HEE's GUILTY and Democrats got a lot of money for helping him. This is a few things about it from the best article I can find for somebody who doesn't know whats going on.


"Hee, 61, was convicted July 13 in federal court in Honolulu of six counts of filing false income tax returns and one count that he corruptly impeded the IRS from correctly calculating and collecting his taxes, offenses that could carry prison terms of up to three years on each count.


Carey's audit of Waimana and a parallel IRS audit of a Waimana subsidiary called Sandwich Isles Communications Inc. eventually ballooned into a criminal prosecution that led to Hee's conviction last summer on seven federal tax charges.


The IRS investigation also exposed some eye-popping spending in a politically connected corner of Hawaii's business community that benefited from hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies and contributed generously to the campaigns and causes of many of the state's leading politicians.


The state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in 1996 issued an exclusive license to Waimana to provide telecommunications service on Hawaiian homelands, and that license was later transferred in part to Sandwich Isles. The license was critically important because it enabled the companies to tap into rich veins of federal subsidies.


Sandwich Isles went on to borrow $165 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service to construct a telephone and data network to serve Hawaiian homelands, and obtained commitments from USDA for hundreds of millions of dollars in additional loans, according to data provided by Sandwich Isles.


Federal records show Sandwich Isles has also received $242 million in federal Universal Service Fund subsidies since 2003 to further support the construction and operations of its telephone and data network, which now serves about 3,600 homelands customers.


Despite those extraordinary federal contributions, the Sandwich Isles network is still only 10 percent complete on Oahu, and 20 percent complete on Hawaii island, according to data provided by Sandwich Isles last week. The system is 60 percent complete on Maui, and is 95 percent complete on Kauai, the company says.


Last month, Hee told members of the Hawaiian Homes Commission that Sandwich Isles never made a profit, and therefore never contributed money to fund a job training and educational program for Hawaiians as stipulated in the license agreement.


Hee and executives from his companies together made thousands of dollars in contributions over the years to many of Hawaii's leading Democratic politicians, including the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, former Gov. Neil Abercrombie, former U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, former U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, U.S. Sen Brian Schatz and former U.S. Rep. Ed Case.


Waimana executives also gave thousands of dollars to the Hawaii Democratic Party, and Hee personally made contributions to Democratic Party organizations in North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia. He donated more than $60,000 to the Obama Victory Fund in 2011 and 2012.


Hee and his family enjoyed comfortable access to Hawaii's politicians in Washington, D.C., and Hee's daughter, Adrianne, testified during the tax trial that she accompanied her father on trips to visit with the Hawaii delegation.


"On those trips we would go down to visit the FCC, to visit the senators at the time, Inouye and Akaka, in their offices. We'd also meet with different lobbyists and lawyers," she testified.


Waimana was a sponsor of the Hawaii State Society Inaugural Ball in 2009 in Washington, D.C., following President Barack Obama's election, which was an event that Inouye also supported. Wendy Hee testified she made a point of calling on the senator when she attended the event to be sure he knew Waimana was "there to help support" the celebration.


Hee told Forbes in a 2002 interview he was friendly with then-FCC Chairman Michael Powell, and FCC records show Inouye at times would contact the FCC on Hee's behalf.


Hee's political connections also cropped up during the audit. Among the items questioned by the IRS was $44,644 that Waimana paid in 2005 in connection with the Washington, D.C., funeral for former U.S. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Henry K. Giugni, who was a longtime aide to Inouye. Among other expenses, Waimana helped to pay for traffic control for the funeral procession for Giugni, according to federal court records.


Hee's tax convictions have now triggered an entirely new audit of Sandwich Isles by the Federal Communications Commission as well as a separate review of Sandwich Isles by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands."


Obama and Abercrombie were two he supported! 

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Safari Woman
Wow I didn't even realize this was going on much less the outcome! Thanks gaga! Once again cronyism within the Dem party, especially in Hawaii, is blatant. I'm so glad they caught him! Who else is out there doing similar things that no one even heard of yet? What about those green companies that wen...
  • September 28, 2015
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Carl Spencer
Democrats are all the same, meaning crooked or insane.
  • September 28, 2015
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