|
|
I genuinely feel sorry for Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke. Objectively speaking, she has been catching strays for years over a brown paper bag stuffed with $35,000 that she didn’t even take. Here’s a novel idea: perhaps the Feds could finally just name and charge the actual "influential lawmaker" they’ve been vaguely referencing in their filings, so this lingering cloud of impropriety can finally be lifted. |
|
While the mainstream media is running wild with salacious headlines—chasing clicks and advertising cash—they have conveniently glossed over several courtroom bombshells from last Friday’s indictments. The first critical detail buried as a footnote rather than a front-page headline occurred when Supervising Deputy Attorney General David Van Acker addressed his bail requests before presiding Grand Jury Judge Ronald Johnson. Judge Johnson specifically asked Van Acker to rank the co-defendants from most culpable to least culpable before making bail arguments. |
|
The prosecution’s answer was telling, and it completely upends the media's narrative. |
1. The Real Target: Tobi Solidum |
|
According to the prosecution in open court, the most culpable figure in this entire scheme—the one everyone should actually be focusing on—is Tobi Solidum. |
|
A good-faith interpretation would say that Mr. Solidum is perfectly entitled to liquidate his Hawaiʻi property holdings, sell his assets, and relocate to the Philippines at his own discretion. People choose to retire or start fresh abroad for any number of legitimate reasons. |
|
However, the cynic in me can’t help but connect the dots. Facing mounting legal liability, Solidum did what many high-profile figures facing the heat do: he liquidated his assets and left the jurisdiction before the indictments dropped. |
|
Years later, instead of a slam dunk indictment, what we got was a transcript of a Morton’s Steakhouse dinner between Sylvia Luke, Tobi Solidum, his stepdaughter Kristen Pae, and former representative Ty Cullen, who was secretly wearing a wire for the FBI and recording the entire thing. |
|
During the dinner, Pae slid an envelope containing $10,000 in legal campaign checks addressed to “Friends of SylviaLuke,” across the table, while Solidum promised to bundle up to $70,000 to back Luke's run for Lieutenant Governor. In exchange, Solidum asked Luke to use her authority as House Finance Chair to force the Department of Health to release emergency funding to keep his COVID-19 community testing sites operational. And what was Luke's big, corrupt, "smoking gun" response to this bribe offer? |
"I'll follow up." |
|
2. Why "I'll Follow Up" Means NO |
The prosecution’s own filing reinforces why Sylvia Luke is likely innocent of bribery allegations. |
When a scheme was floated to secure funding for COVID testing centers in exchange for financial support, Luke did not accept campaign checks in one hand while promising legislative votes in the other. |
The closest thing prosecutors have to a "smoking gun" is her statement: "I'll follow up." |
As a bachelor in my 40s who has done his fair share of dating, let me translate that for you: "I'll follow up" means NO. |
|
- If I ask a woman I met in Waikiki for her number and she says, "I'll follow up with you"—she is not interested.
|
|
- If I invite a group out to the Kāneʻohe Sandbar on my boat and get an "I'll follow up" response—no girl is stepping foot on that boat.
- If I offer a first-class ticket to the Maldives at a 5-star resort and she says, "I'll get back to you"—I'm traveling solo.
|
|
In real life, and especially in political dynamics, "I'll follow up" is a polite, non-committal brush-off. In court, bribery requires a clear, explicit quid pro quo—an agreement to deliver an official act in exchange for a benefit. A non-committal brush-off is the exact opposite of a criminal agreement. |
Closing Thoughts: A Surprisingly Quiet Presser |
Finally, I found the Attorney General’s post-indictment news conference remarkably unimpressive. Typically, when prosecutors land a major public corruption indictment after a six-month investigation, they bring heat to the podium. Instead, the office thanked each other for their time spent on this investigation and emphasized that the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. |
|
Whether the AG’s office is playing 4D chess or holding their cards close to the chest remains to be seen. But as an opportunist myself—someone who will actively jump in front of any media camera available during a high-profile case—if you put a microphone in front of me after a major bust, I'm coming with fire, not legal disclaimers. |
|
Sylvia Luke deserves her day in court, but when you strip away the headline noise and look at the actual legal threshold, the State's own words prove she sits at the very bottom of culpability in this case. |
The facts speak for themselves. If Sylvia Luke were actually the "influential representative" who accepted $35,000 in a brown paper bag, federal prosecutors would have indicted her years ago. Instead, she has consistently taken the high road: voluntarily stepping down without pay from her elected position and even self-surrendering for this state indictment so early that law enforcement didn't even have the warrant printed yet when she arrived. When you stack up her immediate cooperation, her voluntary leave, and the glaring absence of federal charges, those concrete actions easily crush the groundless speculation that she accepted a bribe to fast track funding for covid testing centers; I’m sure this will come out in court, so I’m calling my shot here! |
Be skeptical of the mainstream media folks! |
-Jail Mail Nick |
