Hawaii RINO Party Leaders Cave to High-Tax Special Session Proposals

If word leaked out in Washington, D.C. that top party officials at the Republican National Committee had secretly decided to sit back and let Democrats push through a tax increase without any opposition — and did so because one single GOP candidate with zero chance of winning actively supports higher taxes— heads would roll.  Even more heads might roll if it leaked out that these same party officials wanted to deliberately attract and recruit and support even more tax-hiking candidates to run as 'Republicans'.  Gosh, that would be the end of the GOP.

 

Well, HIRA is sorry to report that this is exactly what is happening right now under the Ostrov/Saiki/Hellreich administration of our increasingly corrupt Hawaii Republican Party.  Details below.

 

First, as you know by now, local Democrats yesterday announced that the state legislature WILL be convening this summer for a 'special session' to increase taxes to fund the Democrat Rail Cartel's out-of-control construction scheme.  Yesterday's news came as no surprise since Democrats and their greedy allies have been publicizing their desperation for billions in additional funds for since last year's election campaign.  At the same time, however, overburdened taxpayers who are sick of watching cost overruns multiply have repeatedly indicated that they've already given more than enough to this makework project designed to enrich well-connected Democrat special interest groups.

 

Despite this golden opportunity for the Hawaii GOP to attract members, donors, candidates and voters to a political party traditionally founded in opposition to high taxes and wasteful spending, state chair Shirlene Ostrov and her running mate — the state GOP's new vice chair Pat Saiki — have deliberately held the party back from fighting Democrats for more than a month since their election and immediate taking of office at the Kauai state convention.

  

That means we've had no organized protests.  No rallies.  No signwaving.  No canvassing.  No phone banking.  No commercials.  No social media campaigns.  No organized letter-writing.  No media appearances. No voter identification.  No voter registration.  No recruitment efforts.  No petitions.  NO NOTHING AT ALL.  As a result, local voters continue to think that Republicans don't give a hoot one way or the other about billions in higher taxes and wasteful spending.

 

Yes, 'continue' to think.  Before Ostrov, the past two years before that were similarly squandered by Fritz Rohlfing, the choice of Pat Saiki and longtime Hawaii GOP committeewoman MIriam Hellreich to run the Hawaii GOP from 2015 to 2017.  Neither Rohlfing, Hellreich, nor Saiki (all members of the party's executive committee) ever used their leadership positions to lead the battle against Democrats or even make a compelling case to the public that further tax increases and spending on the rail project was unacceptable.  The statewide party organization just sat there, motionless and gathering dust for 24 months while disillusioned voters remained non-voters.  Nothing has changed since then.

 

Officially, though, Republicans have gone on record among themselves at the state conventions of the Hawaii GOP.  In fact, buried deep inside the state party's website are the explicit and official sentiments of card-carrying Republicans in Hawaii in opposition to tax increases and to the rail project.

 

To this end, you need to truly understand that it's the legal obligation of party leaders to lead the party to advance these positions (and strong positions on other issues) in order to affect public policy.  Section 201 of the party rules explicitly calls upon party officers to "Develop and promote the Hawaii Republican Party's philosophy, policies and platform" and to "Advance the purpose of the Party as set forth in these Rules and the State Rules."  Not sit around silently.  Not to be neutral and detached.  Not to let kick back and let bad policies get implemented.  But to push GOP reforms and solutions.  In short, to fight.

 

However, for decades now, RINO's, liberals and closet Democrats have controlled the Hawaii GOP; refusing to follow these rules, refusing to take the fight to Democrats, and actually being cheerleaders for Democrat positions.  In fact, rumors have been flying for a long time that even though the party's membership has clearly expressed itself as being against rail and against tax increases, RINO party leaders feel otherwise and abuse their positions by refusing to let the party take any action in furtherance of these official policy positions.

 

These are no longer just rumors.

 

So how exactly is the decision being made to deliberately keep this statewide organization on the sidelines, and who is making this long-standing decision to do absolutely nothing?

