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August 13, 2009 HYPA LOCAL
Most people keep tabs on politicians, especially at the local level, only when they're actively campaigning or embroiled in a scandal. But elected officials don't go into hibernation the rest of the time, and neither do their reelection efforts. This week's poster boy: Maui Rep. Kyle Yamashita (D, 12th District). When he ran last year, we noted that "Yamashita's spending report reveals most of his big campaign contributions come from outside his district." Flash-forward 11 months and the leopard hasn't changed his spots. A look at Yamashita's most recent filing with the state Campaign Spending Commission shows that, in January, he had to return checks from Wal-Mart ($1,300), Altria Client Services Inc. ($2,000) and tobacco giant Reynolds American ($170), which are based out of Arkansas, Virginia and North Carolina, respectively. The reason Kyle had to give the money back? He'd already exceeded the limit for non-resident contributions. Overall, of the $6,750 he's raised, a mere $650 came from Maui and none from his district. Certainly raises questions about loyalty, among other things… Last month, I heard rumblings from multiple sources about the Maui Interscholastic League's (MIL) plan to hold half of this season's high school football games in the afternoon. Given what an event the games are, the uproar wasn't surprising. What's nice is that people didn't just get mad, they got active: according to an August 11 Maui News report, MIL received more than $30,000 from the community in the span of a week—enough to turn the lights on. Schedules posted on the MIL Web site now have every regular season varsity football game save one slated to begin at 7pm. And all is right with the universe… As I type these words, the hurricane formerly known as Felicia (or is it the Felicia formerly known as a hurricane?) is tossing a few rain drops against the window, and there's word of east swells and more rain and maybe some wind to come. Looks like we're going to dodge the bullet, though. Rob Parsons gets into the issue of preparedness in this week's Rob Report (pg. 7), so I'll instead tackle a less serious but still important matter: media coverage. In the days leading up to Felicia's arrival, most press reports (especially on television but in the dailies as well) emphasized the (potential) threat, and treated common sense precautionary measures as an afterthought. That's not surprising; in fact, quite the opposite. Which is the problem. Railing against sensationalism is beyond cliché, and it's tough to blame any media company for trying to spice up the headlines (not sure if you've heard, but this business ain't exactly booming). Still—it'd be nice to see something that falls this squarely into the public safety sphere get a more, excuse the phrase, fair and balanced treatment. As with swine flu and countless stories before it, hysteria is exactly what we shouldn't be promoting. And yet hysteria—like its not-so-distant cousin sex—sells…
LOCAL
Last week, I took a swipe at the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) for chastising a Saturday Night Live bit that made fun of tourists, but supporting the new horror/thriller flick A Perfect Getaway, which has a psycho killer picking off honeymooners on the Na Pali Coast. That led a reader to send the following (anonymous) reply: "It's HTA's job to protect and promote the state's image and to encourage people to come here. That includes film crews. The difference between the SNL skit and the movie is that the latter was filmed on-location in Hawaii, while the former was shot in a studio in New York City. Get it?" Interesting point. One problem though: According to the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com), most of A Perfect Getaway was shot in Puerto Rico, no doubt because of a law, spelled out on the Puerto Rico Film Commission Web site, that: "…offers a tax credit through [the] Treasury Department equivalent to 40 percent of budget items paid to Puerto Rico residents' businesses…" So Hawaii gets the negative image, and none of the benefits... On August 11 the state Campaign Spending Commission told Rep. Neil Abercrombie he couldn't transfer $900,000 from his congressional campaign coffers into his gubernatorial war chest. Adding a jab to the gut punch: Abercrombie's opponent, Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hanneman, is allowed to dip into his mayoral kitty because it's under state regulation. According to a KITV.com report, Abercrombie's lawyers are weighing an appeal. Good call… Hey, great news! As reported on August 11 by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the Trump International Hotel and Tower Waikiki Beach Walk on Oahu is going to keep the Trump name for "a long time, if not forever," according to Donald Trump Jr. Why the need for assurance? Seems California developer Irongate, which is building the tower, is being sued by a group of buyers who purchased units in 2006. In the same article, Trump Jr. hints that Daddy's company is interested in other Hawaii projects, possibly a golf course on an unnamed neighbor island. Wow—a Trump golf course. Sounds like the future to me…
NOT LOCAL
Less than a decade after, ahem, allegedly sabotaging their own product and recalling and destroying all models of the EV1 (if you haven't already, see the 2006 doc Who Killed the Electric Car? for more), General Motors is trotting out...a new electric car! The company is claiming the plug-in Chevy Volt (actual tagline: "The Future is Electrifying") gets up to 230mpg, and other car companies are reportedly following suit. I don't mean to be cynical, but it would seem that until we generate the bulk of our power using something other than fossil fuels, this is a deck-chairs-on-the-Titanic sort of thing. On the bright side: all the icebergs are melting. Maui Time Weekly, Jacob Shafer
Tags: Maui Politics
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