As Abercrombie seethes, state gets suckered again

Our Spiro-esque governor takes the nattering nabobs of negativism to task as we plant tongue in cheek and "flASHback" on the week’s news that amused and confused:

» Gov. Neil Abercrombie said we should pay no attention to critics of the controversial Public Land Development Corp., calling them "the usual suspects" who "vilify my directors" and "try to demoralize people." Funny, that’s what Gov. John A. Burns used to say about him.

» Detractors pressed their complaint that loose bidding requirements in the PLDC’s proposed rules for widespread development of state lands could result in favoritism and bloated contracts. In other words, it’s modeled after the Oahu rail project.

» Abercrombie says he wants to hear Kauai’s concerns at his first "Governor’s Cabinet in Your Community" event this week in Lihue. Garden Islanders will get to see the governor’s nifty trick of listening with his lips moving.

» The state paid $400,000 in workers’ compensation benefits to a former Kauai man who has been dead for 20 years and $80,000 more to a Big Island man who died two years ago. The rule of thumb that you can’t take it with you, like most commonsense, doesn’t apply to our state government.

» Weeks after a concert scam led to Jim Donovan’s ouster as University of Hawaii athletic director, UH finally posted a job opening for a replacement. Required qualifications include a BA degree, three years of experience and knowing the difference between Stevie Wonder and Dynomutt the Dog Wonder.

» After only two months on the job, UH-Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple is already apologizing to faculty, staff and students for failing to communicate. He must be the first academic administrator to issue a mea culpa before getting his permanent parking pass.

» Warning of future revenue shortfalls, a consultant to the Tax Review Commission recommended raising the state’s general excise tax, pension tax and corporate tax, among others. We’re running out of money to pay concert scammers and dead workers’ comp recipients.

» After losing his bid for re-election in last month’s primary, Mayor Peter Carlisle is back to collecting frequent-flier miles with a junket to China and Washington, D.C. His will to keep flying in the face of adversity is an inspiration to lame ducks everywhere.

» The union for National Weather Service employees endorsed U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono over former Gov. Linda Lingle in Hawaii’s U.S. Senate race. We’ll see if it can forecast political winds any better than Kona winds.

And the quote of the week … from state Rep. Karl Rhoads on news of the state paying workers’ comp benefits to dead people: "I don’t know why we don’t know why we don’t check." That could work as either a blues chorus or our state motto.

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Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.