������Ƶ

Burning issue: Legislation to allow recreational use of marijuana for adults cleared two committees Wednesday at the Legislature, one day before a pass-or-die deadline. But , given a “triple referral” in the House — meaning it has to be approved at three separate hearings, usually the kiss of death for bills — still faces considerable opposition, most notably from law enforcement groups.

Steve Alm, the Honolulu prosecutor, is making the case that marijuana is not a benign drug, especially to youth. The more legislators get this, he believes, the more inclined they will be to vote “no” on SB 3335.

Supporters say it’s only a matter of time before pot is legal, taxed and regulated, as has happened in some two dozen other states. “This train has left the station,” one supporter testified.

Interest in the bill is (*cough*) very high. Written testimony on SB 3335 numbered 488 pages. Rep. Gregg Takayama, the vice chair of the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee, had a printed stack of testimony in front of him that was thicker than several phonebooks.

The vote in favor of SB 3335 came from a majority of Judiciary Committee members and in the House Agriculture and Food Systems Committee. But there were also votes cast with reservations — meaning yes, reluctantly — and more than a few no votes. Rep. Gene Ward in particular denounced the bill, which illustrated to him why the Legislature is so unpopular.

“I’ve never seen a bill so against the people of Hawaii rather than for the people of Hawaii than this bill,” he said, warning that the black market would proliferate. “We need to build our communities, not destroy them.”

The measure now awaits two more committees in the House.

Cleaning house: One day before a bill to establish public financing of elections is to be heard by the House Judiciary Committee, a poll paid for by the main backer of says a majority of voters in the islands believe that elected officials care more about wealthy donors than the needs of communities.

No wonder, then, that these voters support a publicly financed elections program as a solution.

“This survey should be a wakeup call for our elected officials — ordinary working people do not trust that you are working in our communities’ interest,” said Sergio Alcubilla, executive director of the Hawaii Workers Center and a spokesman for the Clean Elections Hawaii campaign.

The poll was conducted by SurveyUSA, which surveyed 1,008 registered voters statewide from Feb. 27 to March 6.

No aloha for Kealoha: The Blog reported just last month that Louis Kealoha, the disgraced and incarcerated former chief of the Honolulu Police Department, had asked a federal judge to cut some time off his sentence. He argued that he’s been a model prisoner.

Maybe so. But on Wednesday U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright denied Kealoha’s request. Kealoha is in a federal prison in Oregon.

In his ruling, Seabright cited multiple court cases to reject Kealoha’s contention that he was eligible for a reduced sentence based on the retroactive amendment of a guideline for defendants “with no criminal history whose offenses fit within the guideline’s specific criteria.”

Besides, Seabright added after eight pages of dense legal analysis, even if Kealoha met the criteria, he wouldn’t have granted the reduction anyway, given that “Kealoha repeatedly abused his position of trust.”

Kealoha was convicted in 2019 of conspiracy and obstruction of justice alongside his then estranged wife, former prosecutor Katherine Kealoha. She’s in a federal prison in California.

GOP v. monk seals Apparently there are some national GOPers who are upset with all the pork barrel spending going on lately in Washington, D.C. Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Rick Scott of Florida introduced a  in the U.S. Senate slamming congressional “obsession with reckless earmarks.”

The earmarks earning Republican wrath include an education campaign to protect monk seals in Hawaii.

“This is a reckless waste of taxpayer dollars that will only exacerbate our national debt,” complained Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.

The senators appear to be upset about the $880,000 for the Marine Mammal Center on the Big island that Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii secured in the recent massive federal funding bill.

It’s intended to raise awareness about as well as coastal ecosystem conservation. The seals are known to exist only in the Hawaiian Islands archipelago and Johnston Atoll.

On a related note, landing in The Blog’s inbox this week was a half-serious suggestion from NOAA workers that Toxoplasma gondii be designated the official state parasite. T. gondii is spread through feral cat colonies and is deadly to Hawaiian monk seals, crows, coots, ducks and geese.

“If a savvy legislator were to go through with such a proposal, the sheer spectacle and discussions that would ensue (not to mention the potential press coverage), might highlight the ravages toxo is causing to native wildlife,” wrote Thierry Work, a wildlife disease specialist in Honolulu.

Political advertising: Can’t make it in person for Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s fourth State of the City Thursday at the Mission Memorial Auditorium? The speech will be broadcast live at 6:15 p.m. on KHON, KHII, KGMB, KFVE, KIKU and Olelo54 as well streamed live on the and . 

That’s a lot of free airtime for a mayor running for reelection this year. The mayor’s office is not paying for it, the city says. Olelo is the pool feed and the stations made the decision to carry the speech.

But this is the first year the State of the City address will be in the evening for Blangiardi, who for the past three years delivered it at 11 a.m. Dinner time has a bigger audience (read: voters) than at midday.

Blangiardi was also a guest Tuesday on , which airs on Hawaii News Now — the TV station the mayor ran before running for mayor four years ago. It was a sneak peek of the State of the City and talking points included homelessness, Skyline, affordable housing, public safety and — yep! — why he deserves another four years.