House Democrats will meet next week to discuss it.

Lingle said she wanted the bill changed so “that they will make it not only a county option, but that the county will implement, the county will collect and the county will assess — so the state won’t have any involvement.”

Lingle does not like the stipulation that 10 percent of the funds collected by the new tax be given to the state to pay for collecting the tax and sending it to the counties. She said the counties should be responsible for collecting the tax and spending the money.

Senate President Robert Bunda expressed some concern about Lingle’s objections but said, “I agree that certain corrections are in order.”

“The crux of the matter is a change in the bill that would allow the counties to administer and collect the tax themselves, thus allowing the counties to keep 100 percent of the tax increase, less the cost of collection,” said Bunda (D, Kaena-Wahiawa-Pupukea).

“We will address the governor’s concerns and her specific requests when she presents them to the Legislature next week,” Bunda said.

Again — Councilman Tom Berg is just trying to hold the state accountable. If you make a promise, you honor it. Well, maybe not in your world, salmoned. But at least in mine.

[salmoned]

Nonsense, the bill was passed, the deal was made, it's ALL in writing. All the jabbering [and newspaper articles] in the world doesn't change a contract -- and that's what we have here. If all these people were against the 10%, they shouldn't have passed the legislation. Plain and simple. To change it now is to hoodwink everyone that actively or passively agreed to it as it stands. There are no broken promises with regard to this matter because those alleged promises don't appear in the legislation. Rather, changing the legislation would result in a broken promise. You should get out of your tunnel more often, it might clear your understanding of what constitutes a promise in this context.

[Menehune Man]

May 04, 2011 - 05:02 PM | by The Hawaii Independent Staff

HONOLULU — City Councilmember Tom Berg has issued a press release sharply criticizing Mayor Peter Carlisle and City Council leadership for cronyism, ignoring the needs of West Oahu, and putting the interests of developers ahead of sound public policy.

Berg says that the rail project is not about transportation on Oahu, and cites the fact that there are no transportation experts nominated to the Honolulu Authority on Rapid Transit (HART). Berg goes as far as to call the way our City and State governments operate “sleazy.”

Below is the link to verbatim text of Berg’s official press release.

http://thehawaiiindependent.com/stor...ership-on-rail

[Menehune Man]

Presently it costs us taxpayers 9 million a year to run the 6 municipal golf courses...
Tom Berg believes the golfing fee should be raised so that the courses are self sustaining. What do you think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctpZeKeDWp0

[Ron Whitfield]

On the face of it, of course that sounds good/correct/just.
Why are we subsidizing them anyway, are they just getting a sweet deal for no great reason?
What if the hike drives away enuf payers to not maintain their existence, couldn't that in many aspects make it even worse for eveyone?

TP's seem to go blindly for cutting off the nose in spite of the face.

[matapule]

Presently it costs us taxpayers 9 million a year to run the 6 municipal golf courses...

Okay, that's all well and good. But, MM, can you tell me how much tax revenue and jobs to hotels and restaurants and related tourist industry is generated by those who come to HI to play on those 6 golf courses. Berg is taking a simplistic approach to the issue. MM, can you give me the rest of the equation?

I'm very suspicious, nay outright incredulous, at Berg's easy answers approach to simplistic solutions to complex issues. Don't be seduced, MM, by the populist approach for political gain. Berg has yet to prove credibility in matapule's opinion.

[salmoned]

Whoa Matapule! If you want to make a point, it's up to you to do the research, not your ostensible opponent. It may be a good debating tactic, but we all see right thru ya[hoo].

[Ron Whitfield]

it's up to you to do the research, not your ostensible opponent.

That's his point, I think, maybe MM hasn't done his homework fully on the repercussions of knee-jerk/emotional/hidden agenda cuts to promote a valid starting argument.

[salmoned]

A supposition is not a point, Ron. You and Matapule may suppose MM (and by extension, Berg) hasn't done his homework, but you are both proving you haven't done your own by not coughing up any pertinent facts or studies to support your speculation.

'I just don't trust simplicity', is not much in the way of valid arguments.

Reply to below: There's obviously no need for a reply, since neither of you have done more than yawn out loud.
[Good for catching flies, not for catching lies.]

[Ron Whitfield]

And until he replys, I won't spend more time on it.

[matapule]

Whoa Matapule! If you want to make a point, it's up to you to do the research, not your ostensible opponent.

Au contraire! MM is not my opponent, he is my friend. If he wants to convince me of his argument (or Berg's) they need to provide me with the rest of the story.

That's his point, I think, maybe MM hasn't done his homework fully on the repercussions of knee-jerk/emotional/hidden agenda cuts to promote a valid starting argument.

Thank you, Ron, exacty my point. Some people get it, some don't.