Passage of Amendment 12 Scores Historic Win for Maui Water Rights For years plantation owner Alexander & Baldwin paid almost nothing to use majority of island’s water

Posted by - March 28, 2023

With the historic November 2022 passage of Charter Amendment 12, establishing the East Maui Community Water Authority, there is hope, for the first time in 145 years, that the people of  Maui will finally gain control over the island’s largest public water source.  “The water leases are up for grabs, and the DLNR (Department of Land

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‘Onipa’a 2022 Candidates Unite Against Pro-Development Millions Flooding Council Election Johnson, Paltin, Rawlins-Fernandez, Sinenci, Ahia, Boone, Hocker, and Knox fight to preserve Maui’s five person progressive majority

Posted by - October 17, 2022

As Maui’s electorate prepares to vote for County Council candidates a clear choice has emerged. Eight progressive candidates have united as ‘Onipa’a 2022 on a platform of protecting our island’s fragile resources are facing off against a group of corporation-friendly candidates seeking to turn back the clock to the days when developers and agrochemical companies

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Real Estate Money Floods Victorino, Arakawa and Lee Campaigns Developer Donations to Old Guard Seek to Stop Maui Ohana Candidates from Bringing Public Interest Government to Maui

Posted by - November 3, 2018

With the Maui election just a few days away we’re turning the spotlight again on how some  County candidates have their campaigns funded primarily by development and real estate interests, with major supporters on Oahu. Take mayoral candidate Mike Victorino, who has raised close to $400,000. While his campaign accountant proclaims his funding is coming

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Betrayers of Maui Democracy Ask Voters to Re-Elect Them This November Arakawa, Victorino, Crivello, and Hokama Enabled Monsanto’s Historic Theft of Voter-Approved GMO Moratorium

Posted by - October 25, 2018

The public initiative system is a unique and magnificent tool for grassroots democracy. Four years ago, Maui’s GMO Moratorium made history in a number of significant ways. First, it made local history by becoming the first public initiative effort in Maui history to get on the ballot. It did this through the hard work of

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Political Vendetta Against Alika Atay Shifts into Overdrive for Election Investigation of Queen’s Celebration Part of Relentless Campaign to Discredit Native Hawaiian Reformer

Posted by - October 24, 2018

Almost weekly leading up to the November election on Maui we have seen front page articles damning Council Member Alika Atay for various trifles. One could easily suspect its part of an effort to disempower this Native Hawaiian politician and place his election rival, Alice Lee, back into the fold of the “good old boy”

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Can Elle Cochran Win Maui’s Mayoral Race and Send the Good Old Boys Packing? Q&A With the Most Outspoken Populist Reformer in County History

Posted by - October 12, 2018

Council Member Elle Cochran, who was the top vote-getter in the 2016 Maui Council election, is running for mayor this November on a platform of revolutionizing County government to create a new culture of transparency and effective collaboration. “Elle,” as she is widely known, makes no secret of her intention of sweeping away a plantation-mentality

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Maui’s People-Powered Candidates Poised to Take Majority in 2018 County’s Monsanto-Boosting Old Guard Establishment May Lose its Majority Stranglehold in Historic Election

Posted by - July 26, 2018

The upcoming 2018 Maui election offers an extraordinary, historic opportunity to change the power structure that has limited progressive change on our island. The Maui Ohana wing of the County Council – Elle Cochran, Alika Atay and Kelly King – is poised to be joined by another wave of reformist candidates seeking to take Maui

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Maui Council Chair Mike White Seeks New Dictatorial Powers Friday 9 a.m. Hearing to Vote on New Law Empowering the Ruling Gang of Five to Fire Staffers Hired by Independent Council Members

Posted by - November 29, 2017

Ever since a new wave of progressive politicians was elected to the Maui County Council the old guard has struggled to maintain power. In their latest Machiavellian tactic to suppress the influence of new members and especially the outspoken Native Hawaiian water protector Alika Atay, Council Chair Mike White is introducing a new bill that

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GMO Crops Have Become the Hot Potato of Maui Politics Under Pressure, A&B Attempts to Mislead Maui County Council and Public About Their Plans For Former Sugar Plantation Land

Posted by - September 15, 2017

In April at the Maui Energy Conference, Rick Volner, the general manager of diversified agriculture for Alexander & Baldwin, gave a presentation on how Maui’s thousands of acres of former sugar cane land could be utilized in the future. “We have the significant opportunity to alter that landscape,” he said. “Our lands are uniquely positioned

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New Documentary Exposes Devastating Impact of Pesticides on Kauai “Poisoning Paradise” screens at the Maui Film Festival on June 23

Posted by - June 15, 2017

The devastating impact of pesticide poisoning on Kauai by the agro-chemical industry is highlighted in the groundbreaking documentary “Poisoning Paradise,” screening at the Maui Film Festival on June 23, at 10 p.m. at the Celestial Cinema in Wailea. Award-winning investigative journalist Paul Koberstein describes Kauai as, “one of the most toxic agricultural environments in all

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