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Maui%20County
The Maui 10
Who’s the county’s most powerful player?

by By Anthony Pignataro

March 01, 2007

RANK   PREVIOUS   COMPANY



  

1                

1             

Dowling Co.



  

2                

2             

Weinberg Foundation



  

3                

3             

Maui Land & Pineapple Co.

  

4                

4             

Maui Electric Co.

  

5                

5             

Goodfellow Brothers

  

6                

6             

Tesoro Hawai`i

  

7                

7             

Alexander & Baldwin

  

8                

8             

Wailuku Water Co.

  

9                

9             

Hawaiian Telcom

 

10             

10             

Monsanto Hawai`i







BIOTECH BILLS



Alas, poor Monsanto… There was a time—we’re thinking the Vietnam

War—when they were one of the most feared corporations in the world.

Their dioxin (Agent Orange) lay waste to much of the South Vietnamese

jungle and poisoned thousands of people, including many of our own

combat troops. Needless to say, multinational corporations may secretly

love that kind of reputation, but they certainly don’t advertise it

openly. Today their Hawaiian subsidiary is trying to make a quiet life

out here in Maui, growing genetically modified corn and other crops,

all looking very reasonable and scientific, but time seems to be

running out. According to a Feb. 14 online Pacific Business News

posting, last year Hawai`i lawmakers introduced more anti-GMO bills

than any other state in the union. And with a huge quantity of bills

pending this year, that distinction probably won’t change.





DOWLING FOREVER?



Shall we just agree that from now until the day when the wind and

rain erodes the last of the island chain that Everett Dowling is the

most powerful guy in the County of Maui, if not the State of Hawai`i?

The state is asking Dowling to build a high school in Kihei for them—in

the 1990’s he built them Kamali`i Elementary, which is also in

Kihei—and he’s now part owner of a huge swath of some of the most

ecologically and archaeologically sensitive territory in Makena. His

plans there, of course, are well known: expand serene Makena into a

resort similar to Wailea. Native Hawaiian groups are largely mute about

the proposed development in a large part because Dowling has built so

many Hawaiian Homesteads. And now he’s sponsoring a series of monthly

environmental lectures at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center. When The

Maui News asked about the controversy of placing his name so close to

that of noted environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—the first

lecturer—Dowling responded perfectly. “Anti-development is against all

development,” he said. “They’re never going to like the Dowling

Company, and they’re never going to like developers. There’s nothing I

can do about it.” What’s more, The Maui News editorial page agrees, not

noticing or caring to notice that perfectly reasonable people might see

a distinction between mere “development” and building condominiums and

golf courses for the wealthy in one of the most sensitive coastal areas

on Maui. MTW