Mark Sheehan must have written his latest letter (July 20, 2006) in such haste to criticize Nikhilananda that he didn’t notice the category Nick was voted [in Best of Maui 2006] for was “Best Political Activist”—not “Best Environmental Activist.”
Nikhilananda is not a single-issue guy like most of the folks Sheehan listed and Nick doesn’t get paid like many of those people do for their “environmental” work.
Sheehan asks, “Where has he been?” For many years Nick has been advocating for, among many issues, district voting, affordable housing, curbside recycling, benefits for substitute teachers, and more recently against the Superferry, on the vacation rentals issue, for property tax reform and for the survival of Akaku. Did you see him standing up for us “little guys” on the front page of The Maui News? Plus he has testified at countless hearings against numerous developments and many other various issues.
Nick has been a political activist for many years—before some of those Sheehan named even lived on Maui! Yes, the voters got it right in voting Nikhilananda “Best Political Activist” and with his knowledge on numerous issues he will make a great addition to the County Council.
-Mary Murphy, via email
The letter regarding “Activist of year”—actually political activist, Nick Nikhilananda—seems to think environmentalist and activist are synonyms. As an organizer of Pump Don’t Dump, which the writer didn’t include in his list of substantive issues, even though it was ”environmental issue of the year,” I count Nick as one of our key supporters for faithfully mentioning us of his Maui Talks program on Akaku, as well as stepping up and attending several demonstrations with us.
I would direct his own question, “Where has he been,” back to him, as Nick has covered all of his named substantive issues, as well as many others, on his program. I agree that many folks on his lists are excellent environmentalists, but they were not selected by the voters.
So your guy lost, and didn’t rate runner-up either. Don’t whine, work harder next time for your candidate. Nick is a good guy—go after one of the many bad ones. Mahalo.
-Mike Moran, Kihei
This is Teri Lawrence from “On The UPside With Teri.” For the wonderful people that read this great paper and hopefully listen to my show on Friday afternoons at noon on KAOI, everyone by now should know I am a very good friend of Nikhilananda’s.
We have had a very hard time hanging out together because ALL his talk is politics and all he does is attend political meetings. Not much fun for me, but on the UPside we need someone with this dedication and passion in office.
What the fuck was this letter writer thinking??? Is he saying the people that read this paper are assholes in their voting again for the third consecutive year?
This is Teri and I’m pau for now.
-Teri Lawrence, Lahaina
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