Donors to dine
with politicosSTRANGE bedfellows: Gov. Ben Cayetano and Mayor Jeremy Harris figuratively joined hands in the fund-raiser auction to help pay for a bone marrow transplant for Donna Collins, wife of UH football player Sam Collins. Cayetano offered dinner at Washington Place and Harris lunch for three at Murphy's Bar & Grill downtown, scene of the auction Tuesday night. Between them they raised some $1,300. In all, about $25,000 was raised for the operation, which the Collins' medical insurance will not cover ... In that same auction, Skip Naftel, owner of O'Toole's Irish Pub across the street from Murphy's, bid $665 to win a wedding package including a ceremony conducted by Capt. Dave Lyman. Nothing like starting married life at sea! Naftel's longtime lady friend, Ann Fukunaga, looked surprised when he made his bid, leading to speculation if he planned to use it himself ...
SPEAKING of bedfellows, former Gov. John Waihee and wife Lynn were dining at Palomino in Harbor Court on Bethel Street Tuesday night. On his way in, he stopped to shake hands with former Hawaii Republican Party head Jerry Jossem. Though Waihee's a Democrat and Jossem still active with the GOP, they work in the same law firm. Jossem can see into the new eatery from his office, and is a frequent luncheon customer there, as his credit card receipts attest ...
YOU think the real estate market is ebbing as money is flowing out of the state? Consider this: The Courtyards at Punahou is now completely occupied. Granted, it took three years to sell out, and there are only 34 units, but since the list price began at $1.9 million, it's worth noting that they've all be spoken for ... Courtyards are full
PROCOMM'S Melissa Chang got an up close and personal preview of Huey Lewis, who with his group "The News," blows into the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Nov. 8. She and her sister, Realtor Leburta Chock, were on a shuttle flight to Las Vegas from San Francisco, when who should be flying steerage -- I mean, coach class -- along with them but the aforementioned Lewis, a Bay area native. What was bugging Lewis was that the three showbiz geniuses who head up the new Dreamworks studio came up with such a lame first feature as "The Peacemaker" with George Clooney and Nicole Kidman. Later, the sisters found a group of expatriate Hawaii folks who call Vegas home holding a ho'olaule'a; they happily attended ...
ATTORNEY Robert Kawamura had his hands pretty full representing (in a class-action suit) hundreds of unhappy car owners whose extended warranties on new cars bought here don't pay for needed repairs. But since Island Business magazine came out with a story on the subject identifying him as a lead attorney in the lawsuit, his office has been deluged with calls from more disgruntled folks who want to be included ...
WHILE they often seem mutually exclusive, art and politics sometimes fall into that "strange bedfellows" situation that began today's column. Shen Xiaomei is a Beijing Opera star on a six-month Hawaii stay to train actor/singers for "Silang Tan Mu: Love and Loyalty." It's to be presented on the Kennedy Theatre main stage in February. But Shen Xiaomei, one of a handful of people representing arts and culture in China, had to return to China for two weeks. She's attending the 15th Party Congress, a gathering that takes place only once every five years to vote for party leaders and help decide policy ... The art of politics
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.