Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU, ARM
Louisville, Kentucky 40229-1655
April 1, 2004
VIA fax only @ (559) 490-1919
Mr. Justin W. Schuck, Case Manager
Julie A. Schermerhorn, Supervisor
American Arbitration Association
6795 North Palm Avenue, 2nd Ave.
Fresno, California 93704
RE: Mary Lou Woo, Trustee v. Bobby N. Harmon - Case No. 74 166 00491 03 JUSC
Dear Mr. Schuck and Ms. Schermerhorn:
This is in reply to Justin Schuck’s letter dated March 25, 2004, in which he states, in part:
“This will acknowledge receipt letters dated March 10, and 12, 2004 from Respondent, copies of which we note have been copied to Claimant.
“This will also acknowledge receipt of a letter dated March 19, 2004 from Claimant, a copy of which we note was sent to Respondent.
“After careful consideration of the parties’ contentions, the Association has determined that Judith Neustadter, Esq. will be reaffirmed as arbitrator in this matter pursuant to the Rules.”...
As I have stated in previous correspondence, the entities and relationships involved in this case are too numerous and complex to describe in these letters. However, since the Claimant continues to opine that my letters are just a continuation of the same unrelated information that I have been providing with regards to “parties who have no relationship to this case,” and since the American Arbitration Association continues to accept the Claimant’s “opinion” over the facts, it appears I have no choice but to continue to name new parties and relationships and describe how these parties are connected to Ms. Neustadter and various controversial political and real estate transactions in the County of Maui. For the sake of brevity, in this letter I will center my comments on just one entity, Hawaii real estate developer Stanford Carr.
To give you a sense that my comments are based upon actual “facts” and are not merely my personal “contentions”, I continue to quote various public news items:
March 27, 2004
Builder eyes Hawaii Kai farms
By Suzanne Roig, Honolulu Advertiser
A developer wants to build 200 homes on 87 acres of land off Lunalilo Home Road, a proposal that would end more than half a century of farming in the former swamp land that is Hawaii Kai and bring large-scale construction to its last undeveloped valley.
Stanford Carr, the developer of the Peninsula, a 600-unit project under way on the edge of the marina, has approached area City Councilman Charles Djou, chairman of the council’s zoning committee, with a plan to move Kamilonui Valley’s 16 farmers to other communities to make way for his latest brainchild.
The proposal comes during a building boom the likes of which has not been seen in Hawaii Kai since Henry Kaiser first saw the area’s fish ponds and brackish water in the 1960s and envisioned a marina-based community. And it is generating concern about too much growth and its effect on traffic and sewer and water capacity.
“It’s just wrong to keep building,” said Murray Luther, a community activist and longtime resident of Hawaii Kai. “Let’s make sure we have the services available first, before we go building more. These guys (the developers) just are making their money and getting out.
“Just because it’s virgin land doesn’t mean we have to build on it.”
Carr said the farmers approached him about three years ago about buying their leasehold interest, although apparently not all favor the idea....
He said he plans to study the capacity of the sewer, water and road systems before making a formal proposal for the 200 homes. The land is zoned for agriculture and would require a zoning change, subject to public hearings and City Council approval. Carr estimates he is two or three years away from building if he can get the necessary approvals....
Builders have been pounding away on roughly 800 new homes, townhomes and apartments in Hawaii Kai in the past three years. With the median home price climbing above $400,000, it’s a good time to build, developers say. But with nearly all buildable land here in play, interest has turned to the quiet valley that has been home to farmers since industrialist Kaiser moved them there in the 1960s to make way for homes.
The growers of vegetables and potted plants belong to the Kamilonui Farmers Cooperative. Many are near retirement age, said Dean Takebayashi, owner of the nursery Chrysanthemums of Hawaii in the valley. Several had signed the first lease with landowner Kamehameha Schools...
Life of the Land, an environmental and community action group, has been trying to keep land designated agricultural in the hands of farmers rather than developers.
Rather than turning farmland into residential land, city policy-makers should look at ways to rebuild in urban areas and preserve farmlands to support agricultural self-sufficiency, said Henry Curtis, the group’s executive director....
< END OF QUOTATION >
The above article provides evidence that there are material financial and political connections between Stanford Carr and Kamehameha Schools. The following article establishes the financial and political connections between Stanford Carr and the County of Maui:
February 27, 2004
Stanford Carr rediscovers his Maui roots
by Nina Wu, Pacific Business News
As a 12-year-old, Stanford Carr learned his lesson about work ethic from planting zucchini on four acres of Maui’s upland country.
