Pay no attention to the mayor behind the curtain! Honolulu wants a better police chief. The mayor wants to be the Wizard. And the only one pulling back the curtain is a tiny dog with a Civil Beat pin.

A wannabe Caesar, a dangling auditor, two hungry lions, and a wheelbarrow full of no-bid cash. Virgil would weep.

Rep. Kyle Yamashita is out as State House Finance Committee chair. Like Napoleon before him, will he make a comeback from his political exile and storm his way back into power?

The 2025 Hawaiʻi legislative session ended with an ignominious whimper when it comes to good government reform, or “sunshine,” bills—the last of which died in conference committee the week before this cartoon ran.

A proposed package of pay raises for public servants would be a lot more palatable to voters if lawmakers hadn’t nixed a bill to make the legislature year round and ban side jobs.