(PNN) CHEMICAL FARMERS PLAN LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN TO CASH IN ON S-A EDITORIAL DURING UPCOMING LEGISLATIVE SESSION

CHEMICAL FARMERS PLAN LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN TO CASH IN ON S-A EDITORIAL DURING UPCOMING LEGISLATIVE SESSION


(PNN- Jan, 14) An email circulated among the leaders of the chemical "farming" industry in Hawai`i reveals an upcoming letter writing campaign to try to take advantage of a recent pro-industry editorial in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and a secret meeting between industry honchos and trade groups and the newspaper's editorial board.


The email from Hawaii Cattlemen's Council board member and past secretary Alan Gottlieb was addressed to a long list of industry insiders urging them "to ride on this momentum (of the editorial), fast" by "asking for _*all*_ of our members (Farm Bureau, HCC, Papaya, etc) to write a *150 word positive letter to the editor* *_and_* *send them to the commodity leader ~ Johnny Gordines @ *Kauai Flowers [email address omitted] (_*not*_ to newspaper yet). We will *hold those letters and submit slowly to create a _sustained_ effort. *Make sense?" (all SIC)


This email was then re-distributed to Kaua`i Farm Bureau members by it's head Jerry Ornelles who revealed the meeting with the editorial board.


The list of recipients of Gottlieb's email contained one puzzling name amongst the "usual suspects" like Hawai`i Crop Improvement Association attack dog Alicia Maluafiti, chemical factory farmer and the funder of pro-GMO advertising campaigns, Richard Ha, Hawai`i Farm Bureau President Dean Okomoto who was videoed assaulting a woman in the hall outside a hearing on GMO-labeling at last year's legislature , Ornellas, Kaua`i Farm Bureau Vice President Laurie Ho* and Pro-GMO gadfly Joni Rose.


The odd name is that of Gary Baldwin, presumably the same Gary Baldwin that was the founder and former head of the Kaua`i Economic Development Board (KEDB) who left the island in disgrace after it was revealed that he was was wanted for various bunko crimes in Colorado and Arizona. He fled Kaua`i when the news was revealed and is said to have settled in the Northwest. Baldwin had risen from a nobody to become former Mayor Marianne Kuskaka's golden boy, serving on the planning commission and working closely with the Kaua`i Visitor's Bureau while being groomed for political office.


Chris Manfredi, Jason Moniz, Lorie Farrell, Janet Ashman, Brian Miyamoto, Alex Franco, Chris English, Alan Takemoto, Laurie Ho, Eric Tanouye, Eric Weinert, Ross Sibucao and Michael Madamba round out Gottlieb's list of recipients.


The lobbying effort comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed last Friday by the Kaua`i chemical companies Dow-Syngenta and DuPont-Pioneer to try to stop Kaua`i Ordinance 960 (formerly Bill 2491) which requires disclosure of the specific types, dates and times of the use of restricted use pesticides that are used on GMOs and sets up buffer zones around things like schools, hospitals and waterways. It also institutes a study group to look at the effects of the open air experimentation of pesticides and GMOs.


The letter writing campaign will apparently be timed for publication throughout the upcoming legislative session where a handful of legislators- those who head the list of chemical company campaign cash recipients- are reportedly planning on introducing legislation to try to "pre-empt" Kaua`i Ordinance 960 along with a measure passed on Hawai`i Island that bans outdoor experimentation on foods using genetically modified organisms (GMOs), with some exceptions for those already in production like papaya.


Maui has introduced a measure similar to the one that passed on Kaua`i.

Correction: Laurie Ho is the Vice President of the Kaua`i Farm Bureau. She does not work for the state. The above post has been corrected.