Flying along, and dodging whales and lawsuits, on...
The Hawaii Superferry
Sightings from The Catbird Seat
~ o ~
October 15, 2008
Superferry partners with Nature Center
to transport students to camp
HONOLULU (KHNL) - Oahu students will be able to attend overnight residential environmental education programs on Maui thanks to transportation provided by the Hawaii Superferry.
The Hawaii Nature Center has partnered with the Superferry to give low-income and at-risk students a chance to learn about the watersheds through a series of Ahupuaa water camps.
Hawaii Nature Center Executive Director Gregory Dunn says the Superferry has saved the day.
"We have received generous funding from our supporters to created the water camps, but with the challenges we're seeing in the airline industry and cutbacks in the DOE, the schools couldn't afford to fly the kids to Maui for these camps," said Dunn. "When we contacted the Superferry for assistance, they gladly stepped forward to assist."...
Last year, more than 7,000 school children and families participated in programs at the Center's Iao Valley location.
http://www.khnl.com/global/story.asp?s=9184359
May 7, 2008
Superferry awaits signal from Kauai
Community can decide for itself if
it wants service, new CEO says
By Rob Perez, Advertiser Staff Writer
The Hawaii Superferry, which hasn't sailed to Kaua'i since harbor protesters blocked its arrival in August, intends to resume trips there only if the community signals it wants the service restored, the company's new chief executive said yesterday.
We're going to do what is right for each community," said retired Navy Adm. Thomas Fargo, who took over Superferry's top job last week.
The Superferry also will raise its $39 one-way fare between Honolulu and Maui to $49 on June 6. Fargo, in a telephone interview with The Advertiser, said the price is still "hugely competitive."
Starting Friday, the Superferry will add a second roundtrip to Maui, four days a week, but it has no timeline for returning to Kaua'i, Fargo said.
If the Superferry were to get some kind of signal from the community, especially from leadership, that service is desired, the carrier would respond to the request, Fargo said.
Asked what would constitute a signal from the community, Fargo said: "There'll be a momentum or view by the community that they would like Superferry service." He added that he wasn't sure how that view would be communicated.
At least one Kaua'i politician suggested that the company is still unwelcomed by many people on that island.
Sen. Gary Hooser, D-7th (Kaua'i, Ni'ihau), said the percentage of Kaua'i residents opposed to the Superferry probably hasn't changed much and likely won't change much until the company shows it is reliable and forthright with the community.
"The Hawaii Superferry needs to prove itself in terms of reliability, service and community commitment first, and they haven't done that on Maui," Hooser said. "It's proven to be unreliable."
Hooser also said he was unaware of the Superferry doing any significant outreach to community groups on Kaua'i over the past few months, something that will be key to repairing relations and gaining support.
Lori Abe, a spokeswoman for the Superferry, said the company is continuing to talk with community members on Kaua'i.
The company got off to a shaky start last year, dealing with legal challenges, protests, stormy seas, canceled voyages and problems with its $85 million catamaran and docking facilities. Its first voyage to Kaua'i last August was greeted by protesters on surfboards and in kayaks who blocked the entrance to Nawiliwili Harbor.
Shakedown period ends
Fargo indicated that Superferry isn't profitable now, but he said he wasn't aware of any company that would be profitable at this early stage of its operations.
Asked if the recent change in management — Fargo replaced John Garibaldi as president and chief executive — was an indication that Superferry investors were unhappy with where the company was at this point, Fargo said the carrier had gone through an expected shakedown period and was now entering the operational phase, for which his expertise with complex maritime operations would be beneficial.
Garibaldi became vice chairman and remains as a board member.
Fargo said he would like to see the company ultimately attract a balance of cargo, passenger and vehicle business so it will become profitable.
He said the current trends are positive, with growth in passenger and vehicle traffic.
On the first weekend of his tenure, Fargo said, Superferry had 2,000 passengers on its Friday, Saturday and Sunday O'ahu-Maui trips, roughly double the previous weekend's count. He also said the company has seen an increase in business since Aloha Airlines closed its passenger service March 31 and more recently halted interisland cargo operations, forcing customers to temporarily seek alternative ways to move their products. Aloha's cargo service resumed after another company reached agreement to buy the business.
