Woo vs. Harmon - Witness Steve Case

David C. Farmer, Successor-Trustee vs. Harmon

(Formerly Woo vs. Harmon & Nicholson vs. Harmon)

CV05-00030 DAE KSC

U.S. District Court For the District of Hawaii

Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang

—

DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

STEVE CASE

Address to be determined

Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of America On Line; former CEO of AOL-Time-Warner; owns thousands of acres of land in Hawaii through ownership in Grove Farm, Ltd. and Maui Land & Pineapple Co.; major investor in the Hawaii Superferry; principal owner, Exclusive Resorts; son of Honolulu attorney, Daniel Case; graduate of the elite Punahou School.

~ ~ ~

NEW DISCOVERY (04-17-09): More factual evidence of undisclosed conflicts of interest:

April 17, 2009

Fannie Mae CEO to Run Bank Bailout

By JIM KUHNHENN, AP

WASHINGTON (April 17) - The White House turned to an experienced former investment banker Friday to run the federal government's $700 billion bank rescue effort, selecting the head of mortgage giant Fannie Mae as an assistant Treasury secretary.

Herbert Allison Jr., Fannie Mae's president and CEO, will replace Neel Kashkari, a holdover from the Bush administration.

Allison, who must be confirmed by the Senate, would bear the title of assistant Treasury secretary for financial stability and counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

He would be in charge of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the fund that has injected billions of dollars into banks in hopes of unclogging credit. He would inherit a program that has been sharply criticized in Congress and which banks have come to view warily because of the restrictions attached to receipt of its funds.

President Barack Obama's administration has been slowly filling Treasury positions, hindered by candidates who have either withdrawn from consideration or been caught up in the vetting process.

Fannie Mae, seized by federal regulators in September, is closely overseen by federal regulators, making the chief executive's job tough to fill in the private sector. The company, therefore, appears likely to turn to an insider as Allison's replacement.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Fannie Mae was expected to name Michael J. Williams, the company's chief operating officer and a longtime executive as Allison's replacement. Fannie Mae declined to comment.

Allison's selection presents the administration with yet another challenge. If Allison is confirmed, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be without chief executives. David Moffett, formerly Freddie Mac's CEO, resigned in March.

In Allison, the White House selected a former Merrill Lynch investment banker who became chairman of the retirement fund manager TIAA-CREF. Allison served as finance chief for John McCain's 2000 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. But politically, Allison has shown himself to be bipartisan in his allegiances, contributing to both Democrats and Republicans, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Since taking over in September at Fannie Mae, where he took no salary, Allison, the son of an FBI agent, developed a reputation for open-mindedness with consumer advocates, even those who have had an a contentious relationship with the giant company.

"Mr. Allison is well-positioned to lead the TARP," said Scott Talbott, chief lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, an industry group. "He has a wealth of experience with buying, selling, protecting, and managing assets to protect the taxpayer investment and strengthen the economy."

Some industry officials said that by pulling Allison away from Fannie Mae, the White House was signaling that TARP would remain a viable component of the government's stabilization efforts for the financial industry, even in the face of hostile lawmakers and wary bankers.

Bert Ely, a banking industry consultant, said Allison has the advantages of being a known quantity to the Obama administration who is "much more of a financial heavyweight" than Kashkari.

Plus, he said, the new job would likely be more of a challenge than running Fannie and Freddie, which have been operating under tight government oversight since last September. "In this new situation, he's going to be much more of a policy maker," Ely said. "I can understand why he would want to take it."

http://money.aol.com/article/fannie-mae-ceo-new-bailout-chief/433738

~ ~ ~

NEW DISCOVERY (03-14-09): More undisclosed conflicts of interest between Steven Guttman, Mary Lou Woo, David Farmer, Robert Kihune, Sandwich Isles Communications, Bank of Hawaii, Gilbert Tam, Barack Obama, Steve Case, AOL, Dan Case, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, Punahou School, Suzanne Case, The Nature Conservancy, Citigroup, Robert Rubin, Henry Paulson, Goldman Sachs, Kamehameha Schools, etc.

March 14, 2009

Ex-CEO of Bankoh considered
for Citigroup board

By David Segal, Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Former Bank of Hawaii Chief Executive Michael O'Neill reportedly is one of the candidates being considered for a position on the board of directors at financially troubled Citigroup Inc.

O'Neill, who turned around Bankoh's lagging fortunes in less than four years before retiring at age 57 in August 2004, was mentioned along with former U.S. Bancorp CEO Jerry Grundhofer and William S. Thompson, former co-chief of bond investment manager Pimco, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper said Citigroup is expected to announce the board changes next week when it files its proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any nominees would have to be formally approved by the board and voted on by shareholders.

O'Neill took over then-called Pacific Century Financial Corp. from Larry Johnson on Nov. 3, 2000, and in less than four years transformed the bank into a more efficient operation, elevated earnings to record highs and increased shareholder value nearly fourfold.

He also became somewhat of a TV personality with the bank's "Tell Mike" campaign.

Richard Parsons, a one-time University of Hawaii student who took over as chairman last month, is one of the few Citigroup directors with experience in both banking and leading a large company.

Honolulu Star-Bulletin

~ ~ ~

NEW DISCOVERY (04-17-08):

April 17, 2008

Audit: Superferry drove
state actions

Lingle administration criticized for
bypassing environmental review

By DERRICK DePLEDGE, Honolulu Advertiser

The state may have compromised its environmental policy because of pressure from Hawaii Superferry executives who were worried about financing for the interisland ferry project, the state auditor has concluded.

The auditor found that an internal June 2005 deadline imposed by Superferry executives "drove the process" and pushed the state Department of Transportation to bypass an environmental review. The deadline, according to the auditor, was tied to Superferry's agreement with Austal USA to secure financing to pay the Mobile, Ala.-based shipbuilder to construct two high-speed ferries.

The federal Maritime Administration, which approved a $140 million loan guarantee for ferry construction, wanted confirmation that no environmental assessment of harbor improvements would be required because of the risk that environmental concerns could jeopardize port access. But Maritime Administration officials told the auditor they did not set the June 2005 deadline as a condition of the loan guarantee.

"In the end, the state may have compromised its environmental policy in favor of a private company's internal deadline," state auditor Marion Higa concluded. "It remains to be seen whether these decisions will cost the state more than its environmental policy."

The performance audit was required by state lawmakers as part of a law passed in special session last fall that allowed Superferry to resume operations while the state conducts an environmental impact statement. Legal challenges and public protests had halted ferry service after the state Supreme Court ruled in August that the state's decision to exempt $40 million in state harbor improvements from environmental review was in error.

