THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRUSTEE
David C. Farmer, Successor Trustee
vs.
Bobby N. Harmon
(Formerly Mary Lou Woo vs. Harmon and James Nicholson vs. Harmon)
CV05-00030 DAE/KSC
United States District Court, District of Hawaii
Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang
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DEFENDANT’S WITNESS
DAVID C. FARMER
225 Queen Street, Suite 15A
Honolulu, HI 96813
E-mail: farmer001@hawaii.rr.com
David C. Farmer was appointed as Successor Trustee (to James Nicholson) on July 5, 2007; over the repeated Objections of Defendant that Mr. Farmer would be biased due to multiple conflicts of interest.
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SEE LATEST UPDATES AT
CV05-00030 - WITNESS: DAVID C. FARMER
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According to his biography, David C. Farmer received his law degree from William S. Richardson School of Law in 1985. Before forming his LLC company (2002-present), he was previously associated with Ashford & Wriston (1998-2001); Lynch & Farmer (1995-1998); Case & Lynch (1992-1995); Wagner, Watson & DiBianco (1985-1986); Carlsmith, Carlsmith, Wichman and Case (1984); Hawaii State Judiciary (1983-1984); and Hart & Wolf (1983); Trustee, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, 2000-2001. He is well known for his contributions to local theater as a director, actor and producer. He has performed in dozens of plays staged by Kumu Kahua, Manoa Valley Theatre, HAPA Theatre Company and Diamond Head Theatre, among others, as well as directed numerous productions, including his work with Solange & Associates, the group he co-founded with his wife Loren
David Farmer is also a member of the faculty of the Japan Association of International Management Society (JAIMS), in their Intercultural Management Program (ICMP) along with Michael Tanoue, and was a classmate of Kirk Cashmere, AIDS Activist (William S. Richardson School of Law, 1985).
David Farmer served as Executive Director of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts under Governor Ben Cayetano, and was fired due to complaints involving allegations of poor management and unethical conduct.
David Farmer has served as an appointee to the Bankruptcy Mediation Committee, along with Susan Tius.
David Farmer is an attorney for Aloha Airlines in their bankruptcy case.
David Farmer is an executive for Hawaii Public Radio. Corporate supporters of Hawaii Public Radio include a number of entities who are financially connected with this case, including The Kroll Foundation, Ashford & Wriston, AIG Hawaii, Alexander & Baldwin, Aloha Airlines, American Savings Bank, Bank of Hawaii, Castle & Cooke Hawaii, Kaiser Permanente, Marriott Hawaiian Hotels & Resorts, First Hawaiian Bank, Hawaiian Airlines, Hawaiian Electric Company, Maui Land & Pineapple, Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, Torkildson, Katz, Fonseca Moore & Hetherington, and University of Hawaii. (see http://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/biz.htm)
David Farmer is an associate of Milici Valenti Ng Pack Advertising, Nick Ng Pack, President & CEO.
CLIENT LIST FOR ASHFORD & WRISTON
Representative Clients
Department of Hawaiian Homelands
Hawai`i Medical Services Association
Hawai`i State Federal Credit Union
Kamehameha Investment Corporation
Roman Catholic Church in the State of Hawaii
The Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific
Territorial Savings & Loan Association
Title Guaranty Escrow Services, Inc
Title Guaranty of Hawai`i Incorporated
~ ~ ~
IN HIS OWN WORDS:
Book Review
Greed, Mismanagement and Political Manipulation at
America’s Largest Charitable Trust
by
David C. Farmer
Afterward
The author submits the following in the spirit of transparency and full disclosure in what continues to be the biggest small town in the Pacific.
I have lived in Hawaii since 1966. I was a student of Professor Roth at the William S. Richardson law school in the early '80s and worked closely with him on the 1998 Hawaii Bar Association Centennial Anniversary show when he served as HSBA president. I have also been his colleague when I taught as a visiting and adjunct professor at the school.
I was an associate and partner from 1986 to 1995 with the law firm of Case & Lynch, now Case Lombard! & Pettit, which traces its origin in1888 to William Owen Smith, one of the initial trustees under the will and also incidentally one of the architects of the overthrow of the monarchy.
I also was counsel with Ashford & Wriston from 1998 through 2001, one of the firms criticized by a court-appointed master for not seeing conflicts related to trustee misconduct, but also a well respected firm I know first-hand to have the most impeccable and highest ethical and professional standards.
Good friends include Wendell Brooks, who served two years as Kamehameha Schools' chief investment officer after the removal of the trustees; Rick Daysog, whose Honolulu Advertiser reports were specially acknowledged for their excellence; and Lavonne Leong, rightfully praised as the writers' "absolutely superb editor."
Finally, one of my oldest friends is Larry Kamakawiwo'ole, a Kamehameha alumnus and the courageous leader of the Kalama Valley struggle in the 1970s, described in Chapter 4 of the book but without identifying his name.
David C Farmer has served as an editor of the Hawaii Bar Journal and member of the Publications Committee since 1991.
He currently practices in the areas of bankruptcy, collections, and creditors' rights with his own firm, David C Farmer Attorney at Law LLLC.
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~rroth/untitled%20(1).pdf
See also:
DAVID FARMER’S CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
CV05-00030 - WITNESS: DAVID C. FARMER
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY (05-31-10): More undisclosed “cozy relationships” between George W. Bush, the bin Ladens, and others related to this lawsuit:
FROM...
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY (01-25-10): More evidence of “cozy relationships” and undisclosed conflicts of interest between the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Michael Mucasey, John Ashcroft, Eric Holder, Edward Kubo, John Goemans, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, Chief Justice William S. Richardson, Chief Justice John Roberts, Governor Linda Lingle, Governor George Ariyoshi, Governor John Waihee, Governor Ben Cayetano, Margery Bronster, Earl Anzai, Mark Bennett, Francis Keala, Larry Mehau, Sukamto Sia, Diane Plotts, Constance Lau, Bob Awana, CIA, FBI, IRS, Janet Hughes, Ron Rewald, Ken Starr, James Paul, John Peyton, James Nicholson, David C. Farmer, and other entities directly related in this case.
January 25, 2010
2 former staffers oppose Kubo
By Jim Dooley Advertiser Staff Writer
Included among an outpouring of support from judges, lawyers and prosecutors for the nomination of former U.S. Attorney Edward Kubo as a state judge were two harsh and critical letters written by assistant U.S. attorneys who used to work for Kubo.
The letters, from Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Inciong and Thomas Muehleck, were among dozens sent to the state Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee about Kubo's nomination to serve as a Circuit Court judge.
A hearing on Kubo's nomination was held by the committee Thursday and featured uniformly positive and glowing testimony from witnesses.
Neither Inciong nor Muehleck testified at the hearing, which was halted while Kubo was still testifying and will resume Thursday.
Numerous dignitaries of the legal profession, as well as political figures including Mayors Mufi Hannemann of Honolulu and William Kenoi of the Big Island, wrote to recommend Kubo as a judge.
Inciong said in his letter that Kubo improperly inserted the U.S. Attorney's office into a state court domestic violence case that involved two agents with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE.
In that case, ICE Special Agent Evelyn Delos Reyes Ramo obtained a restraining order in November 2008 against her former boyfriend, who worked as an immigration enforcement agent.
The restraining order, which is in effect until May, was granted after Ramo alleged that Jonathan Winnop threatened to kill her on multiple occasions and physically abused her by "punching, kicking, slapping ... spitting on me ... choking me with his hands, holding a knife to me ... and put(ting) his foot on my throat until I would pass out."
kubo's court brief
Kubo's office filed a "friend of the court" brief in the case in March 2009, which Inciong alleged was an improper attempt to "ease the conditions" of the restraining order against Winnop.
"The filing reeked on several levels and the true reason for the filing has yet to be revealed," Inciong wrote to the committee.
"It is ironic, to say the least, that if Mr. Kubo would be appointed to the bench it is my understanding that he would begin at the Family Court, a place where, less than a year ago, he attempted to intervene on behalf of a domestic batterer," Inciong wrote.
Kubo is expected to discuss Inciong's letter in testimony to the committee. He declined to discuss either letter written by his former employees.
State Sen. Sam Slom, R-8th (Kähala, Hawai'i Kai), a Kubo supporter, said Kubo testified at some length Thursday about Muehleck's letter, but said little about Inciong, other than to describe him as a friend and supporter of Muehleck.
Muehleck, a longtime federal prosecutor who has specialized in narcotics cases, disagreed with Kubo's policies at the U.S. Attorney's office, Kubo told the committee.
When Muehleck, a U.S. Army Reserve officer, returned to work in 2008 from a yearlong deployment to Iraq, he was upset to learn that a parking space he had previously used at the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area offices here was no longer available to him, Kubo told the committee.
He was so angry about the issue and other matters that at one point he said about Kubo, "If I had a hand grenade now I would frag him," Slom said Kubo testified.
workplace dispute
Kubo reported the incident as a workplace violence issue and tried to fire Muehleck when the prosecutor was in the middle of a narcotics and gambling prosecution trial.
Muehleck hired a private attorney and fought the dismissal after Kubo banished him from the U.S. Attorney's office. He worked for a year in temporary space inside the FBI office here and has since been reinstated.
Muehleck and his attorney, Charles Kleintop, have declined to discuss the matter.
In his letter to the Judiciary Committee, Muehleck wrote, "I can say without reservation that in my opinion Mr. Kubo is not qualified to serve as a judge."
He questioned Kubo's leadership abilities and knowledge of the law, saying, "Mr. Kubo has spent the last eight years building his resume at the expense of the people of this (federal) district."
Those letters were balanced against a near-avalanche of letters recommending Kubo for the judgeship.
Kubo, a Republican, served as U.S. Attorney for eight years but was replaced last year by Florence Nakakuni, a career prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's office here.
State Sen. Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Mänoa, McCully), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee, said senators have some concerns about Kubo's nomination. He said his staff will look into the criticisms before the next hearing.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20100125/NEWS01/1250320/-1/
# # #
See related exhibits at
http://sites.google.com/site/thecatbirdsnest/
* * * * *
DAVID C. FARMER PHOTO GALLERY
http://www.state.hi.us/sfca/annual_report_fy20002001.pdf
http://hawaii.gov/sfca/artreachwinter2001.pdf
http://www.facebook.com/people/David-C-Farmer/825545337
http://starbulletin.com/2006/05/31/features/berger.html
http://starbulletin.com/2006/10/13/features/story07.html
http://starbulletin.com/2006/11/09/news/berger.html
http://starbulletin.com/2007/04/24/news/berger.html
http://starbulletin.com/specials/uhfootball/2007/running-backs
http://starbulletin.com/2008/03/31/news/story01.html
http://starbulletin.com/2008/04/06/special/story02.html
http://www.hawaii.edu/biograph/biohi/doleguide.pdf
http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A17RJT7W9YSOMW
www.jamesmacarthur.com/TwentiethCentury/TwentiethCentury.shtml
http://www.geocities.com/themistyone/related_photos.htm
* * * * *
“AIG: THE AMERICAN IDOL OF GREED!”
“CONFESSIONS OF A WHISTLEBLOWER”
“GOOGLING IN THE CATBIRD SEAT”
“SECRETS”
“JOHN GOEMANS: CRUSADER FOR A COLOR-BLIND AMERICA”
* * * * *
No. 98-818
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Petitioner
v.
BENJAMIN J. CAYETANO, GOVERNOR OF
THE STATE OF HAWAI'I
Respondent
BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE
STATE COUNCIL OF HAWAIIAN HOMESTEAD
ASSOCIATION, HUI KAKO'O 'AINA
HO'OPULAPULA, KALAMA'ULA HOMESTEAD
ASSOCIATION AND HAWAIIAN HOMES
COMMISSION IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENT
Filed July 28, 1999
- - - - -
CONCLUSION
Amici respectfully request that the decision of the court
of appeals be affirmed.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawai'i, July 28, 1999.
William M. Tam
Counsel for Amici Curiae
Co-counsel for State Council of
Hawaiian Homestead Associations
and Hui Käko'o 'Äina
Ho 'opulapula
Co-counsel for Kalama 'ula
Homestead Association
* * * * *
JOHN GOEMANS: CRUSADER FOR A COLOR-BLIND AMERICA
* * * * *
* * * * *
KARL ROVE & THORNS IN THE ROSE GARDEN
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR THE BANKRUPTCY BUZZARDS THAT FLEW ALOHA AIRLINES INTO THE GROUND
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR JOHN WAIHEE + ROBERT BRUCE GRAHAM + DAVID FARMER
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR IMAGES OF THE FARMER & THE CATBIRD
* * * * *
GOOGLING FOR DAVID C. FARMER’S CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
* * * * *
GOOGLE MAPS TRUSTEE DAVID C. FARMER
* * * * *
MORE GOOGLING FOR DAVID FARMER AND ...
REPRESENTATIVE NEIL ABERCROMBIE
JUDGE EDEN ELIZABETH HIFO (fka BAMBI WEIL)
HAWAII STATE FOUNDATION ON CULTURE & THE ARTS
* * * * *
BOOK REVIEW OF
“BROKEN TRUST: GREED, MISMANAGEMENT AND
POLITICAL MANIPULATION AT AMERICA’S LARGEST
CHARITABLE TRUST”
By David C. Farmer
Hawaii Bar Journal, July 2006
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~rroth/untitled%20(1).pdf
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY (07/24/09): More undisclosed relationships between David Farmer, Steven Guttman, Robin Campaniano, Rey Graulty, Wayne Metcalf, Linda Lingle, James Nicholson, Jim Nicholson, Phillip Winn, John Waihee, Barack Obama, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Norm Brownstein, Larry Mizel, Leonard Millman, Gale Norton, Robert Rubin, Henry Paulson, The Nature Conservancy, Goldman Sachs, Chubb Group, AIG, HUD, AIPAC, HonFed, Investors Equity Insurance Co., etc.
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY (07-07-09): More of David Farmer’s undisclosed and unacknowledged financial and professional conflicts of interest with the University of Hawaii, including witnesses William S. Richardson, Eric Martinson, James Haynes, June Jones, Margery Bronster, Linda Lingle, Colbert Matsumoto, etc.:
January 5, 2009
Lingle names 5 new UH regents
Pacific Business News (Honolulu)
Gov. Linda Lingle has chosen five people to replace the University of Hawaii regents who had stayed on after their terms expired.
Lingle announced Saturday that the new regents are Dr. Ramon de la Pena, a University of Hawaii professor and agronomist who will serve as the regent from Kauai; Mark Fukunaga, Chairman and CEO of Servco Pacific; Dr. Chuck Gee, former dean of the UH School of Travel Industry Management; Eric Martinson, managing director and vice president of Tradewind Capital Group (a wholly-owned investment subsidiary of Island Holdings, Inc.) and Grant Teichman, a UH student majoring in history and political science.
Lingle was ordered by the Hawaii State Supreme Court in December to replace six regents whose terms had expired June 30, 2008.
Lingle has requested more time to find a replacement for the last regent.
The current regents are Al Landon, regent chairman, Honolulu seat; Howard Karr, Honolulu seat; Dennis Hirota, Honolulu seat; Ronald Migita, Honolulu seat; Artemio Baxa, Maui seat; James Haynes II, Maui seat; Carl Carlson, West Hawaii seat; Harvey Tajiri, East Hawaii seat; and Teen Rasmussen, at large seat.
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NEW DISCOVERY (06-11-09): More undisclosed relationships of David Farmer with Aloha Airlines, Blue Wolf Capital, Joshua Gotbaum, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Yucaipa, Judge Robert Faris, John Waihee, Ben Cayetano, AIG, Marsh & McLennan, Colbert Matsumoto, etc:
http://www.kycbs.net/Blue-Wolf.htm
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NEW DISCOVERY (06-07-09): Re: Undisclosed relationships of Steve Goodfellow, Linda Lingle, Mufi Hannemann, Charmaine Tavares, Hawaiian Telcom, Eric Yeaman, Walter Dods, First Hawaiian Bank, Bishop Museum, Timothy Johns, Mark Polivka, Carlyle Group, Sandwich Isles Communications, Robert Kihune, Gil Tam, Bank of Hawaii, Paul Allaire, Lucent Technologies, Paul Alston, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Carol Muranaka, David Farmer, Dan Inouye, Central Pacific Bank, Daniel Akaka, Neil Abercrombie, Norman Mineta, AIG, Aon, Colbert Matsumoto, Island Insurance Co., Roy Hughes, Colleen Hanabusa, Micah Kane, Larry Mehau, etc.
www.kycbs.net/Hawaiian-Telcom.htm
www.kycbs.net/SandwichIsles.htm
www.kycbs.net/Blue-Gold-Hawaii.htm
www.kycbs.net/Sandwich-Isles-Lucent-Maui-Co.pdf
http://www.bishopmuseum.org/images/pdf/Annual_report.pdf
www.buildingindustryhawaii.com/0903/BI039_FinanceBonding.pdf
www.hawaii.gov/gov/news/releases/2005/News_Item.2005-07-18.0029
http://www.ttsfo.com/sbcteis/feis/text/13.pdf
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File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Goodfellow Brothers, Inc. ▲. Grant Thornton Foundation .... Mr. & Mrs. Paul
D. Alston. American Council of Engineering. Companies of HI ...... Mr. Larry
Mehau. Mr. & Mrs. William J. Metzger. James K. Michishima, CPA ...
www.uhf.hawaii.edu/ROG/2007_Donor_Reg_List.pdf -
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERIES (05-15-09): More evidence of fraud, bad faith, racketeering, undisclosed conflicts of interest between David Farmer, Robin Campaniano, AIG, Goldman Sachs, Henry Paulson, etc:
ZOOMINFO PROFILE FOR ROBIN CAMPANIANO
www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=6773481
* * *
TARP: THE GREAT AMERICAN COVERUP
* * *
THE BUZZARDS IN CHARGE OF THE AIG BAILOUT
http://www.kycbs.net/AIG-Bailout.htm
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERIES (05-12-09): More factual evidence of undisclosed conflicts of interest between David C. Farmer, Bobby N. Harmon, Judge David A. Ezra, and other parties in this case:
Zoominfo Profile for Judge David A. Ezra
www.zoominfo.com/Search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=6425393
* * *
Zoominfo Profile for Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU
www.zoominfo.com/Search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=912950374
* * *
Zoominfo Profile for Trustee David C. Farmer
www.zoominfo.com/Search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=139713972
* * *
NEW DISCOVERY (05-07-09): Undisclosed conflicts of interests between David Farmer, Marc C. Tilker, Linda Lingle, Robert Katz, Greg Dunn, Timothy Johns, Steven Guttman, Honolulu Community Foundation, C. Brewer, Hawaii Nature Center, Bishop Museum, etc.
