One great thing about termed-out Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa’s campaign for the Maui County Council’s Kahului seat is that he will not discriminate when it comes to raising money. He’ll go to a fancy French restaurant in Waikiki (which is nowhere near the council district he’s running for but whatever) like he did in April, or he’ll go to regular old office building (which is located in his district).
That’s right–on Monday, May 7, the Arakawa campaign will hold a big campaign fundraiser at Suite A-106 of the office building located at 360 Ho‘ohana St. in Kahului (click here to see the official fundraiser notice).
Now if you’re like most people, your reaction to that that last sentence can best be summed up with a single word: Wha? (okay, partial word.)
Actually, this makes perfect sense. The organizers of the fundraisers are two men well-known within the Arakawa Administration: Corporation Counsel Pat Wong and Environmental Management Director Stewart Stant. And 360 Hoohana St., Suite A-106 is Stant’s office.
Not his county office, mind you–his other office. It’s the office for his business S and S Unlimited LLC. According to this March 18 Maui News article, S and S Unlimited “is a ‘doing business as’ entity related to income he [Stant] earns with ACN, which was founded in 1993 as American Communications Network.”
ACN? You mean the multilevel marketing company that President Donald Trump endorsed? That’s not a pyramid scheme, right?
“ACN is a multilevel marketing company that generates revenue through a nonsalaried workforce of independent business owners who sell ACN products, such as cellphone, internet or TV services, and earn money derived from a pyramid-shaped commission system,” The Maui News reported on March 18.
Pyramid-shaped commission system?
“Stant said ACN is not an illegal pyramid scheme because customers get a tangible product or service, whereas an illegal scheme operates with investments of cash only,” The Maui News reported.
Well, that clears that up.
Anyway, if you want to go to this big fundraiser, be prepared to pony up at least $500. This isn’t one of those grass roots, small money operations–Arakawa really wants to stay in county government, and that means he needs all the big money he can get.
The festivities start at 6pm. Don’t be late!
Photo of Stewart Stant courtesy County of Maui
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