Disappeared News

It wasn't surprising to read that 150 Superferry employees and supporters were brought over from Oahu to cheer for Lingle during her confrontation on Kauai last week. That tactic has been used before in Hawaii.

I recall attending a debate between gubernatorial candidates Mazie Hirono and Linda Lingle sponsored by AARP. It appeared that Lingle supporters arrived early and took seats up front and along a window wall. Whenever Lingle said something, they began applauding and cheering, and of course, the crowd followed suit, the way they do at any political speech here or in Washington. Of course, news reports would reflect the outpouring of support without mentioning that it might be manufactured.

With PR savvy like that, it's no wonder she got elected. It's also a reason that I question assumptions of popularity. Popularity can be manufactured.

One unrelated example: a special meeting of the Hawaii Medical Service Association in 1998 was reported to have been stuffed with HMSA employees.

Members attending a special meeting of the Hawaii Medical Service Association have approved, in a series of sometimes raucous voice votes, the transfer of powers from the members to the board of directors.

The outcome, as described in the article, was that members no longer have a say in their own "mutual benefit society." That's how meeting stuffing is used. It's always unfair and underhanded.

Both HMSA and the Superferry have been outed. At least we know what they were up to.

But back to the Superferry.

 Meeting stuffing is only one aspect of high-level meddling. A Youtube video includes this fuzzy slide that shows how the whale issue has allegedly been entangled by the Superferry company.

The video is interesting enough that I'll include it here for your clicking pleasure. Please note that it is dated January 9, 2007, and so predates the current protest activity. 

Google reveals that many Superferry videos have been posted on Youtube. The protests have been well documented. Have fun browsing. Isn't the Internet wonderful? You can see and evaluate events with your own eyes instead of being fed articles and opinion as vetted by daily newspapers.