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Tilker-Marc.htm
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NEW DISCOVERY (05-01-09): More undisclosed conflicts of interest between AAA Arbitrator Judith Neustadter Fuqua, David C. Farmer, Governor Ben Cayetano, etc:
http://www.becketfund.org/litigate/HOKComplaint.pdf
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NEW DISCOVERY (04-27-09): Undisclosed conflicts of interests between David Farmer, Warren Price, Sharon Himeno, Matsuo Takabuki, etc.:
From Land and Power in Hawaii, by George Cooper and Gavan Daws:
Chapter 10: Oahu - Salt Lake
... Another sub-set of connections arose with city planning commissioners who voted to approve apartment zoning for Salt Lake, and later acquired a financial interest in the development. Commissioner Stanley T. Himeno in December 1964 seconded a motion to approve large-acreage apartment zoning around the lake. A year later he was among the first to buy into this acreage.
Commissioner Henry C.H. Chun Hoon in 1957 voted on a master plan for Salt Lake that included 40 acres for apartments. With a business partner in 1966 he bought two apartment-zoned lots within the area. At the time of purchase he was a member of the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals....
* * *
As for actual sitting councilmen, a number of time in the late 1960s and early 1970s, George Koga, Clesson Chikasuye and Matsuo Takabuki voted on master development plans for Salt Lake that included land owned by themselves, their secretaries, and Chikasuye’s father. They also voted for capital improvements and other zoning masters that had the effect of enhancing their investments.
Never during these votes were the investments disclosed...
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NEW DISCOVERY (04-27-09): More undisclosed conflicts of interest between David Farmer and Gensiro Kawamoto, Sharon Himeno, Renton Nip, etc.
http://luc.state.hi.us/comaui/a88-626united_realty_motion.pdf
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (04-26-09): More undisclosed conflicts of interest between David Farmer and Warren Price, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sharon Himeno, Ben Cayetano, John Waihee, Renton Nip, Judge Kevin Chang, etc.
Ex-Justice
Nakamura dies
He was a guiding force in Hawaii's
Democratic revolution of the 1950s
By Mike Yuen, Star-Bulletin
Former labor attorney and state Supreme Court Justice Edward Nakamura, widely regarded as a man of integrity unafraid to criticize abuses of power, died early yesterday at Queen's Hospital after undergoing open heart surgery.
Nakamura, 74, had suffered a heart attack Saturday, said his wife, Martha Nakamura.
Even after retirement in 1989 after nearly 10 years as an associate justice, Nakamura remained an influential figure. He played a key behind-the-scenes role in the crafting of the Aug. 9 "Broken Trust" opinion piece in the Star-Bulletin that spurred Gov. Ben Cayetano to order an investigation of the $10 billion Bishop Estate, one of the nation's largest charitable trusts. http://archives.starbulletin.com/specials/bishop/story2.html
"It was only after three meetings with Ed over pancakes at the Like Like Drive Inn that I started to see 'the whole picture,'" said University of Hawaii law Professor Randall Roth, one of the five authors of the essay. "Without his guidance, the project might never have gotten off the ground."
He provided needed insight
Nakamura provided insight into how things worked. "It was an insider's look at the Democratic power structure," Roth said. "He was fed up with the way things have evolved. He felt some people in recent years betrayed what the ideals of the Democratic revolution (of the 1950s) were all about. They were watching out for themselves rather than the ideals of their predecessors."
Roth added: "In his quiet but firm way, Ed always followed his conscience, even when that was certain to displease powerful people."
In 1993, Nakamura opposed then-Gov. John Waihee's nomination of attorney Sharon Himeno to the state Supreme Court, which drew fire because of her political connections and because her law firm represented her father, developer Stanley Himeno, in a questionable business deal involving the state pension fund.
Nakamura advised attorneys who publicly opposed Himeno's nomination, which was rejected by the Senate.
Resigned from board
That same year, Nakamura testified in the Senate's special investigation into the management of the state pension fund. He said that during his tenure as a fund trustee, a golf course deal was pushed by the then-chairman of the Employees' Retirement System, Gordon Uyeda, that would have provided a financial windfall for Uyeda's friend, developer Rodney Inaba.
When the pension board voted to purchase the Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley, Calif., Nakamura resigned in protest.
But the $31 million deal quickly unraveled with Waihee apparently playing a role in getting trustees to abandon the project.
A self-described liberal
Nakamura was born in Honolulu on Oct. 9, 1922, the son of immigrant laborers. A self-described liberal, he was one of the many Japanese-American veterans of World War II who went to college on the GI bill and joined the Democratic Party, helping it transform Hawaii into a society that offered more educational and employment opportunities for non-Caucasians.
Although he considered himself simply a "foot soldier" in the campaigns of John Burns, who would eventually become governor, many considered Nakamura to be a key architect of the Democratic revolution.
After graduating from the University of Chicago law school in 1951, in the same class with U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink, Nakamura joined Bouslog & Symonds, then the only labor law firm in Hawaii at a time when lawyers were fearful of representing workers. It was when McCarthyism fanned congressional investigations into organized labor in search of "subversive activities."
He was 'model attorney'
Martha Nakamura remembers that when her husband, who also served as a University of Hawaii regent, was asked to describe himself, "He always said he was a labor lawyer for 28 years. He always said that first."
Attorney Jared Jossem, former state Republican Party chairman who was Nakamura's legal adversary in about 50 cases, said: "He was a model attorney who represented his clients effectively and brilliantly.
"In developing proposals to legally change labor-management relations, he quietly worked the political side to get his clients' and his vision into legislation. He combined intellectual power with inordinate political skills."
Centrist view as justice
When Nakamura joined the high court, there were fears that he would be one-sided since he was a labor attorney with no prior experience on the bench. But that did not happen.
"As a justice, he adopted a more centrist view balancing the specific interests of unions and employers," Jossem said.
One of the high court's key decisions authored by Nakamura declared that an employer's written handbooks and policies can be considered binding contracts under certain circumstances. That protects workers not covered by collective-bargaining agreements or employment contracts.
Retired state appellate Judge Walter Heen, another co-author of the "Broken Trust" opinion piece, said: "Justice Nakamura will stand out in the history of Hawaii as one of its finest legal minds and one who possessed the highest concern for principle. His opinions reflect both those characteristics."
Retired Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice William Richardson, who served with Nakamura, all of the current justices, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, who served with Nakamura in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Gov. Ben Cayetano and attorney James King, Nakamura's former law partner, all praised Nakamura for his honesty, integrity and wisdom.
A mentor to many
Scores of legal professionals as old as the 69-year-old Heen and as young as 33-year-old state Rep. Scott Saiki (D, Moiliili) claim Nakamura as their mentor.
"I think he had so much integrity and wisdom, and he led by example," said Saiki.
Nakamura's nephew, attorney James Kawashima, 31, added: "He was very principled and always ethical. Sometimes that's rare in people and lawyers both."...
http://archives.starbulletin.com/97/09/12/news/story3.html
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (04-26-09): Undisclosed conflicts of interest between David Farmer, Sharon Himeno, Bishop Museum, Dan Inouye, Timothy Johns, Donna Tanoue, Haunani Apoliona, The Nature Conservancy, Suzanne Case, Faye Kurren, Mark Polivka, Dee Jay Mailer, Nainoa Thompson, Robert Alm, Neil Hannahs, Michael Chun, etc:
http://www.bishopmuseum.org/images/pdf/Annual_report.pdf
~ ~ ~NEW DISCOVERY (04-17-09): More factual evidence of fraud, bad faith, theft, racketeering, destruction of evidence, violation of civil rights, undisclosed conflicts of interest, etc:
April 17, 2009
Fannie Mae CEO to Run Bank Bailout
By JIM KUHNHENN, AP
WASHINGTON (April 17) - The White House turned to an experienced former investment banker Friday to run the federal government's $700 billion bank rescue effort, selecting the head of mortgage giant Fannie Mae as an assistant Treasury secretary.
Herbert Allison Jr., Fannie Mae's president and CEO, will replace Neel Kashkari, a holdover from the Bush administration.
Allison, who must be confirmed by the Senate, would bear the title of assistant Treasury secretary for financial stability and counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
He would be in charge of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the fund that has injected billions of dollars into banks in hopes of unclogging credit. He would inherit a program that has been sharply criticized in Congress and which banks have come to view warily because of the restrictions attached to receipt of its funds.
President Barack Obama's administration has been slowly filling Treasury positions, hindered by candidates who have either withdrawn from consideration or been caught up in the vetting process.
Fannie Mae, seized by federal regulators in September, is closely overseen by federal regulators, making the chief executive's job tough to fill in the private sector. The company, therefore, appears likely to turn to an insider as Allison's replacement.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Fannie Mae was expected to name Michael J. Williams, the company's chief operating officer and a longtime executive as Allison's replacement. Fannie Mae declined to comment.
Allison's selection presents the administration with yet another challenge. If Allison is confirmed, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be without chief executives. David Moffett, formerly Freddie Mac's CEO, resigned in March.
In Allison, the White House selected a former Merrill Lynch investment banker who became chairman of the retirement fund manager TIAA-CREF. Allison served as finance chief for John McCain's 2000 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. But politically, Allison has shown himself to be bipartisan in his allegiances, contributing to both Democrats and Republicans, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Since taking over in September at Fannie Mae, where he took no salary, Allison, the son of an FBI agent, developed a reputation for open-mindedness with consumer advocates, even those who have had an a contentious relationship with the giant company.
"Mr. Allison is well-positioned to lead the TARP," said Scott Talbott, chief lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, an industry group. "He has a wealth of experience with buying, selling, protecting, and managing assets to protect the taxpayer investment and strengthen the economy."
Some industry officials said that by pulling Allison away from Fannie Mae, the White House was signaling that TARP would remain a viable component of the government's stabilization efforts for the financial industry, even in the face of hostile lawmakers and wary bankers.
Bert Ely, a banking industry consultant, said Allison has the advantages of being a known quantity to the Obama administration who is "much more of a financial heavyweight" than Kashkari.
Plus, he said, the new job would likely be more of a challenge than running Fannie and Freddie, which have been operating under tight government oversight since last September. "In this new situation, he's going to be much more of a policy maker," Ely said. "I can understand why he would want to take it."
http://money.aol.com/article/fannie-mae-ceo-new-bailout-chief/433738
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (04/14/09): More undisclosed conflicts-of-interest between David C. Farmer, Steven Guttman, Paul Lynch, Judge Alan Kay, Dan Case, etc.:
February 27, 2009
Honolulu law firm files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
All but one of its seven attorneys leave, two start their own law firms
Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - by Linda Chiem
Honolulu law firm Lynch Ichida Thompson & Hirota has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and saw all but one of its attorneys leave the firm this week.
The general practice and civil litigation firm, which employed seven attorneys, filed for bankruptcy reorganization on Feb. 17.
Since then, partners Wesley Ichida, William F. Thompson III and Maile Hirota have left the firm. Two of them have started new firms, according to records with the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
The bankruptcy filing, signed by Paul A. Lynch as president of the firm, lists Lynch Ichida Thompson & Hirota’s assets at more than $500,000 and debts at more than $300,000.
The case is scheduled for a March 16 hearing before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert J. Faris. Within days of the bankruptcy filing, the trustee overseeing the case filed a motion to have it dismissed because the petition was missing a key document, the corporate resolution that is supposed to show that the firm’s entire board of directors - the four partners — authorized the filing.
Attorney Steven Guttman of the Honolulu law firm Kessner Umebayashi Bain & Matsunaga said the board didn’t sign off on the filing. He was hired by Ichida and Horita to represent them in the bankruptcy case.
“Mr. Ichida, Mr. Thompson and Ms. Hirota do not support the petition filed by Mr. Lynch,” Guttman told PBN. He said the former partners won’t oppose the motion to dismiss the case.
According to the bankruptcy filing, the law firm’s biggest creditor is ReOrient8 LLC, owed $82,000. Until Feb. 13, Wesley Ichida was listed as the agent for the company, according to state DCCA records, which do not include a description of ReOrient8’s business purpose.
The filing also lists $15,000 owed to Douglas Emmett for the lease on the law firm’s 14th floor offices at 1132 Bishop St. in downtown Honolulu, about $13,500 owed to Marsh & McLennan Cos. for insurance and thousands of dollars owed to companies such as Hawaiian Telcom, Martindale-Hubbell and LexisNexis.
Lynch could not be reached for comment.
Ichida, Thompson and Hirota declined to discuss the bankruptcy filing and their decisions to leave the firm, which was incorporated in 1999.
State DCCA records show that Ichida and Hirota each have established and registered new limited liability law companies in recent weeks. Hirota established Hirota & Associates on Feb. 9.
Ichida joined with another of the firm’s attorneys, Ann Kemp, and established Ichida, Kemp on Feb. 12.
Hirota said another former Lynch attorney, Tony Tran, joined her firm.
Former Lynch attorney Courtney Naso left to work for another law firm.
J. Gregory Turnbull, who was of counsel to the Lynch firm, also has left.
The Hawaii Rules for Professional Conduct prohibit law firms from continuing to use the name of a partner who has left the firm and is actively practicing law elsewhere. It could not be immediately determined how the former Lynch Ichida Thompson & Hirota firm will be renamed.
The firm specialized in civil litigation, bankruptcy, real estate, construction, securities, insurance defense, immigration and family law, and adoptions, according to its Web site.
# # #
LYNCH, ICHIDA, THOMPSON & HIROTA
A Law Corporation
1132 Bishop Street, Suite 1405
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Telephone: 808-528-0100
Fax: 808-528-4997
E-Mail: mail@loio.com
Website: www.loio.com
Established: 1999
Insurance Defense, Automobile, Product Liability, Professional Liability, Casualty, Coverage Issues, Aviation, Bad Faith, Admiralty and Maritime Law, Securities, Commercial Law, Construction Litigation, Professional Errors and Omissions, Subrogation, Investigation and Adjustment
Firm Profile: Lynch, Ichida, Thompson & Hirota, A Law Corporation (formerly of the Honolulu Office of Case & Lynch and Lynch & Farmer), as of February 1, 1999, formed a law corporation which presently consists of four, general principals, Paul A. Lynch, Wesley W. Ichida, William F. Thompson III, and Maile M. Hirota; two associates, Ann C. Kemp and Tony Tran, and one of counsel, J. Gregory Turnbull.
Language proficiencies in the firm include Tagalog, Ilocano, and Japanese. Our principal office is located in Honolulu, with statewide access to legal services on each of the island counties.
The firm engages in the general practice of law including, civil litigation, emphasizing collections, real property, construction, admiralty, securities, professional errors and omissions, insurance defense, family law, immigration, nationality and international law (including adoptions).
