Woo vs. Harmon - Witness Ed Case

David C. Farmer, Successor-Trustee vs. Harmon

(Formerly Woo vs. Harmon & Nicholson vs. Harmon)

U.S. District Court For the District of Hawaii

—

DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

ED CASE

U.S. Congressman (D) from Hawaii’s Second Congressional District, which encompasses all of Hawaii except Urban Honolulu; formerly an associate, partner, and managing partner with the law firm of Carlsmith Ball in Honolulu, Hawai; served as a law clerk to Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice William Richardson, and with Hawaii’s State Department of Labor.

Washington DC Office
115 Cannon HOB, Washington D.C.

Fax: 202-225-4987

E-Mail: ed.case@mail.house.gov

Honolulu Office
5104 Prince Kuhio Fed. Bldg., Honolulu, HI 96850

Fax: 808-538-0233

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NEW DISCOVERY (04-15-08):

Connecting the dots...

David Farmer...Steven Guttman...Brian Schatz...Barack Obama...Oprah Winfrey...Hillary Clinton...Linda Lingle...John McCain....AIPAC...Punahou School...Kamehameha Schools...Dee Jay Mailer...The Global Fund...Henry Paulson...George W. Bush...Haunani Apoliona...OHA...Daniel Akaka...Dan Inouye...Stephanie Case...Dan Case...Steve Case...Jeffrey Case...Aon...The Nature Conservancy...Greg Dunn...Judith Neustadter Fuqua...etc...ad infinitum...

http://www.midweek.com/content/paina/image_full/2090/

~ ~ ~ NEW DISCOVERY (12-02-07):

June 21, 2007

Former Congressman Ed Case, Young Entrepreneur Matt Longfellow, Join Small Business Hawaii Board

By Sam Slom

The Directors of Small Business Hawaii (SBH) unanimously elected two new members of the SBH Board: Ed Case and Matt Longfellow.

Small Business Hawaii (SBH) is going through a major reorganization and part of the process is the introduction of new board members. The SBH board adopts policy positions and activties for the 2,000 business member group, founded in 1976 by Lex Brodie. Board members are volunteers and unpaid.

Former U.S Congressman Ed Case, has joined the Board of Directors of Small Business Hawaii, effective July 1. Case, a Democrat, served in the Hawaii State Legislature for 8 years, then in the U.S. House. Last year he challenged U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka in the Democrat primary. While in Congress, Case was a member of the Small Business Committee and has been a staunch defender of small business rights in Hawaii....

SBH is also preparing to launch a 501©(3) Educational Foundation. (SBH is a 501©(6) non profit corporation).

Continuing members of the SBH Board include; Joyce Edwards, The Systemcenter, Inc.; Walt Harvey, East O'ahu Realty; Andrew Mertz, Andy's Pool Service; Matt Muccio, Techniques Hawaii, Inc.; Jack Schneider of JS Services, Bob Sigall, Creative-1/The Companies We Keep; Sam Slom, SMS Consultants, and Geal Talbert, Legacy Group Hawaii.

Retiring from the board after many years of community service are: Wayne Fukuda of Wheatgrass Pacifica; Mike Marsh of Case Lombardi & Pettit; and John Yanagihara of New England Financial.

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Ed Case is expected to testify regarding his public statements in the “Broken Trust” Forum held on July 5, 2006, as reported in Small Business News, and excerpted as follows:

'Broken Trust' Forum Calls for
Release of Corruption Documents

By Malia Zimmerman
HawaiiReporter.com

The full story of the corruption that permeated Hawaii's $10 billion charitable trust, the Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, to the highest levels of government in Hawaii, has never been told.

But the information that has become public is categorized by 60 Minutes as "The biggest story in Hawaii since Pearl Harbor;" by The New York Times as "A feudal empire so vast that it could never be assembled in the modern world;" and by Howard M. McCue III, the Chairman of the Charitable Planning Committee for the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, as "The most significant legal dispute of our time ... a tale of unbridled ambition, infectious greed, and high drama ... ."

This saga, involving Bishop Estate trustees, state Supreme Court justices, a former governor and leaders in the Hawaii State Legislature, peaked in 1997.

