Reform the Honolulu Liquor Commission

03/10/2024

While we take a break from the trial, we wanted to share a follow up to a July focus of our posting.

In July, we identified three licensees where the HLC ignored flashing red lights and shocking stories of m^th and fent^nyl dealing was either directly taking place at a licensee or so tangent, the public was (and is) in danger.

One of these establishments, a bar at a west side golf course, was subject of multiple posts. Our post detailed 13 times the HLC and the Commissioners gave an exception to normal licensing and operations expectations and compliance. These exception ranged from going without a license for a long period time, to what appears to not paying their taxes based on alcohol sales anywhere near accurately, to not paying other taxes until they were forced to 6 months later (after complaints), to no requiring employee registrations.

While these exceptions were going on, the proprietor was in a business relationship with a notorious trafficker. They had a side business involving the west side motorcycle community. Specifically with the cycle community that was part of the Miske Enterprise. The bikers were collecting and enforcing for Miske.

In April of this year, the proprietor’s business partner was arr^sted by the feds yards from the licensee and had pounds of m^th on him.

All this was ok to the HLC. There was even some evidence they knew of larger problems and chose to look away. $$$

Last year and earlier in the summer, a watch dog wrote public statements and complaints laying out the issues at the licensee.

This summer, this page tried to get a copy of the public statement. The HLC refused to send it and made up some excuse on how it was at their discretion. Because public isn’t public to the Petilos and Hirai crew.

The watch dog has had enough of the HLC looking the other way and has used a process to bring the licensee for a public hearing. The hearing is next week. (Oct 10th)

Anyone with concerns on the f^ntanyl crisis on the island should come to the HLC or issue a statement. If you feel each licensee should be held to the same rules, you should show up or write a letter. ([email protected])

If you just want the HLC to do something besides to blame other people for their problem, write or show up.

27/09/2024

In the summer of 2023, this page UIPA-ed (request for public information) the contracts that insider law firm KSG (Kobayashi Sugita Goda) had agreed to for their representation of the Honolulu L^quor Commission’s laws^it with 2 L^BT businesses.

What we found was KSG was allowed to ignore virtually every point that they agreed to in their contract. They didn’t submit budgets, they didn’t warn when the budget was depleted, and they ran the contract to 5-times over the allocated amount ($200k over).

Also in the summer of 2023, we pointed out that the same KSG lawyer who had represented the HLC staff in depositions was also representing clients in front of the HLC.

We complained to COR’s Dana Viola. She replied that we were the only ones complaining, so she didn’t see a problem. (The heck with her eth^cal obligations.)

Then a moratorium on this page requesting public information was introduced. (The heck with that pesky c^nstitution.) The HLC gave a flimsy excuse to use in the denial, and in their denial, they cc-ed the KSG lead lawyer (Some crusty old guy). The engagement that Crusty was contracted on did not give him scope to make general HLC contracts, but boundaries with the City aren’t a thing for KSG.

This summer, we shared several blogs on how the KSG team on the HLC suit were primarily HART lawyers with a specialty in land law. The HART work, transactional law that a first-year associate should be able to do was funneled to KSG for almost a decade. (The City was paying around $300 an hour that a COR att^rney could do for about $75 an hour.)

This summer, we also shared the new hiring of a former HLC COR deputy to KSG. From 3 years of watching the COR deputy team in adjudication hearings, this hire didn’t seem driven from the recruit’s legal acumen.

KSG has written multiple briefs complaining about this page and our request for public information (how dare we ask for that) and efforts to shine a light on the HLC’s behavior. (They read like loud screeches from an angry old man, void of law, but that’s just an opinion…. “HE ATTACKED MY WIFE”… eyeroll.)

ALSO, this summer, the NYT published a comprehensive article about the pervasiveness of pay-to-pay with the City’s contractors. One of the first names on the NYT’s list- KSG. They had given $400k in local races.

KSG’s Honolulu business model is becoming clear. Dontate, hire from the City to secure the relationships, give a landing spot for City employees, and then get hired with no oversight by COR. COR allows them to run roughshod over City agencies. They agree to COR’s devalue suits strategy. COR looks away at conflicts. They ignore scope and abuse privilege claims. Rinse and Repeat.