Now 42 and president of one of the largest, award-winning developers in Hawaii, he is applying those lessons to real estate development....
Now Stanford Carr Development LLC is creating a master-planned community of 2,500 homes on 440 agriculture-zoned acres, along with parks and a commercial center at Wailuku in Central Maui. A combination of townhouses and single-family homes will range in price from $200,000 to $1 million to serve a broad socioeconomic spectrum....
On Maui, Kehalani will be the first project on such a large scale, extending from Waiale Road to Wailuku Heights at the base of the West Maui Mountains.
Not that the road has been easy the whole way. In 1999, Stanford Carr Development bought out the portfolio of C. Brewer & Co. and its stalled development – it was a publicly traded company delisted from the Nasdaq the year prior – for about $5 million, assuming an additional $20.5 million debt. He almost faced foreclosure in 2001, but was able to avoid it by refinancing and selling about 80 acres of land....
Stanford Carr broke ground on its newest Maui residential development, Olena at Kehalani, last September, with 32 single-family homes at prices ranging from $320,00 to $370,000. In two days of sales, 100 reservations were made and the project is already sold out....
When it comes to land use, the once-upon-a-time farmer says the preservation of prime agricultural lands is important – but that many are no longer being used for agricultural purposes. Developers need to be aware of land-use issues and develop responsibly, he says.
“We need to revisit what is really usable agriculture and where to preserve it,” he said.
“Whether or not to take agriculture land to urban is something society decides. One opportunity is different from another.”...
< END OF QUOTATION >
In addition to Judith Neustadter Fuqua being a hearing officer for the Maui Planning Commission, you will recall that she also disclosed in her resume that she is the Vice President/Secretary of Hana & Kipahulu Land Company, Ltd, 1999-present.
According to their website at www.hanalandman.com: “Owner Ray Fuqua is a 21 year Maui resident and has been involved in Maui real estate for almost as long. He is the founder and Principle Broker of Hana & Kipahulu Land Co., Ltd.”
Ms. Neustadter also states in her resume that clients include “real estate brokers/ agents ... real property purchasers and sellers; home owners associations; and creditors, debtors, and consumers.”
The above-quoted article states that, in 1999, “Stanford Carr Development bought out the portfolio of C. Brewer & Co. and its stalled development.” You may recall that in a letter to you dated July 25, 2003, I wrote:
“Mauna Loa was a former subsidiary of C. Brewer & Company before it was sold. Another of the major assets of this company, Brewer Environmental Industries, was sold to a partnership in which Robert Katz, Esq. was a partner. Robert Katz and Torkildson Katz Fonseca Jaffe Moore & Hetherington, were Defendants in my RICO lawsuit. Torkildson Katz is also the firm that has demanded to Steven Guttman and Trustee Mary Lou Woo that I stop my “letter-writing campaign” which is one of the issues to be arbitrated.
“More can be found at: www.the-catbird-seat.net/Paradise and www.the-catbird-seat.net/BuzzardsOfParadise.”
< END OF QUOTATION >
To give you a brief idea of the potential conflicts between developers and members of the political establishment in Hawaii – especially those connected to the Land Use and Planning Commissions – I quote the following from PBS Frontline:
Interview with Charles Chidiac
Charles Chidiac is a financier-developer who knew Gene and Nora Lum in Hawaii. He was also involved in Asian Pacific Advisory Council-Vote, a Los Angeles Democratic fund-raising group once headed by Nora Lum. He has a checkered past. He was an unindicted co-conspirator in the BNL financial scandal....
~ ~ ~
FRONTLINE: Give me an example of corruption in Hawaii in the 1980s.
CHIDIAC: Well, if you want to do business in Hawaii, you go and you apply for a zoning. You get a call from an attorney. And he says, "I want to see you."
"About what?"
"Oh, I want to talk about your application." . . .
"But I already have an attorney."
"It's necessary to see you anyway." So he comes over and he says, "Listen, you applied. This attorney of yours is no good. If you don't hire me, you'll never get your zoning. . . ."
So, that's how they do it. It's called in Hawaii, "law firming," instead of laundering.
FRONTLINE: In other words, bribery?
CHIDIAC: Pure, pure bribery ... under the cover of being legal work ...
