Prison break: A very brief federal court order issued this week reduces the 40-month prison sentence given to former Maui Sen. J. Kalani English to 32 months. That document was quickly followed in the court docket by one titled “Statement of Reasons as to Jamie Kalani English” that is strangely off limits to public review, marked as “Restricted.”

English has been sitting in a federal prison since August 2022 — about 17 months — so The Blog has to wonder why are the feds now cutting his sentence. Could it be the U.S. Attorney’s Office is inching closer to more takedowns in the sad saga of Hawaii lawmakers and other politicos that seem to have no qualms buying or selling votes for cash?

English and former state Rep. Ty Cullen were caught up in a bribery scheme that came to light in 2021 after a years-long investigation by the FBI. Turns out the legislators had for years been taking money — like cash stuffed in envelopes and handed over in the men’s bathroom (The Blog is not making this up) — and other bribes including meals, Las Vegas hotel rooms and even thousands of dollars in gambling chips from Honolulu businessman Milton Choy who was seeking favorable action on legislation dealing with wastewater, sewers and cesspools.

Unfortunately for English and Cullen, Choy had been busted by the feds years before and was all wired up for many of his dealings with the lawmakers.

Cullen was sentenced to two years in prison and Choy to 41 months. Cullen’s lighter sentence was based on his cooperation with federal investigators and indications at the time were English had not been as chatty, thus the longer sentence.

Perhaps those tables have turned?

Jailhouse lawyer: And speaking of convicted felons who want out of prison sooner rather than later, former Honolulu police chief Louis Kealoha is also asking a federal judge to cut some time off his sentence.

Kealoha was an early casualty of the federal government’s ongoing crackdown on corruption in Hawaii. He and his former deputy prosecutor wife, Katherine, were convicted along with a handful of Honolulu police officers for trying to frame Katherine’s uncle for stealing their own mailbox. (The Blog is not making this up.) The Kealoha’s were in a legal beef with her uncle, Gerard Puana, over money.

Louis Kealoha was sentenced to seven years in prison and has been doing his time in a federal facility in Sheridan, Oregon, since June 2021.

In a three-page petition filed in federal court in Honolulu on Monday, Kealoha cites a federal law — The First Step Act — that he believes should convince a judge to knock 16 months off his 84-month sentence, putting him behind bars for a bit over five years.

The former chief, who does hold a master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Chaminade University and a Ph.D. in education from USC, says he has been a model prisoner. No disciplinary action, he’s been taking classes and has been steadily employed in the prison’s educational department coordinating the GED program and 15 tutors.

And he’s current on all his financial responsibilities, he says, which The Blog presumes means he is paying restitution as ordered by the court to Puana after losing a civil lawsuit. The taxpayers are still waiting to see a return of the $250,000 payoff Kealoha got from the Honolulu Police Commission as part of his retirement deal. It was supposed to be paid back if and when he got convicted.

Read more from Louis Kealoha here:

No time for full-time: It’s an election year, and The Sunshine Blog would like to think that fact would make legislators more inclined to support government reform measures if only to curry favor with voters.

It clearly didn’t help, however, with one of the high-profile reform proposals: converting the Legislature from its rushed, chaotic 60-day session into a year-round operation governed by the Sunshine Law so that the people’s business is conducted in public.

Going full-time, you see, might result in a pay raise for state lawmakers, and politicians aren’t inclined to talk about such right before an election. Heck, Honolulu City Council members may still face electoral fallout after their salaries were drastically hiked last year.

That’s the backdrop for a weird little scene that unfolded last week as the Senate Government Operations Committee handled the hot potato known as Senate Bill 2281. Well, three of the five committee members did — the other two were nowhere to be found.

Committee Chair Angus McKelvey accurately noted a year-round Legislature could better handle emergencies like the wildfire that destroyed much of his hometown last August. He said the idea “warrants further discussion” and proposed approving the bill “with your indulgence, members.”

Committee members almost never buck their chair in these circumstances, but this time Sen. Brenton Awa brought up legislative salaries. McKelvey said they would ultimately be set by the state Salary Commission. Which did not mollify Awa.

McKelvey then turned to Sen. Joy San Buenaventura and said, with precognition seemingly borne of a pre-meeting meeting, “You’re not going to vote for it either.”

She looked at him sheepishly until he said, “I’m not going to live or die with it.”

“Thank you,” she said with relief, and just like that, the full-time Legislature issue was off the table for another session.

Less than two minutes later, Sen. Glenn Wakai walked back into the meeting room that he’d exited earlier. The other committee member, Sen Mike Gabbard, was a complete no-show.

By the way, SB 2281, which was introduced by McKelvey and Sen. Stanley Chang, didn’t say anything about pay raises. But it would have officially conferred full-time status on legislators, some of whom will tell you they already work full-time, and prohibited them from holding other jobs.

The omission was pointed out in written testimony from the Attorney General’s Office, which helpfully noted, “Although not expressly stated in the bill, it is necessarily implied that the legislators’ salaries and staff salaries will change to reflect their year-round employment.”

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in: The financial worries of Kaniela Ing will continue for at least another month after the state Campaign Spending Commission voted Wednesday to bump until March 13 any action on charges of Ing violating campaign spending laws.

Ing, a former state legislator, appeared via Zoom before the commission to ask that the matter be dropped. He suggested the commission had better things to do than continue with yet another investigation of his spending practices, something that he says has already cost him $20,000 in penalties.

He also said he will challenge the commission should it move forward with the current charges, an action that could result in an additional $18,000 in fines. Ing said media reports had taken a toll on him and his family and he now just wants to put the matter behind him.

Not yet, said the commission. It gave Ing another month to talk to his attorney, Bill Harrison, who was not part of Wednesday’s meeting, and to give him time to prepare any necessary documentation for the commission.

Trump-Gabbard 2024: The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Hawaii’s most famous politician after Barack Obama met with former president Donald Trump and top advisers on how Trump should “manage the Pentagon differently” if he wins a second term.

Tulsi Gabbard, the Post observes, is “an outspoken critic” of aid to Ukraine and U.S. military interventions overseas. So is Trump, who over the weekend said Russia should do “whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries behind in their dues.

Just last week a Post columnist said that Gabbard is a possible running mate for Trump, something that the former Hawaii congresswoman is open to considering. Trump is being lobbied to pick a woman or a black man.