It works for everyone, except the public… so that means it works for KSG and COR.

Now, we have learned that KSG’s hand in the public’s pocket isn’t a uniquely Honolulu scheme.

Currently, there is an ethics complaint in Maui for KSG ignoring a conflict. It is up for presentation and review.

KSG is representing Maui COR in a suit there. COR had been withholding information from a pla^ntiff. They also dumped discovery information before an important deadline.

(This is KSG’s playbook- obstruct, dump critical discovery at the last minute, file for summary judgement, frustrate the pl^intiffs at every turn. It’s garbage lazy lawyering.)

In Maui, the eth^cs commission is also accused of stopping an investigation that involves COR. They have been named in a suit, so they are trying to hire KSG. That means KSG would be on multiple sides of an issue- a conflict.

Fortunately, a Maui j^dge has inserted himself and asked for documents to see what their latest shenanigans are.

We aren’t optimistic. KSG’s strategy also appears to be to run up legal bills until people stop trying to get some form of just^ce. People give up when they realize there is an endless sack of money for KSG to use in their defense.

The public needs to demand our dollars are not spent at KSG. We also need to figure out why CORs in Maui and Oahu are so quick to hire these guys. Sadly, right now, it appears it’s because KSG is willing to play ball in their “devalue claims” strategy that has permeated across the islands.

26/09/2024

In the upcoming trial of the HLC vs 2 L^BT businesses, one of the contentious issues was a T_RO that was filed by the night supervisor on the editor of this page in December 2022.

(At that time, this page was using the UIPA process to obtain information surrounding the incident at Dave n Busters. That April 2022 incident resulted in an HP-D patrolm^n injured and a patron with fel^ny charges (that were later dropped. We had started to ask for timesheets and vehicles logs, so we were hot on their trail of detailing "allegedly" not only false reporting but false t^cketing .)

The HLC has tried to say the TR-O was done on the supervisor’s personal time, but the HLC provided her internal documents and a photo of a Drivers License that the supervisor used in her petition.

(The supervisor also just made up a few key details. But that’s pretty typical of this group.)

Once the TR-O was shockingly granted, the leadership team at the time conspired to serve the editor. The zany supervisor showed the security at the HLC building (a non HLC employee) a picture of the editor telling him to call her if she saw the editor coming to the HLC.

The supervisor and the office leadership team for weeks tracked UIPAs and conspired on a plan to spring their trap. One clerk, in an email, said “we can get him next time”. She shared that she had some requests in queue that they can use as proverbial bait. This was an officewide effort.

One nervous worker told the zany supervisor, “I do not have experience in this, so bear with me.”

All this was on the public’s dollar.

In a later email, Anna Hirai would admit that this was done with the acknowledgment and seeming approval of their lawyer at KSG.

When the scumbag lawyer was later pressed on this for documents, he would say he was representing the supervisor, so his conversations were privileged. He was representing the supervisor in her professional capacity, so even he was admitting it was all a professional activity by the HLC. (Or he is just uneth^cal.. hmmmm)

This should be interesting...

26/09/2024

For the last week, we have been sharing the legal maneuvers by the HLC and their lawyers from insider firm KSG. These moves largely are trying to erase years of ignoring audits, previous conv^ctions in enforcement, their use of contract employees to avoid background checks, and sham internal investigations.

One of the most shocking attempts was their attempt to block the City’s own review of the HLC, approved by the HLC and managed by the Managing Director’s office. The HLC’s brief was jaw dropping in their efforts to get away from the finding. Though, a year after its delivery, the HLC has failed to implement many of the recommendations.

Today, it was ruled that the lead of the assessment team, compliance expert Hui Chen and her deliverable the Chen Report, will be allowed in the proceeding.

20 years of the HLC’s nonsense will be reviewed over two weeks starting Monday.

25/09/2024

Today, the editor of this page went to the City C^uncil’s Executive Matters and L^gal Affairs committee. This is the committee that oversees budgeting third party l^wyers and approving settlements for suits on against the city. The budgets are “managed” (laugh laugh) by COR, the City’s leg^l team.

