Bu La‘ia held
for Waikiki incident

The comedian-candidate
is accused of damaging
a sticker-vending machine

Star-Bulletin

Comedian and gubernatorial hopeful Kaui Hill, better known as Bu La'ia, was arrested this morning in Waikiki for allegedly damaging a sticker vending machine, police said.

The arrest is the latest obstacle for Hill's week-old political campaign. Since entering the race for governor seven days ago, Hill has been disavowed by the Hawaii Green Party; his running mate has tried to drop out of the race and a local company is calling for an end to the campaign.

In the incident this morning, security guards told police they saw Hill damage the glass of the machine just before 4 a.m., and he was arrested shortly after.

Police said Hill was taken to Queen's Hospital for mental evaluation after the arrest.

Hill has filed as a Green Party candidate, although party officials say he is not a member and did not go through their candidate-screening process.

The chairman of Hawaii Calls/Hula Records also wants the curtain to fall on Bu's bid for governor.

Company Chairman Don McDiarmid Jr. said Bu's effort to have the son of Kent Bowman as a running mate was an attempt to capitalize on the K.K. Ka'umanua persona. The elder Bowman has portrayed a comedy character known as K.K. Ka'umanua for the past two decades, and the younger Bowman, Kurt, was to be Bu's Green running mate under the moniker of K.K. Ka'umanua Jr.

The elder Bowman plans to release a new K.K. Ka'umanua album in September, the same month of the primary election.

"I think the arrangement Mr. Hill was trying to put together with Kent's son was just an attempt to make some money on someone else's name," McDiarmid said. "Kent has advised his lawyer of all the facts and Mr. Hill has been notified of his liability."

As of yesterday, election officials still had not received papers the younger Bowman said he would file for a medical withdrawal that would quash Bu's candidacy since he would not have a running mate for lieutenant governor.

Kurt Bowman said last week he planned to file the papers.