To up-date you on today’s political climate in Hawaii, and to establish even further connections between the various parties related to this case, I quote from the following news article:
April 18, 2003
6 firms and 2 men
fined for illegal donations
By Rick Daysog, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
The state Campaign Spending Commission has approved more than $62,000 in fines against eight companies and individuals for making excessive political donations to major local Democratic candidates.
By 3-0 vote, the commission approved fines against the engineering and development firms of Fukunaga & Associates Inc., Fujita & Associates, W.A. Hirai & Associates Inc., AM Partners Inc., Stanford Carr Development Corp. and WMO Corp.
The commission also voted to issue a $750 fine to local real estate executive Joe Leoni and a $500 fine to isle attorney Mitchell Imanaka.
The largest penalty – $24,000 – went to Fukunaga & Associates for making more than $36,000 in false-name contributions to the campaigns of Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris and former Gov. Ben Cayetano.
The commission also fined W.A. Hirai $19,000 to settle charges that the company made $30,000 in excessive political donations to Harris, Cayetano, former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono and ex-Maui Mayor James “Kimo” Apana.
Fujita & Associates agreed to an $11,000 fine for making false-name contributions to Cayetano, Harris, Apana and Hirono.
The commission was scheduled to approve a $53,000 penalty against the engineering firm of Edward K. Noda and Associates for allegedly laundering $90,000 in campaign funds to Harris, Cayetano and Hirono.
But that case was kept off yesterday’s agenda after commission staffers discovered additional illegal contributions, said Bob Watada, the commission’s executive director....
< END OF QUOTATION >
If you feel that you require more information about Stanford Carr Development and their relationships with Judith Neustadter and other parties connected to this case, you can find several additional articles on the internet at:
www.the-catbird-seat.net/Developers.htm
Based upon the new facts quoted above, I must dispute again the opinions of Complainant Mary Lou Woo and her attorney Steven Guttman as expressed in his letter of March 19, 2004. Therefore, I continue to maintain that the facts show that Judith Neustadter Fuqua is conflicted in this case, and I again request that she be disqualified as the Arbitrator.
Sincerely yours,
Bobby N. Harmon
cc: Mary Lou Woo, Trustee, c/o Steven Guttman, Esq. (via fax @ 808-529-7177)
Dee Jay Mailer, CEO, Kamehameha Schools (via fax @ 808-523-6313)
Casimer Fidele, Island Insurance Co. (via fax @ 808-521-7489)
Governor Linda Lingle, State of Hawaii (via fax @ 808-586-0006)
J.P. Schmidt, Hawaii Insurance Commissioner (via fax @ 808-586-2806)
Hugh Jones, Deputy Attorney General (via fax @ 808-586-1477)
Janet S. Hughes, Manager, IRS (via fax @ 303-844-3596)
Peter B. Clark, U.S. Dept of Justice, Criminal Div. (via fax @ 202-514-7021)
Tai K. Lee, Special Agent, U.S. Dept of the Treasury (via fax @ 808-539-2810)
Hawaii State Ethics Commission (via fax @ 808-587-0470)
Tax Foundation of Hawaii (via fax @ 808-536-4588)
Mayor Alan Arakawa, County of Maui (via fax @ 808-270-7870)
County Clerk, County of Maui, Legislative Branch (via fax @ 808-270-7171)
Council of the County of Maui (via fax @ 808-270-7686)
Honolulu City Council (via fax @ 808-523-4220)
State of Hawaii, Campaign Spending Commission (via fax @ 808-586-0288)
State of Hawaii, Land Use Commission (via fax @ 808-587-3827)
Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Honolulu (via fax @ 808-594-1865)
Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Maui (via fax @ 808-243-5016)
Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Washington, D.C. (via fax @ 202-466-7797)
Maui Planning & Land Use Committee (via e-mail: plu.committee@co.maui.hi.us)
Hawaii State Senators (via e-mail: sens@Capitol.hawaii.gov )
Hawaii State Representatives (via e-mail: reps@Capitol.hawaii.gov )
Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris (via e-mail: mayor@co.honolulu.hi.us )
Jim Dooley, Honolulu Advertiser (via e-mail: jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com )
Rick Daysog, Honolulu Star-Bulletin (via e-mail: rdaysog@starbulletin.com)
Sally Apgar, Honolulu Star-Bulletin (via e-mail: sapgar@starbulletin.com)
Ian Lind, www.ilind.net (via e-mail: diary@ilind.net)
This is a leaf from
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To fly to the top of the tree