A lot of people got awards from the nonprofit organization African Americans on Maui at their June 30 ceremony in Kepaniwai Park in Iao Valley. The ceremony was to (finally) commemorate the historical accomplishments of African-Americans in Hawaii history in the park that already honors other ethnic groups’ culture and traditions in Maui history.
Mayor Alan Arakawa got a commendation, as did Maui County Councilmember Mike Victorino. Even county Managing Director Keith Regan, all for helping get the African-American history monument built. In fact, organization member Dr. Ayin Adams, who ran the ceremony, even mentioned that Regan would be running for Victorino’s County Council seat in the next election (term limits will prevent Victorino from running again in 2016).
If a tiny organization like African Americans on Maui can see fit to mention Regan’s candidacy (which he announced via a June 5 email from Lynn Araki-Regan, his wife/campaign manager), then how come The Maui News couldn’t bring themselves to do so in their fawning July 13 story “‘People Who Made a Difference’ are joining forces?”
It’s not like they didn’t know. The Maui News reported Regan’s candidacy on June 7; published a brief follow-up on June 17 about an upcoming speaking engagement on his candidacy; and mentioned that he was running in a July 12 story on Joe Blackburn’s announcement that he would also, once again, run Victorino’s County Council seat.
But not the paper’s July 13 story, which centered on a group that Regan and his wife created nearly five months ago to bring together people who’ve been honored in the past by The Maui News in its annual “People Who Made a Difference” issue (both Keith and Lynn have received such a distinction in the past).
“Selfless and generous Maui residents honored by The Maui News have joined forces to do more in their community,” The Maui News reported on July 13. “In February, the two gathered as many past Maui News honorees as they could find. With many honorees being heads of nonprofits and nonprofit volunteers, the group came up with holding a festival featuring Maui’s nonprofits and community resources.”
And so on. Sure, the Regans created the group before Keith’s official announcement, but doing so has proven a very shrewd move. And through Regan’s running for office next year isn’t mentioned, the story is a huge gift to his campaign, if for no other reason than to tie him name to adjectives like “selfless” and “generous.”
Photo of Keith Regan courtesy Keith Regan campaign
Comments
comments