Hawaii Uh-Oh! HIRA Breaking Through Hawaii GOP Inner Circle Corruption

We know you want to drain the swamp at every level of government.  From our polluted and Democrat-dominated State Legislature and Governor's mansion to the smelly cesspools of county government and mayoral offices.  But first we need to drain the swamp inside Hawaii GOP headquarters, where longtime executive party officers like Boyd Ready provide so much mismanagement and failed leadership that they are actually helping Democrats.

 

Now, please accept HIRA's apologies in advance.  Things have gotten so bad at Hawaii GOP headquarters that HIRA has lost count of exactly how many red flags have shot up the flagpole since RINO and longtime party officer Boyd Ready first appeared on the Executive Committee of the Hawaii GOP. 

After four Jimmy Carter-like 'malaise'-filled years as a high-ranking party officer on the Hawaii GOP's inept executive committee, Boyd Ready is hoping you won't notice just how badly the party has declined under his 'leadership'.  When he first inflicted his 'leadership' on the Hawaii GOP four years ago, there were eight elected Republicans in state office.  Now there are only FIVE.  Yep, all across the state, there are ONLY FIVE left in office.  Meanwhile, the Republican Party is surging from coast to coast in virtually all other states.

 

As the failed vice-chairman for 'coordinated campaigns' from 2013 to 2015 and as a bumbling state party secretary from 2015 until today, Boyd Not-So-Ready has fully supported the executive committee's failed direction that he's enthusiastically helped to steer at Hawaii GOP headquarters.

 

But in recent days, the total number of red flags has probably doubled or tripled.  When you learn the details, you'll quickly conclude:  That's why we keep losing.

 

Further below, HIRA will tell you about Boyd's biggest and most scandalous secret.  It's huge.  It's a doozy.  And it only happened a couple weeks ago.  And 99.999% of party members have no idea what Boyd did.  It's so bad that even Barbara Marumoto and Duke Aiona and Sam Slom are having a hard time keeping this under wraps.

 

So, let's get started down the list of just the big flags.  We can't waste time going A thru Z, because just like infamous Democrat Jimmy Carter following a terrible four years in office, Boyd is equally shameless enough to run for re-election to the executive committee . . . This time in another job he's unsuited for:  Honolulu GOP county chairman.   AND THE ELECTION IS TODAY!!

 

Many delegates to today's county convention already know that — just like a 2nd Carter term in office or a 3rd Obama term — two more years of Boyd Ready on the Hawaii GOP executive committee would be like handing the Democrats the 2018 election on a silver platter.  But not ALL delegates know the score.

That's why Boyd Ready can't take any chances if he hopes to remain on the executive committee for another two dreadful years.  So he's taken to cheating and lying and more cheating and dirty finance dealings in order to fool enough delegates into supporting him at TODAY'S Honolulu GOP county convention in East Honolulu.

RED FLAG #1 – CRONYISM:  READY IS HORRIBLE WITH PARTY DONOR MONEY

 

Let's start with the newest financial scandal at party headquarters.  Ready's buddy is a guy named Jack James.  In November 2016, following the disastrous general election for the GOP here in Hawaii, Ready helped his pal James land a cushy paid job ($4,000 per month plus fringe benefits) at the Hawaii GOP headquarters.  [Perfect timing too, as James was experiencing widely-known financial problems.]

 

Before Ready could get James approved, others on the executive committee had serious concerns about Jack James' extreme lack of experience upon becoming the party's new 'Executive Director'.  So an employment contract was drawn up giving Jack James given explicit responsibility for "implementing the Party's comprehensive fund-raising program."  Furthermore, concerns about James' experience and skill set were addressed in writing with the following carefully-worded contract clause in mind:

 

"Executive understands that the Party must receive a minimum in contributions and/or revenue of at least $15,000 each calendar month during Executive's tenure for the Party to continue to employ Executive."

Well, according to party treasurer Mary Smart only days ago:   "Deposits into our operational fund was only $1,146.47.  You really can't survive with that kind of receipts.  You'll see that we had disbursements of $10,136.92.  Plus there were outstanding checks of $2,057.50.  So we were operating in February at a deficit of $11,047.95 . . . That meant that on 01 March, we had only $15,700.74 in our account."

 

We now know two things from the typically secretive party treasurer:   (1) that our state party organization is in the worst possible financial shape; and (2) that longtime party executive officer Boyd Ready has played a large role in that decline by consistently looking the other way at costly cronyism and rampant party corruption during Boyd's entire four years on the HRP executive committee.

According to GOP treasurer Smart, Jack James was nearly $14,000 short in February from achieving the mandatory party goal of $15,000 each and every month.  Such a dramatic shortfall by Boyd Ready's associate should trigger automatic dismissal of Jack James, who is clearly in default.   At the very least, James' employment contract is "at will" and he can legally be terminated under his contract with or without cause with just two weeks notice.

