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Press availability: Now that the Legislature has gone home, “Let The Sunshine In,” our deep dive into accountability, transparency and ethics finally has time to cast an eye toward other civic institutions in Hawaii.

So under the heading of ethics, The Sunshine Blog was perhaps not surprised to see HART executive director Lori Kahikina shamelessly sucking up to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser this week on the newspaper’s online streaming show, “Spotlight,” while basically dissing the other news media.

“We’re just very very humbled by the positive feedback that we’ve gotten from the public and you folks are a key part of that,” she gushed on Wednesday as hosts Yunji De Nies and Ryan Kalei Tsuji beamed back. “And this is why I wanted to do the interview with you folks today. We moved it up because tomorrow morning we’re going to do the morning shows and you folks have always been so so supportive of me and of HART so we wanted to give you the first crack at an interview with me before we do the morning shows tomorrow.”

Translation: Thanks for letting me spin this thing. Other reporters actually ask us tough questions.

Never mind that “Spotlight” has a teeny tiny fraction of the viewership of Hawaii News Now’s “Sunrise” program or KITV’s “Good Morning Hawaii” or KHON’s “Wake Up 2Day.”

Because the newspaper also gave HART and Kahikina a front-page ride the next day, Thursday:

And again on Saturday:

And if that wasn’t enough, the happily accommodating reporter was so thrilled to be given a special ride he tweeted out a cozy picture with Kahikina:

Your Sunshine Bloggers got a good eye-roll out of that journalistically cringe-worthy photo.

But the S-A’s coverage does give new meaning to the phrase: “All Aboard!”

New shooter: Speaking of the news business, Civil Beat is beefing up its visual storytelling with the addition of .

He comes to Civil Beat after stints at The Seattle Times, Houston Chronicle and Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram newspapers. In 2010 Kevin led The Seattle Times photography staff to win the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News. 

Kevin has covered the Olympic Games four times and photographed other high-profile sporting events including the Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, Final Four and NCAA Bowl Championship Games.

Kevin joins our visuals editor, David Croxford, to round out Civil Beat’s photography team.

County comps: With all the hubbub about the looming pay raises for Honolulu City Council members, The Blog was curious about what other county councils pay in Hawaii. Turns out, Oahu is kind of a cheapskate compared to the other three counties. Despite their much smaller populations, the other three counties pay their elected representatives more.

Honolulu City Council members currently make $68,904, and the chair earns $76,968. That’s slightly below the council pay on the Big Island, about $6,000 less than Kauai County and about $11,000 less than Maui County.

The neighbor islands have had their own big pay raises in the past, although nothing like what’s now proposed for Honolulu.

The Maui County Council’s big payday came 10 years ago, when it shot ahead of the other counties. Hawaii County played catch-up five years ago, when it increased council pay by more than 30%. Kauai County got into the act just last year by approving a three-stage pay raise for its council that will total up to 15% when it’s fully implemented in July 2024.

Don’t forget to when the council has a jam-packed agenda that includes the first reading of the proposals to ban outside employment for council members and action on the city budget. The council needs to work pay raises for various city officials, including itself, into the budget and this seems to be the only opportunity for discussion and public input on the salary increases. The budget is expected to take effect at the start of the next fiscal year on July 1.