The turmoil in the interisland market hasn't altered Superferry's strategy.
"We're going to be a success by establishing a scheduled, reliable ferry service for residents, visitors and businesses in Hawai'i," Fargo said.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
May 3, 2008
Superferry paid $379,431
for lobbying
Ethics panel satisfied with effort
to amend initial claim of $21,960
By Derrick DePledge and Christie Wilson, Advertiser Staff Writers
Hawaii Superferry substantially underreported its state lobbying expenses last year as it fought an environmental impact statement and then asked for special legislation that allowed it to resume interisland service.
Superferry executives at first reported $21,960 in lobbying expenses but, after being contacted by the state Ethics Commission, amended the reports to reflect $379,431 in lobbying expenses.
Dan Mollway, executive director of the commission, yesterday said Superferry would not be punished for the errors because the company cooperated and quickly filed the amended reports.
"They were totally willing to comply, and I didn't get any sense it was done intentionally or that they were trying to hide anything," he said.
Superferry last year hired some of the state's top lobbyists and public relations executives to help at the Legislature and with the media. According to Ethics Commission records, the company spent more than twice as much on lobbying in 2007 than any other organization.
The second-highest lobbying expenditures were by the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, which spent $133,500.
Willful violations of the lobbying disclosure law can bring fines of $500, but Mollway said that did not appear to be the case with Hawaii Superferry.
[ Catbird Note: But blowing the whistle on lawbreakers can get you a fine of $500,000 and the unconstitutional prior restraint censoring of your free speech and the closing down of your web-based business enterprise - see: Confessions of a Whistleblower ]
"Concerns have been raised whether we should take further enforcement action, but so far I don't think we're going to do that because they were very cooperative in talking to us and very quick in amending their reports, which they should get points for and is kind of rare," Mollway said.
In fact, he said, it appears the Superferry may have overreported its expenses in the amended reports to avoid quibbling with the commission over specific spending items.
"We do realize, of course, that reports should be complete when filed, but we feel it's better to spend our resources getting compliance and providing further understanding of the law. For some reason there appears to be confusion."
A statement from the company suggests Superferry officials were uncertain about which expenses should be reported.
"Last year there was a great deal of legislative activity related to Hawaii Superferry, which required continuous information updates and production of briefing materials for legislators," the statement said. "Our initial filing reflected fees paid to lobbyists. We, subsequently, reviewed our expenses and were advised by counsel that lobbying expenses should also include public opinion research and the production of materials that might be viewed by legislators."
Among Superferry lobbying costs was $191,894 for preparation and distribution of materials. Of that amount, $166,851 went for a direct-mail and online campaign and for a public opinion survey.
An additional $24,455 was spent on advertising and $37,678 in compensation to lobbyists.
Questions raised
The Ethics Commission first questioned Superferry's lobbying expenses in response to an April 10 letter from Ian Lind, a freelance writer and blogger who works for state Rep. Lyla Berg, D-18th (Kuli'ou'ou, Niu Valley, 'Aina Haina).
Lind expressed skepticism about the accuracy of the Superferry reports, and yesterday said Mollway's decision not to take action against the company "isn't very satisfying."
He said it's unlikely company officials or their agents were ignorant of lobbying disclosure rules, partly because he has written on numerous occasions about lobbying activities at the Legislature, including those of Superferry.
Lind also felt the reporting form, which includes categories for media advertising, preparation and distribution of lobbying materials, compensation paid to lobbyists, and other specific items, is neither vague nor ambiguous.
"Their public relations consultants and paid lobbyists, I'm sure, are very aware of what the rules are. If it wasn't intentional, it was certainly negligent. The negligence is the damage to the public's ability to be sure its rights were protected in this whole legislative decision-making," he said.
State Senate Majority Leader Gary Hooser, D-7th (Kaua'i, Ni'ihau), who pushed for an environmental review of the ferry, said the underreporting of lobbying expenses reflects poorly on Superferry.
"It reinforces the doubts that have existed for a long time about the Superferry management and their conduct in regard to the environmental impact statement and their community dealings," Hooser said.
Superferry also amended its lobbying expense report for the first two months of 2008, shifting $11,000 in lobbyist compensation to the previous year, after being told by the Ethics Commission that expenses had to be reported for the period in which they were incurred, and not when the bills were paid.