 

Now, virtually everyone knows the party is losing money each month from a combination of declining donations and excessive overhead, such as the $5,000 per month crony job given by Boyd Ready to incompetent RINO Jack James.

 

What's worse is that Boyd Ready knows that James has the contractual responsibility for raising $15,000 in donations to the Hawaii GOP each and every month.  Moreover, Ready knows that James has raised jack squat.  But Boyd Ready appears to be protecting his crony Jack James, whom Ready has deliberately not encouraged the executive committee to fire.   Based on this scandal (and much more), you just can't trust Boyd Ready with money or responsibility or the responsibility of supervision.  We are all paying the steep price for Boyd Ready's four years of inaction and enabling.  He delivers the exact opposite of what's needed from party leaders going forward.  Looking the other way while Republicans and party donors get ripped off is simply not acceptable.

RED FLAG #2 – TERRIBLE JUDGEMENT:  READY IS KEEPING A GIANT SECRET FROM ALL PARTY MEMBERS

 

Yes, HIRA can now confirm that Boyd Ready is keeping a giant secret from all party members.  Ready is ready and willing to have the Hawaii GOP sue the Oahu League of Republican Women (OLRW) in order to force these kindly elderly ladies (and some OLRW members who are dudes) to give up their real estate investment in the GOP Hawaii headquarters so that the HQ can be sold.  It doesn't end there.

 

That's right, executive committee member Boyd Ready recently approved a secret resolution to SELL the Hawaii GOP headquarters and to sue these ladies and their organization in order to force them to comply with Boyd's wishes to unload the only thing of value owned by the state party.

 

Not surprisingly, if you know Boyd Ready, here's another matter of major importance about which Ready REFUSED to solicit the input of party members statewide.  Just like dozens of other crucial party decisions, spineless RINO Ready likes to do his decision-making in secret, behind closed doors.  In fact, Boyd and his associates actually made this decision during a secret meeting held secretly in a pricey hotel room near the airport a couple of weeks ago; even though the party headquarters was available to Boyd.

 

Making matters worse, once news of this secret Executive Committee meeting got out to members of the party's State Committee — comprised of 51 district chairmen and chairwomen across the state — Ready and Jack James hid out by flying to Maui in order to avoid face-to-face scrutiny of this secret decision at a boisterous meeting of the larger group a week ago. 

 

Don't embarrass Boyd Ready!!   Following that disastrous and contentious meeting, Boyd secretly wrote to his fellow officers that he was "embarrassed and humiliated" by the seemingly endless revelations of financial improprieties, poor money management, and more.  Reportedly, Boyd Ready was red-faced at how he'd been found out for ignoring how HRP is flat broke and how Boyd merely sat there for years while money flowed out the door and down the drain.  Do-nothing Boyd simply ignores corruption and now refuses to share this information with the GOP delegates and alternates to today's convention of the Honolulu GOP because he doesn't want them to know how dirty his hands are, or how he's facilitated the rampant party corruption which stinks to high heaven.

 

Is Boyd Ready's candidacy for another two years at risk?  How turned off are Republicans by the scandal involving Ready at party headquarters?  Let's put it this way.  Bad enough for newly-elected party officers Jim Hochberg and Janet Grace (former GOP state house candidate) to immediately RESIGN from their respective GOP district chair and precinct chair positions they were just elected to days earlier.  It didn't take them long to see that the swamp in which Boyd Ready swims needs to be drained.

In fact, it's so bad that others are quitting.  Yes, several others are DEFINITELY distancing themselves from Boyd Ready in recent days.

 

Phony endorsements and fake running mates.  Boyd Ready had hoped to impress delegates on Monday with endorsements and running mates.  But these folks are dropping like flies from Team Boyd left and right.  Longtime Republican and Trump Hawaii honcho Warner "Kimo" Sutton has taken the extraordinary step of telling Ready to stop pretending that the head of the Trump Hawaii campaign has endorsed him.  Sutton is not mincing words.  He wants Boyd Ready to stop telling delegates that Sutton endorses Ready.  And Sutton wants Ready to stop pretending that some guy named Al Frenzel is the head of the Trump campaign in Hawaii.  According to Sutton, Frenzel made a handful of phone calls to the mainland for the Hawaii campaign.  But Boyd Ready is padding his resume by artificially taking Sutton's title and giving it to Frenzel.  Perhaps even worse is that Ready's announced running mate Eric Ching (state house candidate and district chair from HD31) became the first to bail from Boyd Ready's sinking ship.  Eric Ching is no longer on Ready's slate.  We suspect he won't be the last to defect.  Falsely claiming to have endorsements while seeing running mates running away is a sure sign that Boyd Ready's flimsy candidacy is in serious trouble.

