Caldwell picks insurance executive to replace Horner on HART board
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell has chosen insurance company executive Colbert Matsumoto to replace Don Horner on the board overseeing the island’s rail transit project, according to a city release.
Matsumoto, who as Bishop Estate’s court master helped lead the institution out of a tumultuous period in the late 1990s, will attend his first Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board meeting on Thursday, the city said. Matsumoto also served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Employees’ Retirement System, and he currently serves as executive chairman of Island Insurance Company — one of the top 50 property and casualty insurance companies in the nation, according to the release.
Matsumoto also serves on the board of Oahu Publications, Inc., which is the parent company of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Horner, a retired chairman of First Hawaiian Bank, resigned last week as the rail project faces continued cost overruns, schedule delays — and uncertainties over whether the city will have enough funds to finish the project.
“This is a challenging time for HART but I look forward to working with the other directors to restore public confidence in the project,” Matsumoto said in a statement. “HART’s role in shaping Honolulu’s future needs to be responsibly undertaken with transparency and accountability by all involved. I hope to contribute to achieving that outcome.”
Caldwell also announced Wednesday that he’ll reappoint former Hawaii Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa to the board. Hanabusa had stepped in at Caldwell’s request to fill in the remainder of former board member Carrie Okinaga’s term, which expires June 30.
Horner had resigned as HART’s board chair. Damien Kim, the vice-chair, will fill-in as interim chair until the board selects a permanent chair.
53 responses to “Caldwell picks insurance executive to replace Horner on HART board”
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That’s just great.
This $24.7 Billion Dollar TITANIC RAIL SCAM is an insatiable MONSTER that will eventually bankrupt the C&C and every taxpayer in it!!!
Fire Ernie, he’s delaying rail.
Nightmare on Elmstreet #2. WAIT, LISTEN, ANALIZE, EVELUATE AND STOP THE DARN THING IN ITS TRACKS. the Mayor has to go and he has to take Ernie with him. We need a new voice for MAYOR. If you have the ability and can handle the Union pressure WE NEED YOU. WAKE UP HONOLULU WE NEED YOU NOW!!!!!!!. the RAIL IS A NIGHTMARE AND GETTING WORSE EVERY DAY. FIRE CALDWELL, PINE, ELEPHANTE, ANDERSON & OF COURSE MARTIN. Lets hire Tom Berg to straighten this mess out & help prosecute those who have accepted unlawful bribes.
and the shuffle begins. Everything is alright. Nothing to see here. Move along. Was there any doubt they would replace this guy in a heartbeat? Developers aren’t going to let this mess screw up their payday. Nextera was a huge problem for a while since they lost favor but people can be replaced. The money train moves on.
Soon enough, when all the mismanagement and dirt is exposed to him and the politicians stab him in the back, he’ll regret taking on this thankless task.
We need a guy like Pandourus. Not no insurance geek, lawyer, and I don’t know what the other guy does.
Somebody that knows Contracts, specifications, and a lot more than these people know. And put the Rail at ground level.
Pandorus us not a construction expert.
NanakuliBoss=(DUH) oh I mean (DUH)
A shame, the reality of Brain mass loss. He does not see the Graff in front of his face.
The RAIL Is on its way to 10+ Billion & the worst ridership numbers to date as nobody wants
to ride it to anywhere USA much less Ala Moana Center. Almost Kapolei is a Joke as well
because the majority will not ever use it but pay they will!!!!!!
Check out Panos’s reviews on Grade Your Professors at UH. Extremely unflattering portrait of his “teaching” if you can call it that. He’s a Libertarian ideologue and traffic planner (it’s all about cars), not a civil engineer.
Check out Matsumoto. He;s a magician and he’s gonna perform some magic. Puff!!! don’t worry, be happy, Matsumoto is the guy to do it.
Great choice. This pick is a first round. Doesn’t matter though, the NO gang will still cry all the way to the wheelhouse.
Not true. If there is an actual plan to control costs and he can be transparent about the issues, that will be an improvement. As a taxpayer, it’s pretty hard to watch someone in charge of the biggest and most expensive project in Hawaii’s history answer “I don;t know” when asked very specific and straightforward questions about the project.
If HART and Mufi/Caldwell were transparent, Rail would have been dead a long time ago.
SA Marcel Honoré – Is this replacement, Colbert Matsumoto, going to be compensated for his services on the board?
Colleen Hanabusa , compensated ? Volunteer ?
All HART board members are volunteers — aloha!
Nice before picture! No grey hair. No knitted brow … probably even has good blood pressure … now! Good luck in the fall guy position. We would not want our elected bureaucrats to have to take the blame for this huge fiasco …. Thank you Mufie … who else will be tainted??
A lawyer? I guess he can hack the nasty politics of Ernie. Fire Ernie.
WOW! THE NEFARIOUS NO LONGER HAVE ANY FEAR..; IT’S JUST BLATANT–SLAM, BAM–RIGHT IN YOUR FACE…
Maybe we should just surrender, and accept that we are once again–feudal slaves of the oligarchy(?)…
“..Bishop Estate’s court master..”(?) Maybe they meant to print “COURT JESTER”?
BISHOP ESTATE aka “THE EVIL EMPIRE”…
Let’s name all the DOWNTOWN LAW FIRMS behind this one: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (fill in the blanks (you already know who they are))
“Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It’s easy to see without looking too far that not much is really sacred”
“And if my thought dreams could be seen
They’d probably put my head in a guillotine
But it’s alright, Ma, it’s life, and life only”
Is that the best Caldwell can do? Bring back Horner.