Mollway said the Superferry episode indicates there is confusion about the reporting requirements, and he is making arrangements to meet with various parties involved in lobbying activities to provide guidance.
State Sen. Shan Tsutsui, D-4th (Wailuku, Kahului), who also wanted an environmental review before the ferry's startup, said he did not want to speculate on whether the omissions were simply an oversight. More importantly, he said, "it's a credibility issue."
"That was the main issue with the Department of Transportation and the (environmental review) exemption. When things like this happen, the questions are still there in people's mind to what else is happening that we are unaware of," he said.
Expected tally
Tsutsui said he is not surprised at the tally of the Superferry's lobbying expenses because during the special session last fall, "it seemed like every lobbyist in town was working on some aspect of it."...
May 30, 2005
Trex taps two for board
Pacific Business News
Honolulu -Two Hawaii business leaders have joined the board of directors of Trex Enterprises Corp., a San Diego defense contractor and technology innovator with significant operations in Hawaii.
"Jeff Watanabe and Larry Johnson are extraordinary business leaders," said Trex Chairman Ken Tang. "Their expertise will help guide the direction of Trex."
Watanabe is principal at Watanabe Ing Kawashima Komeiji LLP and a director of Hawaiian Electric Industries. Until January he was chairman of Hawaii's Nature Conservancy board. Johnson is the former CEO of Bank of Hawaii, where he started in the 1950s as a teller.
"We have two corporate powerhouses joining us to complement our team of visionaries," said Tom Fargo, who has chaired Trex's subsidiaries Loea Corp. and Sago Systems since retiring as head of the Pacific Command earlier this year. Watanabe has also been a director of Loea since 2002.
Trex has more than 60 people working on Oahu, Maui and Kauai through two subsidiaries:
Kihei-based Loea Corp. builds high-speed, high-bandwidth radios operating in millimeter-wave bandwdith free space, 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz range. It has installations in Hawaii, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Sago Systems creates camera systems to detect and locate objects on passengers at airports, on passersby, or individuals at a stand-off range.
Trex, like many high-tech defense contractors today including others in Hawaii, practices dual use technology. This means it builds something useful for the Defense Department, then finds civilian applications for the same idea.
www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2005/05/30/daily31.html
April 25, 2008
Hawaii Superferry names Fargo new CEO
Pacific Business News (Honolulu)
Retired U.S. Navy Adm. Thomas Fargo has been named president and CEO of Hawaii Superferry.
The company announced Friday that Fargo would replace current CEO John Garibaldi as of Monday. Garibaldi will remain as vice chairman and a member of the board of directors.
Fargo is former commander of the U.S. Pacific Command and commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He retired in 2005 after 35 years of military service.
He has resigned as CEO of Honolulu-based Loea Corp., a high-bandwidth wireless communications company, and as president of Loea's parent company, San Diego-based high-tech company Trex Enterprises. He will remain on the Trex board of directors, according to Linda Jameson, a spokeswoman for Loea. He also will remain on the board of directors of Sago Systems, a defense and homeland security company.
Fargo also is managing director of J.F. Lehman & Co., a major investor in the Superferry headed by former U.S. Navy secretary John F. Lehman, who is also chairman of the Superferry's board of directors.
Fargo is on the board of Hawaiian Airlines, Hawaiian Electric Industries and the United Services Automobile Association.
Pacific Business Journal - April 21, 2008
April 17, 2008
Audit: Superferry drove
state actions
Lingle administration criticized for
bypassing environmental review
By DERRICK DePLEDGE, Honolulu Advertiser
The state may have compromised its environmental policy because of pressure from Hawaii Superferry executives who were worried about financing for the interisland ferry project, the state auditor has concluded.
The auditor found that an internal June 2005 deadline imposed by Superferry executives "drove the process" and pushed the state Department of Transportation to bypass an environmental review. The deadline, according to the auditor, was tied to Superferry's agreement with Austal USA to secure financing to pay the Mobile, Ala.-based shipbuilder to construct two high-speed ferries.
The federal Maritime Administration, which approved a $140 million loan guarantee for ferry construction, wanted confirmation that no environmental assessment of harbor improvements would be required because of the risk that environmental concerns could jeopardize port access. But Maritime Administration officials told the auditor they did not set the June 2005 deadline as a condition of the loan guarantee.