The auditor's main finding was that the June 2005 deadline was not imposed by the federal government, but related to an agreement between Superferry and Austal. The audit questions whether the state did "sufficient due diligence to verify whether the deadline was valid for the reasons Hawaii Superferry Inc. claimed."

John Garibaldi, Superferry's chief executive officer, said yesterday that Superferry has consistently portrayed the June 2005 deadline as necessary for both federal and private equity financing. He described the agreements with the Maritime Administration, Austal USA and primary investors J.F. Lehman & Co. as interrelated.

"They were all dependent upon each other. No one stood on its own," Garibaldi said. "I think that's what we tried to express to people."

Garibaldi declined to comment on other findings in the audit because he had not yet seen a copy.

Similar accounts

The auditor's descriptions of the chain of events that led the state to exempt the project from environmental review in February 2005 are similar to reports in The Advertiser in September and January.

The auditor and the newspaper received many of the same documents, which were screened by the Lingle administration for attorney-client privilege and executive privilege before being released. The administration is preparing a privilege log for the auditor and the newspaper to describe the documents that have been withheld. The Advertiser requested the documents under the state's open-records law.

Most significantly, the auditor — like The Advertiser — emphasized a late December 2004 meeting at the governor's office that included the governor's then-chief of staff Bob Awana, department officials, and Superferry executives.

Staff in the department's harbors division had wanted to require a statewide environmental assessment of the project and to get Superferry to install a stern ramp on the vessel to give it more flexibility at Kahului Harbor on Maui. But Superferry executives, according an account by a department staffer, told the state that anything but an exemption was a deal-breaker and that they would not install any ramps.

"Decisions made: We need to pursue EXEMPTION; and HSF will not provide any ramps on vessel," one department staffer told colleagues afterward in an e-mail.

The auditor concluded that department e-mails showed a decision was made at this meeting, although who made the decision is not revealed.

"Current and former department officials and employees who worked on the ferry project were either unable to recall who made the decision at that meeting or chose to invoke executive privilege when asked who directed the team," the auditor found.

The department, in its written response to the audit, rejected any inference that a decision was made at the governor's office directing the department to pursue an exemption. The auditor countered that the department's e-mails about the meeting "are self-explanatory."

"Ultimately, a decision involving the governor's office was made that directed the 'ferry project team' to pursue scenarios that would exempt the ferry harbor work from environmental review," the auditor found.

Fukunaga's decision

Awana, who resigned last year, told The Advertiser in January that he had no role in the decision. Barry Fukunaga, who was then the department's deputy director of harbors and is now Gov. Linda Lingle's chief of staff, has said he made the decision in consultation with his construction and engineering staff and then-department director Rod Haraga. The department also consulted with the state Office of Environmental Quality Control and county planning agencies.

Fukunaga told The Advertiser in writing last year that he did not discuss his deliberations or his eventual decision with Lingle, Awana or state Attorney General Mark Bennett.

The audit is also similar to The Advertiser's reporting last September on the Maritime Administration's loan guarantee for Superferry. Maritime Administration officials told the auditor that loan guarantees are typically exempt from environmental review because they just provide financing for ship construction. The vessels typically use port facilities already in place.

Maritime Administration officials told the auditor that harbor improvements for Superferry could have triggered an environmental assessment that could have limited ferry access to ports. So the Maritime Administration added a condition that Superferry provide confirmation that no environmental assessment was required.

"MARAD's position was that it was not willing to finance the construction of any vessel that might be unable to operate because it has no port," the auditor found.

The audit recommends that the Legislature empower a state agency to enforce environmental review laws and require agencies to update exemption lists every five years. The auditor found that the public has little involvement in the exemption process other than the right to file a lawsuit to challenge an exemption.

Higa had complained to lawmakers that she missed a March deadline for a preliminary draft of the audit because of significant delays in obtaining documents from the Lingle administration. Higa repeated those complaints in the audit and said her staff would be preparing a second phase of the audit for a later report.

Higa described the Lingle administration's cooperation as "slow and incomplete, at best." The department called that description "wholly untrue" and said any delays were based on requests by Higa that the attorney general found were "unreasonably broad in scope."

The department chose not to comment on many of Higa's conclusions. Mike Formby, the department's deputy director of harbors, said last night that the administration's wants the opportunity to review the second phase of the audit.

I think what we wanted to do was reserve the right to see the full report, because it's really risky to look at half the report and respond knowing that they're out there still doing field investigation, interviews, reviewing documents," Formby said. "And basically, they look at the response you gave, and they go out and look for a way to rebut your response."

The Honolulu Advertiser

~ ~ ~

NEW DISCOVERY (04-28-08):

Living in a Zionist Government

The largest media conglomerate today is AOL-Time Warner, created when AOL bought Time Warner for $160 billion in 2000. The merger brought together Steve Case, a Gentile, as chairman of AOL-TW, and Time Warner chairman Gerald Levin, a Jew, as the CEO. Although AOL-TW isn't (yet) run entirely by Jews, the effect of this blend of leadership between a White capitalist whose biggest concern is money and a racially conscious Jew will be gradually to increase the Jewish influence within AOL. Steve Case won't complain when Gerald Levin begins hiring mostly Jews to fill key positions beneath him because Case's own profits won't be affected. After Case dies or retires, the Jews will have complete control at AOL.

Before the merger, AOL was the largest Internet service provider in America, and it will now be used as an online platform for the Jewish content from Time Warner.

Time Warner, Inc., with 1997 revenues of more than $13 billion, was the second largest of the international media leviathans when it was bought by AOL. Levin, chairman and CEO of Time Warner, had bought Turner Broadcasting Systems in 1996 from Ted Turner, who had been one of the few Gentile entrepreneurs in the media business. Ted Turner, as the company president, became the number three man at AOL-TW, after Case and Levin.

When Ted Turner, the Gentile media maverick, made a bid to buy CBS in 1985, there was panic in media boardrooms across the nation. Turner had made a fortune in advertising and then had built a successful cable-TV news network, CNN, with over 70 million subscribers. Although Turner employed a number of Jews in key executive positions in CNN and had never taken public positions contrary to Jewish interests, he is a man with a large ego and a strong personality and was regarded by Chairman William Paley and the other Jews at CBS as uncontrollable: a loose cannon who might at some time in the future turn against them. Furthermore, Jewish newsman Daniel Schorr, who had worked for Turner, publicly charged that his former boss held a personal dislike for Jews.