RED FLAG #3 – SELF-DEALING:  READY HAS BEEN REGULARLY USING PARTY RESOURCES FOR PERSONAL GAIN RATHER THAN TO BENEFIT THE GOP

 

Regularly abusing his access to party letterhead and party membership lists AND the party's e-mail system, Boyd Ready has been improperly abusing GOP resources and the HRP logo for some time now to promote his candidacy to give the deliberately false impression that he is 'officially endorsed by the party' . . . which he is NOT.  Here's a link to just one of Ready's multiple e-mail messages to party members (from his official 'boyd@gophawaii.com' e-mail address) which falsely assert that he officially speaks for the party when he tells delegates to vote for himself and others.

This is the equivalent of Beth Fukumoto using taxpayer-funded State of Hawaii resources for the past few months to plan and promote and coordinate her partisan rebranding from GOP to Democrat.

 

That's right, Boyd is dirty.  And Boyd Ready is not beneath taking the reputations of others down with him.  Beloved perennial Republican candidate Duke Aiona has been implicated (probably unintentionally) in Ready's cheating by helping Boyd to exploit the party's e-mail system, membership lists, and Republican Party of Hawaii branding to sell Ready's limp candidacy to unsuspecting Republicans.  With Aiona's help (however unintentional), card-carrying members are being led to assume that the Hawaii GOP is officially endorsing Ready's appalling candidacy for another two years on the executive committee.  It is not known if Duke Aiona or Sam Slom or Bob McDermott have taken steps to distance himself from the severely ethically-challenged Boyd Ready who regularly uses party resources for his own benefit, rather than using those resources for the Hawaii GOP's benefit.  In fact, party resources have been used to help Boyd Ready personally more in the past few weeks than they've been used to help most GOP candidates over the past four years.

RED FLAG #4 – GOING ALONG FOR THE RIDE:  READY CARES MORE ABOUT THE TITLE THAN GETTING WORK DONE

 

By Boyd Ready's actions (and extensive inaction), it's clear that he doesn't believe that he and his fellow officers should do any actual work in accordance with their job descriptions.  Month after month, year after year, Ready looked the other way while misfeasance, malfeasance and nonfeasance were the rule on the party's executive committee.

 

Paying only lip service to the party's mission of helping Republicans to defeat Democrats, Boyd kicked back and yawned while his colleagues on the executive committee did nothing to secure victory; as the vice chair of coalitions failed to form any coalitions; the vice chair of communications failed to do any communicating with voters; the vice chair for coordinated campaigns provided neither coordination nor any campaigning; the treasurer covered up one financial scandal after another; and while county chairs regularly floundered and squandered 24 months leading up to each election.

The Bottom Line:  Boyd Ready looks the other way and pretends he has no idea where the time went.  Ready's abject failure to perform due diligence for four years is the single greatest disqualifier for receiving another two years on the Hawaii GOP's executive committee (by way of becoming Honolulu's GOP county chairman).

 

 

IN CONCLUSION . . .

HIRA has left out a lot from this newsletter.  On the cutting room floor are four long years of sordid details about the failed leadership of Boyd Ready and how it correlates directly to the failure of the Hawaii GOP to take on the Democrats.  You deserve to know every last detail, especially since the Hawaii GOP is now on death's door as the result of poor leadership from party officers like Boyd Ready.  But, in the interest of time, we've focused on just these four extremely glaring problems.

 

Not only does Boyd Ready not believe in using his position ethically, he doesn't believe that Republicans should get their money's worth while racking up deficit after deficit.  In the same way, Boyd "Not Me" Ready tries to avoid accountability following disastrous election campaigns.  Instead, Ready has made it a point to fail at his party posts and excels at looking the other way (even circling the wagons) as he and other failed officers take our state party deeper into the abyss.  His willingness to disenfranchise party members year after year through corrupt, secret dealing is sickening.  Boyd Ready's actual values are the last things we need to pollute our already weak county organization.

 

The difference between the candidates is clear enough.  After all that loyal card-carrying Republicans have put up with over the past few years of mismanagement of the Hawaii GOP, Boyd Ready has got to go.  His fake embrace of the same talking points as his opponents for the county chair post reveal a deeply insincere belief that Republicans could become the majority party in Hawaii.

 

Let's turn things around.  We don't need a Jimmy Carter.  We need a Ronald Reagan to pull the Hawaii GOP out of its malaise.  The ball is in the court of Oahu's official Republican delegates and alternates who show up today, this afternoon in East Honolulu. to vote for Oahu's new GOP county chairman.

 

Democrats won't keep waiting for our party to get its act together.  They'll gladly let weak leaders with hidden agenda like Boyd Ready stumble for years to come.  Let's hope that delegates do the right thing in 2017's party elections.