I don’t know Carleton Ching, Governor David Ige’s controversial nominee to head the Department of Land and Natural Resources, but here’s one very interesting factoid about him.
He did not contribute to Ige’s campaign. In fact, he didn’t contribute to any candidates. Not last year, or in any recent year.
Despite being a lobbyist for several Castle & Cooke corporate entities, Ching has not contributed to any state and local political candidates, in cash or in-kind, going back to November 8, 2006, according to the online database maintained by the Campaign Spending Commission. None. Zero.
It’s possible that he contributed only small amounts that never added up to $100 to any candidate, but that’s certainly not a typical pattern for someone in his position.
A search for federal campaign contributions also came up empty.
Castle & Cooke’s corporate entities contributed $103,816 to dozens of Hawaii candidates over the same period, and other individual company employees and officers added another $20,395.93. Ching was not among them.
As to his lobbying, only limited records are currently available online. State Ethics Commission online records show Ching is registered as a lobbyist representing three C&C corporate entities. State records currently available list Ching as a lobbyist beginning in February 2013 for Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii, Inc. and Castle & Cooke, Inc. He filed to represent Castle & Cooke Properties, Inc. on January 15, 2015. However, his service for Castle & Cooke appears to extend back at least a decade, although those reports are not available online.
But Castle & Cooke reported paying Ching just $1,152 as a lobbyist over the past two years. City lobbying expenditure reports are not available online.
Is this an example of lobbying disclosures that need to be taken with a grain of salt?
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Paving over the best farmlands on the island is not out of the box thinking. Actually its pretty outdated thinking! Ching is well qualified for a job with PRP. The DLNR job requires preservation of our water, land and historic sites. Aila and island people understand this. Greedy politicians and their corporate contributors simply don’t care.
This bombshell was posted on Senator Laura Thielen’s Facebook page. When the New York Times fabricated news stories that reporter was fired. Stay tuned to see what happens here.
“Earlier this evening I was reading an article in the online Star Advertiser about Carlton Ching’s nomination as Chair of DLNR. I was astounded to see a quote from me supporting the nomination.
I had never spoken to the AP reporter who wrote the story. The quote was completely fabricated.
When I called her to ask what happened, she claimed she spoke to my mother, and issued a revised story quoting Rep. Cynthia Thielen.
I called my mom, and found out she had never spoken to the reporter either.
The Star Advertiser responsibly pulled the false quote and posted a correction.
In contrast, when I spoke to the AP editor and asked for an explanation, he took my number, got irritated with me for being upset, and hung up on me in mid-sentence.
Unbelievable.”
It’s really rich with irony to see all the recent mainland transplants and even current mainlanders and foreigners and sometime visitors lecture local residents about “malama the aina” when local families who were born and raised here and don’t intend to ever leave, have to see their kids leave for the mainland because the trust fund babies discovered Hawaii and don’t want it to change.
I suppose the developers that built the homes and hotels for these newcomers were all benevolent, and only today’s developers became evil all of a sudden after the newcomers discovered Hawaii.
The funniest reactions and comments from the online petitions are the ones who felt betrayed because they thought when they voted for Ige that they had voted for Jesus.
Most of the new development in Kaka’ako is intended for the millionaire club from Asia, not homes for local families or “work force housing”. Blaming haole transplants instead for this won’t solve the housing problem.
As I said, whether or not Ching gets the confirmation, I don’t have a dog in that fight. All that I hope for is that the people who have a say in this selection pick a candidate who is well-rounded. DLNR consists of 10 divisions with nearly 900 employees. Leading that department effectively takes someone with *exceptional* managerial and administrative skills. Could the state senators please, PLEASE keep that in mind before embracing someone who may have the seal of approval from the tree huggers, but whose organizational experience goes no further than coordinating a rally at the state capitol.
UH Alum – “Most of the new development in Kakaako is intended for the millionaire club” – Even if that were true, which it isn’t, but makes it easier not to have to think – it has nothing to do with Carleton Ching or the DLNR issue at hand.
Lot easier to retreat to the refuge of basic stereotypes rather than be challenged by dealing with the complexity of real life.