With govs. Ige and Waihee as well dozens of state legislators in the audience, newly elected Chairman Tim Vandeveer, greeted them by stating "We're perceived ... as one of the most corrupt states in the country, our Legislature and our executive branch..."  Shocking, arrogant words for someone whose responsibility it is to unite the Party. Corruption? Yes, it exists in every state. But here's how a couple watchdog organizations ranked Hawaii:

The State Integrity Investigation Center for Public Integrity scored Hawaii a D+.  Bad grade? Yes, but only three states scored higher than D+: Alaska, California and Conneticut. Hawaii's D+ placed it fourth. And guess what?  Vermont, the home of Bernie Sanders, scored a D- (Vandeveer's  home state Texas got a D- also.)

The Center for Ethics (Harvard) gave Hawaii a 1.5 grade. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 the worse, a 1.5 puts Hawaii in the upper half category of ethical governments.