 

Yesterday, I promised that HIRA would let you know THE ANSWERS to both of these burning questions.  And the answers come from brand new internal party e-mail messages sent less than one week ago; e-mails which confirm pretty much everything that critics of our struggling party (like HIRA) have said and believed for years:  —> Committed liberals have hijacked the Hawaii GOP – even under so-called 'new' leadership. <--- b="">

 

Long story short:  It turns out that top leaders at the Hawaii Republican Party (HRP) have been deliberately gagging Republicans with the effect of allowing the special session to proceed and even succeed in hiking taxes.  In fact, in light of tax hike supporter Bob McDermott openly joining with Democrats in demanding a special session so he can vote for billions in tax increases for the rail project, Shirlene Ostrov's heavy-handed and powerful lieutenants, Miriam Hellreich and Pat Saiki want McDermott and his tax-n-spend agenda to be successful in hopes of encouraging other pro-tax candidates to run as Republicans in 2018.  Hellreich and Saiki want the GOP to rally around McDermott's embrace of higher taxes; not to advance the official position taken by card-carrying Republicans in opposition to what Democrats (and McDermott) want.

 

*** Here's exactly how it played out over the past few days. ***

 

After years of silence and inaction on the issues of rail and taxes, newly-elected Honolulu county GOP chairman Brett Kulbis sent a "Call to Action" e-mail newsletter to Republican party members earlier this month, in which Kulbis urged Republicans to contact the governor and their district's legislators in hopes of discouraging the calling of a 'special session' to increase taxes for money to waste on the rail project.  Kulbis correctly wrote:  "As the party of fiscal responsibility and less taxes, we cannot just continue to allow Democrats to throw hard earned taxpayer dollars at HART."

 

But that's when the sparks flew.

 

Shirlene Ostrov's heavy-handed and powerful lieutenants, HRP veterans Miriam Hellreich and Pat Saiki, demanded that Kulbis never again speak out against the special session, against tax increases, or against the rail project because hopeless 2018 gubernatorial candidate Bob McDermott supports all three of those things.  Further, Hellreich and Saiki demanded that Kulbis and the rest of the party leadership to ignore party rules, ignore party members, ignore the job descriptions of party officers, ignore officially adopted resolutions, and ignore the GOP's mission of cutting overtaxation and cutting the high cost of living in Hawaii.

 

READ THEIR FULL E-MAILS HERE

 

These two crazy liberals (who hold most of the power at the Hawaii GOP) went on to argue that the Hawaii GOP is no longer allowed to promote the policy desires of card-carrying Republicansbecause Bob McDermott's decision to take liberal positions on so many issues make those very issue completely off limits to public statements by party leaders.  This means that because McDermott supports issuing driver's licenses to 40,000 illegal aliens in Hawaii, the GOP cannot oppose such amnesty measures.  It also means that because McDermott supports Al Gore's global warming policies, the GOP cannot oppose the Paris treaty which Trump just tore up.  It further means that because McDermott supports having state government provide a new taxpayer-funded guarantee of 'universal basic income' to all Hawaii residents, whether working or not, the GOP cannot oppose socialism.  And it means that because McDermott claimed in 2017 that Beth Fukumoto is the "best choice" to lead Republicans in Hawaii, the GOP has no right to disagree with him.

 

As direct evidence and irrefutable proof of how liberals destroy the GOP from the inside and help Democrat policies to maintain their stranglehold of Hawaii, these harsh responses to Kulbis from Ostrov's RINO thugs Saiki and Hellreich to his offending 'call to action' against the special session were shared far and wide within the party leadership structure in order to lay down their liberal gauntlet and let their declared policies of silence be known.

 

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As the clearest possible sign that Saiki and Hellreich are speaking for new chair Shirlene Ostrov, the new state chair has allowed these insane policy declarations of her vice chair and committeewoman remain in force for a full week.  As a result, the official policy positions and aspirations of Hawaii's card-carrying Republicans can no longer be communicated with the public, by the Oahu county chair or by anyone else.  Democrats posing as Republicans like Bob McDermott must be allowed to take liberal positions without fear of being contradicted by the Hawaii GOP.

 

But the insanity doesn't end there.

 

On top of this, Ostrov sent her henchmen last week to a meeting of the Honolulu County Republican Party to ensure that Republicans would never again speak out against taxes or rail or the special session.