In 2023, a second suit was filed by a trainee who not only felt d^scrimnated upon, but also stated that he complained, the enforcement supervisor team came up with a scheme to get the trainee fired or suspended.

When the suit was filed, there was the standard $50,000 allocation made for insider firm, KSG to start the beginning steps of the suit.
From the docket, not much has happened. It seems like the crusty lawyer at KSG is trying to rope-a-dope this case until the larger case with the 2 L^BT business’ trial occurs or a settlement is agreed to. (He is a sly one.)

Now, COR and Crusty are back asking for more. The requested amount was not disclosed today, but we assume, at a minimum, it is another $50k.

Adding KSG’s fees for the other suit, with this suit, and the CITY (you) have paid KSG over a HALF MILLION DOLLARS to defend the enforcement team, specifically the 3 supervisors, in 2 suits that most everyone who has dealt with the HLC assumes that they’ve done.

TWO of the three supervisors have been promoted since the suits were filed.

The third supervisor was suspended with pay while some sort of investigation occurred. The HLC has blocked public information requests asking to disclose information on the suspension.

Still, despite this expenditure, HLC has done little to make positive changes addressing the list of concerns about the wayward team.

But shameless Dana Viola of COR would rather fight than change. (She is a sad excuse over there, but that’s another story..)

For today’s suit, only CM Esther Kiaaina voted with reservations to approve the funding. The rest of Viola’s sheep all were Ayes.

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24/09/2024

For the last weeks, we have shared details of the HLC’s and their lawyers at insider firm, KSG, actions to defend the agency against discr^mination and negligence suits.

The strategy to date has been to smear the pla^ntiffs, to block information, and then to try to hide the misdeeds through a mountain of motions. This has including trashing the HLCs own internal report, “the chen report”, questioning Chen's competency, to hiding one investigators infatuation with h8te group ideology, to trying to say doing simple division is “statistics”.

That tr^al kicks off next Monday.

In a hold my beer moment, today, the HLC and KSG are at City C^uncil asking for more of your money to defend the agency and 3 of its supervisors from another suit.

This suit involves a L^BT trainee who according to the suit, was called, “an experiment” by then acting Administrator Anna Hirai.

Per the suit, after filing a complaint, the three always-in=trouble supervisors conspired to set up the trainee. They claimed that he damaged a vehicle and didn’t report it. (Their yellow vehicle checkout form is below.)

Once the trainee updated his complaint, Hirai sided with her supervisor and placed the trainee on leave against all protocol.
Then with the arrival of Sal Petilos as new Administrator (who somehow made the agency worse), he quickly cleared the supervisors without ever talking to the trainee.

Then Petilos, in his own hold my beer money, proved that he could be more awful. Petilos brought back the trainee after an almost year leave and instead of reinitiating his training, Petilos made the trainee the office boy. He was instructed to wash cars and do errands. He eventually quit.

So now, once again, KSG and COR are coming for more of your money. Petilos actually promoted one of the 3 supervisors. A reward for his role in the vehicle scheme, it seems.

Sadly, nothing has gotten better at the HLC and KSG keeps sticking money in their pockets.

History predicts that they will donate some back to local pols and the circle of flagrantly gross behavior will go on.

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21/09/2024

For weeks, we have been sharing the efforts that the HLC via the insider firm KSG, led by Crooked Caldwell’s personal attorney (who also managed Caldwell’s 2012 and 2016 runs that resulted in that train wreck) to hide and block information on decades of the HLCs shenanigans.

Last week, in pre-tr^al motions the j^dge made it clear that he wants to see ALL ev^dence. He is more than capable of putting the proper consideration on it.

With a tin ear to the j^dge, KSG and the crusty insider lead l^wyer, has continued to try to block the 2023 internal review known as the Chen Report. Blangiardi called its content disturbing and unacceptable.

There is also an internal investigation by local firm, Marr Jones, that the City has actively tried to block the sharing of its progress reports. This internal review was supposed to be done in the summer of 2023 too, but the City dragged its feet on launching it and then contracted a firm more known for union grievances than forensic reviews.