To block Turner's bid, CBS executives invited billionaire Jewish theater, hotel, insurance, and cigarette magnate Laurence Tisch to launch a "friendly" takeover of the company, and from 1986 until 1995 Tisch was the chairman and CEO of CBS, removing any threat of non-Jewish influence there. Subsequent efforts by Turner to acquire a major network were obstructed by Levin's Time Warner, which owns nearly 20 percent of CBS stock and has veto power over major deals. When his fellow Jew Sumner Redstone offered to buy CBS for $34.8 billion in 1999, Levin had no objection.

Thus, despite being an innovator and garnering headlines, Turner never commanded the "connections" necessary for being a true media master. He finally decided if you can't lick 'em, join 'em, and he sold out to Levin. Ted Turner is in one respect a reflection of Steve Case. Both of these White men are capitalists with no discernible degree of racial consciousness or responsibility. In July 2001, AOL Time Warner announced that yet another Jew, Walter Isaacson, formerly the editorial director of Time, Inc., will become the new chairman and CEO of CNN News Group, which oversees the news empire that Ted Turner built.

Time Warner's subsidiary HBO is the country's largest pay-TV cable network. Until the purchase in May 1998 of PolyGram by Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Warner Music was America's largest record company, with 50 labels, the biggest of which is Warner Brothers Records. Warner Music was an early promoter of "gangsta rap." Through its involvement with Interscope Records (prior to Interscope's acquisition by MCA), it helped to popularize a genre whose graphic lyrics explicitly urge Blacks to commit acts of violence against Whites.

In addition to cable and music, Time Warner is heavily involved in the production of feature films (Warner Brothers Studio, Castle Rock Entertainment, and New Line Cinema) and in publishing. Time Warner's publishing division (editor-in-chief Norman Pearlstine, a Jew) is the largest magazine publisher in the country (Time, Sports Illustrated, People, Fortune).

The second-largest media conglomerate today, with 1997 revenues of $23 billion, is the Walt Disney Company. Its chairman and CEO, Michael Eisner, is a Jew. The Disney empire, headed by a man described by one media analyst as "a control freak," includes several television production companies (Walt Disney Television, Touchstone Television, Buena Vista Television) and cable networks with more than 100 million subscribers altogether.

As for feature films, the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, under Walt Disney Studios, headed by Joseph E. Roth (also a Jew), includes Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, and Caravan Pictures. Roth founded Caravan Pictures in January 1993, and it is now headed by his fellow Jew Roger Birnbaum. Disney also owns Miramax Films, run by the Weinstein brothers, Bob and Harvey, who have produced such ultra-raunchy movies as The Crying Game, Priest, and Kids.

When the Disney Company was run by the Gentile Disney family, prior to its takeover by Eisner in 1984, it epitomized wholesome, family entertainment. While it still holds the rights to Snow White, the company under Eisner has expanded into the production of a great deal of so-called "adult" material.

In August 1995, Eisner acquired Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., which owns the ABC Television Network, which in turn owns ten TV stations outright in such big markets as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston. In addition, it has 225 affiliated stations in the United States and is part owner of several European TV companies.

ABC's cable subsidiary, ESPN, is headed by president and CEO Steven Bornstein, who is a Jew. The corporation also has a controlling share of Lifetime Television and A & E Television Networks cable companies, with 67 million subscribers each. ABC Radio Network owns 26 AM and FM stations, again in major cities such as New York, Washington, and Los Angeles, and has over 3,400 affiliates.

Although primarily a telecommunications company, Capital Cities/ABC earned over $1 billion in publishing in 1997. It owns seven daily newspapers, Fairchild Publications (Women's Wear Daily), Chilton Publications (automotive manuals), and the Diversified Publishing Group.

Number three on the list, with 1997 revenues of just over $13 billion, is Viacom, Inc., headed by Sumner Redstone (born Murray Rothstein). Viacom, which produces and distributes TV programs for the three largest networks, owns 13 television stations and 12 radio stations. It produces feature films through Paramount Pictures, headed by Jewess Sherry Lansing. Redstone acquired CBS following the December 1999 stockholders' votes at CBS and Viacom....

Continued at...

http://members.aol.com/marshal788/page1.html

~ ~ ~

NEW DISCOVERY (04-15-08):

Connecting the dots...

David Farmer...Steven Guttman...Brian Schatz...Barack Obama...Oprah Winfrey...Hillary Clinton...Linda Lingle...John McCain....AIPAC...Punahou School...Kamehameha Schools...Dee Jay Mailer...The Global Fund...Henry Paulson...George W. Bush...Haunani Apoliona...OHA...Daniel Akaka...Dan Inouye...Stephanie Case...Dan Case...Steve Case...Jeffrey Case...Aon...The Nature Conservancy...Greg Dunn...Judith Neustadter Fuqua...etc...ad infinitum...

http://www.midweek.com/content/paina/image_full/2090/

~ ~ ~ October 14, 2007

Hawaii ferry spent $175,000
on lobbying

By Rick Daysog, Honolulu Advertiser

Hawaii Superferry officials spent more than $175,000 over three years on lobbying and campaign contributions, including dozens of donations to Gov. Linda Lingle, U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie and other key state legislators.

An Advertiser computer-assisted study of state and federal campaign records shows that the Superferry, its executives and several of its board members contributed more than $39,000 since 2004 to local lawmakers and members of Hawai'i's Congressional delegation.

A review of state and federal ethics filings also found that the Superferry spent more than $136,000 since 2004 to lobby state officials and the federal government.

"You're talking about an extremely large sum of money even by national standards," said Craig Holman, a campaign finance expert with Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C.-based consumer advocacy group. "At the very least, they are trying to buy access, and at the worst they are trying to buy influence."

Superferry officials said there's no connection between the political donations and any legislative efforts pursued by the company.

The Lingle administration decided in February 2005 to exempt the Superferry project from an environmental assessment, which would take months to complete. That decision was reversed by the Hawai'i Supreme Court in August and now the ferry has been banned from operating until the assessment is finished.

Lingle and state legislators may convene a special session to rewrite the law and allow the ferry to operate while the assessment is conducted.

The 350-foot ferry was to carry passengers and vehicles between O'ahu, Maui and Kaua'i and began service in August before being shut down.

POLITICAL DONATIONS

The Advertiser's computer-assisted study examined contributions made to Lingle, Hawai'i's Congressional delegation and all 76 state legislators from 2004. The study found that Superferry executives and its board members made more than 30 political contributions between 2004 and 2007.

Here are the highlights:

Lingle's campaign received the most money from the Superferry and its officials, even though Lingle had directed campaign officials not to accept money from Superferry executives, said Miriam Hellreich, who served as the Lingle campaign's finance director from 2002 to 2006.

