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Free men: Someone called The Sunshine Blog to say they just saw former Sen. J. Kalani English in the Costco on Maui. Nah, The Blog said, he’s still in federal prison. Isn’t he?

How time flies. English was released on March 26, after just 19 months in the federal pokey.

So, as it turns out, blatant abuse of the public trust didn’t really keep English behind bars all that long after all.

Or former state Rep. Ty Cullen for that matter. He’s already out, too. Federal prison records show he came home April 30, just 11 months after he went off to the federal lockup.

To recap: English and Cullen were convicted in 2022 of taking tens of thousands of dollars in cash bribes, poker chips, lavish trips and other favors from local businessman Milton Choy, whose wastewater business benefitted from the lawmakers steering legislation as directed.

A change in federal sentencing guidelines worked in English and Cullen’s favor. But it also appears they took advantage of the credits available for good behavior and for completing other programs. Attorneys for the former lawmakers did not want to chat with The Blog about their clients.

English was originally sentenced to 40 months but that was reduced to 32 months by the guideline change. And then he’s out in 19.

Our sharp-eyed friend said he looked like he’d lost a ton of weight and a quick check of recent photos he’s posted on his Facebook page show that does indeed seem to be the case.

Cullen, who stayed out of prison a bit longer while he cooperated with federal investigators, was sentenced to 24 months, reduced to 19 months by the guideline change. Out in 11.

Choy, who as it turns out wore a wire and cooperated with the feds for several years while wining and dining elected officials as well as a couple of Maui County guys who also went to prison, is still locked up in North Carolina. The very helpful inmate lookup feature shows his release date as July 2026.

And it’s been a year since Civil Beat reported that Cullen’s cooperation was the basis for what the U.S. Attorney’s Office described in a document recommending a lighter sentence for him as an ongoing investigation into more public officials including, presumably, legislators.

“The defendant has provided substantial information concerning other possible acts of public corruption by public officials in Hawaii, and has agreed to continue his cooperation as our investigation continues,” the document said. “In sum, the defendant’s cooperation has resulted in a chargeable … offense, and assisted in creating helpful leverage against other subjects as our covert investigation continues.”

At the time, we decided not to publish the full document even though we got it fair and square from the court file after the feds had mistakenly filed it unredacted. The federal prosecutor argued that the document contained details that could hurt their investigation and put Cullen in a bad spot with other prisoners.

But now Cullen’s out. And we haven’t heard another peep from the prosecutor about an investigation. With the primary election in just three months, we’re looking more closely at the details in that document. And who, if anyone, voters might want to know about.

Stay tuned.

Hear ye! Hear ye!: Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Todd Eddins is once again getting national headlines for his continued poking of the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority. This time, he says, the big guys are trying to destroy democracy.

Eddins has not been shy about condemning what he sees as the high court’s reliance on “bogus history and racist values,” .

He has particularly been outspoken on the current court’s rejection of settled precedence in favor of originalism, a school of thought that argues the Constitution must be interpreted as it was intended to be understood at the time it was written — that is, 1787, when people rode horses and used candles for lighting.

“I mean, it’s absolutely astounding that originalism revives the value judgments of a racist, misogynistic, homophobic society and constrains the value judgments of contemporary judges,” Eddins said on the Amicus podcast.

“You’re talking about times when human beings enslaved other human beings, when women were just an appendage of their husbands and had no contractual rights and no property rights. It makes no sense for contemporary society to pledge allegiance to the founding era’s culture, and I had the opportunity to write that. I’m lucky to have such a supportive court; they said ‘Go for it,’ because that’s what we collectively believe.”

Eddins also said that SCOTUS is effectively trying to kill the Constitution in order to save Donald Trump in the presidential immunity case currently before the court.

Yesterday’s news: Friday was the last day for the last reporter at West Hawaii Today, Laura Ruminski.

That leaves the Kailua-Kona daily newspaper running local stories from its sister pub — the Hawaii Tribune-Herald — which is located on the other side of the Big Island in Hilo, more than 100 miles away.

The Blog fears there are more cuts to come, given the recent shakeup in local media. Mainland-based Carpenter Media Group is the new owner of both Big Island papers, ,  on Kauai and on Oahu.

The Star-Advertiser also recently dropped Associated Press stories even though the news service has a local bureau that cranks out invaluable local content. The paper is relying on The New York Times wire service and Reuters, along with stories from its other Hawaii publications to fill the white space.

Meanwhile, as reported, The Maui News next month will move to publish a print edition only on Thursdays. It is moving to a digital-first model, and its owner wants to sell.

Money makes the political world go round: The spurt of lawmakers and wannabe lawmakers scheduling campaign fundraisers continues post-legislative session. They include Reps. , and , as well as Sen. , who is not actually on the ballot until 2026. All are Democrats.

Dela Cruz’s neighbor, Sen. , is also asking for contributions. She is on the ballot this year.

Also raising cash are , son of the late Dan Inouye, who is gunning for Rep. Trish La Chica’s House seat, and , who wants Rep. Diamond Garcia’s seat.

, meantime, is seeking money to run against Rep. Elijah Pierick in District 39. Pierick and Rep. Garcia are Republicans, while Paris and the other Garcia are Democrats. Will the party balance in the state House (45 Dems, six Republicans) change again?

Candidates who are running in the Aug. 10 primary will have to post publicly on the Campaign Spending Commission’s website all the money they received and spent through June 30 by the end of day July 11. The Blog will be waiting.

One other item: The Democratic Party of Hawaii has scheduled . It’s at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, where the party is set to hold this weekend at the same property.

Word games: