Seriously, I was beginning to worry. But good ol’ embattled Maui County Councilman Wayne Nishiki has ridden to irony’s rescue. Check out this Maui News story, posted this morning, about how Nishiki now says County Board of Ethics Chairman Alan Kaufman is actually too biased towards super-developer Everett Dowling to be fair about Nishiki’s failure to disclosure a $100,000 loan from Dowling in a timely fashion during the recent election (click here to read my previous blog post on this matter, which in the world of Maui politics is about as juicy as it gets).
Anyway, here’s what Nishiki thinks, according to the Maui News:
“Nishiki also argued that Kaufman had a conflict of interest because he had accepted a plane ride from Dowling and had a ‘close personal or business relationship’ with the developer. ‘Kaufman’s suggestion that I renounce my County Council seat to permit a special election would potentially benefit his friend Everett Dowling,’ he wrote.”
You read that right: Nishiki is blasting Kaufman for being friends with Dowling. Not that Nishiki and Dowling are bestest buddies or anything… I mean, just because back in 2005 Nishiki asked Dowling for a personal loan for $100,000 doesn’t mean–oh, wait, yes it does: remember this Maui News op-ed Nishiki wrote a few months ago? The sixth paragraph mentions that Nishiki’s anti-development stances during his previous council terms never “prevented me from being friends with Mr. Dowling and he certainly came to my help as a private citizen when I needed it.”
Of course, all of this raises a key question: is there anyone in county government who isn’t friends with Everett Dowling?
Anthony Pignataro 