State campaign spending records show that Lingle's campaign received six donations totaling $12,000, including $6,000 in donations in October 2006 from Superferry Chairman and former Secretary of the U.S. Navy John Lehman and company Director Tig Krekel.

Hellreich said the Lingle campaign's policy was to refuse contributions from companies that were negotiating with the state for contracts. Lingle also told campaign staffers not to accept contributions from Superferry executives, Hellreich said.

Hellreich said staffers made "an error" by accepting the $6,000 in 2006 because negotiations between the state and Superferry were ongoing. Some campaign staffers were not aware of the internal policy against accepting money from Superferry officials, she said.

Hellreich also noted that the Lingle campaign returned about $10,000 in donations to Superferry officials in 2005 because the state and the company were still in negotiations. Hellreich said the campaign has no plans to return the 2006 donations.

"All the donations associated with people with the (Superferry) were within the law," Hellreich said.

Superferry executives and directors also contributed $9,200 to Abercrombie's campaign, including a cluster of June 2007 donations from Lehman, Krekel and Superferry President and CEO John Garibaldi.

Abercrombie said he receives support from a broad group of interests including environmental groups.

Federal Election Commission records show that the Sierra Club's political committee contributed more than $6,000 to Abercrombie's campaigns since 1998 and that the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund has donated nearly $1,000 to his campaigns since 1998....

Superferry executives made several contributions totaling $8,800 on Aug.25, 2006, and Sept. 11, 2006, to Akaka's campaign. Akaka spokesman Jesse Van Dyke said Akaka has taken no position on the issue since it doesn't involve Congressional action and is largely a state issue.

State House Speaker Calvin Say, a Superferry supporter, received $2,000 from the company on Jan. 24, 2006. That same day State. Rep. Joseph Souki received $1,000 from the Superferry. Say, D-20th (St. Louis Heights, Palolo Valley, Wilhelmina Rise), and Souki, D-8th (Wailuku, Waihe'e, Waiehu), were not available for comment....

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August 3, 2007

Timothy E. Johns Named
Bishop Museum President:

International Search Lands Damon Estate Exec

Honolulu, HI Bishop Museum has named Timothy E. Johns as President, Director and Chief Executive Officer, effective October 1, 2007 . The announcement was made today by the Chairman of the Board of Directors, David Hulihe‘e.

Johns succeeds Michael Chinaka who has been serving as Interim President since the departure of William Y. Brown in January 2007. Chinaka will resume his duties as Senior Vice President, Treasurer, and Chief Financial Officer for Bishop Museum . (Brown left the Museum to take a position as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia , PA.)...

Johns most recently served as Chief Operating Officer for the Estate of Samuel Mills Damon, a position he has held since 2000. Prior to that, he was the Chairperson of the State Department of Land and Natural Resources. He has also served as Vice-President and General Counsel for AMFAC Property Development Corporation. He has been a Lecturer in Business Law at the University of Hawai‘i and Windward Community College and has held the position of Director of Land Protection with the Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i....

Johns serves on the Board of Directors for Grove Farm Company, Inc., Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., YMCA Honolulu, Hawai‘i Nature Center, St. Andrew’s Priory School , Child and Family Services, Helping Hands Hawai‘i, Diamond Head Theatre, and Hawai‘i Public Television Foundation. In June 2005, he was named a Trustee of Parker Ranch Foundation Trust....

Johns was selected after a seven-month executive search by the international search organization Morris & Berger from Glendale , California . Founded in 1984, Morris and Berger is a generalist executive search firm that has developed a specialty practice serving the nonprofit sector, including performing and visual arts and institutions of higher learning. The company was named to the list of “50 Leading Search Firms in North America ” in The Executive Recruiter News and also named Outstanding Executive Search Firm in John Lucht’s 1995 edition of Rites of Passage at $100,000+.

Members of the Executive Search Committee included Bishop Museum Trustee Dr. Charman J. Akina (Chairman), David C. Hulihe‘e, Isabella A. Abbott, Ph.D., Haunani Apoliona, H. Mitchell D’Olier, Russell K. Okata, Gulab Watumull, Walter A. Dods, Jr., Allen Allison, Ph.D., and Amy Miller Marvin....

Johns will assume the top leadership position for the largest museum in the State of Hawai‘i in the midst of an unprecedented era of renovation and revitalization. Bishop Museum is presently undertaking a $21 million renovation of its iconic Hawaiian Hall complex with the support of world-class museum designer Ralph Appelbaum and Associates of New York. In 2005, Bishop Museum opened the Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center , an award-winning $17 million, 19,000-square-foot interactive science and cultural exploration center. Major traveling and cultural exhibitions are presented in the Castle Memorial Building year-round. Bishop Museum hosts nearly 400,000 visitors and students each year. Bishop Museum also administers the Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook, Hawai‘i and the Hawaii Maritime Center in Honolulu....

http://www.bishopmuseum.org/media/2007/pr07081.html

~ ~ ~

March 27, 2006

The Exchange

By Anthony Pignataro, Maui Times

WHO GAVE: John Garibaldi — President, Hawaii Superferry, Inc.

WHO RECEIVED: Governor Linda Lingle

AMOUNT: $2,800

Lost in all the discussion over what will happen with the state Senate’s compromise bill that requires a full Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed Superferry (at taxpayer expense) but allows Hawaii Superferry, Inc. (HSF) to start operations this July is what will happen if the bill manages to make it all the way to Governor Linda Lingle’s desk. Don’t expect it to be pretty. In addition to Garibaldi’s contribution cited above, here’s what HSF principals and investors gave to Lingle during the 2006 campaign:

• John Lehman (HSF Chairman): $3,000

• Christopher McKenna (Lehman Brothers): $2,500

• Tig Krekel (HSF Vice Chairman): $3,000

• David Cole (HSF Director/Maui Land & Pineapple President, Chairman and CEO): $4,000

• Margaret Cole (David Cole’s wife): $6,000

• Stephen Case (HSF investor): $3,000

When all that’s added to Garibaldi’s $2,800 contribution, HSF, its directors and investors gave Lingle $24,300 in total during her 2006 reelection campaign. Where I come from, that translates into the bill being Dead On Arrival when Lingle gets it.

~ ~ ~

December 11, 2005

Former shareholders sue
Steve Case, Grove Farm

By Cynthia Kaneshiro - The Garden Island

Members of the Wilcox family filed a civil suit claiming that they were allegedly "duped" into selling their Grove Farm shares to America Online co-founder Stephen Case for a fraction of the company's value.