Insurance Company Clients
Aetna Casualty and Surety Company Great American E&S Insurance Company
Hartford Holdings, Inc. Jefferson Pilot Financial Insurance Company Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company Midland National Life Insurance Company New York Life Insurance Company North American Company for Life and Health Insurance Universal Underwriters Group Zurich American Insurance Group
Non-Insurance Company Clients AAO Services, Inc. Adventist Risk Management, Inc. Brown Jordan International, Inc. Dell Computer Corporation HMS Insurance Agency, Inc. National Mortgage & Finance Co., Ltd. Peerless Coffee Company, Inc. Trivest Partners Whirlpool Corporation Wiss Janney Elstner Associates, Inc. ~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (04/17/09); More factual evidence of fraud, racketeering, bad faith, and undisclosed conflicts of interest, etc. between David Farmer, Ben Cayetano, Earl Anzai, Lyn Anzai, Robin Campaniano, Edward Liddy, Goldman Sachs, Barack Obama, Henry Paulson, The Nature Conservancy, The Hawaii Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, Suzanne Case, Peter Savio, Faye Kurren, Haunani Apoliona, OHA, Robert Rubin, Kamehameha Schools, Nathan Aipa, Bishop Museum, William Simon, HonFed, Investors Equity Life Insurance Co., Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Colbert Matsumoto, Dan Inouye, AIG, CV Starr, Hank Greenberg, ACE Insurance, Ace Greenberg, Chubb Group, Marsh & McLennan, Rocco Sansone, Mercer Consulting, Aloha Airlines, Bill Clinton, Yucaipa, Hawaiian Airlines, Douglas Ing, Henry Peters, Judge Rey Graulty, Judge Barry Kurren, Judge Robert Faris, etc:
April 17, 2009
A.I.G. Chief Owns Significant
Stake in Goldman
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH, New York Times
Edward M. Liddy, the dollar-a-year chief executive leading the American International Group since its bailout last fall, still owns a significant stake in Goldman Sachs, one of the insurer’s trading partners that was made whole by the government bailout of A.I.G.
Mr. Liddy earned most of his holdings in Goldman, worth more than $3 million total, as compensation for serving on the bank’s board and its audit committee until he stepped down in September to take the job at A.I.G. He moved to A.I.G. at the request of Henry M. Paulson Jr., then the Treasury secretary and a former Goldman director.
Details about his holdings were disclosed in Goldman’s proxy statement and confirmed by an A.I.G. spokeswoman, who said they constituted “a small percentage of his total net worth.” Mr. Liddy had already owned some stock in Goldman Sachs before joining its board in 2003.
He has said that he considers his work at A.I.G. to be a public service, performed on behalf of the taxpayers, who ended up with nearly 80 percent of the insurance company. His goal is to dismantle the company and sell its operating units, using the proceeds to pay back the rescue loans. On Thursday, A.I.G. said it had sold its car insurance unit, 21st Century Insurance, to the Zurich Financial Services Group for $1.9 billion.
Along the way, Mr. Liddy has clearly disclosed that A.I.G. was serving as a conduit, with much of the rescue money passing through and ending up in the hands of A.I.G.’s trading partners.
Goldman has said in the past that it had collateral and hedges to reduce the risk of its exposure to A.I.G.
Still, his stake could represent a potential conflict and is likely to reignite questions about Goldman’s involvement in A.I.G., and about why taxpayer money was used to shield A.I.G.’s trading partners from losses, when asset values plunged everywhere and most investors suffered greatly.
Had A.I.G. simply declared bankruptcy, the financial institutions doing business with it would have ended up in court, as they did in the case of Lehman Brothers, fighting to get pennies on the dollar for their claims.
Instead, Goldman Sachs received $13 billion of the Federal Reserve’s rescue money to close out various contracts it had outstanding with A.I.G. It was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the government rescue.
A spokeswoman for A.I.G., Christina Pretto, dismissed any suggestion that Mr. Liddy’s financial ties to Goldman might have shaped his actions at A.I.G.
“A.I.G. is a large institution that engages in standard commercial activity with companies all over the world,” Ms. Pretto said. “These activities are handled in the normal, day-to-day course of business and rarely, if ever, rise to the level of the C.E.O.”
She said in particular that Mr. Liddy was not involved in the discussions of how to close out the contracts of A.I.G.’s counterparties in derivatives and other forms of trading.
“Discussions regarding these matters were handled exclusively by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,” Ms. Pretto said.
According to Goldman’s proxy, Mr. Liddy holds 18,244 units of restricted stock, which would be worth about $2.2 million if they were sold at today’s market price. The rest of his holdings are in common stock. Restricted stock cannot be sold without incurring significant tax penalties, but the proxy said that Mr. Liddy’s restricted units would be converted to common shares on May 9.
Officials at the Fed, which initiated the bailout of A.I.G. last September, have said they were not happy about having to pour public resources into private sector companies, but felt that they had to do so to avoid a chain of losses at financial institutions all over the world.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/business/17liddy.html?_r=1&em
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (04/02/09): Major undisclosed conflicts of interest for Trustee David C. Farmer:
April 2, 2009
Subject: CV05-00030 - U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of the U.S. Trustee, David C. Farmer, Successor Trustee vs. Bobby N. Harmon - Exhibit: "Book Review: Broken Trust: Greed, Mismanagement, and Political Manipulation in America's Largest Charitable Trust, by David C. Farmer - Hawaii Bar Journal, July 2006" & Witness: David C. Farmer
From: Bobby N. Harmon
To: President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, David C. Farmer, Steven Guttman, Carol Muranaka, Judge David Ezra, Judge Kevin Chang, Judge Barry Kurren...
References:
www.kycbs.net/Broken-Trust-Book-Review-by-David-Farmer.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Broken-Trust-Book.htm
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Farmer-David.htm
April 2, 2009
Dear President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Mr. Farmer; Mr. Guttman; Ms. Muranaka; Judge Ezra, Judge Chang, Judge Kurren, and All Concerned:
Due to the new discovery of material facts in this case, I am adding the subject Exhibit which relates to your lawsuit that violates my Constitutional Rights of Free Speech and a Fair Trial by a jury of my peers, and Federal and Hawaii Anti-SLAPP statutes.
In view of all the facts that I have presented in this and hundreds of other Exhibits and witness descriptions, it is beyond comprehension that former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; Assistant U.S. Trustees Curtis Ching, Gayle Lau and Carol Muranaka; Judges Eden Hifo (fka Bambi Weil), Kevin Chang, David Ezra, Barry Kurren, Lloyd King and Robert Faris, and Trustees Mary Lou Woo, James Nicholson and David C. Farmer; the American Arbitration Association arbitrator Judith Neustadter Fuqua, and attorney Steven Guttman can still claim that they were non-conflicted, impartial, and unbiased in this case.
In spite of all this factual evidence, however, I am again asking that we attempt to reach a global settlement of this matter through confidential negotiation or mediation rather than continuing these costly and seemingly-endless court proceedings.
If you still are NOT willing to attempt to negotiate or mediate a settlement, then I ask that you do your required review this new Exhibit in accordance with Judge Ezra's Order, and advise me if you find it contains any so-called "protected subject matter", and whether or not you intend to OBJECT to my filing a Motion to reopen this case.
Mr. Farmer, I respectfully request your immediate reply. If I do not receive a response from you or your insurance carrier within 15 days, I will assume that you have found no "protected subject matter" in these updated pages, and that you will NOT file any objections to my Motion.
Very truly yours,
Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU, ARM
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (03/30/09): Undisclosed conflicts of interest between Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the United States Department of Justice, Office of the U.S. Trustee, Curtis Ching, Carol Muranaka, Guido Giacometti, Susan Tius, Sukamto Sia, Bank of Honolulu, Diane Plotts, Bob Awana, Linda Lingle, Citigroup, Robert Rubin, Bill Clinton, John Waihee, Ben Cayetano, Goldman Sachs, Colbert Matsumoto, Henry Peters, Matsuo Takabuki, Richard Wong, Jeff Stone, Oswald Stender, Gerard Jervis, Lokelani Lindsey, Nathan Aipa, Colleen Wong, Louanne Kam, John Candon, Clifford Laughton, Timothy Johns, Bishop Museum, Nainoa Thompson, Mark Polivka, Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo (fka Bambi Weil), Judge Lloyd King, Judge Robert Faris, Judge David A. Ezra, Judge Barry Kurren, Mary Lou Woo, James B. Nicholson, David C. Farmer, Steven Guttman, etc.:
Executive Centre
units auctioned
for $4 mil
Ownership of the properties
could change during
another round of bids
By Peter Wagner, Star-Bulletin
A Nevada investor has outbid Citibank on 32 residential and two commercial units at Executive Centre, the downtown high rise that once belonged to Indonesian investor Sukamto Sia.
But with court confirmation and another round of bids possibly ahead, ownership of the property is yet to be determined.
Clifford Laughton, president of the Reno-based Nevada Holdings Ltd. and chief executive at Honolulu-based satellite company Columbia Communications Corp., yesterday made the winning bid of $4,000,100.
Laughton's bid topped a $4 million offer by Citibank N.A., the only other bidder at a foreclosure auction at the state courthouse yesterday.
The leasehold properties include 31 residential units, a penthouse, two commercial spaces occupied by Sprint Hawaii and Fujikami Florist and 65 parking stalls.
The heavily mortgaged 41-story building, at 1088 Bishop Street also includes a 120-room Aston hotel, retail outlets including Long's Drugs and Ross Dress For Less and nearly 300 residential units.
The entire property was appraised last year at $39.5 million.
Citibank, the major creditor in a foreclosure action against one of Sia's company's, MKS Executive Partners, took possession last month of most of the 41-story building in a complex bankruptcy deal in which Sia's estate will receive about $500,000.
Citibank affiliate EXCT L.P. took ownership of about 400 units on July 28.
Sia, currently in Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation, originally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in November 1998.
While Citibank yesterday allowed itself to be outbid by $100, the sale is far from over. Under rules of the foreclosure, new bids may be entertained at confirmation but must be at least 5 percent above the auction price.
Foreclosure commissioner John Candon said at least three parties who were silent during yesterday's auction have asked when the confirmation hearing would be. No date has been set.
Laughton yesterday said he would likely honor existing leases at Executive Centre if he remains the high bidder. He said the units are a good investment because of depressed property values and a strong rental market in the downtown area.
While Executive Centre was once a key holding of Sia in Honolulu, the bankruptcy trustee was unable to liquidate the property for creditors because Sia held no equity in it.
His ownership in the building was through MKS Executive Partners, one of his numerous companies.
The 40-year-old businessman owes nearly $300 million to casinos, banks and creditors around the world.
www.archives.starbulletin.com/2000/08/24/business/story1.html
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (03-15-09): More factual evidence of fraud, bad faith, and undisclosed professional and financial conflicts of interest of Trustee David C. Farmer, Ron Sakamoto, Gerard Jervis, Kamehameha Schools, Hung Wo Ching, Louise Ing, Aloha Airlines, David Banmiller, Ron Burkle, Yucaipa, Bill Clinton, Judge Robert Faris, etc.:
March 15, 2009
Bill Clinton severs ties with Yucaipa: report
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former President Bill Clinton has severed his connections to Ronald Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. and will not receive a payment once estimated to be up to $20 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The Journal said Clinton decided not to claim additional money from Yucaipa earlier this year.
It said people familiar with the matter had thought last year that the payment could have been as much as $20 million. However, the size of the possible payment might have fallen because of the recent economic turmoil.
Clinton started distancing himself from Yucaipa, a private equity firm run by his friend Burkle, in 2007 because Hillary Clinton was planning a run for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to the report.
Hillary Clinton won U.S. Senate approval as secretary of state in January despite renewed Republican concerns about potential conflicts of interest created by her husband's foreign fund-raising.
Spokesmen for Clinton and Yucaipa could not be immediately reached for comment.
(Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Kim Coghill)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090316/pl_nm/us_clinton_yucaipa_1
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (03-01-09): Links to some of the undisclosed conflicts of interest of Trustee David C. Farmer in this case:
www.zoominfo.com/Search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=139713972
and/or
http://www.kycbs.net/Zoominfo-Farmer-David.mht
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY (02-25-09): More factual evidence of fraud, bad faith, and undisclosed professional and financial conflicts of interest of Trustee David C. Farmer and Ron Sakamoto, Gerard Jervis, Kamehameha Schools, Hung Wo Ching, Louise Ing, Aloha Airlines, David Banmiller, Ron Burkle, Yucaipa, Bill Clinton, Judge Robert Faris, etc.
Aloha CEO Banmiller's statement to Bankruptcy Court
Editor's note: Here is the statement that David Banmiller, president and chief executive officer of Aloha Airlines, read to the federal Bankruptcy Court on Tuesday after the company's reorganization plan was confirmed by Judge Robert Faris:
THANK YOU, Your Honor, for allowing me this opportunity to address the court. If you perceive a softness in my tone, and perhaps a slip of the tongue here and there, it relates in part to a lack of sleep -- due in part to Your Honor's challenging words of yesterday. I must say, though, that sleep is overrated.
I will not take up much of the court's time, Your Honor, but the significance of this moment in the evolution of Aloha Airlines deserves comment.
In the 60-year history of this fine company, Aloha and its employees have never faced greater challenges: an industry in chaos, 50 percent of U.S. airlines in bankruptcy, unbridled competition, and oil at unprecedented levels.
The employees and local ownership of Aloha have continuously stepped forward, making contribution after contribution for its very survival. Had it not been for such efforts, we would not be standing before you today.
AS YOU KNOW, I am a relative newcomer and have been through a few "economic Vietnams" in this industry, but none as challenging, certainly sometimes frustrating, but on the whole no more satisfying than this experience, and I have enormous respect for everyone involved.
It is always risky to highlight certain individuals and situations in such a case, but I have chosen to take the risk because this accomplishment is all about teamwork, sensitivity when needed, and most of all, focus on the end game with extraordinary people.
We have asked our employees and their union leaders three times in the last several years to step up to tough stuff. In every instance, they made the tough decisions. Their willingness to make sacrifices while maintaining top-quality service to our valued customers, says volumes about the Aloha spirit within the heart and soul of these fine people.
I particularly wish to thank:
» Dave Bird, chairman of (the master executive council for the Air Line Pilots Association);
» Peggy Gordon, president of (the Association of Flight Attendants/Communications Workers of America);
» Randy Kauhane, assistant general chairman of (the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers 141);
» Ken Boon, assistant general chairman of IAM 142;
» David Durkin, president of (the Transport Workers Union).
» The shareholders, and in particular the Chings and Ings, have a long and cherished history with this company. When I joined, I asked to be given the latitude to make the tough decisions without undue influence or avoidance of the myriad of business decisions that had to be made.
The shareholders were true to their word, and allowed the management team to execute, and they put cash behind their words.
» Our management team, some new but with an outstanding support staff comprised of a team of veterans in this business, many who are residents of this state, hung in there, put up with my idiosyncrasies and saw the ranks of VPs dwindle, dynamically increasing their workload -- with never a complaint.
» Hawaii's federal-, state- and county-elected officials, and all of our vendors, who have reached out during this past year. ... Without their support, we also would not have succeeded in getting this far. To them we owe thanks.
» Our customers, for their loyalty bringing cash in the door with every ticket sale. They provided the hope for our company to get through each day.
» Our team of professionals, led by Paul Singerman of Berger Singerman; Char Sakamoto Ishii Lum & Ching led by Betty Ishii; the Giuliani Group led by Marc Bilbao; our lead banker First Hawaiian Bank led by Don Horner; our local counsels Don Gelber and David Farmer; the unsecured creditors' committee chaired by Capt. Michael Feeney and guided by lead counsel Brett Miller; and Sheldon Kline of Thelen Reid.
» And many, many more who made this happen, we thank you.
MY COMMENTS would be far from complete without recognizing the presence of both Richard d'Abo of Yucaipa and Willie Gault of Aloha Aviation Investment Group. Without their financial commitment and support, this company would not be here, especially considering the rejections we faced in the investment community. I personally thank them, as well as Ron Burkle, for their confidence in the employees of this fine company.
And finally, Your Honor, you, too, have made the tough calls, sprinkling wisdom and experience with at times a level of common sense, humor and sensitivity that does your profession honor. You should take great pride, Your Honor, if I am permitted to say, in what has gone on this past year. Hopefully, this will be your last airline case in the islands.
And now, I assume you can renew your AlohaPass membership and continue to be one of our most-valued customers.
God bless.
www.archives.starbulletin.com/2005/12/04/business/story03.html ~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (02-04-09): More undisclosed conflicts of interest between David Farmer, James Nicholson, Steven Guttman, Paul Alston, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Janet Reno, Alberto Gonzales, Michael Mucasey, Eric Holder, and other witnesses in this case:
~ ~ ~
June 26, 2008
Pardongate Is The Least of
Eric Holder’s Sins
© Jack Cashill, www.WorldNetDaily.com
“I was wondering when you were going to call me,” so said the irrepressible Nolanda Butler Hill when I phoned last week.
She knew precisely what item of news had prompted me to call: the revelation that Barack Obama had selected Clinton Deputy Attorney General and Ron Brown protege, Eric Holder, to help vet his vice presidential candidates.
As the confidante and business partner of the late Clinton Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, Hill knows from personal experience that Holder’s sins go well beyond his seamy role in the Marc Rich pardon scandal.
In the way of background, in May 1995, Clinton’s unpredictable Attorney General Janet Reno called for an independent counsel to assess whether Ron Brown had “accepted things of value” from Hill in exchange for his influence.
Reno’s pursuit of Brown did not shock either of them. He had been the subject of an inquiry for months. Targeting Hill, however, had no precedent, and it unnerved them both.
By statute, the independent counsel law applied only to political and government figures. “It was unlawful,” says Hill of her own targeting, “I was the only such person in history.”
