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A few days ago, I mentioned that an article about campaign finance would soon be appearing at www.thehawaiiindependent.com. There's been a change of plan. I'll continue to write other articles for the Indpendent, but the article I'd mentioned will be appearing, instead, in next week's hard copy in the Big Island Weekly.
I have very mixed feelings about writing for a Stephens Media publication, but with the demise of the Hawaii Island Journal, there are limited outlets for important news on this island, and I think Jed Stockton, BIW's editor, really does want to give this island the information it needs--and this particular article is, at least in my opinion, very important. It traces the campaign contributions that flowed into the coffers of five Hawaii Island state representatives who supported a delay in implementing the publicly funded elections project on this island. All five, as it turns out, get a lot of money from vested interests, which gives them a huge advantage against potential opponents. Three of them were funded entirely or almost entirely by special interest moneys from outside their districts. And all could be voting on issues where their constituents' interests and their donors' may be at odds.
I hope you read it.
--Alan
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2 comments:
Aloha Alan,
A most excellent article, and in the Big Island Weekly..
As someone unable to not notice Stephens Media's 'news' spins in favor of privatization in various versions, I'm curious as to the chain of decision that hires you to report your obviously contrary concerns of public advocacy.
In any case, your reportage does a real service to that oft-maligned call for transparency.
mahalo,
Darren Schmidt
After being asked by a Hawaii Tribune-Herald reporter to substantiate my claims of "Stephens Media's 'news' spins in favor of privatization in various versions", and being unable to relocate the piece from the HTH front page that seemingly came down quite distinctly on the side of private companies being brought in to staff public schools (if I remember correctly), I acknowledge that, short of quoting the original article, this would constitute something of a straw-man argument.
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