Congressman has spent only three days on the job this year
Lt Col Kai Kahele (HI ANG)
The photo is of Lieutenant Colonel Kai Kahele, a pilot in the Hawaii Air National Guard. By day he’s a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines. He also was elected last cycle to the US House of Representatives, having been in state politics just prior. This year, he’s been on the job in D.C. a total of three days. The rest of the time, he’s apparently still working for Hawaiian Airlines and voting by proxy (allowed for by Pelosi’s rules).
According to Wikipedia,
Kahele voted in favor of impeaching Trump for a second time following the January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol. In his first floor speech in Congress, he spoke in favor of impeaching Trump, claiming Trump had violated his oath of office by inciting a “deadly insurrection”. He also said, “our sacred oaths are hollow without accountability”.
A congressman who ran on a promise of giving constituents full-time representation has been absent from the Capitol for most of this year, according to a new report.
Rep. Kai Kahele, D-Hawaii, has rarely shown up for work in Washington D.C. this year, only casting five votes in person over the course of three days in January, according to an analysis from the Honolulu Civil Beat.
The rest of his 120 votes were cast by proxy, which means a colleague voted on his behalf while he stayed back in Hawaii.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has permitted proxy voting since the start of the pandemic, whereas in-person voting is still required in the Senate.
Kahele, a combat veteran, apparently never gave up his job as a Hawaiian Airlines pilot where, according to the Civil Beat, he earned $120,000 in 2020, the year he was elected to Congress. His salary as a member of congress is $174,000.
His failure to show up for work in Congress has coincided with Kahele reportedly mulling a run for governor in 2022, though he has not made any formal announcement.
Neither Kahele nor his spokesperson responded to Fox News’ requests for comments on Tuesday.
His absence from Washington is a sharp turn for Kahele who entered Congress in 2021 with stated intentions of moving his wife and three daughters to D.C. to avoid the grueling 13-hour commute every week from his hometown of Hilo.
During an interview with Fox News during freshman orientation in late 2020, Kahele said he envisioned hosting barbecues, going to church and playing baseball with fellow lawmakers in the hope that friendships can give way to bipartisanship.
“I’ve always had the ability to bring people together,” Kahele said of his intentions of building relationships in D.C.
The freshman lawmaker succeeded Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, in Congress. He was a state senator when he announced he’d primary challenge the popular Gabbard just after she announced her 2020 presidential run. Kahele said the people of Hawaii needed full-time representation.
Kahele has voted by proxy more than most of his House colleagues this year, according to the Civil Beat, being absent for all but five votes. The most absent members of Congress were Democratic Reps. Albio Sires of New Jersey, Lucille Roybal-Allard of California and Al Lawson of Florida, who have missed every vote in the House in 2022.
Kahele made history in 2020 as just the second Native Hawaiian elected to Congress to represent the Aloha State since it became the 50th state in 1959. He’s a former state senator and military pilot combat veteran. He’s a progressive who supports the Green New Deal and “Medicare-for-all.”
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Air Force, Air National Guard, Veterans in politics
What a surprise, a democrat who thinks the world should be unicorn farts and rainbows, works a second job rather than coming to work, and pretends he is “progressive”.
That he is also a pilot is just hysterical
Book him, Danno! Business class.
Thats some nice double/triple dipping the income.
Makes the Dims proud.
Maybe a GOP Speaker of the House could remedy this problem.
He’s a “Free shit for everyone…” D-rat pol who does the opposite of what he promised as far as being present on the job.
Hypocrisy, a cornerstone of being a D-rat.
Another discrace to the NDSM wearers like yours truly. I am very disappointed.
The Brotherhood has survived greater tribulations than this.
MOI AUSSI (h/t to jeff LPH 3 63-66) X2?😁🤔🖕🖕
Best line I heard so far, “It’s not that corruption is in the System, it’s that the System is now corruption.”
Top, bottom and side to side, sounds familiar.
Well just think about it. Who better than a socialist democrat would know about corruption? They aren’t just good at it, they make it look easy.
Shorely gots him a strongly latched, double lip lock on that sugar teat. Pert near 60K$ a day. Not bad work if you can get it. I thought only artists or gas company officials made that kind of money. I gots to go!
PHUQUE HEEM!
At $60 grand a vote, the Dems probably think he’s a bargain. SanFranNan probably costs a million. Cash, smaller used bills.
Oughtabe a law: run for a national office, you ONLY serve in that office, no side jobs. And if you choose to run for another office (Senate, President etc.) you RESIGN your present office so someone full time can serve. This Obama-style ‘get elected so I can immediately absent myself to run for something else’ system needs to go away.
The NG and Army Reserve can pull this shit.
AD cannot.
His ancestors would set out on nothing more than rafts held together with reeds and luck, navigating the stars with directions given by oral tradition, maps made out of shells and sticks….
And this asshole with GPS and an aluminum bird can’t seem to find Washington DC…?
The fine people of Hawaii deserve someone that will place comfort second to representing their interest.
(lowkey, I wouldn’t wanna leave Hilo either, except for the frogs it’s perfect)
r4KTqce-9Z0
While what he’s doing is obviously wrong and I’m dead set against it, is he violating any law or reg? Just because it’s wrong doesn’t make illegal.
Wouldn’t matter if it was illegal or not. Nothing would be done about it.
It’s always cool when Democrats do it or something…
That’s what Pelosi said about her insider trading. 😀
Thank God, now if we can just shut down his proxy votes this will be a win.
So 2 guys are walking down the street discussing how one should pronounce Hawaii, and one says it’s prounced Hawaii and the other says it’s pronouced HaVaii so the 2 guys ask a stranger walking towards them on how to pronounce Hawaii and the man says HaVaii so one of the guys says thankyou and the stranger says your Velcome.
Can he be cloned? I might prefer a Congress that was only in session 3 days a year.
So, which is the part time gig and how do I get in on it.
If the average Congressional pay is 170ish, how much more does being a pilot pay.
For 170ish, I would even give you a half day Saturday. Mornings only as I need time to spend all y`alls money.
What’s even more funny Hawaii is because it’s so deep blue, the candidates don’t even put their party affiliation on their campaign signs or mailers. I have yet to see one that says republican or independent.
And this story has a total media blackout here. There is no mention of his lack of representation at all.
I think the last republican out there was Frank Fasi. He was a Marine officer who ended up being the mayor of Honoruru for decades, and he set up their public transportation system out of his own money when they couldn’t figure out how to do it, and made them pay him back.
I’m sure when he’s up for reelection one of his opponents will ride his attendance in their smear ads of him
As well they should.
To be fair, Hawaiian Airlines doesn’t have a lot of routes that can get him to DC.
Perhaps he should pick one job and do that.