In the HLC’s latest maneuver, they are trying to say that since Chen was from the Managing Directors office and not the HLC, she should be considered a third party.

The HLC is also saying that despite sharing numerous reports on their adoption of recommendations of Chen, the report can’t be trusted or considered reliable.

If the HLC spent as much time trying to fix itself as trying to avoid accountability, they’d be in an entirely better position.

To date, the HLC has not presented anything that demonstrates they are remotely a well run organization. There have been no training logs, no certified closed loop systems, no examples of corrective actions. They have just attacked the pl^intiffs. This aligns with their history of retaliation and hiring a dumpster fire team of supervisors.

We will keep letting you know what the HLC and KSG antics are. We need to demand better!

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19/09/2024

Over the last weeks, we have started to shine a light and blow a horn to have the public pay attention to the upcoming tr^al of the HLC.

The City has spent almost a half million dollars on insider law firm KSG to cover up years of their enforcement team’s misdeeds. This has occurred by going after watchdogs, working with their staff to concoct stories and with one, to file a TR-O on someone for pointing at scandalous behavior, hiding an E_EOC complaint, blocking public information to be released to the general public for almost a year and making accusations smearing their opposing couns^l.

They even concocted an insulting story that their foes had sent in an ally, (“a friend”) to the HLC to get a job and then make false accusations. (You know because all people in a protected group, know each other. The lead counsel is a close to a 80 year old crusty white guy, so its not surprising.)

As the tr^al has approached, the HLC and KSG have worked to block a boatload of information that reflects awfully on them. This has ranged from saying basic statistics (division) couldn’t be allowed, that details of one supervisor with a history of being n^zi curious and the another with a rap sheet longer than a Longs receipt cant be reviewed, to another supervisor who had been in another similar suit where it was documented he had changed his statement and broke procedure also couldn’t be presented.

KSG also did not want details that the HLC for over a decade avoided hiring standards and processes by keeping a group of troubled HP-D on temporary contracts. (These contracts were supposed to be limited to a year, but for many went for years and years.) They also wanted to suppress 2023’s internal assessment which Blangiardi called “shocking and unacceptable.”

KSG filed over 30 motions to block all these things. This week a ruling was made that it was all in.
The HLC must answer for it all.

Even more exciting, for over two decades, HLC leader has leveraged her relationship with COR, the city’s legal team, to avoid accountability. Her life partner of over 25 years is a senior deputy at COR. Despite COR being disqualified from the case, he has continued to advise her. He even declared their conversations were privileged. Very slimy for sure.

With this protection, Hirai felt secure in misleading the City C^uncil, to clear employees from charges of misdeeds wo reading investigative reports, to allowing the ab^se of an internal watchdog, to taking part in crazy retaliation schemes.

She will have to answer for it all too. IT IS ABOUT TIME.

17/09/2024

The NYT’s article doesnt address that many of the companies werent top tier and only got their foot in the doors after large payola donations and being willing to prostrate themselves for government rate work.

After the state passed a law barring government contractors from donating to politicians, fund-raising parties showed just how completely the reform effort failed.

16/09/2024

Another HART suit was filed by the hand in the public's pocket firm, KSG.

Their core competence- shamelessness, ignoring conflicts, keeping Kirk Caldwell out of jail.

15/09/2024

In the last month, we have shared the story of the west side bar at the Honolulu Country Club and its owners ties to a fentanyl ring with connections to local motor cycle clubs, other examples of how the HLC’s negligence is a contributor to the explosion of m^th and fent^nyl on the island,

We also started to preview the upcoming, end of the month trial of the HLC and 2 local L^BT businesses. The HLC, who has spent almost a half million trying to cover up bad behavior with shady lawyers from the insider hand in the public pocket firm of KSG, are trying to block virtually everything from being part of the proceedings. We will pick that up later this week.

But for a change, we are excited to share some GOOD NEWS. The HLC, after an almost 2-year vacancy, has filled the Chief of Inv^stigators role. Unlike the awful selection of the inept Administrator Sal Petilos, this was a good pick from everything we know.