However, nearly one decade later, critics say there has been no accountability for the many influential people who wrongfully took advantage of Princess Pauahi Bishop's charitable trust - a trust she established in 1884 to fund the education of Hawaiian children, not to fatten the pockets of politicians and trustees.

University of Hawaii Law Professor Randall Roth and U.S. Federal Judge Samuel King, co-authors of a newly published book, Broken Trust: Greed, Mismanagement and Political Manipulation at America's Largest Charitable Trust, documented the story of the trust from its inception 100 years ago through current times.

At a July 5 forum hosted by Small Business Hawaii, and moderated by Hawaii Reporter, Roth and King shared their thoughts on what led to the extensive problems at the Bishop Estate and what still needs to be done to ensure there is justice and accountability for past wrongdoings.

Joining them were four other prominent Hawaii citizens who played a major role in pushing for reforms including Hawaiian attorney Beadie Dawson, former Honolulu Star-Bulletin Managing Editor Dave Shapiro, former Campaign Spending Director Robert Watada and Congressman Ed Case....

Before the 90-minute panel wrapped up, the panelists shared some of the following insights from their experiences:

Congressman Case was a freshman state legislator in 1995 when he tried to make two major reforms related to the Bishop Estate - take the Supreme Court justices out of the trustee selection process and limit trustee compensation to what was “reasonable” - both of which made him forceful enemies within the legislative leadership, the court and the Bishop Estate.

“I got nailed pretty bad,” Case says of his first attempt in 1995.

The Hawaii Supreme Court justices admitted that they were split on whether they should be in the business of appointing trustees because of perception of cronyism and favoritism.

In 1997, Roth, King and three other well-respected Hawaiians signed their name to a compelling essay entitled “Broken Trust” that documented the power, influence and wrongdoing in the highest levels of the Bishop Estate and the Hawaii government.

Shapiro, then the managing editor of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, published the oped, which rocked the very core of the Hawaiian, political and legal communities.

That was the final catalyst for all but one justice - Robert Klein (now an attorney/lobbyist for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs) - to voluntarily step aside from the duty.

Case’s bill to limit trustee compensation also passed, despite major obstacles. At the time, trustees were making more than $1 million a year.

The House, which had Bishop Estate-backed leadership, including House Speaker Joe Souki, and Reps. Terrance Tom and Calvin Say, agreed to a bill that would study the issue. But the Senate sides with Case in establishing compensation limits. In a highly unusual move, Case moved to suspend the rules and adopt the Senate version. Because of extensive pressure from the Hawaiian comunity, the media and the public, the House agreed to the bill by a vote of 50 to 1 with Rep. Say (who is presently the House Speaker) as the one dissenting vote.

Now, as a Congressman for the second district who is running for U.S. Senate against Sen. Daniel Akaka, Case has distinguished himself from his opponent on this issue. Akaka was sympathetic with the ousted trustees, while Case pushed for more accountability and less compensation. Today, Case says there are still “broken trusts” in Hawaii, which need to be addressed....

A great deal of the information Roth and co-author Judge King used to write the Broken Trust was given to them by Watada, the director at the time of the state Campaign Spending Commission.

But Roth says there are still between 1 million and 2 million more documents sealed by the courts that he wants to review and catalogue and believes should be made public.

He hopes trustees will some day be held accountable for their mismanagement. But that is unlikely: they did not pay legal fees for the most part, they took millions of dollars for themselves, they paid off political cronies with trust funds, and held what Roth calls a "world record for breaches of trust."

Roth and King maintain the Broken Trust saga is not over, and neither are the problems for Kamehameha Schools if further safeguards and reforms are not implemented....

< END OF QUOTATION >

Star Trex

Boosting Maui’s military-industrial complex

By Anthony Pignataro

This paper gets a lot of press releases from U.S. Congressman Ed Case (D, 2nd District). Most are pretty routine and, frankly, somewhat dull—a couple recent ones dealt with Case calling for more stringent “federal ag inspections” and his new bill that would add “Hawaii macadamia nuts to country-of-origin labeling,” respectively. But on July 21, 2005, Case’s office faxed over one release that definitely caught our eye.