In the lawsuit, the family members allege that Grove Farm's attorneys and members of its board of directors "betrayed Grove Farm from within" to ensure that Case, the son of the managing attorney of Grove Farm's law firm, could buy the company for $26 million in December 2000.

The Wilcox family members seek a jury trial at which they hope to be awarded compensatory damages of $750 million, plus punitive damages of $2 billion against Case, punitive damages of $2 billion against leaders of the company's law firm, and $2 billion in punitive damages against members of the company's board of directors....

In a statement sent to The Garden Island, Case's attorney, Paul Alston, responded to the lawsuits.

"These two new lawsuits recycle old and unfounded allegations against Steve Case and his companies. The merger between Grove Farm and Steve Case's company was approved by almost 99 percent of the shareholders — including the plaintiffs in these lawsuits — in a process that was thorough and appropriate," said Alston.

"This new challenge, brought by a few disgruntled investors who apparently have a bad case of sellers' remorse, has no merit. Mr. Case looks forward to being fully vindicated by the courts in both cases."

Warren Haruki, president and chief executive officer of Grove Farm, also responded by e-mail to queries from The Garden Island.

"Steve Case's investment in Grove Farm has been instrumental in solving Grove Farm's financial problems, and in helping us build a future that will be good for both the company and Kaua'i as a whole. We are truly grateful for his commitment, his vision, and his investment," said Haruki....

"This lawsuit, filed by a few disgruntled shareholders, has no merit," said Haruki. "Nonetheless, Steve and Grove Farm will have to divert the time and resources to deal with it. However, we are confident that, in the end, the shareholders' arguments will be rejected by the court."...

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs in the case controlled approximately 61,000 shares of Grove Farm, or more than 36 percent of the 171,126 shares of outstanding stock.

The lawsuit claims that leaders of Grove Farm's law firm allegedly represented both the seller and the buyer.

"Just as a person playing both sides of a chess match decides whether white or black wins, a lawyer representing two sides with directly conflicting interests controls who will come out on top," the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, the Wilcox family members allege that attorneys in the firm Case Bigelow & Lombardi helped Case buy Grove Farm.

According to the lawsuit, in 1999 and early 2000, Scott Blum, the son-in-law of Grove Farm's President and Chief Executive Officer at the time, Hugh Klebahn, allegedly attempted to take over the company with help from within.

The lawsuit alleges that a series of letters were ghost-written by attorney James Cribley and sent to Grove Farm shareholders over the signature of Klebahn and director Randal Moore in 1998, 1999, and 2000.

The lawsuit claims that the shareholders were allegedly led to believe that the company was "in dire financial straits."...

The Wilcox family members allege that the younger Case "picked up and finished off Grove Farm." They allege that he was "fed insider information by his father and by the company's CEO."

The lawsuit claims that, after the sale, the Wilcox family members found out that the fair market value of the company's 21,600 acres after debt was "in excess of $26 million," and that the true value of the company was concealed.

Members of the Wilcox family in their lawsuit allege that they were not informed of a Bank of Hawaii appraisal that was done four months before shareholders voted to sell the company. That appraisal estimated Grove Farm's land to be worth $152 million.

According to the lawsuit, the Wilcox family members allege that Case was given the appraisal, and used it in considering whether or not to buy Grove Farm.

The lawsuit alleges that members of Grove Farm's board of directors did not get the highest dollar amount for the company, and that board members misled shareholders about the company's financial standing.

According to the lawsuit, the Wilcox family members allege that Grove Farm's chief executive officer conspired with attorney Daniel Case, with other Grove Farm attorneys, and with Stephen Case, to defraud shareholders into believing that $152 per share was the highest price that could be attained, when another, superior offer was made at $170 per share.

The Wilcox family members claim that Case profited from the sale by "liquidating Grove Farm in earnest." According to the lawsuit, Case recently sold Kukui Grove Center for $63 million, and received about $26.5 million for selling 88 lots in a Lihu'e-Puhi housing project.

The family members point out that Case may expect about $54.3 million more after another 191 lots were recently put on the market.

In 2003, according to the lawsuit, Grove Farm leaders sold 10 acres to officials at The Home Depot, and brought in $10 million to $20 million to Grove Farm.

"After reaping some $150 to $200 million from selling off bits of Grove Farm, Stephen Case still has over 20,000 acres of land in Grove Farm," the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, the Wilcox family members believe that the remaining land is worth at least another $1 billion.

The Wilcox family members allege in their lawsuit that they were led to believe that, over the course of 1999 and 2000, the company "was on the brink of insolvency."

They claim that the board members allegedly withheld information for the purpose of having the shareholders vote in favor of selling the company....

www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2005/12/11/news/news02.txt

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July 14, 2005

Exclusive Resorts Purchases over $100 Million of Real Estate, Adds 46 Vacation Residences, Portfolio Grows 20%

Business Wire

DENVER & WASHINGTON -- World's Largest Luxury Residence Club Expands Presence in Los Cabos, Mexico, and Wailea, Maui; Adds New Destinations in South Beach, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale...

Exclusive Resorts, the pioneer and leader of the rapidly growing luxury residence club category, today announced the acquisition of 46 new residences in four beach destinations, a 20 percent expansion of its worldwide portfolio of multi-million-dollar vacation homes available for member use today.

The residences purchased are all affiliated with world-class branded resorts and provide Exclusive Resorts members with access to the services and amenities of these five-star developments.

These new acquisitions represent over $100 million in luxury real estate added to the club's industry-leading portfolio of vacation homes....

Wailea, Maui, Hawaii

Exclusive Resorts will develop new luxury residences in the Ho'olei development in Wailea on the southern coastline of Maui, Hawaii, next to the famed Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa. The 12 new residences take advantage of Wailea's spectacular coastline, limited rainfall and wind, nationally acclaimed beaches, and first-rate dining and shopping venues....

Scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2007, the new Wailea residences on Maui will complement the three current Exclusive Resorts destinations in Hawaii, which are among the most-requested residences and destinations in the company's portfolio. In addition to the planned development in Wailea, Maui, Exclusive Resorts plans to open additional residences in the Kohala Coast on the Big Island, bringing the total number of residences on the Big Island to 21 by the end of 2005.

~ ~ ~

April 10, 2005

Old leaders question
new ones at ML&P
By HARRY EAGAR, Maui News

KAHULUI – One way to quantify the difference between the old Maui Land & Pineapple Co. and the new ML&P is to compare two employee housing projects – Kapua Village and Pulelehua.

Kapua Village was the 11-acre employee housing project at Mahinahina that ML&P began planning in the early 1990s, receiving initial approvals in 1997. But opposition from surrounding residents blocked development for more than five years, with construction and sales finally allowed in 2003.

