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Saiki v. Kondo redux: The House speaker and state auditor are at it again.

This time it’s over Scott Saiki, the House speaker, revoking the procurement authority of Les Kondo, the state auditor. And it’s been going on for months.

In April, Saiki sent a memo to every House member, the governor and the Senate president saying the state procurement officer was concerned Kondo’s staff hadn’t completed procurement training, developed procurement policies and procedures and used proper procurement forms.

But this just in: Kondo shot back his own memo on Wednesday saying the procurement office determined in May there were no violations. Yet Saiki never bothered to tell anyone, he said.

“Since you broadcasted SPO’s rushed and erroneous determination to all members of the House as well as to officials throughout the Executive Branch, Chief Justice Recktenwald, and University of Hawaii President Lassner, we feel compelled to correct any mischaracterizations and untruths about our procurement activities,” Kondo wrote. “You appear not to have done so on your own.”

Kondo said that Saiki’s revocation is also “very likely to cause actual financial harm” to the state, “including jeopardizing future federal funding that supports numerous state programs.”

“You are an elected official and leader of the House,” Kondo wrote “For you to cause the state financial harm in this way is irresponsible.”

Kondo’s memo was copied to all members of the House and Senate, Recktenwald, Lassner and Green, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, the Cabinet and top staff.

Saiki had no comment on the memo for The Blog.

Broad swath: The Hawaii State Ethics Commission is considering legislation to make it illegal or unethical for anyone involved in awarding or administrating state contracts to be involved in political fundraising.

The idea comes from Commissioner Cynthia Thielen, who was inspired by The New York Times and Civil Beat story “Inside the Late-Night Parties Where Hawaii Politicians Raked In Money.” The investigative piece focused on government contractors donating generously to Hawaii politicians.

Thielen said language in the bill should focus on department duties and deputies directly involved with state contracts.

“That’s where things become very unethical in my mind,” she said at .

The commission’s executive director, Robert Harris, said his office could look into how other states address contracting issues, with an eye toward constitutionality. He cautioned, however, that a large number of state employees might be impacted if such a bill were to become law.

Thielen, however, very much likes the idea. Having the law cover “a broad swath,” she said, “is cleaning up government.”

Chair Wesley Fong and Commissioner Robert Hong agreed that Thielen’s proposal was something worth the Ethics Commission looking into, as long as concerns about legality are addressed. Harris agreed to report back to the board on what he finds out.

No aloha for the 2nd Amendment: Hawaii Supreme Court Associate Justice Todd Eddins, who increasingly is speaking out on national legal issues, continues to irk conservatives.

On Wednesday the filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting Hawaii resident Christopher L. Wilson’s petition to have his case heard by the high court. Wilson disagrees with a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling in February, authored by Eddins, that determined individual citizens in the Aloha State do not have the right to carry firearms for self-defense outside their homes.

Eddins had written, “The spirit of Aloha clashes with a federally-mandated lifestyle that lets citizens walk around with deadly weapons during day-to-day activities; that the culture from the founding of the country shouldn’t dictate contemporary life.”

To SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, the state court’s ruling amounted to stating that the Second Amendment does not actually exist in Hawaii.

“This declaration is so astonishing in its nature that the U.S. Supreme Court simply cannot allow one-tenth of the Bill of Rights to be arbitrarily erased,” Gottlieb said in a press release. “Hawaii is still part of the United States. It is not a police state.”

Said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut, “This is nothing short of open rebellion against the Supremacy Clause.”