In time, the independent counsel also targeted Brown’s son, Michael, for laundering money to his father through a scam minority set aside deal with a sleazy pair of Asian-American fundraisers. In Hill’s words, Michael “was as guilty as a goose.”
Hill and Brown both understood that she was being targeted in the hopes that she would roll over on Brown. Her condition for not doing so was that Brown share with her his every point of vulnerability.
Nowhere was Brown more vulnerable than in his unwelcome role as chief bagman for the Clintons’ relentless and often illicit fundraising in the run-up to the 1996 election.
Hill learned virtually every unseemly detail--from Brown’s go-between work with the Chicoms and their American vendors to his wholesale distribution of walking around money to Democratic race hustlers. As Brown understood, Hill knew way too much.
Even before his own mysterious death, Brown worried openly about her life and safety. He went so far as to call Hill’s sister, with whom she stayed from time to time, and insist Hill not be allowed to go out jogging alone.
As soon as Brown died, the independent counsel ceased the investigation into his illicit activities. As to Michael, he pled guilty to a single misdemeanor, accepted a small fine, and was out playing golf with the president a month later.
Not surprisingly, however, the Justice Department kept the pressure on the outspoken Hill, still deeply troubled by the circumstances surrounding Brown’s death.
Hill took heart when, in July 1997, President Clinton appointed Holder to replace Jamie Gorelick as Deputy Attorney General. Although ostensibly second in command, the Deputy AG was the real power in Justice, the Clinton equivalent of a Soviet “political officer.”
Hill knew Holder through Brown, who had been instrumental in getting him his previous job as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
She and her attorney wasted no time in contacting Holder at the American Bar Association Annual Meeting, which was held that year in San Francisco in early August.
Holder, however, did not get to be Deputy AG by being naïve. “The train is already going down the tracks,” he explained to Hill. “It will take your cooperation to stop it.”
The “train” in question was a D.C. grand jury, which was being led to indict Hill. The “cooperation” meant Hill keeping her mouth shut.
Hill clarifies, “He [Holder] told me and my attorney that if I told what I knew about election fundraising I would be indicted.”
Holder was as good as his word. On March 13, 1998, ten days before Hill was to testify in a suit brought by Judicial Watch on the subject of Brown’s fundraising, the Clinton Justice Department indicted Hill on trumped up charges of fraud and tax evasion.
The willfully blind lead of the New York Times called the indictment “a vivid example of how an investigation can outlive its target.”
Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch knew better. In a motion to the court, he would write, “The timing of these events is neither accidental nor coincidental. Ms. Hill’s indictment was likely an effort to retaliate against her and deter her from giving any further damaging testimony at the March 23, 1998 hearing.”
At White House bidding, Holder had Hill indicted to shut her up, and he succeeded. Anxious, alone, and broke, facing as many as seventy years in prison if convicted, Hill chose to negotiate a deal.
On June 15, 1999, a day before her fifty-fifth birthday, she reported to a halfway house in Seagoville, Texas, her silence at least temporarily assured.
As James Sanders, my partner on the TWA 800 investigation, can attest, silencing whistleblowers through bogus prosecution was the modus operandi in the Holder era. Sanders and his wife Elizabeth were indicted and convicted on federal conspiracy charges on Holder’s watch.
Although generally appalled by the Clintons, Hill understands how betrayed they must feel when their very proteges desert them for Obama.
Holder did so early on. “Given Holder’s credentials,” the Chicago Tribune reported breathlessly in August 2007, “it isn’t outside the realm of possibility to suggest he could wind up the nation’s first African-American attorney general should Obama win the White House.”
Hill thinks she knows why Holder jumped ship. He was a key player in a racially exclusive cabal of DC insiders. “He’s so racist it’s not even funny,” she says of Holder, “not only racist but elitist.”
Still, no matter how compromised Holder might be, Obama can ill afford to dismiss him from his vice-presidential selection committee.
Obama has already had to dismiss one of the three selectors. If he dismisses a second, it will become absurdly obvious that the real problem is not Holder or Jim Johnson of Countrywide fame, but Mr. Obama himself
http://www.cashill.com/natl_general/pardongate.htm
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (02-03-09): More undisclosed financial, professional and personal conflicts of interest between David C. Farmer and Torkildson Katz Moore Hetherington & Harris; Steven Guttman; Ross Murakami; Arthur Andersen; Lorman Education Services, etc.
http://brochures.lorman.com/379717.pdf
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (01-08-09): More undisclosed financial, professional, political and personal conflicts of interest between David C. Farmer, Kamehameha Schools, Bishop Museum, Diane Plotts, Kirk Belsby, Chaminade University, Jean Rolles, Judge Patrick Yim, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Haunani Apoliona, Oswald Stender, Al Hee, Clayton Hee, The Nature Conservancy, Faye Kurren, Bank of Honolulu, Sukamto Sia, Bob Awana, Linda Lingle, Susan Todani, Ben Cayetano, John Waihee, Peter Apo, etc:
Subject: CV05-00030 - David C. Farmer vs. Harmon - Exhibit: "Honolulu awaits 'heritage area' status" - Honolulu Advertiser & Witness David Farmer
Thursday, January 8, 2009 7:53 AM
From: "bobby_n_harmon@yahoo.com" <bobby_n_harmon@yahoo.com>
To: "David Farmer" <farmerd001@hawaii.rr.com>, "Steven Guttman" <sguttman@kdubm.com>, "Carol K. Muranaka" <ustp.region15@usdoj.gov>, "Michael Mukasey" <AskDOJ@usdoj.gov>, "David A. Ezra" <theresa_lam@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Enforcement Division SEC" <enforcement@sec.gov>
Cc: "ACLU Hawaii" <office@acluhawaii.org>, "All Representatives" <reps@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "All Senators" <sens@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "Andrew Walden" <hfpeditor@email.com>, "Aon Insurance Managers" <mike_coulter@agl.aon.com>, "Arthur Rath" <imua@spamarrest.com>, "Barry M. Kurren" <richlyn_young@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Benjamin Kudo" <bkudo@imanakakudo.com>, "Bradley Tamm" <btamm@hawaii.rr.com>, "Carl Morton" <ethics@hawaiiethics.org>, "Charles Goodwin" <HONOLULU@FBI.GOV>, "Charles Hurd" <mcp@mediatehawaii.org>, "Dave Shapiro" <volcanicash@gmail.com>, "Dee Jay Mailer" <ksinfo@ksbe.edu>, "Dorothy Sellers" <hawaiiag@hawaii.gov>, "Executive Office for U.S. Trustees" <ustrustee.program@usdoj.gov>, "Hugh Jones" <hugh.r.jones@hawaii.gov>, "Insurance Division Fraud Branch" <insfraud@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "J C Shannon" <Hapa1234@aol.com>, "James B Nicholson" <jamesbnicholson@aol.com>, "James B. Farris" <Farrisj@adr.org>, "James Cribley" <jcribley@caselombardi.com>, "James Paul" <jpaul@pjpn.com>, "James Wriston" <jwriston@awlaw.com>, "Jeffrey Watanabe" <jwatanabe@wik.com>, "Jim Dooley" <jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Jo Ann Uchida" <rico@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Joe Moore" <news@khon2.com>, "John D. Finnegan" <info@chubb.com>, "John Goemans" <wip@kamuela.com>, "Judge Lloyd King" <hib@hib.uscourts.gov>, "Judith Neustadter" <Judy@tiki.net>, "Judson Witham" <jurisnot2@yahoo.com>, "Ken Conklin" <ken_conklin@yahoo.com>, "Kenneth Hipp" <khipp@marrhipp.com>, "Kevin S.C. Chang" <shari_afuso@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Lawrence Reifurth" <dcca@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Linda Lingle" <governor.lingle@hawaii.gov>, "Lyn Flanigan Anzai" <lflanigan@hsba.org>, "Margery Bronster" <info@bchlaw.net>, "Marsh Affinity Group" <prosecure@marshpm.com>, "Michael N. Tanoue" <mtanoue@paclawgroup.com>, "Michelle Tucker" <michelle@sterlingandtucker.com>, "Nathan Aipa" <nathan@pitluck.com>, "Office of Inspector General Civil Rights Complaints" <inspector.general@usdoj.gov>, "Office of the U.S. Trustee District of Hawaii" <ustp.region15@usdoj.goV>, "Paul Alston" <palston@ahfi.com>, "Randall Roth" <rroth@hawaii.edu>, "Rick Daysog" <rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Robert Bruce Graham" <bgraham@awlaw.com>, "Robin Campaniano" <aigh001@aighawaii.com>, "Samuel P. King" <leslie_sai@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Susan Tius" <STius@rmhawaii.com>, "V K Durham" <vkdtdht@pionet.net>, "William K Slate" <Websitemail@adr.org>, "Jim Terrack" <tnthawaii@aol.com>, "Don Michak" <dmichak@journalinquirer.com>, "Rocco Sansone" <rocco.c.sansone@marsh.com>, "Ted Pettit" <tpettit@caselombardi.com>, "Mark Burch" <burch@hawaii.edu>, "Laura Thielen" <dlnr@hawaii.gov>, "Vaughn & Lynda Robinson" <ronpaulslcutah@yahoo.com>, "Peter Apo" <peterapocompany@gmail.com>, "Rebecca Christie" <rchristie4@bloomberg.net>, "Catbird" <the-catbird@hotmail.com>, "Mike Harmon" <mikeharmon@yahoo.com>, "Tom Flocco" <tom2@tomflocco.com>, "Real News" <thenewsman@ij.net>
Subject: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Jun/02/ln/FP706020340.html
Dear Mr. Farmer; Mr. Guttman; Ms. Muranaka; Attorney General Mukasey, and All Concerned:
This is to inform you that I am adding the subject news article as a new Exhibit, as it provides clear factual evidence that David C. Farmer had undisclosed financial, political and personal conflicts of interest with other parties who are directly connected with this case . You will find further factual evidence on-line at:
http://hawaii.gov/sfca/artreachwinter2001.pdf
http://www.kycbs.net/Bank-of-Honolulu.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Bishop-Museum.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/First-Hawaiian-Bank.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Hawaiian-Electric.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Farmer-David.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Akaka-Daniel.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Awana-Bob.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Bush-George.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Cayetano-Ben.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Hirono-Mazie.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Plotts-Diane.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Lingle-Linda.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Harris-Jeremy.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Inouye-Dan.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Rewald-Ron.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Sia-Sukamto.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Waihee-John.htm
Please advise me immediately if this Exhibit contains any "PROTECTED SUBJECT MATTER" which is prohibited by ORDER of Judge David A. Ezra.
Although I believe that Judge Ezra's Order constitutes a prior restraint of my FREEDOM OF SPEECH, if you and Judge Ezra would like to put an end to this unconstitutional approval process, then I would again suggest that we, and our respective insurance carriers (including Chubb Group, XL Insurance, and Island Insurance Co. ) make a good-faith effort to reach a global settlement of this case through confidential negotiation or mediation.
If you and your insurance carriers are NOT willing to attempt to negotiate or mediate a settlement, however, then I ask that, in light of all the new facts presented in these Exhibits and witness descriptions, you advise me whether or not you intend to OBJECT to my filing a Motion to reopen this case.
Your immediate reply is requested. If I do not receive a response from you within 15 days, I will assume that you have found no "prohibited subject matter" in these updated pages, and that you will NOT file any objections to my Motion to reopen this case.
Very truly yours,
Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU, ARM
* * * * *
Disavow: A CIA Story of Betrayal
By Rodney Stich & T. Conan Russell
The Saga of
Ron Rewald and Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald & Wong
CAST OF CHARACTERS
http://www.namebase.org/sources/ZS.html
* * * * *
NEW DISCOVERY (01-04-09): More undisclosed conflicts of interest between Trustee David C. Farmer, James Nicholson, Steven Guttman, Joshua Gotbaum, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Linda Lingle, Jack Abramoff, AIPAC, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, Michael Mukasey, Bishop Estate, Goldman Sachs, Robert Rubin, Henry Paulson, The Nature Conservancy, Faye Kurren, Judge Barry Kurren, Judge David Ezra, OHA, Bernard Madoff, J. Ezra Merkin, GMAC, Cerberus Capital Management, Robert Katz, etc.:
December 25, 2008
J. Ezra Merkin Ordered Not To Destroy Records
by Darren
J. Ezra Merkin has been ordered to not destroy any financial records related to the dealings of Bernard J. Madoff. Merkin is the chairman of GMAC who runs several hedge funds which invested with Madoff. The dealings came to light when one of Merkin’s clients, New York University, learned that Merkin had lost $24 million of their capital.
The suit claims that Merkin and his hedge fund, Ariel Fund Ltd. and its’ management group Gabriel Capital Corporation, failed on their responsibility of cash management by turning the money over to Madoff for investment. The Ariel Fund Ltd has already announced plans to liquidate their holdings in light of the recent scandal. The suit also mentions Fortis, who partnered with Merkin in the creation of Ariel Fund Ltd. All told, NYU had invested a staggering $94 million into the fund.
As the losses come in from the Madoff scam, the elite of New York City Jewish philanthropy are among the victims, as well as helping to perpetrate the fraud. Merkin is the grandson of Hermann Merkin who was known as a titan of Jewish philanthropy. He donated gave millions to help build Yeshiva University, and the Fifth Avenue Synagogue.
Human loss mounts in Madoff Ponzi Scheme
The human expense of the Madoff scheme is mounting. Charitable foundations and lives have been destroyed. Merkin clearly used his influential position and the capital of Yeshiva University to invest $1.8 billion into Bernard Madoff’s firm.
That was little consolation, however, to Yeshiva University, said to have lost $110 million of its endowment; or to Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, the Ramaz School of Manhattan and SAR Academy in Riverdale, said to have lost substantial sums; or to several family foundations belonging to Merkin’s fellow trustees at Yeshiva University, including Robert M. Beren and Ludwig Bravmann.
Another Ascot casualty was a charitable trust founded by real-estate magnate Mortimer Zuckerman, the chairman of real-estate firm Boston Properties and owner of the New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report. That lost $30 million.
NYU said Merkin blindly turned the money over to Madoff.
“Without making disclosures in the quarterly reports to investors, and in the face of an extraordinary number of ‘red flags,’ Merkin, for years, simply turned over a substantial portion of Ariel’s funds to Madoff,” said NYU in their complaint.
Merkin has so far denied wrongdoing, laying the blame squarely on Madoff.
“Mr. Merkin remains committed to obtaining for shareholders the best results possible in the wake of the terrible fraud committed by Bernard Madoff,” Andrew Levander, attorney for J. Ezra Merkin said.
Madoff has caused huge damage to the work of Jewish philanthropic organizations
It’s safe to say the the amount of damage to Jewish philanthropic organizations is significant....
See also...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_yA8J-oGQk
http://www.kycbs.net/Jews-Control-America.mht
http://www.voy.com/129276/1273.html
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (12-27-08): Undisclosed conflicts of interests between David Farmer, Steven Guttman, Jeffrey Portnoy, Matsuo Takabuki, Mark McConaghy, Dennis Tsuhako, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sam Silverman, Chinn Ho, Stuart Ho, Aloha Airlines, HonFed, Bank of Honolulu, Sukamto Sia, Diane Plotts, Linda Lingle, Bob Awana, Nathan Aipa, Eric Martinson, Chubb Group, Marsh & McLennan, etc:
July 17, 1998
Hawaii
By Dave Donnelly
Portnoy on NBC
on Kimes case
IF you tune in NBC's "Dateline" tonight, you should see Honolulu attorney Jeffrey Portnoy. An NBC crew spent two hours with him Wednesday, interviewing him in reference to the case of Sante Kimes and her son, Kenneth, suspected in the disappearance and assumed death of New York socialite Irene Silverman.
Portnoy had represented an insurance company in an earlier case in which Kimes, already convicted of keeping an alien woman in slavery, was suspected of arson when her home went up in flames. He has videotape of Kimes, something all the networks would love to get their hands on, and he provided it to NBC for "Dateline."
Producers of "20/20" have been after him to give them a copy of the tape, even offering to have Barbara Walters call him personally, but he demurred that he'd given it exclusively to NBC. That network told him the Kimes' story is the biggest thing at the network since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
One unasked and unanswered question in the case is did the Kimes family know the missing socialite when she and her husband, Sam Silverman, were in Hawaii around the time they lived here? I knew Sam Silverman as early as 1970 when he was the financial advisor and longtime friend of local business tycoon Chinn Ho. I posed the question and Portnoy answered, "It wouldn't surprise me a bit." ...
www.archives.starbulletin.com/98/07/17/features/donnelly.html
Related pages:
An Unlikely Revolutionary: Matsuo Takabuki and the Making of ... - Google Books Result
by Matsuo Takabuki - 1998 - History - 237 pages -1998 University of Hawaii Press ... from the eyes of Matsy Takabuki working with Chinn Ho and Sam Silverman, ...
A FAMILY PORTRAIT: A special report.; A Twisted Tale of Deceit ...
Mrs. Silverman, an 82-year-old widow, was probably killed, officials say, ..... Mrs. Kimes filed suit against Chubb and began making threatening calls to Chubb ... were filed in the fire, which was never formally declared to be arson. ... Even before it could be bought, Mrs. Kimes was submitting an insurance claim ...
An Unlikely Revolutionary: Matsuo Takabuki and the Making of ... - Google Books Result
by Matsuo Takabuki - 1998 - History - 237 pages
Mitch Gilbert and Eric Martinson were the number-crunchers. They had computer printouts ... Nathan Aipa, our general counsel, headed our legal side....
An Unlikely Revolutionary: Matsuo Takabuki and the Making of ... - Google Books Result
by Matsuo Takabuki - 1998 - History - 237 pages
Matsuo Takabuki 1998 University of Hawaii Press ... Mark McConaghy of Price Waterhouse headed our tax team along with our staff tax ...
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (12-24-08): More undisclosed conflicts of interest between Trustee David C. Farmer, James Nicholson, Steven Guttman, Joshua Gotbaum, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Linda Lingle, Jack Abramoff, AIPAC, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Michael Mukasey, Bishop Estate, Goldman Sachs, Robert Rubin, Henry Paulson, The Nature Conservancy, Faye Kurren, Judge Barry Kurren, Judge David Ezra, OHA, Bernard Madoff, Robert Katz, etc.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_yA8J-oGQk
http://www.kycbs.net/Jews-Control-America.mht
http://www.voy.com/129276/1273.html
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (12-05-08):
Judson ON THE RECORD - VERY IMPORTANT!! New Member, Sheldon, is Pres. of YAL @ Idaho State, seeking Utah YAL...& member Judson Witham has filed the Utah lawsuit against Obama!
Friday, December 5, 2008 5:48 PM
From: "Jud Witham" <jurisnot2@yahoo.com>
To: ronpaul-16-announce@meetup.com, "Vaughn & Lynda Robison" <ronpaulslcutah@yahoo.com>
Cc: sam@audiocanyon.com, letters@news-jrnl.com, stewwebb@sierranv.net, stich@unfriendlyskies.com, bobby_n_harmon@yahoo.com, blumberg@cyberport.net, Specialops@huffingtonpost.com, hwburgess@hawaii.rr.com, Ken_Conklin@yahoo.com, info@votevets.org, Hapa1234@aol.com, "MadMax@RoadWarriorRadio.com, Curt Crosby" <curtcrosby@gmail.com>, richardhayesphillips@yahoo.com, johnstadtmiller@hotmail.com, jack@cybrquest.com, stangfeedback@gmail.com, wmreditor@waynemadsenreport.com, jamesedwards@thepoliticalcesspool.org
BYU LAW LIBRARY after sending and receiving FAXES for me for YEARS, suspended my use of the FAX services et al AS Channel 5 Salt Lake called them asking about me ?? YUP BYU retaliated because ?????
My position is to UPHOLD the LAW to see to it that QUALIFIED CITIZENS are our representatives and IF NOT, well, you do the math. My filing speaks for itself.
I am NOT the least RACIST and ACTUALLY I understand Freedom and Liberty is NOT the sole property of ANY party, group or....LIBERAL after all should always be HOW Liberty Is Observed !!! Liberally HELLO !!!!
liberally ...
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
I did provide Barrack Obama's Counsel with the following:
§4. Citizenship. That all persons who were citizens of the Republic of Hawaii on August twelfth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States and citizens of the Territory of Hawaii.
And all citizens of the United States resident in the Hawaiian Islands who were resident there on or since August twelfth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight and all the citizens of the United States who shall hereafter reside in the Territory of Hawaii for one year shall be citizens of the Territory of Hawaii.
This section was supplemented by the Act of July 2, 1932, 47 Stat 571, amended by the Act of July 1, 1940, 54 Stat 707, providing that for purposes of Act of Sept. 22, 1922, 46 Stat 1511, women born in Hawaii prior to June 14, 1900 deemed U.S. citizens at birth. But Act of Sept. 22, 1922 was repealed by Act of Oct. 14, 1940, 54 Stat 1137, which in turn was repealed by Act of June 27, 1952, 66 Stat 166 (McCarran-Walter Act), and the present provisions are contained in 8 U.S.C.A. 1435(a).
Under Art. 17, §1, of the Const. of 1894 (adapted from the 14th Am. of the U.S. Const.) all persons born or naturalized in the Hawaiian Islands and subject to the jurisdiction of the Republic of Hawaii were citizens thereof. Between 1842 and 1892, 731 Chinese and three Japanese were naturalized in Hawaii; since 1892, none. Birth certificates by the Territory of Hawaii are not controlling, and persons applying for admission to the United States with such certificates may be detained by immigration officers for the purpose of determining citizenship, 35 Ops. 69. The secretary of Hawaii may issue to persons born in Hawaii certificates of Hawaiian birth, which are prima facie evidence: HRS §§338-41 to 44, see also former law: L. 1905, c. 64; am. L. 1907, c. 79; rep. L. 1909, c. 15; R.L. 1915, p. 1487; R.L. 1925, c. 21; R.L. 1935, c. 247. A person born in the Kingdom of Hawaii of British parents domiciled there was held to be a citizen of the Republic of Hawaii although he was registered at birth at the British consulate and had never renounced allegiance to the British crown nor sworn allegiance to the Hawaiian government: 11 H. 166. On citizenship of persons born in the United States of alien parents, see 169 U.S. 649. Mere residence in foreign state after majority does not expatriate, 31 F.2d 738. But son of naturalized Hawaiian citizen became expatriated through residence in foreign country of birth. 89 F.2d 489, cert. den. 301 U.S. 682, reh'g den. 301 U.S. 713. Naturalization as Hawaiian citizen did not occur under Const. of 1894 by issuance of certificate of Minister of Interior where allegiance to native land not renounced and court order not obtained. 117 F.2d 588, reh'g den. 120 F.2d 760, aff'd by divided court, 315 U.S. 783.
Chinese who were Hawaiian citizens on Aug. 12, 1898, by either birth or naturalization, whether under the monarchy or the republic, became American citizens under this §: 23 Ops. 509; 1 U.S.D.C. Haw. 118; and their wives and children were thereafter entitled to enter the Territory; 23 Ops. 345; and such a citizen could take oath that he was such, and obtain an American register for a vessel which had a Hawaiian register on that date and was then owned and continued to be owned by a Hawaiian citizen until purchased by such Chinese; 23 Ops. 352. Son of Chinese, naturalized Hawaiian citizen, born in China in 1894 and remaining there through minority, did not become citizen and not entitled to enter U.S. 69 F.2d 681. Chinese held for deportation may set up American citizenship in habeas corpus or deportation proceedings, but the burden is on them to prove such citizenship: 1 U.S.D.C. Haw. 6; 1 U.S.D.C. Haw. 44; 1 U.S.D.C. Haw. 104; 1 U.S.D.C. Haw. 113; 1 U.S.D.C. Haw. 234; 270 Fed. 57.
Habeas corpus lies to protect immigrant's right to have question of citizenship determined; 160 Fed. 842, affirming 3 U.S.D.C. Haw. 168. See also §§100 and 101, and notes thereto; also note to Joint Resolution of Annexation, RLH 1955, page 13.
Woman of Chinese ancestry, born in Hawaii in 1894 but married to Chinese alien in 1910, could not be naturalized under the Acts cited in first paragraph of this note as they stood prior to 1940 amendment, because of her nonresidence on July 2, 1932, 88 F.2d 88.
For decisions generally on immigration and citizens see notes to §§100 and 101, and note to RLH 1955, §57-43; also, presumptions: arising from findings of Board of inquiry or certificate of identity, 29 F.2d 500; 30 F.2d 516; 49 F.2d 19 and 24; may be rebutted, 30 F.2d 65; lack of, prima facie supports right to deport, 36 F.2d 563; fraud must be alleged in complaint, 63 F.2d 375 and 377. Delay for depositions may be a matter of right, 33 F.2d 236. Proof of Chinese descent shifts burden of proof: 104 F.2d 21, 111 F.2d 707. Finding of citizenship on previous entry not binding: 124 F.2d 21; but see 188 F.2d 975.
Under the treaty with Spain and Acts of Congress, a Puerto Rican, residing in Puerto Rico on April 11, 1899, and a year thereafter, who did not declare his decision to preserve his allegiance to Spain, did not lose his political status by removing to Hawaii in 1901, but became a citizen of the United States under a subsequent Act of Congress and hence entitled to vote in Hawaii: 24 H. 21.
Although §8(a)(1) of the Act of March 24, 1934, c 84, 48 Stat 456, 462, provides that Filipinos shall be placed on the quota basis as aliens, it is specifically made inapplicable to Hawaii and immigration is determined by the Interior Dept. on basis of industrial needs.
Referred to in 13 H. 21, 556; 162 Fed. 470.
Filipino national in Hawaii became alien by proclamation of Philippine Independence, 183 F.2d 795.
* * * * * * *
--This message was sent by Vaughn & Lynda Robison (ronpaulslcutah@yahoo.com) from Utah Campaign for Liberty.
To learn more about Vaughn & Lynda Robison, visit his/her member profile
http://ronpaul.meetup.com/16/members/4278461/
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (11-24-08): New Exhibit: “EQ 2048 - Deposition of Lokelani Lindsey taken on November 4 & 9, 1999". This document provides clear evidence that J. Douglas Ing had multiple conflicts-of-interest in this case and, since he was not a named Defendant in my RICO lawsuit against the former Trustees, he was not a legitimate signatory to the Settlement Agreement: Furthermore, since the Settlement Agreement was NOT SIGNED by any of the five Trustees actually named as Defendants, the Settlement Agreement was not legal or valid. (See Exhibit A)
http://www.kycbs.net/Lindsey-docs-Vol-1-p1-4.pdf
http://www.kycbs.net/Lindsey-docs-Vol-1.pdf
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (11-06-08): More undisclosed conflicts of interest of David C. Farmer with witness Neil Hannahs, PBS Hawaii, Kamehameha Schools, Bishop Museum, Heather Cole, The Nature Conservancy, etc:
http://www.pbshawaii.org/about/about_boardofdirectors.php
http://www.thefirstbattle.com/film-credits.html
http://www.bishopmuseum.org/images/pdf/Annual_report.pdf
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (10-20-08): More undisclosed conflicts of interest of Trustee David C. Farmer with Stuart Ho, Aloha Airlines, Kamehameha Schools, Bishop Museum, Tin-Yuke Char, Kenneth Char, Yenching University, etc:
http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/view/44/4401330.pdf
http://archives.starbulletin.com/1999/09/24/news/story6.html
http://library.kcc.hawaii.edu/char/about/charbio.htm
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2008/04/06/special/story02.html
http://www.kycbs.net/Google-Aloha-Air.htm
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (10-12-08): More undisclosed relationships between David Farmer, Linda Lingle, Calvin Say, Colleen Hanabusa, Dean K. Hirata, Hoku Scientific, Central Pacific Bank, Colbert Matsumoto, Tradewind Capital, Island Insurance Company, Japanese Cultural Center, Eric Martinson, Dennis Fern, Sanford Murata, Duane Kurisu, Crystal Rose, Marsh & McLennan, Mercer Consulting, Michael Sklarz, University of Hawaii Foundation, Hawaii Opera Theatre, others....
October 12, 2008
Hawaii legislators to get 36% pay raise
By Richard Borreca, Star-Bulletin
When state legislators head to the Capitol after this year's elections, they will get a 36 percent pay raise.
According to the state Salary Commission, lawmakers are eligible for a raise that takes their pay to $48,708 from $35,900. Legislators also get a legislative allowance that goes up by the same percentage - to $10,200 from $7,500.
In total, all legislators will get an additional $15,508 a year or a total annual increase of $1.17 million more.
"I don't think it is right," says Sen. Sam Slom (R, Hawaii Kai-Diamond Head), who says he has never accepted the expense account funds.
"In these difficult economic times, these increases should be delayed," Slom added. "I had concerns about the entire Salary Commission process. There were no hearings. The Legislature was not responsible for voting on it."
Other legislative leaders say the commission followed the changes that were supported by voters when the state Constitution was amended to permit a single commission to set the pay for judges, state executives and the legislature.
"I am grateful that the taxpayers supported a constitutional amendment that tied the rates of judicial, executive and legislative pay raises," said House Speaker Rep. Calvin Say.
The pay raises were needed, according to Say, because the last raise was in 2005 and before that, it had not been raised in 12 years.
"Today's increase will be beneficial for all legislators who are full-time legislators," Say said. "The raises will let them afford their rents, utilities and everything else that has gone up in price."
Senate President Colleen Hanabusa said Slom or any other legislator can introduce legislation next year to block the pay raise, but until then it will start in 2009.
"I believe they (Salary Commission members) have done their assessment as to what is proper payment and we should abide by it," Hanabusa said.
Both the Senate president and speaker of the House will get a pay differential, raising their pay to $56,208 from $43,400.
The Salary Commission recommendations took effect last year. The Legislature was not required to give a final approval because the raises went into effect unless the lawmakers actively voted to kill them.
In reaching its decision to increase lawmakers' pay, the Salary Commission noted that legislators have many demands that "restrict the ability of Legislature to supplement their salary with a profession, business or other employment."
In the future, the commission said, if pay isn't raised, it "may limit the number of qualified individuals willing to serve as state legislators."
In this election, even with the coming pay raise, 22 legislative seats were uncontested, with only the incumbent running.
The money for legislative salaries comes from the state budget, so the state Department of Accounting and General Services issues that check. But the expense allowance comes from the Legislature's own budget, so the House and Senate will have to adjust their budget for that extra expense of $205,200.
Say and Hanabusa said they have already started to discuss the budget for the 2009 session and will also go along with Gov. Linda Lingle's request that all state spending be trimmed by at least 4 percent.
Say said the Legislature would "follow the governor's lead.”
~ ~ ~
The Whistler
Reply »
Anyone know the names of the pay pals on the State Salary Commission who
recommended these raises for their legislative cronies?
Take a look at these pages for some possibilities:
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/12/21/n...
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Say-C...
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Hanab...
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Lingl...
Politicians who prey together, stick together!
