Musings: Dig In

Digging into the 2016 Kauai campaign funding reports reveals some interesting stories, which I'll be sharing over the next couple of weeks.

Let's start with Fern Rosenstiel, who is challenging Nadine Nakamura for the 14^th District House seat. Fern received just eight contributions totaling $4,881.11 — the bulk of it from off-islanders.

The top giver, at $2,000, is Jeffrey Bronfman, founder of an ayahuasca church in New Mexico that ran afoul of its neighbors, who feared “hallucinogens (DMT and other chemicals) in vomitus and diarrhea containing ayahuasca would eventually enter and contaminate the groundwater and local aquifer.”

Another $1,000 came from Keely and Pierce Brosnan, whose contributions to the community have included allowing the beach to be planted, and fertilized with chicken manure, in front of their Haena TVR, and suing the late Cathy Ham Young, beloved icon of the North Shore anti-GMO crowd, when he wanted her taro patch water for his landscaping ponds.

Another $1,000 came from Kim Coco Iwamoto, a Honolulul resident who serves on the board of HAPA, the nonprofit founded by Councilman Gary Hooser. HAPA trained Fern to run for office through its Kuleana Academy. Cozy!

Only $588.11, or about 10 percent of the total raised, came from people in Fern's district, with Koloa resident and anti-dairy advocate Bridget Hammerquist throwing in $300.

So who, exactly, does Fern purport to represent?

Moving over to her pal Hooser....

While serving on the supposedly independent Joint Fact Finding Group on Kauai agricultural pesticide use, Doug Wilmore contributed $500 to Councilman Gary Hooser — the politician who introduced the failed law that led to formation of the JFFG.

Wilmore wrote a report for the JFFG on the Waimea Canyon Middle School sickenings that countered health department findings and echoed Hooser's take on the topic. After the JFFG released its report, Wilmore gave Hooser another $100. More cozy!

But most curious of all was the discovery that of the 90 total contributions Hooser that received this year, just two came from westside (Eleele-Kekaha) residents. And those were from anti-GMO activists Linda Harmon and Gordon LaBedz of Surfrider.

Compare that to the 17 donations Hooser received from people living on other islands and the mainland.

If westsiders really believe their lives and land are being systematically poisoned by the seed companies — as Hooser claims — wouldn't you think they'd be supporting his candidacy? 

Instead, the majority of his donors reside from Kapaa-Hanalei — on the opposite side of the island from the seed farms.

So is Hooser running to represent a movement, or the people of Kauai?