The Sunshine Blog: Tulsi Gabbard Explains Why She Left The Democratic Party
Short takes, outtakes, our takes and other stuff you should know about public information, government accountability and ethical leadership in Hawaii.
By The Sunshine Editorial Board
May 20, 2024 ·
The world according to Gabbard: Civil Beat first reported way back in 2018 that former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was writing a book. The Sunshine Blog is happy to share the news that our long wait is over.
“For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind” was published last month by Regnery, publisher of books by Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Dinesh D’Souza, Ann Coulter, Sebastian Gorka, Newt Gingrich, Chuck Norris, Laura Ingraham, Diamond and Silk and Ted Nugent.
It’s a good fit, as it has long been clear to The Blog where Gabbard stands ideologically. Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan provide glowing cover blurbs for her book.
(Screenshot/2024)
Gabbard, who got her political start when she was elected in 2002 at age 21 to serve in the Hawaii Legislature representing the Democratic Party of Hawaii, shifted rightward some time ago, although she now calls herself an Independent.
The cover sleeve explains that the “Democrat Party” is controlled by “an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by woke ideology and racializing everything. They are a clear and present danger to the God-given freedoms enshrined in the Constitution.”
“For Love of Country” is heavy on foreign policy and family values. She disses Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton, and she defends Donald Trump.
Hawaii is mentioned a number of times, too, but primarily in the context of her military service. She says she was the first person to tweet to the people of Hawaii that the missile alert of January 2018 was false. And she slams Rep. Ed Case for “weaponizing” the Catholic faith of her father, Mike Gabbard — then a Republican — when he unsuccessfully challenged Case, a Democrat, in 2004.
“That pissed me off,” Tulsi Gabbard writes. Months later, she snubbed Case when he visited a camp in Iraq where she was deployed, apparently seeking a photo-op with Hawaii soldiers.
Unless The Blog missed it, there is no mention of Chris Butler, who has often been described as her mentor. (There is no index.) But the book is chock-full of references to a higher power, like this one:
“Some of my earliest memories are of starting our day with morning prayers and ending it with Mom reading bedtime stories to us from the New Testament or the Bhagavad Gita, which means Song of God, the ancient Hindu scripture spoken over five thousand years ago,” Gabbard writes. “Before she tucked us in and gave us a kiss goodnight, we would say the Lord’s Prayer together. Our house was often filled with bright colors, beautiful sounds, and the fragrant aromas of Christian and Hindu celebrations.”
E is for Ethics: Cynthia Thielen wants to school her former colleagues in the Legislature on the importance of new ethics proposals designed to capture more interactions involving lobbyists, government contractors and public officials.
At its monthly meeting Wednesday, Thielen, a longtime GOP lawmaker who is now on the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, said the commission should do that through what she calls a Sesame Street Purpose Clause.
“I’m sorry, a what?” Commission Chair Wesley Fong asked.
E is also for Elmo. (Screenshot/2024)
As Thielen explains it, a Sesame Street clause goes into the preamble of a bill to explain the bill’s purpose and address questions that other legislators and members of the public may have.
“It’s a Sesame Street approach. You’re teaching other legislators what this bill is going to do,” Thielen said.
Other commissioners liked the idea, just not the name.
“I agree with commissioner Thielen, but can we not use Sesame Street?” commissioner Beverly Tobias said.
Why Sesame Street?
“That program was so wonderful in teaching,” Thielen said. “You teach with your purpose clause, then go into how you want to change the law.”
State of the art: Speaking of the ethics commission, this week it resolved ethics violation charges with Allison Wong Daniel, a former commissioner of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.
It stemmed from alleged conflicts of interests between Daniel’s duties as a member of the SFCA Commission and as chair of the Art in Public Places Standing Committee, and her outside financial interests as president of the Jean Charlot Foundation.
Daniel, according to the commission, recommended the acceptance of a Charlot mural, “Early Cultural Exchanges,” as a gift to SFCA — a violation under the State Ethics Code.
“Ms. Daniel was required to recuse herself from taking any official action affecting her nonprofit organization, but failed to do so,” according to a press release from the ethics commission Thursday.
The commission settled the matter by having Daniel pay a $1,000 administrative penalty.
A bug zapper?: Allowance reports for the Hawaii House of Representatives have been updated as of May 1.
The Blog makes it a point to show how your reps are using the $16,350 given to them annually, not including their salary, travel and per diem expenses. Plus, it sometimes makes us smile.
Some highlights:
Natalia Hussey-Burdick: printing of little fire ants fact sheet for community event, $61.15.
Linda Ichiyama: refreshments and ice for HPD Meet the Command community meeting, $41.71.
Jeanne Kapela: magnetic dry erase board, $144.72.
Darius Kila: privacy screen for representative’s laptop, $57.57.
Lisa Kitagawa: dinner for staff working late for decking deadline, $93.36.
Richard Onishi: LED replacement bulb for office bug zapper, $10.45.
Kanani Souza: lei for guest speakers for Crime Town Hall, $30.35.
As of Friday the state Senate had not updated its allowance report. The most recent filings are from January.