Commenting on Bob Dole's proposal to CUT taxes, Hawaii Democratic Party Chair Richard Port (who retires this month) replied, that the concept of cutting taxes is, "dangerous and radical." Where do you think Mr. Port would have been during the War for Independence in 1776?

Bob Rees wrote some cute, but non-factual political baloney in an unsigned August 7 edition of the Honolulu Weekly. He first denied writing it, then later remembered "supplying information" for it. Others at the paper give Rees full credit for a section that slammed Maui Divers' Cliff Slater in one vignette, and in another, saying "...Slom is the high profile head of Small Business Hawaii, a lobbying group, but he is considered one of the state's least effective lobbyists because of his inclination to slant the facts to fit his ideology." No example was offered. Just the shallow political hit-and-run which has become Rees' trademark. Rees, who has been a welcomed guest speaker at several past SBH functions, knows better. He also knows that Slom is not a lobbyist, has never been paid a dime to lobby for or against anyone or anything, and that SBH strongly assists and encourages member firms to speak for themselves to testify and "lobby" at the State Legislature. I phoned Rees, and before he hung up on me, he indicated his "information" came from "two of the state's top, and most respected lobbyists" (an oxymoron??) whom he refused to identify. He added that the highly paid, special interest lobbyists' opinions were backed up by several "top" Legislators. That clears it up, doesn't it? Too bad he didn't put that information in his anonymous article. To be admired by the "top" lobbyists and politicians in Hawaii means you are part of the problem, not the solution.

Good for you: voters rank ethics and integrity (not ethnicity, what high school you attended, or position on the football team) as the top credentials for candidates running this year. Stick to it and vote that way!

The anti-incumbent feeling is strong now, but will they remember in November?

Who says it is hard to find a job in Hawaii? City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro will "retire" (not run again) and take the reins of the state's top Public Safety position courtesy of Governor Cayetano. The three contenders for Kanehsiro's job, all former deputy prosecutors, are David Arakawa, Peter Carlisle and Randal Yoshida. Wonder if the career criminals will be voting for their favorite?

Several months ago we first reported on the efforts on Maui's private contractor who offered to build a public school. The new Kamali'i Elementary School in Kihei opened last month, quicker, cheaper and with more features than anything done by the Department of Education (DOE). Contractor Everett Dowling completed the school, as promised, four months ahead of schedule at a cost of $17.9 million-compared to usual costs of $20 million or more. DOE's Greg Knudsen, said the state would "explore" more private development. Explore?? Just do it!

It is comforting to learn that the 4-ton girders that fell from the forever-under construction H-3 freeway (30 years and counting) was only caused by "the heat." Is that a chill in the air I feel?

The Downtown Improvement Association (DIA) is shutting down at the end of November, 38 years after its founding. The DIA, and executive director Bill Grant, accomplished a great deal and helped focus investment and consumer interest on downtown. Downtown office space increased from 1 to 11 million square feet. The DIA did support the ill-conceived Fasi-Harris Tax Transit scheme but learned a lot from that experience. The DIA says the problems and focus on downtown are no longer investment and development, areas they excelled in, but issues concerning crime, homelessness and other social problems. Thank you, DIA!

SBH supports the Printed In Hawaii Association's campaign for more local printing. (see story at right) The State and big businesses go out of state for printing rather than helping reduce the costs of doing business here. State Senator Donna Ikeda, powerful Ways & Means Chair, is distributing colorful pogs (is she ahead of the curve, or what?) that say clearly, "Printed in Taiwan." It goes beyond printing folks.

Our hard-working, dedicated Jed Gaines, deservedly was named the BBB's "Small Business of the Year." Now, if he can only stay in business in politically plagued Hawaii!

Congrats to Robert "Rabbett" Abbett, webmaster of H4, Hawaii's Data Super Highway. H4 was voted as "Most Popular Hawaii" website according to the August 7 Honolulu Weekly. SBH's web pages reside on H4.

With all that seems to be wrong in Hawaii it is uplifting to see community involvement for young Alana Dung, the cancer patient who attracted 30,000 bone marrow donor volunteers. Kaiser Foundation's Chris Pablo, despite waiting for a bone marrow donor himself, led the efforts to help Alana-always with a smile. A winner! Chris got the good news that a match was found for him in August. Once again, the generosity of Hawaii's people, and non-tax, private, individual initiatives, pay off big time for all of us. Mahalo, Chris!

Comments about anything you read in Small Business News can be addressed to:

Small Business Hawaii
Hawaii Kai Corporate Plaza
6600 Kalanianaole Hwy., Suite 212
Honolulu, Hawaii 96825
Telephone: 396-1724 / Fax: 396-1726

SBH also accepts articles relating to small business issues about its members and Hawaii. Submit your articles to SBH by the 10th of the month for publication into the next month's issue.

E-Mail: macpro@lava.net
E-mail forwarded to SBH via local fax.

Small Business News is part of The Hawai`i NewsList family of internet features. It can be delivered directly to your e-mail address. Send a subscription request to listproc@hawaii.edu, with the text "SUBSCRIBE HI-NEWS-L Firstname Lastname" in the body of the message. You will receive a number of Hawaii based publications along with your Small Business News e-mail subscription.

Editor: Sam Slom
Produced Under Pressure By: Melvin Ah Ching
Hosted on Honolulu's Most Popular Web: H4, Hawai`i's Data SuperHighway