The newly hired gentleman, Ken Takemoto, was proposed as a temporary head administrator in the Spring of 2023. Mr. Takemoto presented a 100-day plan on immediate corrective actions that he would implement. He had previously been at the HLC and knew the issues and has a long career at enabling compliance.

At that time, legacy employees including one of the senior investigators actively worked to stop the appointment. The senior investigator made public statements and accusations trying to stop Takmoto's appointment.

It would make sense the senior investigator didn’t want reform, his name is next to years of issues, personal issues that leaked into his role, and an approach to his job that created a year plus queue for licenses and changes.

In fact, a public complaint about him is part of the public information battle that this page has brought to both OIP and a court case which is pending. The HLC does not want us to know what the complaint said.

At that time, Mr. Takemoto withdrew his name from consideration and the legacy team kept their awful operation intact.

Now along with a new A*O (the old one transferred or was forced to transfer), Mr. Takemoto is now leading the investigative team.

In addition to the new Chief, the old, awful Night Supervisor has dropped off the org chart. Another part of our public information battle is finding out why she was placed on leave and the results of a rumored internal investigation. Her name being dropped indicates that there is a story to be told.

Unfortunately, the person named as the temp Night Supervisr was closely tied to the old one. He was described in an EE^C complaint to have yelled at River Street s^x workers, “Your b*lls are hanging out”, he was noted in a legal filing to have been in fights in the field, he is also a current named Defendant in a 2nd l^wsuit the HLC is fighting.

The root cause of lots of the problem, Anna Hirai, is still chained to her desk refusing to leave. Nothing will get better until she is gone.

But at least there is a small bit of positive news.

Later this week, more news on the Tri^l of the HLC

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11/09/2024

The trial of the HLC for years of shenangigans is starting September 30, 2024.

We are detailing their attempts to avoid accountability. They're a classy group.

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In July, we laid out how the shameless lead l^wyer for the City, Dana Viola chose a close connection of hers and her Chief Deputy, Richard Lewallen’s, when COR had to disqualify itself from representing the city in a D^scrimination suit between 2 L^BT businesses and the HLC.

Instead of choosing a firm and lawyers who had deep knowledge in c^vil r^ghts cases, Viola chose someone tight with the HLC’s leader, Anna Hirai’s longtime domestic partner, Lewallen, Lex Smith and his scrummy firm KSG. KSG mostly represented HART relative to City matters. Viola had already placed senior COR deputy, Rozelle Agag to be lead support of the HLC in general matters. Agag has been a HART lawyer with Hirai’s partner for years.

Agag is a land lawyer and not a regulation/administrative counsel. Yet, the HART team of KSG senior lawyer, Lex Smith, former head of HART and now COR deputy, Richard Lewallen, the HLC's Hirai and COR's Agag would work to get the HLC out of their latest mess despite COR having disqualified itself and the HART lawyers not being Civil Rights lawyers.

In 2023, during a stretch of depositions, another senior KSG lawyer, Aaron Mun, was representing the HLC team including Hirai’s deposition in May 2023.

In August 2023, Mun appeared in front of the HLC representing clients looking for licenses. This is like a first-year law student conflict, but it was ok to Hirai, Agag, Mun and the shameless Dana Viola.

The editor of this page wrote a letter of concern to Viola. Viola responded that we were the only ones complaining, so it must not be a problem. Viola’s former bosses Donna Leong and Crooked Caldwell taught her well on how to frame eth^cs.

In Feb 2024, Smith, Mun, Agag and Viola partnered on another HART suit. (They were kicking someone else off their property.)

We are supposed to believe that they keep ethical walls up and do not discuss the L^BT lawsuit that Agag and Viola are conflicted out of.

This is how KSG does business. Insider deals that happened after hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations to local pols. Viola has spent almost a half million dollars to keep Lewallen’s partner Hirai out of another mess. No one is this group is concerned with the public or right and wrong.

Someone please call Wheat! Someone wake Blangiardi up and have him give Viola the boot.

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