"In the end, the state may have compromised its environmental policy in favor of a private company's internal deadline," state auditor Marion Higa concluded. "It remains to be seen whether these decisions will cost the state more than its environmental policy."
The performance audit was required by state lawmakers as part of a law passed in special session last fall that allowed Superferry to resume operations while the state conducts an environmental impact statement. Legal challenges and public protests had halted ferry service after the state Supreme Court ruled in August that the state's decision to exempt $40 million in state harbor improvements from environmental review was in error.
The auditor's main finding was that the June 2005 deadline was not imposed by the federal government, but related to an agreement between Superferry and Austal. The audit questions whether the state did "sufficient due diligence to verify whether the deadline was valid for the reasons Hawaii Superferry Inc. claimed."
John Garibaldi, Superferry's chief executive officer, said yesterday that Superferry has consistently portrayed the June 2005 deadline as necessary for both federal and private equity financing. He described the agreements with the Maritime Administration, Austal USA and primary investors J.F. Lehman & Co. as interrelated.
"They were all dependent upon each other. No one stood on its own," Garibaldi said. "I think that's what we tried to express to people."
Garibaldi declined to comment on other findings in the audit because he had not yet seen a copy.
Similar accounts
The auditor's descriptions of the chain of events that led the state to exempt the project from environmental review in February 2005 are similar to reports in The Advertiser in September and January.
The auditor and the newspaper received many of the same documents, which were screened by the Lingle administration for attorney-client privilege and executive privilege before being released. The administration is preparing a privilege log for the auditor and the newspaper to describe the documents that have been withheld. The Advertiser requested the documents under the state's open-records law.
Most significantly, the auditor — like The Advertiser — emphasized a late December 2004 meeting at the governor's office that included the governor's then-chief of staff Bob Awana, department officials, and Superferry executives.
Staff in the department's harbors division had wanted to require a statewide environmental assessment of the project and to get Superferry to install a stern ramp on the vessel to give it more flexibility at Kahului Harbor on Maui. But Superferry executives, according an account by a department staffer, told the state that anything but an exemption was a deal-breaker and that they would not install any ramps.
"Decisions made: We need to pursue EXEMPTION; and HSF will not provide any ramps on vessel," one department staffer told colleagues afterward in an e-mail.
The auditor concluded that department e-mails showed a decision was made at this meeting, although who made the decision is not revealed.
"Current and former department officials and employees who worked on the ferry project were either unable to recall who made the decision at that meeting or chose to invoke executive privilege when asked who directed the team," the auditor found.
The department, in its written response to the audit, rejected any inference that a decision was made at the governor's office directing the department to pursue an exemption. The auditor countered that the department's e-mails about the meeting "are self-explanatory."
"Ultimately, a decision involving the governor's office was made that directed the 'ferry project team' to pursue scenarios that would exempt the ferry harbor work from environmental review," the auditor found.
Fukunaga's decision
Awana, who resigned last year, told The Advertiser in January that he had no role in the decision. Barry Fukunaga, who was then the department's deputy director of harbors and is now Gov. Linda Lingle's chief of staff, has said he made the decision in consultation with his construction and engineering staff and then-department director Rod Haraga. The department also consulted with the state Office of Environmental Quality Control and county planning agencies.
Fukunaga told The Advertiser in writing last year that he did not discuss his deliberations or his eventual decision with Lingle, Awana or state Attorney General Mark Bennett.
The audit is also similar to The Advertiser's reporting last September on the Maritime Administration's loan guarantee for Superferry. Maritime Administration officials told the auditor that loan guarantees are typically exempt from environmental review because they just provide financing for ship construction. The vessels typically use port facilities already in place.
Maritime Administration officials told the auditor that harbor improvements for Superferry could have triggered an environmental assessment that could have limited ferry access to ports. So the Maritime Administration added a condition that Superferry provide confirmation that no environmental assessment was required.
"MARAD's position was that it was not willing to finance the construction of any vessel that might be unable to operate because it has no port," the auditor found.
The audit recommends that the Legislature empower a state agency to enforce environmental review laws and require agencies to update exemption lists every five years. The auditor found that the public has little involvement in the exemption process other than the right to file a lawsuit to challenge an exemption.