Pulelehua is a 312-acre project district planned as a mixed-use residential development primarily for ML&P workers, which ML&P is trying to get permitted almost 10 times as fast. New Chief Executive Officer/Chairman David Cole unveiled the concept last year and expects shovels in the ground by this time next year.

The qualitative differences are more difficult to put a finger on.

But they do not sit well with two former directors: members of the Cameron family that put together, and managed ML&P over nearly four decades.

Mary “Maizie” Cameron Sanford says, “I feel sorry for the old-timers, not just the executive ones but the workers.

“They haven’t come to me (to complain), but I have certainly heard when I have listened to them. They miss the old days. It’s not the same company anymore.”

The man who is changing it, Chairman Cole, would hardly accept such a critique without qualifications.

He is trying to restructure ML&P from the ground up. He says that when he came aboard (as president, at first) in late 2003 and did a 100-day assessment, “the company was broken in every single line of business.”

Last month, he told employees that, without changes, Kapalua Resort was “heading for extinction.”

At the same time, he contends that the business changes can be made without giving up the qualities that made ML&P, the largest company with headquarters on Maui, a community stalwart. Qualities that Sanford sums up as “integrity.”

Under her father, J. Walter Cameron, and her brother, Colin Cameron, she says, ML&P “did have integrity. It was a company to be relied upon.”

It was not unique in Hawaii, but it was a notable example of a company that made it its business to get involved in lots of things – from the founding of the J. Walter Cameron Center to the Maui Pacific Center to the Kapalua Music Festival.

Cole, who got to know Colin Cameron through The Nature Conservancy, also considers that he is carrying forward that tradition of being a corporation concerned with more than profit-and-loss statements.

Cole was recently elected chairman of The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, for example.

As ML&P chairman, Cole worked with employees to devise a written mission statement. He appears to consider it as a more formal expression of the spirit in which the Camerons directed their enterprise, even if their style was less given to formal statements and huge meetings with staff.

Cameron style was more along the lines of company picnics and connections made through generations of living together as employer-employee (or luna-worker in plantation days) on a small, isolated island....

Maizie Sanford admits that much of her distress at Cole’s direction of the company is “sentimental.”

More specific criticisms of the business policies of the new ML&P come from Sanford’s daughter, Claire Sanford.

Sanford, who lives in Massachusetts, was on the board of directors and was the only member of the old board to vote against offering the presidency to Cole, with a contract that she felt was outrageously overpriced in stock options.

Shortly after Cole came in October 2003, he discovered a box of gold pineapple pins in the corporate offices. Nobody could remember their origin, but they appeared to have been given out as retirement or longevity markers at one time.

A year ago, Cole gave the pins to some of the longest-serving Maui Pineapple Co. employees at his first big confab with the staff at Maui Arts & Cultural Center.

About the same time, at a board meeting, he gave pins to the two Sanfords.

According to Maizie Sanford, her daughter asked if that meant she “was being retired, too,” and that Cole responded along the lines of, “Of course not, you know how much we love you.”

However, Claire Sanford was not renominated when her term expired, and Maizie Sanford, who was a director emeritus (with no vote), was also let go.

Claire Sanford, in a telephone interview, said, “I can only speculate as to why I was not renominated.

“They could say they were looking for strong business background.”

Cole says: “I felt it was a corporation going stale,” so he went for a board of “broader expertise . . I didn’t see any point in continuing emeritus members.”

There were two at the time. The other was Daniel Case, a Honolulu lawyer and the father of Steve Case, Cole’s business associate and the owner of the largest block of ML&P stock.

At any rate, says Claire Sanford, “I was the only person voting against what David Cole was requesting. . . I could be looked on as somewhat of a troublemaker.”

For a while last year, the Camerons were under the impression that they would have no representation on the ML&P board as of January.

That would have been extraordinary. Steve Case owns more than 40 percent of the stock, but the Cameron family has nearly 40 percent.

In the past, it was voted together, and along with another, smaller block of stock in an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, gave the family control of the company, even if it did not hold a majority of the shares.

Although ML&P is a thinly held public company, so comparisons with more widely held companies are not necessarily valid, it would ordinarily be unusual for an ownership interest so large not to take a seat (or seats) on a corporate board, if it wanted them.

As it happened, however, at a board meeting earlier this year, Richard Cameron, who was chairman when Case bought into the company in 1999, was asked to stay on the board.

Referring to the wholesale replacement of Maui residents – both Camerons and veteran executives that he ousted – Cole said he recognized “the special needs the people of Hawaii and of Maui have from their business leaders.

“Richard is an extremely valuable board member in that respect. He’s been connected for a long time through the Kapalua Charities.”

Richard Cameron is chairman of Kapalua Charities, which raised and distributed $353,536 to community-service organizations this year through the Mercedes Championship golf tournament.

With a foot in each camp now, Richard Cameron said he did not want to discuss the internal workings of the board....

While Maizie Sanford is more concerned with the feeling of the company, Claire Sanford is skeptical of the business direction.

This has to be looked at in two parts: Maui Pine, the core company; and Kapalua Land Co., Colin Cameron’s innovation when he decided to remake a plantation into a resort and real estate enterprise.

Maui Pineapple is continuing a strategy that began under the old board, moving from canned to fresh. Only, the new Maui Pine is moving much faster.

Claire Sanford considers that pine wasn’t doing as badly as Cole has claimed. She says that if you eliminate a costly legal battle over ownership of the Maui Gold variety (won by Maui Pine) and some other expenses, pine was not in such terrible shape.

Cole shook up both his employees and the Camerons when he announced the end of pine at Honolua in West Maui.

But, after bringing in Oahu experts in growing pine for the fresh fruit trade, he changed his mind, and plantings have been expanded at Honolua.

While his predecessors at ML&P were cutting back the largely unprofitable canned product, he has slashed it ruthlessly.

At the employees’ meeting, Maui Pine President Brian Nishida said Maui Pine is abandoning its attempt to compete with foreign canned pine for places on supermarket shelves....

Continuity is not quite so linear at Kapalua, however.

The resort has lost a good deal of its eclat, especially the Kapalua Bay Hotel. ML&P, which had sold the hotel but kept the land under it, watched as a series of owners ran the property down.

Under Cole, it exchanged the land for a 51 percent interest in the land and the hotel. And then announced that it would be torn down.

That shocked many, including Maizie Sanford, who said the hotel had been her brother’s “pride and joy.”

She says she has heard, secondhand, that the employees also are “unhappy,” as well they might be, since many will be out of work from 2006 to 2008, unless Cole can find alternative work for them, which he is trying to do.