“Congressman Ed Case today said the U.S. Department of Defense’s Missle Defense Agency has awarded a $48 million contract to develop cutting-edge missile defense technology at Trex Enterprises locations in Lihue, Kauai and at the Maui Research and Technology Center in Kihei, Maui,” stated the release.

By itself, the announcement of a firm winning a relatively tiny Defense Department contract ($48,594,922 to be exact) isn’t exactly news. Trex, based in San Diego, California, has earned millions in DOD contracts for the last five years. But the release’s next paragraph was different.

“This contract further demonstrates the growing value of Hawaii’s high-tech industry and the important role it’s continuing to play in strengthening the security of our country,” the release quoted Case as saying.

Remember when Democrats—especially Hawai’i Democrats—used to be liberal? Used to say government was spending too much money on war and not enough on homeless people? Used to call missile defense an endless boondoggle and Cold War relic that will never work? Whatever happened to those guys?

Anyway, Trex Enterprises isn’t like Boeing—the granddaddy of all defense contractors—but they make a few bucks now and then off the high-tech weapons our armed forces are increasingly addicted to. DOD contract announcements show that since 2000 the company has made more than $100 million doing work for all the armed services.

For instance, in 2002 the company got $6.2 million from the U.S. Navy for work on a “radio frequency shift to better suit the needs of the warfighting community.” A year later, the U.S. Army was paying them $5 million for “advanced radio frequency technology.” In 2004, Trex worked on a satellite-imaging program for the U.S. Air Force ($25 million) and optical sensor equipment for the Navy ($5.6 million).

Formed in 1978, the privately owned firm employs 150 people, who actually own two-thirds of the company. Trex has offices in four states, including our lovely Hawai’i. The company first came to Maui in 1991, when it began research and development at the Maui Space Suveillance Site atop Haleakala.

To great fanfare, on April 21, 2000, the company opened a million-dollar office in Kihei’s Maui Research and Technology Center. No less a personage than longtime “liberal” U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye (D, Hawai’i) showed up on opening day.

“I hope that this manufacturing will further enhance the quality of life of the people,” he said, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin account of the festivities published the next day.

Trex has worked hard to get such attention. So far, the company has donated $10,000 to the National Republican Congressional Campaign (NRCC)—$5,000 in 2000 and another $5,000 two years later. In addition, corporate officers like CEO Kenneth Tang have donated more than $36,000 to various congressmen since 2001.

Hawai’i’s elected representatives have done very well for themselves, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Responsive Politics. Senator Inouye has accepted $10,300 from Trex officers in the years since he helped dedicate Trex’s Kihei office. Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D, 1st District) has cashed $3,250 in checks from Trex employees. And Congressman Case, who first alerted us to the company’s new $48.6 million DOD contract, took $1,000 from Trex CEO Tang on March 10, 2005. MTW

http://www.mauitime.com/story.aspx?story_id=668

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Ed Case is expected to testify regarding his business, professional, political and personal relationships with Judge Alan Kay, Judge David Ezra, Ray Fuqua, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Dan Case, Steve Case, AOL, Jeffrey Case, Aon, Stephanie Case, The Nature Conservancy, Judge Barry Kurren, Faye Kurren, John Marshall, Aloha Airlines, Colbert Matsumoto, Earl Anzai, Lyn Anzai, Linda Lingle, Bob Awana, John McCain, George Wackenhut, Richard Helms, Barack Obama, Henry Paulson, James Nicholson, Carol Muranaka, David Farmer, James Cribley, Ted Pettit, Grove Farm, Guido Giacometti, John Garibaldi, and others to be named upon discovery.

As an elected U.S. Representative, Ed Case is also expected to testify regarding the Defendant’s First Amendment Rights of Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion.

Internet References:

Documents, Letters, News Articles and Related Links

www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Ed-Case-8-4-6.htm

www.smallbusinesshawaii.com/2006/Aug2006-3.html

www.kycbs.net/Bishop6.htm

www.kycbs.net/RICO-BH.htm

www.kycbs.net/EdCase-NW-Islands.htm

http://starbulletin.com/2006/06/16/news/story01.html

http://starbulletin.com/2006/06/27/news/story05.html

www.kycbs.net/TOC-Case-Young-Thompson.htm

www.kycbs.net/HawaiianAtolls.pdf

http://wwwa.house.gov/case/