Higa had complained to lawmakers that she missed a March deadline for a preliminary draft of the audit because of significant delays in obtaining documents from the Lingle administration. Higa repeated those complaints in the audit and said her staff would be preparing a second phase of the audit for a later report.
Higa described the Lingle administration's cooperation as "slow and incomplete, at best." The department called that description "wholly untrue" and said any delays were based on requests by Higa that the attorney general found were "unreasonably broad in scope."
The department chose not to comment on many of Higa's conclusions. Mike Formby, the department's deputy director of harbors, said last night that the administration's wants the opportunity to review the second phase of the audit.
I think what we wanted to do was reserve the right to see the full report, because it's really risky to look at half the report and respond knowing that they're out there still doing field investigation, interviews, reviewing documents," Formby said. "And basically, they look at the response you gave, and they go out and look for a way to rebut your response."
February 5, 2008
Kokua Line
June Watanabe, Star-Bulletin
Superferry has big
hitters as leaders
Question: With the Hawaii Superferry in the news, I was wondering who owns the Superferry? They have a lot of pull.
Answer: J.F. Lehman and Co. is the major investor in the Hawaii Superferry.
"There are a lot of smaller investors, but J.F. Lehman and Co. is by far the major equity investor," said a spokes- woman for the company.
Timothy Dick, named as one of the Star-Bulletin's top 10 people to watch in 2006, was the founder of Hawaii Superferry.
He is still listed as a vice chairman in state business registration records, but left the company late last year, according to the spokeswoman.
He's described as a venture capitalist who focuses on Internet-related and technology businesses. He founded Grassroots.com, WorldPages.com, UseHalf.org and TRUSTe.org. Dick also is a founding member of Reef Check Hawaii.
Dick brought aboard John Garibaldi, the Superferry's president and chief executive officer.
Garibaldi, picked by the Star-Bulletin as one of 10 people who made a difference in 2007, previously was vice president/chief financial officer of both Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines; chief financial officer/vice president of Queen's Health Systems; and president/CEO of Zephyr Insurance Co.
In addition to Garibaldi, the board of directors includes Chairman John F. Lehman, founding partner of J.F. Lehman and Co. and a former secretary of the Navy; Tig H. Krekel, vice chairman of J.F. Lehman and former president/chief executive officer of Hughes Space and Communications and president of Boeing Satellite Systems; Jeffrey G. Arce, partner in the MacNaughton Group and executive vice president/chief financial officer of the Superferry; David C. Cole, president/chairman/chief executive officer of Maui Land & Pineapple Co. and president of Aquaterra Inc.; and C. Alexander Harman, of J.F. Lehman and former member of the Global Energy Group at J.P. Morgan & Co.
Also, Warren H. Haruki, president/chief executive officer of Grove Farm and Lihue Land Co. and former president of GTE Hawaiian Tel and Verizon Hawaii; Louis N. Mintz, of J.F. Lehman and former member of the Private Equity Investment Group at Odyssey Partners L.P.; George A. Sawyer, founding partner of J.F. Lehman and former assistant secretary of the Navy, Shipbuilding & Logistics; and John W. "Bill" Shirley, former program manager of the U.S. Department of Energy, Naval Reactors Division.
http://starbulletin.com/2008/02/05/news/kokualine.html
Date Posted: 00:19:25 02/01/08 Fri
Author: Bob O. Link
Subject: THE HAWAII SUPERFERRY SUPERFIASCO!
SUPERFERRY, IN CONTEXT II
http://blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com/capitolnotebook2008.php/2008/01/31/superferry_in_context_ii
Capitol Notebook
A behind-the-scenes look at state government and politics from Capitol Bureau reporters Derrick DePledge and Treena Shapiro. Share insider tips or ideas with the bureau at 525-8070 or via e-mail.
Reach Derrick at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com and Treena at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com .
Posted on: January 31, 2008 at 1:00:00 am
Superferry, in context II
The latest batch of documents on Hawaii Superferry, released by the Lingle administration under the state's open-records law, continues to provide interesting background information on how the decision was made to exempt the project from an environmental review.
