The Maui Examiner Commentary and Opinions

There is great power in anger and frustration, if those emotions can be creatively channeled into productivity.
And that is exactly how The Maui Examiner came into being.
Some of you may know my name from The Maui Weekly. For six years, MW publisher and owner Joe Sugarman pursued his passion for bringing truth and cutting-edge reporting to the people of Maui, mostly at his own expense.
For the past two years, I had the privilege of working with Joe and the terrific staff of Maui Weekly — Joseph Bean, Debra Lorden, Lawrence Pascua, Sara Romfo, Glen Girrard, Linda Ayau, Joan Magee and Terri Haina. Each one of them enriched my life, and my knowledge. To all of you that I worked with at MW, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
As editor, production assistant, reporter/photographer and finally, senior investigative reporter for MW, I discovered a passion that I did not realize was within me. A passion for bringing people the nitty-gritty details behind the issues affecting our island community.
A few weeks ago, the Maui Weekly was sold to Hawai‘i Publishing Company, a division of Ogden Newspapers, Inc. (ONI). Hawai‘i Publishing also owns The Maui News, Lahaina News, Haleakala Times and the Maui Bulletin, effectively monopolizing the news reporting market on Maui.
Ogden is a huge, ultra-conservative Mainland media company, owning many daily, weekly and periodical publications around the nation. Their reporting policies? Don’t make waves. Be complacent. Don’t expose anything, as someone might get mad. Play it safe.
Well, here I was, exposing toxins in the Upcountry water, harassing the EPA, coming down hard on the mayor and towing companies for turning Maui into, as Rob Lafferty so eloquently put it, “The Scrap Metal Isle.” Not to mention occasionally busting the chops of the Maui Police Department when they shoot unarmed people on Baldwin Avenue and beaches in Kihei (oops — there I go again).
So, needless to say, ONI decided they were no longer in need of my services.
It would be nice to live in Disneyland. And by glossing over what is really going on behind the scenes of the issues, by not challenging those responsible for problems in our community, ONI is in actually doing a disservice to the community. Truth is, they would like to lead people to believe and follow their “keep it light” Disneyland mentality.
Well, sorry guys. Last I heard, Mickey Mouse lives in Orlando, Fla. and Anaheim, Cal., not Maui, Hawai‘i.
I guess I got really pissed off, that ONI thinks they can strong-arm their way into Hawaii, monopolize the Maui media, and suppress reality in the news.
I don’t think that’s fair to the people of Maui County. So I started this online publication.
Goodbye, Maui Weekly, hello, Maui Examiner.
I have a feeling this is going to be one hell of a ride.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"All this will not be done in the first one hundred days. Nor perhaps in the first one thousand days...nor perhaps even in our lifetime on this
planet...but let us begin." –JFK

COMMENTARY

RESTORING TRUST AND INTEGRITY IN GOVERNMENT

Commentary by Jackson D. Won, Wailuku

How important is “truth” in government? At least to one researcher the answer is - not very.
Glen Newey, a researcher with Strathclyde University in Great Britain, believes that “political leaders who don’t tell the truth are just part of a healthy democracy.”
“In a democracy,” he explains “the voter eventually will determine whether the action, and the lies, warrant returning the politician to office.” Therefore, “we should accept that where democratic bodies such as the electorate retrospectively sanction deception as being required to secure certain public goods, then that deception is in the public interest.”
Such flippant attitudes toward the value of truth in government should be alarming. Not only does this view suggest that we accept political lies and deception, but it also wants us to believe that these are in the public’s interest and part of a healthy democracy.
Yet, isn’t the foundation of any organized society, or at least what holds it together, our trust in government?
A democracy such as ours works only because the people have agreed to a system based on trust. In other words, our system relies upon citizens giving their permission to other men and women to represent them, trusting them to make decisions that directly affect their lives, children, and general well-being.
Unfortunately, in the past few years alone we have witnessed how the lies and deception by elected officials have eroded the public’s trust in government.
Adding to this has been the media’s role in eroding public trust in government.
In today’s frantic-paced life-style more and more people are looking to the media for the “truth”. Whether it is news from across the globe on CNN, or local news from our local newscasters and reporters, we usually have a moment for an instant update.
It is in this moment that the “truth” too often becomes what the individual reporter or writer wants the reader to believe it is.
This places a tremendous amount of responsibility on today’s media to report the news accurately and completely. Any hint of a lack of impartiality, detachment, and fairness to all would only add to the already deteriorating trust that society has in government.
The consequences would be immense. Already, more and more people appear to be taking back the permission that they had given to those that were to represent them. Evidence of this can be seen in the increased voter apathy and the consistently dwindling voter turnout.
Therefore, we cannot simply accept lies and deception as part of a healthy democracy. Instead, we must value those that value the truth, and denounce those that make use of, or accept, lies and deception.
Let us take a moment to ponder and reflect upon the words of U.S. Senator Robert C. Bird:
“The truth has a way of asserting itself despite all attempts to obscure it. Distortion only serves to derail it for a time. No matter to what lengths we humans may go to obfuscate facts or delude our fellows, truth has a way of squeezing out through the cracks, eventually. But, the danger is that at some point it may no longer matter. The danger is that damage is done before the truth is widely realized. The reality is that, sometimes, it is easier to ignore uncomfortable facts and go along with whatever distortion is currently in vogue.”