Topix Forum, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
See also: 2004 REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE SALARY COMMISSION FEBRUARY 17, 2004; 2005 DFI Annual Report
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (09-19-08): “Prior Restraint” court orders are unconstitutional and, particularly in this case, was outside Judge David Ezra’s jurisdiction since the website at www.the-catbird-seat.net which he ordered closed down was licensed in Australia and the information published thereon was distributed worldwide through the world-wide web:
RE: CV05-00030 - David Farmer vs. Harmon - Exhibit: "The Freedom To Sing"
and Witnesses: Michael Mukasey and Alberto Gonzales
Saturday, September 20, 2008 2:00 AM
From: "Bobby Harmon"
To: "David Farmer" <farmerd001@hawaii.rr.com>, "Steven Guttman" <sguttman@kdubm.com>, "Carol K. Muranaka" <ustp.region15@usdoj.gov>
Cc: "Michael Mukasey <AskDOJ@usdoj.gov> ACLU Hawaii" <office@acluhawaii.org>, "All Representatives" <reps@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "All Senators" <sens@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "Andrew Walden" <hfpeditor@email.com>, "Andrew Winer" <winer@pacificlaw.com>, "Aon Insurance Managers" <mike_coulter@agl.aon.com>, "Arnold T. Phillips" <arnold.t.phillips@verizon.com>, "Arthur Rath" <imua@spamarrest.com>, "Barry M. Kurren" <richlyn_young@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Benjamin Kudo" <bkudo@imanakakudo.com>, "Blossom Tong" <blossom.d.tong@marsh.com>, "Bradley Tamm" <btamm@hawaii.rr.com>, "Carl Morton" <ethics@hawaiiethics.org>, "Charles Goodwin" <HONOLULU@FBI.GOV>, "Charles Hurd" <mcp@mediatehawaii.org>, "Colbert Matsumoto" <service@islandinsurance.com>, "Craig Watanabe" <captiveins@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Dane Field" <danefl@gucl.com>, "Dave Shapiro" <volcanicash@gmail.com>, "David A. Ezra" <theresa_lam@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Dee Jay Mailer" <ksinfo@ksbe.edu>, "Dorothy Sellers" <hawaiiag@hawaii.gov>, "Exececutive Office for U.S. Trustees" <ustrustee.program@usdoj.gov>, "Hugh Jones" <hugh.r.jones@hawaii.gov>, "Insurance Division Fraud Branch" <insfraud@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "J C Shannon" <Hapa1234@aol.com>, "James B Nicholson" <jamesbnicholson@aol.com>, "James B. Farris" <Farrisj@adr.org>, "James Cribley" <jcribley@caselombardi.com>, "James Duca" <jduca@kdubm.com>, "James Paul" <jpaul@pjpn.com>, "James Wriston" <jwriston@awlaw.com>, "Jeffrey Sia" <Jeff.Sia@excite.com>, "Jeffrey Watanabe" <jwatanabe@wik.com>, "Jim Dooley" <jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Jo Ann Uchida" <rico@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Joe Moore" <news@khon2.com>, "John D. Finnegan" <info@chubb.com>, "John Goemans" <wip@kamuela.com>, "Judge Lloyd King" <hib@hib.uscourts.gov>, "Judith Neustadter" <Judy@tiki.net>, "Judson Witham" <jurisnot2@yahoo.com>, "Ken Conklin" <ken_conklin@yahoo.com>, "Kenneth Hipp" <khipp@marrhipp.com>, "Kevin S.C. Chang" <shari_afuso@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Lawrence Reifurth" <dcca@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Linda Lingle" <governor.lingle@hawaii.gov>, "Lyn Flanigan Anzai" <lflanigan@hsba.org>, "Margery Bronster" <info@bchlaw.net>, "Marsh Affinity Group" <prosecure@marshpm.com>, "Michael N. Tanoue" <mtanoue@paclawgroup.com>, "Michelle Tucker" <michelle@sterlingandtucker.com>, "Nathan Aipa" <nathan@pitluck.com>, "Office of Inspector General Civil Rights Complaints" <inspector.general@usdoj.gov>, "Office of the U.S. Trustee District of Hawaii" <ustp.region15@usdoj.goV>, "Paul Alston" <palston@ahfi.com>, "Peter Carlisle" <emeguro@co.honolulu.hi.us>, "Randall Roth" <rroth@hawaii.edu>, "Rick Daysog" <rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Robert Bruce Graham" <bgraham@awlaw.com>, "Robert F. Miller" <info@robertfmiller.com>, "Robin Campaniano" <aigh001@aighawaii.com>, "Roy F. Hughes" <hthughes@hawaii.rr.com>, "Samuel P. King" <leslie_sai@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Susan Tius" <STius@rmhawaii.com>, "V K Durham" <vkdtdht@pionet.net>, "Valerie U. Katz" <clmrpt@islandinsurance.com>, "William K Slate" <Websitemail@adr.org>, "Jim Terrack" <tnthawaii@aol.com>, "Don Michak" <dmichak@journalinquirer.com>, "Rocco Sansone" <rocco.c.sansone@marsh.com>, "Ted Pettit" <tpettit@caselombardi.com>, "Mark Burch" <burch@hawaii.edu>, "Laura Thielen" <dlnr@hawaii.gov>, "Michael Moore" <MMFlint@aol.com>, "John D Zalewski" <jzalewski@caselombardi.com>, "Robert M. Kohn" <rkohn@polhawaii.com>, "Haunani Apoliona" <info@oha.org>, "Malia Zimmerman" <Malia@hawaiireporter.com>, "CPCU Society Hawaii Chapter" <kkanehiro@gmail.com>, "Hawaii Independent Insurance Agents Assoc." <hiia@hawaii.rr.com>, "Hawaii Insurance Bureau Inc" <dpeters@hibinc.com>, "Hawaii Insurers Council" <apowershawaii@yahoo.com>, "Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press" <rcfp@rcfp.org>, "CND 48 Hours" <48Hours@CBSnews.com>, "American Bar Association" <dispute@abanet.org>, "Electronic Frontier Foundation" <information@eff.org>, "First Amendment Center" <info@fac.org>, "Council for the National Interest Foundation" <cnif@democracyinaction.org>, "Free to Know-Hawaii" <freetoknowhawaii@yahoo.com>, "ImpeachBush.org" <impeachbush@votetoimpeach.org>, "Wayne Madsen" <wmreditor@waynemadsenreport.com>, "National Whistleblower Center" <mc@whistleblowers.org>, "Editor New York Times" <managing-editor@nytimes.com>, "Greg Palast" <palast@gregpalast.com>, "Pension Benefit Guaranty Association" <participant.pro@pbgc.gov>, "Public Citizen" <publiccitizen@mail.democracyinaction.org>... more
Dear Mr. Farmer, Mr. Guttman, Ms. Muranaka & All Concerned:
Due to the discovery of NEW FACTS, I am updating the subject Exhibit and the witness information for U.S. Attorneys General Michael Mukasey and Alberto Gonzales, which you will find attached and on-line at:
http://www.kycbs.net/Freedom-To-Sing.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Mukasey-Michael.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Gonzales-Alberto.htm
As Judge David Ezra's Order constitutes a PRIOR RESTRAINT of my freedom of speech -- and that of all others who published their opinions in The Catbird Seat website, I regret that I must continue to submit each of these new and updated exhibits and witness descriptions for your review and approval in the event they may contain any prohibited "Protected Subject Matter". If you would like to avoid this approval process, then I would again suggest that we attempt a good-faith settlement of this case through confidential negotiation or mediation.
Your prompt reply will be appreciated.
Very truly yours,
Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU, ARM
Related internet references:
http://www.kycbs.net/911-COVERUP.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/911-COVERUP-2.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/911-COVERUP-3.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/AlliedWorldAssurance.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Bishop.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/BlackstoneGroup.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/CarlyleGroup.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/ChubbGroup.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Confessions.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/ConnecticutConnection.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Freedom-To-Sing.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/GoldmanSachs.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Google-AIG.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Google-AIG-PI.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Henry-Paulson.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Impeach-Bush.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/IndonesianConnection.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/JUSTICE.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/MarshBirds.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/PunaConnection.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/RICO-In-Paradise.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/TheMeadows.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Thorns.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Treasury.htm
http://www.kycbs.net/Zurich.htm
~ ~ ~
The First Amendment Handbook
Prior Restraints
A prior restraint is an official restriction of speech prior to publication. Prior restraints are viewed by the U.S. Supreme Court as "the most serious and the least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights." Since 1931, the Court repeatedly has found that such attempts to censor the media are presumed unconstitutional.
In the 1976 landmark case Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, the Court addressed the constitutionality of an order prohibiting the media from publishing or broadcasting certain information about Erwin Charles Simants, who was accused of murdering the Henry Kellie family in a small town in Nebraska. This case pitted the First Amendment rights of a free press against the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial.
To ensure that Simants received a fair trial, the Nebraska Supreme Court modified the district court's order to prohibit reporting of confessions or admissions made by Simants or facts "strongly implicative" of Simants.
On appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the prior restraint order. The Court emphasized that the use of prior restraint is an "immediate and irreversible sanction" that greatly restricts the First Amendment rights of the press. "If it can be said that a threat of criminal or civil sanctions after publication `chills' speech, prior restraint `freezes' it at least for the time," Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote for the Court.
To determine whether the prior restraint order was justified, the Court applied a form of the "clear and present danger" test, examining whether "the gravity of the `evil,' discounted by its improbability, justifies such invasion of free speech as is necessary to avoid the danger."
In applying this test, the Court articulated a three-part analytical framework, which imposed a heavy burden on the party seeking to restrain the press. First, the Court examined "the nature and extent of the pretrial news coverage." Second, the Court considered whether other less restrictive measures would have alleviated the effects of pretrial publicity. Finally, the Court considered the effectiveness of a restraining order in preventing the threatened danger.
The Court found that the trial judge reasonably concluded that the "intense and pervasive pretrial publicity" in the Simants case "might reasonably impair the defendant's right to a fair trial." However, the trial judge did not consider whether other measures short of a prior restraint order would protect the defendant's rights. The trial judge should have considered changing the location of the trial, postponing the trial, intensifying screening of prospective jurors, providing emphatic and clear instructions to jurors about judging the case only on the evidence presented in the courtroom or sequestering the jury.
The Court also found that the effectiveness of the trial judge's prior restraint order to protect Simants' right to a fair trial was questionable. Because the prior restraint order is limited to the court's territorial jurisdiction, it could not effectively restrain national publications as opposed to publications within the court's jurisdiction.
Moreover, it is difficult for trial judges to draft effective prior restraint orders when it is hard "to predict what information will in fact undermine the impartiality of jurors." Finally, because this trial took place in a town of 850 people, rumors traveling by word of mouth may be more damaging to the defendant's fair-trial rights than printed or broadcasted news accounts. In short, the probability that the defendant's fair-trial rights would be impaired by pretrial publicity was not shown with "the degree of certainty" needed to justify a prior restraint order.
Because the "barriers to prior restraint remain high and the presumption against its use continues intact," prior restraint orders are rarely upheld. As a result, editorial decisions about publication of information the government deems sensitive are generally left solely to the discretion of news organizations. Nevertheless, government officials and private individuals occasionally attempt to stop publication....
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
© 2003 RCFP. 1815 N. Fort Myer Dr., Suite 900, Arlington VA 22209 (703) 807-2100
http://www.rcfp.org/handbook/c05p01.html
www.kycbs.net/Freedom-To-Sing.htm
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (09-19-08): More undisclosed conflicts of interests between parties named in Defendant’s RICO lawsuit and the U.S. Department of Justice (Plaintiff), Alberto Gonzanes, Mark Bennett, Hugh Jones, Dorothy Sellers, Margery Bronster, Earl Anzai, Lyn Anzai, Henry Paulson, AIG, Chubb Group, ACE, Aon, Marsh & McLennan, Goldman Sachs, Henry Peters, Robert Kihune, Diane Plotts, Sukamto Sia, Constance Lau, Hawaiian Electric Company, Douglas Ing, Louise Ing, Aloha Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Joshua Gotbaum, Judge Kevin Chang, Faye Watanabe Kurren, The Nature Conservancy, Judge Barry Kurren, Judge David Ezra, James Nicholson, Linda Lingle, Ben Cayetano, John Waihee, Ron Rewald, OHA, AIPAC, Jack Abramoff, David Farmer, Steven Guttman, etc:
CV05-00030 - David Farmer vs. Harmon -
Exhibit: "AIG: Buzz Yahoo story"
Friday, September 19, 2008 12:53 AM
From: "Bobby Harmon" <bobby_n_harmon@yahoo.com>iew contact details
To: "David Farmer" <farmerd001@hawaii.rr.com>, "Steven Guttman" <sguttman@kdubm.com>, "Carol K. Muranaka" <ustp.region15@usdoj.gov>
Cc: "Michael Mukasey <AskDOJ@usdoj.gov> ACLU Hawaii" <office@acluhawaii.org>, "All Representatives" <reps@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "All Senators" <sens@Capitol.hawaii.gov>, "Andrew Walden" <hfpeditor@email.com>, "Andrew Winer" <winer@pacificlaw.com>, "Aon Insurance Managers" <mike_coulter@agl.aon.com>, "Arnold T. Phillips" <arnold.t.phillips@verizon.com>, "Arthur Rath" <imua@spamarrest.com>, "Barry M. Kurren" <richlyn_young@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Benjamin Kudo" <bkudo@imanakakudo.com>, "Blossom Tong" <blossom.d.tong@marsh.com>, "Bradley Tamm" <btamm@hawaii.rr.com>, "Brian E. Schatz" <teamschatz@gmail.com>, "Carl Morton" <ethics@hawaiiethics.org>, "Charles Goodwin" <HONOLULU@FBI.GOV>, "Charles Hurd" <mcp@mediatehawaii.org>, "Colbert Matsumoto" <service@islandinsurance.com>, "Craig Watanabe" <captiveins@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Curtis B. Ching" <Curtis.B.Ching@usdoj.gov>, "Dane Field" <danefl@gucl.com>, "Dave Shapiro" <volcanicash@gmail.com>, "David A. Ezra" <theresa_lam@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Dee Jay Mailer" <ksinfo@ksbe.edu>, "Dorothy Sellers" <hawaiiag@hawaii.gov>, "Excecutive Office for U.S. Trustees" <ustrustee.program@usdoj.gov>, "Hugh Jones" <hugh.r.jones@hawaii.gov>, "Insurance Division Fraud Branch" <insfraud@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "J C Shannon" <Hapa1234@aol.com>, "James B Nicholson" <jamesbnicholson@aol.com>, "James B. Farris" <Farrisj@adr.org>, "James Cribley" <jcribley@caselombardi.com>, "James Duca" <jduca@kdubm.com>, "James Paul" <jpaul@pjpn.com>, "James Wriston" <jwriston@awlaw.com>, "Jeffrey Sia" <Jeff.Sia@excite.com>, "Jeffrey Watanabe" <jwatanabe@wik.com>, "Jim Dooley" <jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Jo Ann Uchida" <rico@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Joe Moore" <news@khon2.com>, "John D. Finnegan" <info@chubb.com>, "John Goemans" <wip@kamuela.com>, "Judge Lloyd King" <hib@hib.uscourts.gov>, "Judith Neustadter" <Judy@tiki.net>, "Judson Witham" <jurisnot@yahoo.com>, "Ken Conklin" <ken_conklin@yahoo.com>, "Kenneth Hipp" <khipp@marrhipp.com>, "Kevin S.C. Chang" <shari_afuso@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Lawrence Reifurth" <dcca@dcca.hawaii.gov>, "Linda Lingle" <governor.lingle@hawaii.gov>, "Louise Ing" <ling@hsba.org>, "Lyn Flanigan Anzai" <lflanigan@hsba.org>, "Margery Bronster" <info@bchlaw.net>, "Marsh Affinity Group" <prosecure@marshpm.com>, "Matt Tsukazaki" <mat@torkildson.com>, "Michael N. Tanoue" <mtanoue@paclawgroup.com>, "Michelle Tucker" <michelle@sterlingandtucker.com>, "Na Kumu Book Project" <nakumu@ksbe.edu>, "Nathan Aipa" <nathan@pitluck.com>, "Office of Inspector General Civil Rights Complaints" <inspector.general@usdoj.gov>, "Office of the U.S. Trustee District of Hawaii" <ustp.region15@usdoj.goV>, "Paul Alston" <palston@ahfi.com>, "Peter Carlisle" <emeguro@co.honolulu.hi.us>, "Randall Roth" <rroth@hawaii.edu>, "Rick Daysog" <rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com>, "Robert Bruce Graham" <bgraham@awlaw.com>, "Robert F. Miller" <info@robertfmiller.com>, "Robin Campaniano" <aigh001@aighawaii.com>, "Roy F. Hughes" <hthughes@hawaii.rr.com>, "Samuel P. King" <leslie_sai@hid.uscourts.gov>, "Susan Tius" <STius@rmhawaii.com>, "V K Durham" <vkdtdht@pionet.net>, "Valerie U. Katz" <clmrpt@islandinsurance.com>, "William K Slate" <Websitemail@adr.org>, "Jim Terrack" <tnthawaii@aol.com>, "Don Michak" <dmichak@journalinquirer.com>, "Rocco Sansone" <rocco.c.sansone@marsh.com>, "Ted Pettit" <tpettit@caselombardi.com>, "Mark Burch" <burch@hawaii.edu>, "Laura Thielen" <dlnr@hawaii.gov>, "Michael Moore" <MMFlint@aol.com>, "John D Zalewski" <jzalewski@caselombardi.com>, "Robert M. Kohn" <rkohn@polhawaii.com>, "Haunani Apoliona" <info@oha.org>, "Malia Zimmerman" <Malia@hawaiireporter.com>, "DC Bureau Office of Hawaiian Affairs" <mathar@oha.org>, "CPCU Society Hawaii Chapter" <kkanehiro@gmail.com>, "Hawaii Independent Insurance Agents Assoc." <hiia@hawaii.rr.com>, "Hawaii Insurance Bureau Inc" <dpeters@hibinc.com>, "Hawaii Insurers Council" <apowershawaii@yahoo.com>, "Manuel Valenzuela" <manuel@valenzuelas.net>... more
Dear Mr. Farmer, Mr. Guttman, Ms. Muranaka & All Concerned:
Due to the discovery of NEW FACTS, I am adding the subject Exhibit which you will find on-line at:
As Judge David Ezra's Order constitutes a PRIOR RESTRAINT of freedom of speech, I regret that I must continue to submit each of these new and updated exhibits and witness descriptions for your review and approval in the event they may contain any prohibited "Protected Subject Matter". If you would like to avoid this approval process, then I would again suggest that we attempt a good-faith settlement of this case through confidential negotiation or mediation.
Your prompt reply will be appreciated.
Very truly yours,
Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU, ARM
www.kycbs.net/Freedom-To-Sing.htm
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (09-09-08): Undisclosed relationships between David Farmer and James MacArthur, Walter Dods, Oswald Stender, Faye Kurren, Tesoro, others...
Here comes Walter Dods
By Streeter, ABA Banking Journal
Walter Dods keeps a dog outside his office. Not a live dog , but a modest-sized sculpture of one that the bank purchased from a local artist. The vaguely oriental-looking animal wears a curious expression. It almost seems to be smiling, yet the look also suggests tenacity. Not everyone at the bank likes the dog, but Dods does. And so there it sits on a cube at the entrance to his outer office.
If you were to spend three days observing and trying to keep up with the fast-moving chairman and chief executive officer of First Hawaiian, Inc., you might sense that the sculpture and its caretaker are kindred spirits.
The man who will be president of the American Bankers Association for the next 12 months is an affable, down-to-earth fellow who is at home speaking with anyone. At the same time, he is by all indications an aggressive competitor, a hands-on manager with an almost uncanny grasp of detail, and a boss who gives his subordinates free rein to innovate, but also holds them accountable. Thus, like the sculpture outside his office, there's a certain yin and yang to Walter Dods--personable yet demanding....
