Why the Hawaii GOP Swamp Just Got Deeper and More Corrupt

Yep, there are some reallystrange happenings atHawaii GOP headquarters.  Without further ado, HIRA is obligated to share with you what we've learned — the TWO GIANT REASONS Ostrov supporters are abandoning ship and causing Republicans to openly wish they hadn'taccepted free airfare and free convention registration from Ostrov campaign honcho Mark Blackburn to attend last Spring's Kauai state convention at no cost . . . with Ostrov supporters openly wishing they could take back their votes.

In a shocking decision by Team Ostrov which epitomizes 'two steps backward',Republicans will now have to endure TWO MORE YEARS of Fritz Rohlfing running things at the HawaiiGOP.  You read that right.  Instead of Rohlfing being 'shown the door' after two of the worst years of party 'leadership' in recent memory, Team Ostrov decided it wants to keep Fritz Rohlfing around through at least May 2019 if not longer.  Yes, we're referring to the same Fritz Rohlfing who ran the party's 2015-2016 campaign into the ground and lost multiple elected Republicans at the ballot box and due to defections.  Yes, the same Fritz Rohlfing who left the party in even worse financial shape than he found it.  Yes, the same Fritz Rohlfing whose mismanagement and violations of rules and deficit spending and misuse of funds and phony accounting and fiscal irresponsibility and violations of party budgetare now legendary.  That Fritz Rohlfing.

How did this happen, you might ask?   Well, one of Ostrov's first decisions as the new state chair was to quietlyreappoint one of Fritz Rohlfing's corrupt and loyal sycophants,Andrew Walden, to continuefor another two years as chairman of the state GOP's Rules Committee.  You might remember HIRA's stunning report about Walden andRohlfing plotting and scheming together last summer to extend Rohlfing's term as state chair through May 2018 (an entire extra year in office) through a sneaky change to party rules** — asleazy maneuver soundly defeated by delegates at the 2016 state convention by an overwhelming margin of 4 to 1.   [**Ostrov was reportedly very impressed with Walden's sleazy RINO power tactics.]

Never mind that the complaint was addressed to Ostrov.  She kicked the whole matter to her new RINO stooge Walden to make the irrefutable complaint quietly go away.  Yes, Ostrov could have gotten rid of Rohlfing —she was given TONS of justification.  Fritz Rohlfing, the proven party destroyer, broke party rules left and right.  But new chair Ostrov's first decision reappointing Rohlfing's own crony to rule on this solid case sealed the deal.  The foregone outcome came as no surprise to the very few people inside the party who know about this.  And now you know.

Call it a coverup to protect fellow RINO Fritz Rohlfing.  Call it stonewalling.  Or call it incompetence.  Either way, Ostrov refuses to release the results of an emergency financial audit which has beenmore than two months in the works.  Look, it's not some giant audit of the federal government or a forensic audit of some massive company or mammoth organization or even an audit of an agency like HART.  It's just the minor matter of looking under the hood of our teeny little Hawaii Republican Party.  C'mon, how long does itreally take to review a few checking account statements and the huge stack of unpaid bills on Ostrov's desk?  This audit should only take two weeks tops, not two-plus months with no end in sight. Something's really fishy.

Instead, in another blow to the promise of following rules, Ostrov's unelected finance chair and self-proclaimed bigshot Mark Blackburn (some guy who nobody has ever heard of before in political circles) just declared in anewsletter to party members that a small cabal will make all the decisions about how money will be spent, how much, and on what candidates they decide to target.  Never mind that such a decision requires formal review and official approval of the entire statewide party organ known as the 'State Committee' which hasseveral dozen voting members.  Ostrov's appointee says that RINO party officers Pat Saiki and Lorraine Shin will "target our financial goals".  So, before anyone has even seen a draft budget, Blackburn has unilaterally announced that two or three people will decide how money gets spent, which candidates get targeted or "chosen", and which "pressing issues" are the most important to spend money on.