Pearl City politics are getting interesting: The Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi has released its list of six candidates to replace the soon-to-be departing Sen. Henry Aquino. And The Blog has to say there are some head-scratchers.
Chief among those would be Kaniela Ing, the former state representative who has faced a series of state campaign spending violations over the years, including a 2018 fine of $15,000 for dozens of violations including filing false reports and using funds from his legislative campaign for personal use.
More recently, his efforts to raise money supposedly for Maui wildfire victims that turned out to be for progressive political causes were part of what prompted the Legislature to crack down on deceptive charitable fundraising activities.
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More puzzling is that The Blog thought Ing was actually a Maui boy. At least he represented Maui in the state House from 2012 to 2018. And then in 2023, as one of the leaders of the political group Our Hawaiʻi, he was heavily involved in the meteoric rise of Lahaina Strong. He also ran unsuccessfully for Hawaiʻi’s First Congressional District seat.
But now Ing wants to represent the District 19 seat that covers Pearl City, Waipahu, West Loch Estates, Honouliuli and Ho‘opili.
Ing isn’t the only semi-finalist for Aquino’s seat that brings political baggage. Rida Cabanilla, a former state representative, previously came under scrutiny for submitting a $200,000 grant request for the ʻEwa Historical Society, though she sat on the society’s board of directors and her son was vice president.
The Hawaiʻi State Ethics Commission eventually closed a complaint over the matter. But Cabanilla has also been cited for her own state Campaign Spending Commission violations: she used her campaign funds to buy a golf bag and take herself out to eat.
Cabanilla ran for the Senate District 19 seat in 2020 but lost.
District 19 Democratic officers will meet early Monday evening via Zoom to review the applications of Ing and Cabanilla along with four other candidates: current state Rep. Rachele Lamosao, former City and County of Honolulu lifeguard Steve Canales, former Department of Human Services administrator Daisy Hartsfield and Inam Rahman, a physician who has run unsuccessfully for office a number of times.
Kaniela Ing with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who supported him in his 2018 congressional race. (Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat/2018)
Three names will then be sent to Gov. Josh Green, who has until Jan. 29 to make his pick. A special election will also be held in conjunction with the Aug. 8 primary to fill the remaining two years on Aquino’s four-year term.
Derek Turbin, chair of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi, calls the list a “strong slate of candidates” that possess “a strong record of community service.”
Keep in mind that Henry Aquino is stepping down Nov. 30 to become a lobbyist.
Supreme question: People in The Blog’s circles are still talking about the legal faux pas committed a couple weeks ago by Hawaiʻi Supreme Court justices Sabrina McKenna and Todd Eddins when they decided to pile on to a majority high court ruling rejecting a bar disciplinary effort to yank former Honolulu Corporation Counsel Donna Leong’s law license.
The Blog’s well-versed readers know what happened: In what’s being called a highly unusual move, McKenna authored and Eddins joined in a concurring opinion in which they said the whole premise of the federal case was flawed and Leong plus co-defendants Max Sword and Roy Amemiya were probably innocent. Then McKenna did a big oopsie and withdrew the opinion, saying she had misinterpreted the factual basis for the underlying federal charges. So sorry, she said.
Tongues are still wagging about the unusual opinion and then withdrawal of the opinion by Supreme Court justices Sabrina McKenna and Todd Eddins. (Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2022)
Eddins really has never said anything, leaving McKenna to be the one taking the very public fall. So you can imagine people are wondering why he even signed on in the first place. Not to mention why McKenna decided to make such an unusual judicial move in the first place.
Some wags are wondering if McKenna finally saw an opportunity to one-up her old political rival, U.S. District Court Judge Leslie Kobayashi, who presided over the Leong-Sword-Amemiya case. Both were in the running for the judgeship, which went to Kobayashi.
Eddins, people point out, once had a bit of an adversarial relationship with the federal prosecutors who brought the case against the three city officials — a team led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wheat of San Diego. The same team also successfully prosecuted former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, his deputy prosecutor wife Katherine Kealoha and four other HPD cops.
As a defense attorney, Eddins repped one of the convicted cops, Bobby Nguyen, but left the case when he was picked to be a state judge in 2017.
The Blog is in no way implying that sour grapes motivated McKenna or Eddins. Just that this is a small town with a long memory for interesting factoids that surface in the void of official silence.
The battle of ʻEwa Beach: Bob McDermott, a former state House member, is challenging state Sen. Kurt Fevella for the District 20 seat on Oʻahu (‘Ewa Beach, Ocean Pointe, ‘Ewa by Gentry, Iroquois Point, portion of ‘Ewa Villages) next year. It’s the rare matchup between competitive Republicans in a primary.
McDermott told The Blog the district needed representation that better aligns with other Republicans in the Legislature (there are currently 12 GOP members out of the 76 lawmakers), something he said is not the case with Fevella.
Bob McDermott
Kurt Fevella
McDermott, a U.S. Marine veteran who served 18 years in the House but lost several runs for federal office, said he was also not pleased with how Fevella sometimes clashes with constituents at public meetings.
“I have to take this guy on and restore some normalcy and decency,” McDermott said.
In a brief phone call Friday, Fevella — a James Campbell High School graduate and a longtime community advocate first elected in 2018 — confirmed that he is seeking reelection. The senator is widely known for not being shy about expressing his views.
No kings … or dictators. Tyrants too: This coming Saturday marks another day of mass rallies “to show the world America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people.” That’s according to No Kings, an activist group fiercely aligned against President Donald Trump and his policies. “No thrones. No crowns. No kings.”
The No Kings rally at the Hawaiʻi Capitol on June 14. (Chad Blair/Civil Beat/2025)
That also includes no dictators. At least that’s what the ACLU is calling its rally, to be held the same day, the “No Dictators” National Day of Action, including the ACLU of Hawaiʻi. Apparently that sounds better in Hawaiʻi, which was once a kingdom and still loves its former kings. And, oops, the first No Kings rally was held June 14, King Kamehameha Day. (Canada and the United Kingdom — constitutional monarchies — also observe No Dictators or No Tyrants days.)
But what’s in a name really? The local ACLU is holding a press conference Thursday along with Indivisible HI, the Legal Clinic, faith, academic and labor groups — the No Kings people.
Hawaiʻi has been designated “an anchor state” by national organizers. Demonstrations are planned around the country and world, and Hawaiʻi has at least nine set, from Kauaʻi to the Big Island.
It’s on the House: House Speaker Nadine Nakamura held a campaign fundraiser Oct. 1 at the The Pacific Club in Honolulu. Also in tow were Reps. Shirley Ann Templo, Mike Lee, Ikaika Olds, Matthias Kusch and Sue Keohokapu-Lee Loy, all in their first term in office.
It’s the second time in less than three months that the veteran Nakamura helped the same newbies raise cash, no doubt helping to solidify their support for her speakership. It takes 26 of the 51 House members to rule the roost.
A number of state legislators, especially in the House, are increasingly holding fundraisers during non-election years because of recent campaign reform laws restricting donations during sessions.
House Speaker Nadine Nakamura recently helped five freshmen legislators raise campaign money, a way to perhaps secure their support for her leadership. She did it again Oct. 1. (April Estrellon/Civil Beat/2025)
Charting the course: With less than a month to go before the public submission period closes, the Honolulu Charter Commission is going on the road to hear what city residents have to say about possible changes to how the city is run.
The Blog encourages you to catch one of the public sessions and share your ideas for ways to improve city government.
You can also find the proposals that have already been submitted on the commission’s website.
(Screenshot/2025)
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