Hawaiian Horatio Alger
Walter A. Dods, Jr., 55, is the oldest of seven children. His father was a policeman and his mother worked as a cashier at a Waikiki restaurant--both are retired now.
A 1970 Honolulu magazine article about Dods (he was then 29 and a newly minted First Hawaiian VP), described the Dods family as very close. Everyone learned to hustle early because, as Dods put it, "The last one to the table got the leftovers." That hustle has never left him.
Beginning at about 14, Dods paid his own way working nights and weekends at service stations, Chinese restaurants, a pineapple cannery – sometimes one place during the day and another at night in the summer months.
True, some of Dods' earnings went toward souping up cars--the policeman's son even admits to some hot rodding and drag racing as a teenager. He's long since rechanneled that energy, but an interest in cars remains. He owns a 1957 Ford Thunderbird (the type with "portholes" in the hardtop), which he bought from James MacArthur of the "Hawaii Five-O" television show.
When Dods graduated high school, his father urged him to go to college. But, says Dods, "I was too 'smart' to go to school, so I went to work instead." His first full-time job was as dead files clerk at First Insurance Co. Gradually Dods realized his mistake and began taking night classes to get a college degree.
Doris also did a five-year stint in community relations and advertising at Dillingham Construction Co. before answering an ad for public relations director at First Hawaiian Bank. He landed the job and was promoted four times within 23 months, becoming vice-president for advertising, public relations, and business development by age 29. In the process he caught the attention of First Hawaiian CEO John Bellinger....
http://www.allbusiness.com/finance/579261-1.html
www.kycbs.net/Google-First-Hawaiian-Bank.htm
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (09-07-08):
EARL I. ANZAI
Attorney General of Hawaii
DOROTHY D. SELLERS
HUGH R. JONES
Deputy Attorneys General
425 Queen Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Attorneys for the Beneficiaries
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT
STATE OF HAWAII
In the Matter of the Estate
of
BERNICE P. BISHOP,
Deceased.
EQUITY NO. 2048 KSCC
~ ~ ~
REPORT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL CONCERNING MAY 7, 1999 ORDER
The May 7, 1999 order regarding orders to show cause requires the former trustees immediately to resign offices and directorships in the trust’s subsidiary and affiliated organizations... P&C Insurance Company, Inc., is a captive insurance company, the sole stock holder which is Pauahi Holdings Inc.
The Attorney General respectfully invites the court’s attention to the annual report publicly filed on March 28, 2000 by P&C (Ex. 1). The annual report lists Henry H. Peters as a director. The Attorney General is unable to determine whether the listing is incorrect; or whether Peters remains a director in violation of court order. The Attorney General’s several inquiries of the trust concerning this matter remain unanswered despite the passage of three months (Ex. 2).
DATED: Honolulu, Hawaii, May 5, 2000
Respectfully submitted,
<s> DOROTHY SELLERS
Deputy Attorney General
~ ~ ~
DECLARATION OF DOROTHY SELLERS
DOROTHY SELLERS hereby states:
1. I am a deputy attorney general, and I am familiar with the case records and files in Hawaii First Circuit Court Equity No. 2048 going back to approximately August 1997.
2. I have personal knowledge of the facts contained in this declaration and am competent to testify to them.
3. Exhibit 1 is a true and correct copy of the annual report of P&C Insurance Company for the year ending Dec. 31, 1999, filed in late March 2000.
4, Exhibit 2 is a true and correct letter of my February 15, 2000 letter to counsel for the trust asking for verification that Henry Peters had resigned from P&C and the effective date of the resignation. I have never received a response to that letter.
5. On March 13, 2000, deputy attorney general Hugh Jones wrote trustee Libkuman (with a copy to general counsel Colleen Wong) about a number of matters. The final two paragraphs of that letter are:
Finally, we also requested some time ago copies of Henry Peters’ letters of resignation from directorships and ex officio positions, and specifically from P&C Insurance Company. Although the resignation letters of the other trustees were filed with the Court, Peters’ were not.
Please respond to these requests before March 31, 2000. Thank you.
I DECLARE UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY THAT THE FOREGOING IS TRUE AND CORRECT.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawaii, May 5, 2000
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-PC-Peters-5-5-0.pdf
See also:
www.kycbs.net/PC-PriceWaterhouse-8-9-94.pdf
www.kycbs.net/PC-Arms-Length-Guide-10-1-94.pdf
www.kycbs.net/Doc-EQ2048-Mediation-Order-3-9-0.pdf
www.kycbs.net/KSBE-INTERROGATORIES.htm
www.kycbs.net/RICO-In-Paradise.htm
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (08-30-08): More undisclosed conflicts of interests with Lamar Hunt, Howard Hunt, Ron Rewald, Governor John Waihee, James MacArthur, etc.:
www.mecca.com/modules/articles/article.php?id=694
www.newsmakingnews.com/vm,deadly,1991,10,27,0...
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (08-25-08): More undisclosed conflicts of interests between David Farmer, Steven Guttman, Governor Ben Cayetano, Governor John Waihee, Governor Linda Lingle, Kamehameha Schools, Hamilton McCubbin, Dee Jay Mailer, P&C Insurance Co., Wally Chin, Rodney Park, Nathan Aipa, Colleen Wong, Lyn Anzai, Earl Anzai, Hawaiian Airlines, Aloha Airlines, Judge Lloyd King, Judge Robert Faris, Judge Kevin Chang, Judge Barry Kurren, Judge David Ezra, Judge Rey Graulty, Robin Campaniano, AIG, Douglas Ing, Louise Ing, Colbert Matsumoto, Jeff Watanabe, Joshua Gotbaum, Linda Lingle, AIPAC, Louanne Kam, Allan Yee, Dennis Fern, James Ahloy, Aloha Petroleum/Harken Energy, McKenzie Methane, Arthur Andersen, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Dennis Tsuhako, Enron, Alan M.L. Yee, Constance Lau, Eric Yeaman, Hawaiian Electric, Robert Clarke, Edwina Clarke, Peter Hanashiro, University of Hawaii, etc:
February, 2007
How to Save Your Business,
Your People & Yourself
Ross Murakami and KMH rise out
of the ashes of Arthur Andersen
David K. Choo, Hawaii Business
Ross Murakami first heard about the Arthur Andersen accounting scandal in November 2001 from an unexpected but reliable source: his mom. Mrs. Margie Kanemitsu called her accountant son from her home in Hilo, after watching a CNN broadcast.
“Ross, did you hear what happened to one of your clients, Enron?” she asked.
The younger Murakami was a partner at Arthur Andersen’s thriving 42-person Honolulu office. The large international accounting firm served as the financial auditor of Enron, a giant energy trading company based in Houston. That morning, Arthur Andersen had announced a restatement of an earlier audit of its client.
“Don’t worry, Mom. We’ll be fine,” he said....
Within days, through a seemingly never-ending series of news reports, Murakami, his staff and the rest of the country watched Enron implode, sucking its staff, subsidiaries and investors down an irresistible vortex. Curiously, one of the first down the financial and political black hole was the auditor, 88-year-old Arthur Andersen, not only its Houston office, but nearly everyone else, including the people in far-off Honolulu....
“It was emotional. It was exhausting,” says Murakami of his office’s sudden fall and eventual rise. “It was also extremely rewarding.”...
THE YOUNG PARTNER
The year 2001 was promising to be a good one for Murakami. Hawaii’s economy was continuing its steady recovery from a decade-long slowdown, which meant a busy year for service businesses like accounting firms. In addition, in the fall, the then-37-year-old accountant made partner at Arthur Andersen. Having joined the company 14 years before, straight out of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Murakami was the first partner in the Honolulu office to have begun his career at the Honolulu office.
Murakami started his new position at Arthur Andersen on Sept. 1st.
“Here I am a new partner, and, 10 days later, we are hit by one of the most tragic events in U.S. history, which, among other things, had a big impact on business in general,” says Murakami. “Then, two months after that, Enron. Kaboom!”...
Even though his once promising year was beginning to look nightmarish, when Murakami put down the phone after speaking with his mother on that November morning, he was confident that the scandal would pass. After all, every one of the big five accounting firms had had a questionable audit at one time or another in their histories. Some of them had even been sanctioned by the Securities and Exchange Commission for their indiscretions. But they all had weathered their respective storms. It seemed highly unlikely to Murakami that the actions of a few people in his company’s Houston office could reverberate all the way to Honolulu.
Around the office, he reassured his staff: This, too, shall pass. Corporate was tight-lipped about the growing scandal, preferring to wait for the legal and political dust to settle. Murakami and Honolulu office managing partner Randy Karns met with their local public relations consultant, who advised that they do the same. People wouldn’t appreciate public protests or protestations of innocence, they were told. Especially if they were protesting their own innocence. It would be bad form, especially in Hawaii.
Corporate sent representatives to reassure the Honolulu staff that the accounting irregularities were part of an isolated situation in Houston. They pointed to the firm’s vast capital base. Again, there was nothing to be alarmed about.
However, in the first quarter of 2002, as news reports announced one legal development (and lost client) after another, tensions were running high in the office. To relieve the anxiety, Murakami and his staff scheduled visits to members of Hawaii’s congressional delegation and met with Gov. Ben Cayetano. The sessions were gut-wrenching and emotional. “How could this be happening to us?” “Why was Arthur Andersen being made a scapegoat?” they asked. “We haven’t done anything wrong,” they insisted.
The leaders listened patiently and offered their sympathies and support.
“We knew they [Hawaii’s congressional delegation and the governor] wouldn’t be able to do much for us. How could they? It would be like stepping in front of a speeding truck,” says Murakami. “But we needed an outlet for all the anxiety, anger and emotion. We needed to vent.”
In Arthur Andersen’s 29th-floor office in the Pacific Guardian Life Center, the staff continued to vent with management’s full support and participation. Someone began writing encouraging messages with a Magic Marker on a Plexiglas wall off the reception area. People began writing words of support, inspirational quotes from leaders like Gandhi, or words of anger and defiance. They even had lighthearted activities in which they took out their frustrations on certain Department of Justice officials.
“You had this pride about working for Arthur Andersen and then there was this outrage that all this was going down and no one could do anything about it,” says Harvey Rackmil, chief financial officer for HONBLUE, who was the senior member of Arthur Andersen’s tax department from 1998 to 2002. “We were outraged at the government. We made ‘I am Arthur Andersen’ T-shirts for ourselves, and we went downstairs and took photos of each other. Arthur Andersen for the longest time didn’t fight back. They thought that we would get through it. Then the indictment was handed down and that was that.”
THE OLD PARTNER
In the fall of 2001, Randy Karns was quietly planning a second career away from public accounting. The 50-something Karns, who had opened Arthur Andersen’s Honolulu office nearly 20 years before, had been offered an early retirement package from the corporate office—mandatory retirement, actually. That was fine, because he had recently been offered his dream job. Today, Karns won’t disclose what the dream position was, or with whom. He does say that it was with an organization for which he had a passion, and that the position was both prestigious and lucrative.
Karns, who had conducted audits of Hawaii companies since the late ’60s, had spent his entire career with Arthur Andersen, starting out in the firm’s Los Angeles office. He was extremely proud of his company and the quality of work it had done, so 2002, had promised to be not only a sweet beginning to a new career, but a sweet ending, as well. However, as the feeding frenzy around the accounting scandal grew, the senior partner knew that his work at Arthur Andersen wasn’t done. He asked his potential new employers if he could have a little more time to decide about the position. They agreed....
On March 14, 2002, a federal grand jury in Houston indicted Arthur Andersen on one count of obstructing a Department of Justice investigation by destroying documents. After the announcement, Karns and his management team kicked things into high gear, calling an office-wide meeting in which Karns laid all the options on the table, including his recent job offer. No one was going to abandon ship, he assured his staff....
THE NEW PLAN
Of course, Murakami’s mother wasn’t the only one outside the firm who called him about Enron and the future of Arthur Andersen. “I started fielding calls from clients, who would say: ‘Eh, Ross, how come you didn’t let me do all those things?’ I told them that I didn’t know why they did that,” says Murakami. “I told them we don’t do that. That’s not how business is done. We had a very solid client base. They knew us, and they knew we had always been very honest and open with them.”
Early in the crisis, Murakami and Karns hit Bishop Street hard, meeting with as many of their clients as they could. Sometimes, as at the gatherings with their staff, the two partners had little new information to impart to their anxious clients. There were a lot of uncomfortable discussions, some in front of boards of directors. But every client was contacted and spoken to face to face if possible. After Andersen’s indictment in March, the meetings got more urgent, going from heart-felt reassurances to the beginnings of a plan for a new firm.
“We kept them [our clients] informed and we told them that we were trying to pull something off that would be a stand-alone entity,” says Murakami. “We said we couldn’t tell them right now if it was going to be successful or not. We couldn’t wait till we were solid to let them know. It wasn’t about us. It was about them.”
At first glance, the partners’ plan, which they would appropriately name “Project Phoenix,” seemed simple. They, along with Peter Hanashiro, who was slated to be named partner at Arthur Andersen before the crisis, would buy the firm from corporate. They would continue to provide the same good service that they always had, except the new firm would no longer audit large publicly traded companies. But the new firm would be free from a rigid corporate fee structure and nimble enough to respond to changes in the local marketplace....
FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX....
“Even before Andersen imploded, we had discussed the possibility of creating a local firm with national ties. That is the way the market is moving,” says Wilcox Choy, partner at KMH and former partner at big four accounting firm, Grant Thornton. “But there just wasn’t enough critical mass to do that. Then Andersen went down and after talking with them, we realized we were on the same page.”
KMH started with three partners (Karns, Murakami and Hanashiro) and now has six. Alan Yee joined the firm from Grant Thornton’s Honolulu office in 2002 and Al Fernandez from Ernst and Young in 2003. Both run KMH’s tax practices. Alton Ohira, former head of KPMG Honolulu’s insurance and audit practice, came on board in 2003 and Wilcox Choy, once in charge of Thornton’s audit practice, also in 2003....
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Timeline: The Fall of Arthur Andersen
Aug. 15, 2001
Enron vice president for corporate development Sherron Watkins writes a seven-page
letter to her boss, CEO Kenneth Lay, warning of accounting irregularities at the oil and
natural gas trader. “The business world will consider the past successes as nothing but
an elaborate accounting hoax,” she writes.
Nov. 8, 2001
Enron revises its financial statements for the previous five years. Instead of showing
huge profits, the company now says that it actually lost $586 million.
Jan. 10, 2002
Arthur Andersen acknowledges that it destroyed Enron documents.
Jan. 15, 2002
Arthur Andersen fires chief Enron auditor David B. Duncan.
March 15, 2002
Arthur Andersen is indicted by a federal grand jury in Houston on one count of
obstruction of justice for shredding documents and deleting computer files regarding
Enron.
March 26, 2002
Arthur Andersen CEO Joseph F. Berardino steps down amid an exodus of clients and
overseas partners.
June 15, 2002
After a six-week trial, Arthur Andersen is convicted of obstruction of justice for
destroying documents while on notice of a federal investigation.
May 31, 2005
The U.S. Supreme Court overturns the Arthur Andersen conviction. The justices
unanimously agree that the Houston jury was given overly broad instructions by the
federal judge presiding over the case. At issue is a memo from an Arthur Andersen in-house attorney detailing the company’s document retention policy.
Nov. 23, 2005
The Justice Department announces that it will not pursue the criminal case against
Arthur Andersen in wake of the Supreme Court decision handed down earlier that year.
BALANCING THE BOOKS
On Monday, Oct. 16, 2006, the day after Hawaii’s statewide earthquake, accounting firm Accuity LLP opened for business. Just days before, the firm had served as the Honolulu office of accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), which had decided earlier that year to pull out of the Hawaii market.
“I got a call from a friend that first day, who said: ‘PWC pulls out and the earth shakes,’” says Kent Tsukamoto, the former PWC managing partner and now Accuity’s managing partner. “You might say that we started off with a bang.”
While the circumstances surrounding Accuity’s transition from international juggernaut to locally owned big business weren’t as catastrophic as Arthur Andersen’s end and KMH’s beginning, Tsukamoto and his partners, Wendell Lee and Dennis Tsuhako, were essentially dealing with the same issue: How do you sustain a business while building another business?...
“Ten or 15 years ago, you saw a lot of mergers of the large, national firms, going from the big eight to the big five. Now, of course, after Andersen’s implosion, it’s down to four,” adds Wilcox Choy, partner at KMH and former partner at big-four accounting firm Grant Thornton. “Everything’s bigger and bigger businesses need bigger profits.”
In other words, follow the money, and while the big money is on the Mainland, there is still more than enough business to be found in the Islands. Accuity has retained a vast majority of its staff and about 95 percent of its revenue since leaving PWC. Tsukamoto expects about 5 percent growth in 2007....
Some of the advantages of local ownership can’t be accounted for on a balance sheet: “PWC offered us [the partners] positions on the Mainland, where we would have done well,” says Lee. “But that wouldn’t have been the right thing to do. We have 80 people who are our family, who in turn have families that they have to take care of. We couldn’t abandon them in the market like that. This is Hawaii. This is what you do. You take care.” — DKC
How to Save Your Business Your People & Yourself ...