Here’s what The Advertiser reported last September:
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration approved $140 million in loan guarantees for Superferry in January 2005 on the condition that the state give all governmental and environmental clearances, including confirmation that there was no need for an environmental assessment of port facilities.
The state was aware of this condition when it ruled in February 2005 that $40 million in state harbor improvements for the Superferry project were minor and exempt from an environmental assessment.
"They pointed out that this was the condition that they were faced with," Barry Fukunaga, the director of the state Department of Transportation, said of Superferry executives. "But we didn't use that as the basis for our argument."...
Fukunaga, who was the department's deputy director of harbors at the time, said he knew of the conditions of the federal loan guarantees before the department's ruling but did not feel pressure to grant the Superferry exemption.
"We knew about that but it didn't really effect our outcome," Fukunaga said.
Fukunaga officially made the decision to exempt Superferry from environmental review on Feb. 23, 2005. The exemption letters -- one for each harbor -- made no mention of the need to meet federal loan guarantee or equity investment requirements.
That same day, however, Fukunaga sent out letters to other harbor users who had an interest in the project.
Here’s how Fukunaga's letter to Gary North, of Matson Navigation, began:
Dear Mr. North:
The Harbors Division continues to work with the Hawaii Superferry on the establishment of operating sites at each of the harbors identified for service by the new operation.
The Superferry financial arrangement with the U.S. Maritime Administration and their equity investors requires assurance of available facilities for their operation in time to meet their scheduled commencement date as well as confirmation by June 30, 2005 that facilities identified are available and not subject to conditions that would require environmental review.
This situation limits accommodation to the use of existing facilities and their use in a manner that is consistent with both the design and purpose that they were built....
Comments:
Comment from: Aw come on.. [Visitor]
Sure thing. But not the point!
You can bet that they knew about the financing but that didn't affect their outcome, because the fix was already in!
01/31/08 @ 04:19
~ ~ ~
Comment from: Kaleki [Visitor]
Whatever! Of course they'll have a ready answer. Big dreams with lots of fluff, ill-prepared, per usual in this administration. And this dude is now the Chief of Staff... awesome (sniff, sniff...can you smell that?)
01/31/08 @ 06:41
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Comment from: myview [Visitor]
Again, fukunaga caught in a lie. This guy is a compulsive liar like his good friend garibaldi. fukunaga must be really stupid, making false statements that could easily be found false. I believe his "promotion" to chief of staff, was really a demotion, as they wanted to keep him on as long as possible to reward him for being the fall guy.
What would be really interesting is what role did bennett play in this fiasco. He is hiding behind the attorney-client privilege to conceal his involvement. And lingle warned that the media maybe making false interpretations because they do not have all the facts. This is another moronic statement - if they can rebut the media's allegations, when don't they. If they have information, they can waive the attorney-client priviige, especially if the info will absolve any one in the administration.
Fukunaga was willing to use deception to help the SF. This amounts to a criminal act, using false "facts" to evade the provisions of HRS 243. fukunaga is attempting to paint the picture that he alone was responsible for the exemption. This is far from the truth, there were many others who assisted in the plan of deception, including Garibaldi and his attorneys.
01/31/08 @ 20:30
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Comment from: Bob O. Link [Visitor]
http://www.kycbs.net/Hawaii-Superferry.htm
Naturally, with all the politician-greasing SUPERPLAYERS involved (including Steve Case, John Garibaldi, et al), this will eventually turn out to be ONE BIG HAWAII SUPERFIASCO for Hawaii Taxpayers!
GO, PROTESTERS!
IT'S SUPERBOWL TIME!
Bob O. Link
01/31/08 @ 21:52
http://www.voy.com/129276/1004.html
January 5, 2008
Auditor, Lingle’s office tangle
over Superferry documents
By Gary Kubota, Star-Bulletin
WAILUKU - State Auditor Marion Higa says her office cannot meet a March 2 deadline to complete an audit of the Hawaii Superferry as mandated by law because the Lingle administration has been uncooperative.
Higa said the state Public Utilities Commission has cooperated with her, but she has had difficulty getting documents from the Lingle administration.
State Attorney General Mark Bennett said his office has released thousands of pages to the auditor, but all the information the auditor wants must be reviewed before it can be released.