The extensive changes to the resort also shocked many, including some longtime patrons of the Kapalua Bay Hotel. Some complained when they learned that it will be replaced with a membership club, which will cost $375,000 to join.

One couple, who had honeymooned at the Kapalua Bay Hotel and returned every year, e-mailed The Maui News that they were heartsick at the thought of not being able to return.

Claire Sanford says “the jury is still out” on whether the massive reinvestment and redirection of the resort will make money.

She contends that Cole has spent so much ML&P money on things like the Hawaii Superferry (a $1 million investment) and lawsuits, not to mention high executive compensation, that it puts the company in a financially precarious position.

“It’s hard to say,” she says, because now that she is no longer on the board she no longer knows as much about the internal financial arrangements. “I am not privy to the strengths and weaknesses.”

But she worries.

She has no intention of selling her sizable stock holdings, and her mother says she “cannot bear” to think of selling her even larger block, though both could realize millions over what the stock was worth when Cole took over.

Though the price varies, the stock price has roughly doubled.

The focus on stock value – not surprising when the principal owner is the man who made a great deal of money for himself on stock price swings and lost even more for investors – disturbs Maizie Sanford.

“I was brought up to think that the important thing was that the company cared for its employees and the stock was to generate dividends,” she says. “That’s what we (the family) relied on.”

She acknowledges that “Maui Land and Pine was not paying dividends for a while,” because it was losing money most years.

As Claire Sanford points out, it still isn’t paying a dividend.

When the negotiations over hiring Cole were under way, she says, “One of the things we spoke about was we all felt very strongly that a good indicator of a strong operation is paying dividends.”

Cole “gave us the answers we were looking for,” but, “I think he was speaking out of both sides of his mouth.

“I don’t think the company in any better position now. Dividends have not been forthcoming.”

“To say raising the value on the stock market is the right thing to do – to my mind – is not it,” Maizie Sanford says.

Never sold on Steve Case, who swapped AOL stock for the giant Time-Warner company, then watched the combined companies shrink in the eyes of Wall Street to the value of what either one had been worth alone, Claire Sanford wonders what is really behind the deals of three Case-controlled companies: ML&P, Exclusive Resorts and Miraval, Life in Balance.

“It leaves you wondering who truly benefits from decisions the board is making right now,” she says. “I’m not benefitting.”

Exclusive Resorts is the outfit that sells the right to pay to stay in the yet-to-be-built Kapalua Bay Hotel (or others in its stable) for $375,000. It is a partner in rebuilding the hotel.

Miraval, an Arizona spa, is partnering with Kapalua to build three spas, also as part of the redevelopment of the old hotel.

Steve Case is the major shareholder in ML&P and the majority shareholder in both Miraval and Exclusive....

Case bought into ML&P in 1999, working out a right-of-first-refusal arrangement with the Camerons, by which he would get their shares at a negotiated price if they wished to sell. (The negotiated price turned out to be problematic, and some of the transactions went to arbitration, but neither side is commenting.)

Claire Sanford was not happy. She said the family really didn’t know Case, except as a celebrity businessman.

“He perhaps gets more press in the East, certainly a lot more negative press,” she says.

But he was presented to the family as a “white knight” who would help them out of a conundrum with the Harry & Jeannette Weinberg Foundation.

Harry Weinberg, the most successful stock speculator in Hawaii history, had been at loggerheads with Colin Cameron, a hard-nosed businessman who manipulated his board to keep Weinberg off when he thought Weinberg was out to break up the company.

But when Weinberg died, his block of stock went to the foundation, which was on excellent terms with the family and the old management.

However, Weinberg wrote a will that put his foundation in a bind for cash – it could not stand to hold such a large block of stock that was not paying dividends.

ML&P hired Dan Case, who had done legal work for it before, to investigate how to rescue the foundation without either breaking up the company or bringing in incompatible new investors.

“The Weinberg representatives were very respectful of the family’s heritage and feeling toward the island,” says Claire Sanford, whose husband served on the Weinberg board in Baltimore and grew to understand and admire its members.

She was not, and still is not, persuaded that Case or Cole have the same feelings, despite their backgrounds as “local (Oahu) boys.”

“I thought Steve Case was not really a very good alternative,” says Claire Sanford. But she said, “I didn’t have a viable alternative.” So she went along.

She describes other members of the family as “extraordinarily naive” in accepting Dan Case’s description of Steve Case as a white knight.

“I did not like the way that Steve Case’s father brought him to us,” she says. “He had been our lawyer, he knew exactly where we stood.

“We were practically naked before Steve Case, but we knew very little about him.”

In his filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Steve Case said he had no plans to change the company, and in the early years he didn’t.

In fact, says Claire Sanford, he wasn’t around and didn’t talk to people much.

But she is critical of what Dan Case did, without being specific.

“His father was extremely involved, in my opinion inappropriately, pressuring Gary Gifford to do different things.”

She says she thought Dan Case was “overstepping his bounds as a board member,” though when Dan Case became an emeritus member that slowed down.

Dan Case did not return calls for this story, nor did Gifford, who was the chief executive officer until retired – actually forced out – by Dan Case two years ago. Richard Cameron, board chairman at the time, also stepped down, although he remained as a board member.

Whether Dan Case already had Cole in mind to run ML&P is unknown, but Cole says they had been involved in several business deals together. AOL bought a software company headed by Cole, and Cole became president of AOL’s New Enterprises Group.

When Cole left AOL, a no-competition agreement kept him from returning to the digital economy, so he started an organic farm in Virginia and a small but pricey resort, Twin Farms, in Vermont.

Steve Case was his partner in some of these and other ventures, including real estate deals.

Cole, for example, is on the board of Grove Farm on Kauai, another old-time Hawaii company with lots of land and little income that Steve Case bought control of....

http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=7757

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March 8, 2006

Kapalua Bay units to sell for $4 million

By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer

KAPALUA – Kapalua Resort started fleshing out the details of its replacement for the Kapalua Bay Hotel Tuesday, including the starting price for one unit in its reincarnation: $4 million.

The hotel, built in 1979 with 196 rooms, will close on April 7 to be replaced with Kapalua Bay, which will have two parts – The Residences at Kapalua Bay and The Ritz-Carlton Club.

The 84 residences will be individually owned fee simple condominiums, with resort services available if wanted. However, 28 of these will be sold to Exclusive Resorts for use by its 1,800 members.

There will also be 62 smaller condos sold in one-twelfth portions through The Ritz-Carlton Club.