Arthur Anderson and The Phoenix Project
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Google for David Farmer...
www.kycbs.net/Google-David-Farmer.htm
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NEW DISCOVERY (08-24-08): Undisclosed professional and financial conflicts of interests of David C. Farmer, Steven Guttman, Ross Murakami, KMH LLP, Arthur Andersen, Timothy Johns, Alton Ohira, Peter Hanashiro, Kamehameha Schools, Hamilton McCubbin, Colleen Wong, Nathan Aipa, etc.:
Volunteer Legal Services Hawaii, formerly Hawaii Lawyers Care: Jo Byrne, president; Margaret Ushijima, vice president; Wayne Tanna, secretary; Ross Murakami, treasurer; and Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland, Douglas Codiga, David Farmer, Harriette Holt, Lucinda John, Timothy E. Johns, Derek and Leslie Kobayashi, Peter Leong, Marianita Lopez, Rene Mansho, Jim Mo'ikeha, Sara Silverman, Marian Tsuji, Joan K. Yanagihara and JoAnn Yukimura, board members.
http://starbulletin.com/2000/06/12/business/story3.html
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NEW DISCOVERY (08-20-08): Undisclosed professional and financial conflicts of interest of Trustee David C. Farmer and attorney Steven Guttman with Cerberus International; Kamehameha Schools; Goldman Sachs; Blackstone Group; David Banmiller, Judge Robert Faris, Judge David Ezra, Dane Field, Stuart Ho, John Jubinsky, etc., through his legal representation of Aloha Airlines:
September 21, 2007
Quiet, not silent, Stuart Ho
leads as he learns
by Janis L. Magin, Pacific Business News
Stuart T.K. Ho doesn't like to take a lot of credit for all he's done in 43 years as an attorney, a politician, a real estate developer, a trustee, a hospital CEO.
Others grabbed the glory and the headlines and Ho was mostly content to let them.
"He's not a self-promoter," said friend and attorney Cuyler Shaw, who represented the family business, Capital Investment of Hawaii, started by Ho's late father, Chinn Ho. "He seems to draw people because of his competence and understanding of the situation."
Ho, 71, is one of Hawaii's most influential business leaders, one of the most dedicated stewards of community service, and, to quote his son, "somebody who truly understand the inner workings of Hawaii business."...
Ho cultivated his connections and business savvy during his long career in business, as a state representative and as a member of a dozen corporate and charitable boards of directors. He ran the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific for five years after closing down Capital Investment and he is now the state president for AARP Hawaii and the president of Waialae Country Club.
His wife, Elizabeth, is the area field service director for AFSCME, the parent organization of the state workers union, the Hawaii Government Employees Association.
Ho served as a director on the Aloha Airlines, Bank of Hawaii, Gannett Co., and TIAA-CREF Mutual Funds boards from the mid-1970s until the early 2000s. He also served as a University of Hawaii regent.
“One of the benefits I had with being on these various boards was the information you acquired that wasn't exactly street talk, especially with the local boards," Ho said. "Although you had to maintain your secrecy about these things, there's no question that what you put in your head stayed there."
He currently serves as a trustee on the University of Hawaii Foundation board, and as a director on the boards of Nuuanu Memorial Park, the Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation, the Law Library Microform Consortium and Aloha Festivals....
The first of Chinn and Betty Ho's six children, Stuart T.K. Ho grew up in Honolulu and graduated from Punahou School in 1953, then headed to Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif.
After graduation in 1957, two years of service in the Army took him to France and Lebanon, sparking a lifelong love of travel.
He went to law school at the University of Michigan, earning his degree in 1963. He returned to Honolulu, where he briefly worked as a deputy corporation counsel for the city before moving with his first wife, Mary, to practice law in New York City.
Returning to the Islands, he ran for the state Legislature in 1966 as a Democrat after reapportionment opened up a number of new seats, and represented Manoa for four years, two as majority floor leader.
"One of the most interesting periods of my life was government and the measurement of power and how it's applied," Ho said.
Despite his fascination with politics, Ho knew he needed to focus his attention on the family business, as he was expected to do. His brother, Dean, a business consultant in Shanghai, also worked for Capital Investment.
As a father, Ho did not expect, nor encourage, any of his three children to follow him.
"Real estate's a tough business and frankly, I wanted to encourage them to be in more stable businesses," Ho said. "Basically they went their own way."
Two of them did follow careers in business, although on different paths. Peter Ho was recently promoted to second in command at Bank of Hawaii.
Daughter Cecily Sargent recently sold a restaurant near Sydney, Australia, her second, and is getting ready to start another restaurant-related business.
"We weren't spoiled," Sargent said. "We were taught that you have to work hard to get what you want, and that success doesn't come without hard work."
The youngest of Ho's children was Heather, who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. She was executive pastry chef at Windows on the World....
Although Ho is as busy as ever with his jobs at AARP and Waialae Country Club, he is looking forward to settling into a slower pace of retirement next year when his term at the club is up....
http://pacific.bizjournals.com
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The Story of Waialae
The Golf Course was opened for play on February 1, 1927.
The Royal Hawaiian Hotel and Waialae Golf Course were built by the Territorial Hotel Co. as part of a promotional program to develop luxury travel trade to Hawaii. Matson Navigation Co. built the luxury passenger liner Malolo as part of this program. The hotel and golf course lands were leased from the Bernice P. Bishop Estate.
2007 OFFICERS
STUART HO, President
JOHN JUBINSKY, President-Elect
RICHARD INGERSOLL, Secretary
ALLAN LUM, Assistant Secretary
JAMES AHLOY, Treasurer
ALLAN LUM, Assistant Treasurer
DENNIS TSUHAKO, Internal Auditor
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NEW DISCOVERY (08/14/08): David Farmer’s undisclosed relationships with Marsh & McLennan; Mercer Consulting Services; Aloha Airlines; Hawaiian Airlines; Judge Robert Faris, Earl Anzai; Lyn Anzai; Joshua Gotbaum; AIPAC; Ben Cayetano; Linda Lingle; others:
March 17, 2002
Dead air deal rankles Aloha
By Susan Hooper, Honolulu Advertiser
The proposed merger between the state's two local airlines foundered because Hawaiian Airlines wanted to change the terms of the agreement, including eliminating the Houston consulting firm coordinating the deal, the chief executive of Aloha Airlines said in a statement today.
Hawaiian's proposal also would have given Hawaiian chairman John Adams the top spots in the merged airline, eliminating Greg Brenneman, the TurnWorks executive who had been orchestrating the merger, according to Glenn Zander, Aloha's president and chief executive officer.
"Aloha could not accept Hawaiian's new proposal because in our judgment, it was not in the best interest of the state, the traveling public or Aloha's shareholders and employees," Zander said.
The details emerged a day after Hawaiian said it was pulling out of the deal because it did not wish to extend what it called an April 18 "outside date for completing the merger." It said increasing costs and risks of the deal were factors.
The announcement surprised many in the state, including employees of both airlines and state legislators who as late as last Tuesday had held a hearing on the merger.
Today, Zander said Hawaiian's action was "regrettable" and said members of Aloha's board of directors voted unanimously to reject Hawaiian's proposal. He also praised Brenneman and TurnWorks for their work on the merger.
Hawaiian spokesman Keoni Wagner said tonight, "We don't necessarily agree with Aloha's characterization of the negotiations, but we also choose not to discuss publicly what would otherwise be private conversations."
The apparent power grab by Adams came even though he and his affiliated companies would have been the financial winners if the merger had gone through. Adams stood to receive assets valued at about $109 million. Adams, his companies and other Hawaiian shareholders also would have held a 52 percent stake in the new airline.
Under terms of the original merger, the shareholders of privately owned Aloha Airlines — many of them relatives of the company founders — would have gotten 28 percent of the merged airline, worth an estimated $56 million.
TurnWorks would have received a 20 percent stake in the company.
For more than a year, Aloha and its consultant have viewed TurnWorks and Brenneman as essential to the success of the merger, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month that outlined how the merger came about.
Aloha's consultant, Mercer Management, initially approached Brenneman in February 2001 asking whether he wanted to invest in the airline. In July, Brenneman, a former top executive with Continental Airlines, met further with Mercer to discuss a possible investment and subsequent merger with Hawaiian.
Hawaiian officials, contacted in August, initially appeared cool to the idea but after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and subsequent downturn in travel, they agreed to "discuss a possible merger involving the two airlines and TurnWorks," according to the documents.
On Sept. 22, according to the documents, Mercer and senior management officials of Aloha and Hawaiian met and Mercer proposed that both airlines should continue to include Brenneman and TurnWorks in the merger discussions as Brenneman "was likely to be an important factor in creating an agreement between the two airlines, leading the integration efforts, and running the combined carrier and in generating maximum value for shareholders of both companies."
On Sept. 25, the documents say, all parties agreed to proceed with merger talks. They also agreed "that the involvement of TurnWorks and Brenneman would be an important factor in consummating a deal, as past efforts to combine the two airlines were not successful."
TurnWorks officials said in a statement today, "We were surprised and disappointed (by Hawaiian's decision) ... The failure to extend the timetable essentially precludes completing this complex transaction....
The abrupt end to the merger, which was announced Dec. 19, leaves the future of the two airlines and of Hawai'i's interisland airline market uncertain. In announcing the deal three months ago, executives with both airlines said they needed to merge because conditions in the airline industry — and in the interisland market in particular — had made it impossible for them to survive separately.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, both airlines lost tens of thousands of dollars a day and furloughed hundreds of workers. In recent weeks, as the Mainland economy has recovered, there have been signs of improvement in the local airline market.
Still, documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that Aloha is financially more vulnerable than Hawaiian. The privately held airline has more debt on its books and reported a $1.25 million loss at the end of the third quarter Sept. 30. The airline also has smaller and older aircraft and fewer flights to the Mainland.
Today Zander said Aloha has its own business plan to move ahead "on a stand-alone basis." Aloha spokesman Stu Glauberman said Zander will be meeting with Aloha's employees' union executives tomorrow.
Before the announcements over the weekend, the two airlines had been working on a joint application to take advantage of a special antitrust exemption granted by Congress last November to cooperate on some operations, such as routes, scheduling and pricing....
Gov. Ben Cayetano had been a supporter of the merger and said today, "The failure of the merger had nothing to do with the U.S. Department of Justice, the state Legislature or public opposition. This was a business decision that we will have to accept. The state administration will do its best to try to assure that Hawai'i will continue to have two viable interisland carriers."
State Sen. Ron Menor, D-18th (Mililani, Waipahu, Crestview), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing Committee, had opposed the merger and his committee took part in statewide hearings....
The mood among workers at Honolulu's interisland terminal was split between the two airlines today, with Aloha employees grim-faced and in no mood to talk about the failed merger, and Hawaiian employees buoyant.
Baggage handlers outside the Hawaiian half of the terminal this afternoon burst into ebullient giggles when asked how they and their co-workers felt about the merger being called off.
"We still have our jobs!" said Thad Estrada, one of the Hawaiian handlers. "Everybody is pretty happy right now. There had been a lot of stress lately, and then today, even though all the schedules and everything are still the same, everybody is smiling. It sure makes the day go better."...
Outside the terminal, Tammy Castro of Mililani and Diane Halemano of Makakilo grew tired of driving around the airport while waiting to pick up relatives, and parked in a lot to talk until their cell phones rang.
"Did you see about the merger?" Castro said. "Oh, I am so happy."
Castro said she'd signed a petition earlier, asking that the merger be stopped.
"They'd have a monopoly on the fares, and we'd have no one else to go to," she said. "We need a choice. People would lose their jobs and we already have enough unemployment. Besides," she added. "No offense, but I just love Aloha."
* * * * *
“I’ll protect you, Jeremy”
Political cartoon by John Pritchett
http://www.pritchettcartoons.com/graulty2.htm
* * * * *
David C. Farmer is expected to testify regarding his business, professional, political and personal relationships with William S. Richardson, Judge Alan Kay, Judge David Ezra, Ray Fuqua, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Daniel Case, Steve Case, Stephanie Case, The Nature Conservancy, Judge Barry Kurren, Faye Kurren, John Marshall, Aloha Airlines, Colbert Matsumoto, Jeff Watanabe, Earl Anzai, Lyn Anzai, Rabbi Peter B. Schaktman, Linda Lingle, Bob Awana, Judge Michael Seabright, John McCain, George Wackenhut, Richard Helms, Barack Obama, Henry Paulson, Goldman Sachs, James Nicholson, Carol Muranaka, Larry Price, Howard Luke, GECC, JAIMS, Honolulu Memorial Park, John Waihee, Steven Guttman, Mary Lou Woo, James Aiona, Judge Samuel King, Randall Roth, Jerrold Gubin, Cutter Ford, Governor Linda Lingle, Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona, June Jones, Larry Price, Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA), Hawaiian Airlines, Joshua Gotbaum, Diane Plotts, Sukamto Sia, Ben Cayetano, George Ariyoshi, Walter Dods, First Hawaiian Bank, Elizabeth K. Lindsey Buyers, Cobert Kalama, Dee Jay Mailer, Evan Dobelle, University of Hawaii, Judge Robert Faris, Judge Lloyd King, James Wriston, Judge Ronald Moon, Gensiro Kawamoto, Mark Hemmeter, Peter Savio, Rosemary Fazio, Lawrence Johnson, Kirk Caldwell, Donna Tanoue, Japanese Cultural Center, Bank of Hawaii, Harold Johnston, Grant Johnston, David Banmiller, Michael Tanoue, Stanford Carr, Wally Chin, Honolulu Theater for Youth, David Black, The Consuelo Zobel Foundation, Ron Rewald, Evan Dobelle, Lamar Hunt, Barron Hilton, The Gregory Foundation, Greg Dunn, Rocco Sansone, Marsh & McLennan, Inc., Nainoa Thompson, Kessner Duca Umebayashi Bain & Matsunaga, Judge Susan Mollway, Mark McConaghy, Joshua Bolten, Paul Steven Singerman, Samuel E. Poole II, WCI Communities, Al Hoffman, Jr , James Pflueger, William McCorriston, Jeffrey Portnoy, Malia Zimmerman, Shinzo Abe, Duke Bainum, Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, Lazard Freres, Mercer Consulting, Dan Furst, Bishop Museum, Mark Polivka, Michael Nauyokas, Joanne Mucha, Richard Ing, Louise Ing, Paul Alston, James Cribley, James MacArthur, Jeffrey Case, Aon, Volcano Art Center, Guido Giacometti, Susan Tius, Robert Bruce Graham, Mark Hemmeter, Robert Klein, Melody MacKenzie, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Joseph Verner Reed, Jr., Sanford Murata, Steven Katzman, Rosemary Fazio, Robert Richards, Robert S. Toyofuku, Jeannine A. Souki, Esq., Watanabe Ing & Komeiji, Ruth Ann Becker, Becker Communications, Jack Lord, Hawaii Community Foundation, Kelvin Taketa, David Cole, Southern Methodist University (SMU), Kai Merkel, Jon Markell, Bob Olson, Lyman Museum, Larry Mehau, Francis Keala, Diane Plotts, Chris Hemmeter, Mark Hemmeter, Jon Miho, Trinity Investments, LLC, Margery Bronster, Ivan Lui-Kwan, Corbett Kalama, Michelle Burns, Michael Boyd, Boyd Group; Midpac Lumber Co, Mark Hastert, Diane Hastert,Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Conrad Black, Tom Enomoto, Hung Wo Ching, Sukamto Sia, Sheridan Ing, Adele Smith Simmons, Valerie U. Katz, Ronald Sakamoto, Francis Oda, Group 70 International, Stuart Ho, Duncan MacDonald, Tany Hong, Ted Hong, Lea Ok Sook Hong, Masaru Yokouchi, Robin Campaniano, AIG, Kent Keith, John Jubinsky, Jeremy Harris, Jules Kroll, Kroll & Associates, Sharon Himeno, Marc Tilker, The Weinberg Foundation, Alvin Awaya, Diamond Head Theatre, Dirk Von Guenthner, and other entities to be named upon discovery.
Zoominfo Profile for Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU
www.zoominfo.com/Search/ReferencesView.aspx?PersonID=912950374
www.kycbs.net/Zoominfo-Profile-Bobby-N-Harmon-CPCU.htm
~ ~ ~
FOR EARLIER ARCHIVES, SEE
http://www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witnesss-Farmer-David-Archives
~ ~ ~
TO GO TO THE WOO VS. HARMON WITNESS INDEX
www.kycbs.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Index.htm
* * * * *
CHRONOLOGY
October 11, 2006: Originally posted on www.the-catbird-seat.net
March 13, 2007: Judge David Ezra signs Order to shut down website
July 10, 2010: Latest update on www.kycbs.net
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THE CATBIRD SEAT ARCHIVES
The Catbird Seat Archives: 2000-2002
The Catbird Seat Archives: 2002-2007
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THE CATBIRD’S FORUM
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WELCOME TO THE NEW CATBIRD SEAT!
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