Bennett said his attorneys have to go through each page and e-mail to determine if they include legal advice requested by a state official exercising attorney-client privilege.
"It's a huge request," Bennett said. "We have made it a large priority. We have not been treating them as unimportant."
Higa said disagreements have also arisen about whether Lingle and department officials can claim "executive privilege" in restricting access to documents.
"They can make those claims. It depends on how they apply those claims," Higa said yesterday.
Higa, speaking this week during a Senate Ways and Means briefing, said since November she has received only one of 30 boxes of documents requested from the Lingle administration.
Higa said the Legislature passed Act 2 during a special session in late October, requiring the audit that included the task of determining who made the decision to exempt the Hawaii Superferry from an environmental study.
Environmentalists contested the use of the exemption, resulting in a two-year court battle that they won at the state Supreme Court.
State legislators passed Act 2 to exempt fast passenger ferries like the Hawaii Superferry from conducting an environmental study prior to operation, but required Higa's audit.
State Senate Republican Minority Leader Fred Hemmings said the Democrats have used the audit to thwart and harass the Lingle administration.
Hemmings accused Democrats of micromanaging the executive branch of government.
"Marion Higa is the legislative auditor and obviously doing the bidding of those who appointed her," Hemmings said yesterday.
http://starbulletin.com/2008/01/05/news/story05.html
December 23, 2007
10 WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE
- ISAAC HALL -
ATTORNEY FOR ANTI-SUPERFERRY
ENVIRONMENTALISTS
~ ~ ~
Attorney kept boat
tied up in court
By Gary Kubota, Star-Bulletin
Isaac Hall was the Maui attorney who argued before the Hawaii Supreme Court and mounted a successful legal challenge against the Hawaii Superferry and state of Hawaii.
Only a special exemption by the state Legislature upset Hall's challenge and allowed the start of the Superferry.
Hall, 63, has been recognized by the Sierra Club for arguing more cases on behalf of the environment than any other lawyer in the state.
He's provided legal representation to environmental groups who couldn't afford high attorneys' fees and he's won a number of cases.
In Maui Circuit Court in October, the scene seemed out of a movie -- three attorneys, sometimes four, representing the state and Superferry at one table, and Hall on behalf of citizens groups seated alone at the other.
Hall prevailed in his arguments to require the Superferry to do an environmental study before starting operation.
But the state Legislature in a special session in November intervened to exempt the Superferry and other similar vessels from the environmental requirement.
Hall, who practices law with the help of friends and family members including his wife Dana Naone Hall, occupies a modest office on the bottom of a two-story, hollow-tile and wooden building on Wells Street.
Hall worked for several years as an attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii on Maui and assisted a number of poor native Hawaiians in land and water disputes against major landowners on Molokai and East Maui.
He went into private practice after the Legal Aid Society narrowed its scope of services during the Reagan era, barring him and other attorneys in his office from being involved in environmental and native rights cases.
For more than 20 years, he has managed to run a private practice while continuing to do pro bono work.
Lucienne de Naie, vice chairperson of the Sierra Club in Hawaii, compared Hall to lawyer Atticus Finch in "To Kill A Mockingbird."
"He's a small-town attorney who has taken on some huge issues of our time," de Naie said.
De Naie said Hall's argument about the Superferry was important in trying to uphold constitutional rights.
Alan Murakami, the supervising attorney for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said that while other private lawyers might represent a single public interest issue during their lifetime, Hall has been representing numerous groups on behalf of the environment for decades.
"It's also his longevity. Isaac has been doing it since the 1970s," Murakami said.
Murakami said Hall is the antithesis of the greedy, incompetent lawyer cited in jokes.
"You can't make fun of this guy," Murakami said
http://starbulletin.com/2007/12/23/news/story03.html
December 16, 2007
Protesters clamoring for
end of ferry to Maui
By Gary Kubota, Star-Bulletin
KAHULUI - The number of protesters against the Hawaii Superferry grew during the weekend on Maui to more than 250 people yesterday, as groups called for a halt in operation and planned a court appeal challenging a new law that allowed the vessel to resume operations....
The demonstration went without any arrests, prompting protesters to renew their call to reduce the expanded safety zone around the Superferry and to cancel the closing of the harbor jetty for small-boat launches.