Caldwell also contacted Ron Rewald at his Beverly Hills “Talent Agency” to find another possible replacement. And, it’s also possible that Caldwell will appoint Billy Kenoi too… It’s just a matter of time…
The rail project has been a challenge from the outset. Now as it has proceeded it has been an absolute mess. Even if it is completed, my opinion is that the actual use will be not enough to make any appreciable dent in reducing traffic. One key issue is how efficient and accessible will be the park & ride locations. Even more of a concern will be the ongoing maintenance and repair costs. The inefficient cost versus benefit of this looming “white elephant” will be on all of our backs.
On another note, what is sickening is Caldwell and Ernie Martin treating the rail issue like a “political football” instead of focusing on fixing the problem. Councilman Martin should go back to school and learn how to speak English properly.
Was’sa mad’dah fo’oooh?
Bigwill, there is no park and ride. The rail stations will not have parking except for Ala Moana.
The city projects that people will walk or bike to the rail stations. And this is in Hawaii where people drive around parking lots for 20 minutes trying to find a stall a few feet closer to the store.
Wow, I thought there were going to have these centralized parking facilities. Just upgraded my negative assessment of the rail’s effectiveness; that is if this “albatross” ever gets built. What a bunch of poor planners. Also bet that they do not plan to move utility infrastructure such as wiring, conduits and junctions way in advance so that the column and sections can be banged out efficiently. They probably wait right up until the scheduled construction and then scramble, finding out that electric, gas and water lines are not where they are supposed to be.
Not to take Ernie’s side but that’s how locals talk. We understand. .
pigeon to pigeon or I_D%I *O T To I$D*I)*T I T F U.
As always with our politicians, the best person for the job is the best man for the job. This has gotten so old.
And don’t you love it when CADwell says he’s unhappy with the escalating costs but will not shorten rail.
We need to shorten Mr. Caldwell’s time in office and request that he resign in SHAME. Here we ask him to go & take Ernie with him to a LGBT bar for a rubdown. Billy from the Big Island says its Groovy & I can teach the Kids to steal from our taxpayers too. Its free money if you structure it right. I DON’T THINK SOOOOOOOOOOOOO We need to prosecute those who have thrown us under the Train. LETS TAKE IT TO A GOOD ATTORNEY AND GET THE THIEVES AND LIARS.
Good luck Colbert – you’re gonna need it. I don’t believe that restoring public confidence in this project is possible. Continued cost overruns, more delays and uncertainties is a certainty,
Wouldn’t it make a LOT more sense to replace poor Horner with a REAL Project Manager? Someone who has at least some clue on what needs to be done on a multi-billion-dollar project to meet budget & time constraints? Someone who would recognize that little details like making sure there is clearance on power & light poles? There’s certainly no sign that they have anyone like that on the HART board…or any of their contractors!!
Im telling you folks….its another insider pick….lots of connection….but ill bet my behind that hes gonna fail too.
More political moves that will hurt the public. How about getting someone who has knowledge in building a rail system. This state has No Guture with Kirk and Ige in power !
Let’s extend the rail to UH Manoa! Let’s build a rail spur into Waikiki! Let’s build a rail spur to Mililani! Let’s extend the rail to Ko Olina!
irt: Shellback, don’t forget a spur to Mars & Uranus (Duh)
Let’s put a spur up shellback’s butt…lol.
At this point and time, it doesn’t really matter who is appointed to head HART. It could have been Uku, Wiliki, NanakuliBoss. The escalating cost will not stop just because a new person will be heading the Board members of HART. The contractors has the upper hand as to what the bids will end up costing the city. They’ve got the city where they want them, to accept the bids or more delays and more added cost or the project will belly up. The cost will still continue to escalate and the completion date extended. It will end up costing the city $10 billion and completed in the 2020’s.
The start date is already 2021 and I predict a finaly tally of between 12 and 16 billion.
Matsumoto will definitely do a better job than Horner. Give him a chance to get the rail back on track cause no matter what, the rail is a reality.
How long will the honeymoon last?
Usually someone who has the qualifications to run the biggest project this state has encountered is appointed by a panel. Not this Mayor. All Sieg Heil to Mayor Cardwel.
Best of wishes, Colbert.
The news story conveniently LEFT OUT that Colbert Matsumoto is a MAJOR DONOR to Caldwell’s campaigns . . . as well as to other major pro-rail politicians and PAC’s.
SA not going to report that because Matsumoto sits on their board.
Great choice, Kirk.
great selection. now this paves the way for colleen to be the chairman. this will make things go.
Wow clueless in paradise
Good that rail is back on track.
hahahahahaha back on a RAIL to embarrass the island of Oahu. The Mayor needs to go and he should be
Tarred & feathered and if that to hard then at least doused in horse pee and covered in feathers
While being dragged down Kalakawai and Kapahttp://www.purewow.com/food/how-to-ripen-an-avocadohulu ave.
Brown cow theater
Were the hell did that come from. OOOOH da RAIL SUCKS & ITS A BOONDOGGLE OF EPIC PURPORTIONS. Just sayin…..
“Matsumoto also serves on the board of Oahu Publications, Inc., which is the parent company of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.” I guess now, the only news in the paper about rail, will be good news. Next appointment will be someone from the boardroom of the television media.