Source: Maui Time, Maui News, Best of Maui, Maui Activities

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This Week in Review
WEDNESDAY, Apr. 20

April 28, 2005

Went to work this morning listening to a nonsensical David Marcus essay on National Public Radio denouncing teenage drug abuse in all its forms. He got all huffy because today is 4/20, Stoner Day or whatever the kids are calling it these days. Yes, yes, it’s all very bad. But Marcus completely missed the real significance of today—it’s Adolf Hitler’s birthday! On this day in Braunau, Austria back in 1889, little Adolf was born. To celebrate, our fearless leader George W. Bush today paid homage to the giant banks and credit card companies who’ve so loyally funded his presidential campaigns by signing a 500-page bill making it nearly impossible for not-so-wealthy citizens to declare bankruptcy. Never mind that the big credit card companies can slap down all sorts of unexpected penalties and rate hikes on people who miss a payment by a mere hour. Or that the companies are increasingly scheduling due dates on Sundays or holidays, which increase the odds of racking in late payments. Or that many of these fees and rate increases are buried in legalistic fine print that few attorneys even understand. And guys like Marcus wonder why 4/20 is all the rage.







THURSDAY, Apr. 21



Everything’s going up, at least according to today’s Maui News. I’m talking about fees. Wanna play nine holes at the Waiehu Municipal Golf Course? It’s gonna cost you more now. Wanna get your stray dog out of stir? It’s gonna cost more. Wanna gas up your new Mustang GT? Gonna cost more. And oh, look at this: the core inflation rate is rising. I’m shocked! Well, let’s take stock of our nation as a whole: we’re fighting two wars half a world away; the Bush Administration has, far from raising taxes to pay for those wars, actually cut them; and as a result our budget—which was running surpluses just five short years ago—is exploding in deficit. But look on the bright side—Dubya has just three and three-quarter years to go in his second term.







FRIDAY, Apr. 22



The Sierra Club Hawai’i Chapter hates him. So does Hawai’i’s Thousand Friends. Ditto the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation. The state legislature is auditing his office. Of course I’m speaking of Peter Young, the embattled boss of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. He’s under fire for not filling important vacancies in the office and just generally giving more attention to corporate uses of state natural resources than you’d expect from a guy tasked with protecting them. Anyway, Young is firing back. And by “firing back,” I naturally mean “diverting the issue.” First there was that Maui News editorial last week pleading that we all have responsibility for the land. Now he’s sending out a press release denouncing—better sit down for this one—people who drive on the beach and/or set illegal fires on said beach. Guess it’s working—today The Maui News ran a story straight off Young’s anti-beach fire missive.







SATURDAY, Apr. 23



The Maui News ran six letters to the editor today, all calling on people to “save Akaku,” the public access cable channel currently under fire by developers like Everett Dowling. The letters are all similar in tone and style even though they come from all over the world—a phenomena the News addresses in a rare “Editor’s note.” “In a 24-hour period Friday, The Maui News received 23 similar e-mails in support of Akaku,” the editor noted. “The messages were prompted by an Internet ‘Media Action Alert’ issued by Democracy Now.” Ha! A measly 23 emails! Maui Time was included in that same alert, and we got a whopping… hold on, let me count them... 21 emails. Wait, that can’t be right. I mean, how could we… You see… It’s gotta be… Oh, shut up.







SUNDAY, Apr. 24



A bunch of Hawai’i-based citizen groups like Citizen Voice and the League of Women Voters and two state senators—Bob Hogue (R, 24th District) and Les Ihara, Jr. (D, 9th District) have called upon all state legislators to stop holding campaign fundraisers during the legislative session. “The citizens coalition wants to eliminate the public perception that lawmaking is influenced by legislators’ campaign needs,” read a recent Citizen Voice press release announcing the call. So far, a whopping three state officials have agreed. But one of them is our own state Senator Roz Baker (D, 5th District)! Of course, there’s nothing to stop Baker or any other signatory from holding twice as many fundraisers outside of the legislative session from the very same corporate Political Action Committees and lobbyists who want to move bills through congress, but still, it was a nice gesture.







MONDAY, Apr. 25



Did someone say Everett Dowling recently? Oh yeah, it was me. Anyway, the guy who wants to build 71 luxury condos at Makena bitched to The Maui News today about how he’s the victim in the fight he started to cut Akaku’s budget. “There are people who talk of freedom of speech for what they are producing on Akaku,” Dowling told the paper. “But if you have a view different from [Akaku executive director] Sean McLaughlin, you suddenly are not entitled to freedom of speech.” Now that’s comedy! Not because Dowling refused previous calls for him to appear on Hawai’i Public Radio and talk about his role in the whole matter, but because Dowling often uses his vast financial resources to secure more freedom of speech than most people enjoy. According to The Limtiaco Company’s website (www.thelimtiacocompany.com), Dowling hired the public relations firm to develop “a strategic plan to position this upscale developer as a good corporate citizen and to generate positive publicity on his projects.” This they did by performing “extensive community grass roots work” and undertaking “an extensive study of Hawai’i environmental and anti-development groups,” which all resulted in the “permitting of multi-million dollar homes” and “numerous positive testimonies.”







TUESDAY, Apr. 26



Just out of curiosity—is it still good PR if your flacks brag to the world about how they manufactured “grass roots” support?







Anthony Pignataro is increasingly wondering if anybody ever reads these. MTW