Ritz-Carlton Club will manage the whole project, including a beach club, recreation area with pool, bar and grill and groundskeeping, food and beverage and housekeeping.

David Cole, chairman of Maui Land & Pineapple Co., told a Honolulu audience Tuesday morning that, “Kapalua Bay will offer a new kind of resort experience that will place it among the world’s premier destinations.

“Luxurious residences will be complemented by the finest health and recreational amenities with unrivaled service standards.”

The target audience is millionaires wanting second homes. Robert Phillips, senior vice president of business development for The Ritz-Carlton Club, said the concept arose from a survey of 1,200 Ritz customers, who said they wanted a chance to buy vacation homes in fractions....

(Members can swap Kapalua credits for time at other Ritz-Carlton Club resorts. Kapalua is the seventh. There are four operating in Aspen and Bachelor Gulch (Vail), Colo.; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; Jupiter, Fla.; and soon in downtown San Francisco and in a remodeled classic South Beach hotel in Miami (the Seville)....

Exclusive Resorts operates differently. Its customers pay a membership fee, which gives them the right to pay for nights at a portfolio of 300 luxury residences scattered around the world.

Donn Davis, chief executive of Exclusive, cited “Kapalua’s scenic coast, the appealing residences and the first-class service of the resort” as a reason to locate nearly 10 percent of his group’s rooms there.

The 146 condominiums are being designed by WCIT Architecture in Honolulu and will be built by Nordic/PCL....

Sales of the residences will begin later this month and of the club on July 1, when final offering prices will be set.

Buyers will have access to Kapalua Resort’s spa, golf and other amenities.

The resort is also launching Kapalua Mauka, recently approved by the Maui County Council, which will provide an eventual 690 luxury homes mauka.

About 200 hotel employees will lose their jobs when the hotel closes. Kapalua Land Co. and Marriott, the parent of Ritz-Carlton, have offered some of them other jobs, when available, and have conducted job fairs. Also, the contractor has been seeking to hire local workers.

Laid-off employees will have right of first refusal for new positions at Kapalua Bay. ML&P expects overall employment at the resort to expand by hundreds of jobs and proposes its Pulelehua mixed-use residential project as a way to house the workers it will need.

Pulelehua, on a 300-acre site at Mahinahina, is undergoing review by the state Land Use Commission and county planners.

http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=17565

~ ~ ~

January 20, 2007

Morgan Stanley to acquire CNL Hotels & Resorts

CNL Hotel & Resorts Inc., the nation's second-largest hotel real estate investment trust, said Friday it agreed to a takeover offer from Morgan Stanley Real Estate valued at about $3.13 billion.

Morgan Stanley will receive a portfolio of eight luxury properties, including the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa in Maui, Hawaii; The Ritz-Carlton Orlando; and The Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Doral, Fla.

"This acquisition is a unique opportunity to acquire eight top-quality resort properties diversified across key U.S. travel destinations," said Michael Franco, managing director at Morgan Stanley Real Estate....

CNL announced Friday it will also sell 51 of its properties to Ashford Hospitality Trust for proceeds of about $2.4 billion immediately before closing the deal with Morgan Stanley Real Estate.

Orlando-based CNL said Morgan Stanley would pay $20.50 per CNL share in cash. Including assumed debt, the total transaction is valued at $6.6 billion.

~ ~ ~

Oct. 24, 1999

The McCain Irony: Reform's Champion Rakes In the Bucks

By John F. Dickerson and Viveca Novak, Time/CNN

The price of admission was $1,000 for the high-tech executives gathered last June at the Washington mansion of America Online honcho George Vradenburg. Guest of honor Senator John McCain took the balcony. "The difference between me and the Democrats," McCain joked, "is that the Democrats want everyone to have a house. I want everyone to have a house like this."

Why were all these smiling tech gurus, including AOL chairman Steve Case, clumped around McCain? Did they think the G.O.P. long shot would be the next President? Maybe, but they were more certain he will continue as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees their companies. "We can't afford not to contribute," says a lobbyist.

Is this any way for a "maverick" to behave? Last week Elizabeth Dole dropped out of the presidential race, crying poverty. Meanwhile, McCain's day job lets him play at Washington's favorite pastime, taking donations from corporations that can be made or broken by his committee.

The irony is that the champion of campaign finance reform uses the system he runs against to get the money to stay in the race. It's working. He's second in New Hampshire. It "rings a little hollow," complained Senate majority leader Trent Lott of McCain's efforts.

Guilty, says McCain. "I know there is an appearance problem. But I have never pressured a lobbyist to contribute...I am sure there are more than a few who wished I had done their bidding." To reject donations by companies he regulates--as some suggest--would put him out of competition, he says. He also says the donations are too small to be corrupting--$1,000 from individuals and $5,000 from political-action committees....

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,33170,00.html

~ ~ ~

Steve Case is expected to testify regarding his business, professional and personal relationships with Linda Lingle; Robert Kihune; John F. Lehman; Hawaii Superferry; John Garibaldi; Zephyr Insurance Co; Hawaiian Airlines; Aloha Airlines; Dan Inouye; Daniel Akaka; Norman Mineta; Timothy Dick; Hawaii Public Utilities Commission; Mark Recktenwald; Ted Liu; Martin Luna; Maui County Council; Maui Planning Commission; Duncan MacNaughton; Maui Land & Pineapple; David Cole; The Land Use Research Foundation; Hawaii Land Use Commission; Anthony Ching; Department of Land & Natural Resources; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; Kimo Kaloi; The Hawaii Nature Center; The Peregrine Fund; James Pflueger; Grove Farm; Guido Giacometti; Allan Smith; Goldman Sachs; Oprah Winfrey; Henry Paulson; The Nature Conservancy; Dee Jay Mailer; Peter Savio; Dan Case, Case Kay & Lynch, Case Bigelow & Lombardi; Suzanne Case; Ed Case; The Ocean Conservancy; Nainoa Thompson; Peter Young; Elisa Yadao; Jeffrey Case; Aon Insurance; Colbert Matsumoto; Judith Neustadter Fuqua; Punahou School; George Wackenhut; Barack Obama; Exclusive Resorts; Robbie Alm; Alexander & Baldwin; Elmer Cravalho; Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate; Hawaii BioEnergy LLC, Young Presidents’ Organization, AOL Time-Warner, Carl Icahn, Judge Alan Kay, Carol Muranaka, John McCain, David C. Farmer; James Cribley, Tim Johns, Bishop Museum, Damon Estate, Peter S. Adler, Eliot Spitzer, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Michael Moore, Patricia Case, David Fairbanks, Clyde Matsui, CVRey Graulty, and others to be named upon discovery.