Defense Department says
it won’t help fund
isle conferenceAn association of military controllers
had a meeting planned for 2005
The U.S. Defense Department is sticking with its decision to withhold financial support from a military professional organization's meeting at the Hawaii Convention Center because the department only supports national training events within the continental 48 states.
The decision, which local tourism officials are opposing, has prompted the cancellation of the American Society of Military Comptrollers meeting scheduled for 2005 in Hawaii.
The Defense Department said yesterday that the bulk of the would-be attendees are located in the Eastern and Central United States, and the distance to Hawaii would be an inconvenience. The department also said it could not provide speakers because of the travel distance.
Tourism officials say they are concerned that the statement is an official message that Hawaii is too expensive as a meeting place. The Hawaii Convention Center has been wooing other military professional organizations, such as the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, and doesn't want to lose a piece of potential business.
The state Hawaii Tourism Authority has asked the state's congressional delegation for help, but so far, the military hasn't changed its mind.
The military couched its position yesterday by saying there is no official policy on the issue because the nonprofit society is not an official departmental organization. The Pentagon has suggested that the society hold its National Professional Development Institute training event in the Washington, D.C., area.
Tourism officials aren't giving up on the meeting of the society of military controllers, an 18,000-member educational and professional organization for military financial managers. The society was to bring an estimated 4,000 attendees to the convention center.
"We don't want to give up on it until we've exhausted every effort to change their policy," said Frank Haas, tourism marketing director for the Hawaii Tourism Authority.