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I can count a half-dozen times over the years when the federal government has told Hawaii officials to either do more to control a problem, pay attention to your citizens’ needs or simply clean up the place. And when the state or county refused, it cost hundreds of millions of Hawaii taxpayer dollars. Read more

As former Hawaii Queen Liliuokalani could attest, Hawaii has not always has the best relationship with the United States.

Since helping take down the Hawaiian monarchy, the federal government has at times viewed Hawaii and its people as somewhat untrustworthy and in need of major supervision.

All of this is important in light of the U.S. Department of Justice investigation into how the city is building rail. Also, continuing interest in the city’s handling of the Kealoha police and maybe prosecutor’s scandals have merited federal grand jury and U.S. prosecutors’ ongoing investigations.

The feds have always had an eye on Hawaii. Interest was peaking in 1931, during what was called the Massie Case, in which Grace Hubbard Fortescue and others were charged with murder in the death of a young Hawaiian, Joseph Kahahawai. Fortescue was the mother of Thalia Massie, who claimed Kahahawai was one of a group of men who had allegedly raped her.

The mainland media had a field day, calling the local men “thugs,” “degenerates” and “fiends,” while Massie was described as “a white woman of refinement and culture.” Fortescue was found guilty, but the racist mainland backlash was so high that Fortescue was sentenced to just one hour of confinement, with the U.S. Navy raising the very real issue of putting Hawaii under martial law.

That didn’t happen — although in 1941, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that launched World War II, the U.S. within hours did declare martial law. It lasted until October of 1944, the longest declaration of martial law in U.S. history.

Since then, terms have been somewhat more civilized, but make no mistake, the feds are still watching.

If back then it was racism, now it appears the issue is over municipal and state incompetence.

I can count a half-dozen times over the years when the federal government has told Hawaii officials to either do more to control a problem, pay attention to your citizens’ needs or simply clean up the place. And when the state or county refused, it cost hundreds of millions of Hawaii taxpayer dollars.

Overcrowding in Hawaii prisons caused the ACLU to sue in 1984, which led to a 1989 federal consent decree overseeing Hawaii’s jails and prisons. By 1996, the state and the ACLU agreed that the state was in compliance with the federal decree, and the court order was dropped three years later.

Since then the ACLU is warning that the inhumane overcrowding is returning.

In 1993, the parents of Jennifer Felix went to federal court saying that the state is violating federal laws requiring adequate mental health, education and other services for special-needs children. The state agreed to a 1994 consent decree ordering improvements.

The result, according to legislative reports, are changes that cost the state an estimated $350 million.

Easily the biggest case of Hawaii’s truculent indifference to federal laws and warnings was the decades of Honolulu refusing to comply with environmental protection laws. In 2010, federal court orders resulted in the city being ordered to repair, replace or clean more than 640 miles of sewer pipes and upgrade its two main sewer facilities and wastewater collection system. Total estimated cost? $4.7 billion.

Obviously federal subpoenas don’t go in the “to do next week” file — so with the feds still poking around, who believes the Honolulu rail and the city Prosecutor’s Office need anything less than a major cleansing?