 

HIRA has learned that Shirlene Ostrov's campaign surrogate and HRP finance committee chairman Mark Blackburn partnered several days ago with notorious Hellreich puppet Boyd Ready to shut down all communications of the Oahu GOP to prevent anti-Democrat messaging.  At that meeting, Blackburn (speaking explicitly for Ostrov) and Ready orchestrated a series of votes which resulted in the Oahu county GOP's website (www.OahuGOP.com) being ordered offline.  In addition, there is now a newly-enacted prohibition on any issues 'messaging' by the Oahu county GOP.  [Large donations to the Hawaii GOP from pro-rail developer and major Democrat megadonor Stanford Carr are reportedly connected to these decisions.]

 

To anybody who held out hope that Shirlene Ostrov would be a breath of fresh air (and you know who you are), HIRA is sorry to report that Ostrov and her team have just succeeded in allowing Democrats (and RINO's) get their tax increase without any opposition from the Hawaii GOP.  This is how liberals maintain order at the Hawaii GOP.  If you get out of line by merely doing what Republicans clearly ought to be doing, Shirlene Ostrov will let Miriam and Pat rip you a new one and then have Ostrov's goons shut you down completely.  No wonder state and local Democrats

 

*** THIS IS THE END ***

 

Ostrov's gang just demonstrated conclusively that they are a bunch of worthless liberals.  It's June 2017 and the Hawaii GOP is still controlled by progressives.  Ostrov's goons Saiki, Hellreich, Blackburn and Ready have laid down the ultimate gauntlet to kill off Republican values and policies while steering the State GOP even further to the left.  This is EXACTLY how and why your party doesn't fight.  Instead of organizing a march on the State Capitol and mobilizing Republicans along with a state full of potential Republicans waiting to be recruited to our cause, Ostrov's gang is deliberatly gagging the party.

 

This situation demands that heads must roll at the Hawaii GOP and that no Republican should contribute a penny to this corrupt organization until the swamp has been drained.

 

Thanks to Shirlene Ostrov, her running mate and vice chair Pat Saiki is now in charge of the entire statewide coordinated campaign for Republicans in 2018.  There is NO WAY this liberal can be allowed to continue in that position or we are doomed.  Team Ostrov is directly aiding and abetting Democrats and RINO's with ZERO realistic hope of political benefit (Governor Bob McDermott?  REALLY?!?) from selling out the values and policies of card-carrying Republicans.

As if to prove how little has changed since she replaced Fritz Rohlfing, Ostrov reappointed two of Rohlfing's RINO thugs for another two years to be chairmen of the GOP's rules committee (Andrew Walden) and platform committee (Boyd Ready).

 

Yes, the Hawaii GOP's path to compete irrelevance in the Aloha State has been paved with progressive ideology.  Liberals Hellreich and Saiki have turned our party into a joke with the help of puppet party officers like Ostrov and Rohlfing before her.

 

HORROR:  Finding out that our party leaders REFUSE to organize (or even express) opposition to the special session, REFUSE to oppose the tax increases, and REFUSE to oppose the wasteful spending would be a lot like finding out that our civil defense officials knew a tsunami was coming, but did nothing to warn or help anyone.  Ostrov's team has insidiously ordered an official 'stand down' which suppresses the GOP at a time when we should be fighting like crazy.

 

 

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If you are as shocked as HIRA about Ostrov's continued destruction of the Hawaii GOP, then you'll understand why a boycott is in order until the last liberal has been removed from party leadership.

 

If Ostrov does not remove Hellreich, Saiki, Blackburn and Ready from party office, then all Republicans are urged to refrain from donating any money — not a single penny — to the Hawaii GOP.

 

 

If Ostrov and her gang are determined to sell out Republicans and pursue liberal policies, then it's time to donate directly to candidates instead.  Now that Democrat sympathizers control the Republican Party of Hawaii, let the faux GOP starve until actual Republicans are in charge actively and visibly pursuing actual Republican policies and reforms.

 

 

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HIRA is very sorry about having to deliver this bad news, fellow Republicans.  But you deserve to know why we're not winning or even fighting.  Democrats are not winning in Hawaii because they're better.  Republicans are losing because our party leaders are closet Democrats who want to keep our party on the sidelines, silent and neutral.  That's the cold, hard reality.

 

Shirlene Ostrov's liberal gang of 'party killers' needs to go if you want anything to change.  And things MUST change!