Honolulu Lite
Try to make a guy look cool and what happens? He insists he has nothing to do with an industry built on the concept that partying should be everyone's main goal in life and that there's nothing wrong with throwing handfuls of money into games of chance, no matter how bad the odds are. Sorry, Charlie, casino
lobbyist still a cool jobCharlie Toguchi wants everyone to know that he is NOT and has never been a lobbyist for pro-gambling interests. Yes, Charlie, the former head of the state Department of Education and former chief aid to Gov. Ben Cayetano did accompany the governor to the Bahamas a few years ago. And yes, Charlie's way was paid by casino resort developer Sun Interna- tional, albeit through Sun's Hawaii representative Starr Seigal Communications. Yes, Sun did and does want to build a casino resort in Hawaii. And yes, Charlie was considering becoming a lobbyist for Sun.
But Charlie, who is a lobbyist for the cruise industry and island hospitals, says he decided against signing on with Sun.
So Charlie was upset when I wrote a column recently about how cool it would be to be a gambling lobbyist, mentioning him as a local example. I wrote "Sun International must be paying Toguchi big bucks to push gambling in Hawaii."
He was my hero. I wish I could get paid to stay in swanky casino resorts with an expense account large enough to choke a race horse.
Alas, the press has made Charlie into a party boss when he isn't one. Other than his paid trip to the Bahamas, he says he has received no money from Sun and is not a gambling lobbyist. I pointed out that news stories continue to list him as a Sun lobbyist and in fact the Star-Bulletin named him as such in a recent editorial. I added that as long ago as January 2001 I wrote a column based on news reports listing him as a Sun lobbyist and never heard a peep from him or anyone to the contrary.
Well, he was peep, peep, peeping up a storm this week. He fired off a letter to the editor setting the record straight. He followed that up with a call to me. Fine. I'm easy. Man says he's not a lobbyist for a gambling corporation, he's not a lobbyist for a gambling corporation. To me, that's his loss.
Here I thought Charlie had the coolest job in the world and it turns out he is a lobbyist for hospitals. I don't even want to go there.
Now Jim Boersma, HE'S a gambling lobbyist. He's with Starr Seigal and he is Sun's main lobby man in Hawaii.
But even Jim tries to tell me that being a pro-gambling lobbyist isn't such a cool thing. He said with a straight face that being a gambling lobbyist is "no fun," even though he owns his own nightclub, the Zanzabar in Waikiki. Fine. I'm easy. Man says it's no fun wining, dining and Bahama-ing big shots and owning your own nightclub, he's ... well, I gotta go with my gut on this one ... he's lyin' through his teeth.
Alo-Ha! Friday compiles odd bits of news from Hawaii
and the world to get your weekend off to an entertaining start.
Charles Memminger also writes Honolulu Lite Mondays,
Wednesdays and Sundays. Send ideas to him at the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210,
Honolulu 96813, phone 235-6490 or e-mail cmemminger@starbulletin.com.
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