"We want to get back to life as normal as can be with the Superferry," said Irene Bowie, executive director for the protesting group Maui Tomorrow.
Bowie said her group is planning to challenge the constitutionality of a new state law that allowed the Superferry to operate while the state prepares an environmental impact statement.
Prior to the passage of the law, a Maui Circuit judge ruled that the environmental impact statement needed to be completed before the vessel could begin operation.
Bowie said her group was happy with the turnout at the demonstration.
Holding signs saying "Give Back Our Harbor" and "EIS first ..." and "Solidarity, Don't Ride," hundreds of people lined the sidewalk on North Puunene Avenue near First Hawaiian Bank. Others held protest signs along the shoreline and about a dozen people on surfboards and a canoe held signs in the harbor....
Jasmine Graham, a protester, said she felt the way the state Legislature had given an exemption to the Superferry was an abuse of power....
http://starbulletin.com/2007/12/16/news/story03.html
December 4, 2007
Kauai to Superferry: Stay Away
by Bob Nichols, Project Censored Award Winner
(San Francisco) The 350 ft long military spec transport ship is not welcome on Kauai, Hawaii, local residents made clear to the military / civilian transport officials with Superferry Corporation.
The catamaran, twin hulled vessel is a dual use civilian / Troop transport. The 40,000 HP ship is capable of high speed transport at 42 mph on the open ocean, about twice the speed of other transport ships. It gets very poor gas mileage, about 5 gallons per mile, due to military speed requirements.
Andy Parx, veteran reporter on Kauai stated "The people of Kauai object to the high handed way Gov Lingle bent over backwards for such a bad idea for Hawaii. Governor Lingle then had the clueless State Lege re-write some state environmental laws for one special corporation, which, of course, is illegal and unconstitutional."
"Now the Governor wants Kauai to make nice and swallow her illegal behavior. We, the citizens of Kauai, are not going to cover up for the Governor's silly promises she can't keep. It is that simple," said Parx on Monday, November 26, 2007, in an interview with Bob Nichols, correspondent for the San Francisco Bay View newspaper.
"So, the people of Kauai are just gonna say No!" Parx added.
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Free Hawaii TV newscast Action Alert - "Superferry Returns."
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The Superferry is capable of discharging a flood of up to 800 civilians on little Kauai, one of the most beautiful islands in the world. Feelings are running so high that 65 Kauai surfers earlier this summer prevented the military spec ship from docking, sending it back to Honolulu.
Vowing that would not happen again, Governor Linda Lingle, a friend of President George Bush, purchased armored vests for Kauai police and machine guns. Legislative rumors have it that Lingle has a "special relationship" with wealthy Superferry financier John Lehmann. She is said to want to run for US Senator Akaka's seat.
Parx added "The people of Kauai want none of it. The whole Superferry deal smells to high heaven already. If Superferry President Mr. Garibaldi thinks he can sweet talk Hawaii he will have to do the Environmental Impact Statement first."
"We will not meet with those who would willfully violate our rights just because they can and ask us to forgive the self-same trespasses they continue to promulgate. Superferry disrespected Kauai and that is unforgivable. Garibaldi can earn his way to talk to us with a completed Environmental Impact Statement - nothing less."...
Kauai supporters: You may email andyparx@yahoo.com to add your name to the signatory list.
Additional resources:
Bob Nichols is a Project Censored Award Winning writer. Nichols is following the Superferry controversy in Hawaii that has generated talk of impeaching Republican Governor Linda Lingle.
www.rense.com/general79/ferry.htm
http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2007/12/28476.php
November 15, 2007
SUPERFERRY INJUNCTION LIFTED
A Maui judge upholds the Legislature's new statute permitting
ferries to operate during environmental studies
By Gary T. Kubota, Star-Bulletin
WAILUKU » "It's a new beginning," says Hawaii Superferry Chief Executive Officer John Garibaldi.
The Superferry could resume operations in a couple of weeks, Garibaldi said yesterday after a Maui judge dissolved his order blocking the high-speed ferry from using Kahului Harbor pending an environmental review.
Garibaldi said his firm has lost about a dozen employees since originally hiring some 300 people in August and that losses during the halt in operation amounted to millions of dollars.
"It's been a very painful process," he said. "It's getting tight financially."