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Maui News Editorial - June 26, 2008
Developer plays state’s game

The long journey to get some sort of hospital facility on Maui's west side has moved a step or two closer to the destination charted by the West Maui Improvement Improvement Foundation and its hardworking leader Joe Pluta.

A private developer, Brian Hoyle, announced this week he had revised the application for a certificate of need in line with what the State Health Planning and Development Agency requested.

"We have tried very hard to demonstrate that the new hospital in West Maui meets all criteria identified by SHPDA as its basis for decision making," Hoyle said, adding he appreciated "SHPDA's willingness to provide guidance to assure that our application meets its requirements." 

One can only hope so. There is also a somewhat forlorn hope that the West Maui Hospital & Medical Center operation is not being designed by SHPDA. While the news is good, there's a sour aftertaste. A state bureaucracy in Honolulu is deciding what medical facilities Maui needs and will get.

Sen. Roz Baker, who apparently has been incapable of getting medical care home rule for Maui, said the "one thing that distinguishes this proposal from others is that it wants to be part of an overall health care system for Maui, working with Kaiser and with Maui Memorial and with everyone else." A cynic would say Baker is in favor of whatever goes with the status quo - the state's continued stranglehold on Maui medical care. Read full story:

MAUI NEWS EDITORIAL: MAY 22, 2008
Election ’08 presents clear choices for voters

This election is going to present a clear choice to citizens of Maui when they cast their votes for state House and state Senate seats. Are you content with the way things run now or do you think it is time for a change? More specifically, do you think decisions affecting health care, education and transportation are best left in the hands of Oahu bureaucrats or should there be a move to home rule?

If you think things are going well now, by all means return our current legislative team. They are part of the Oahu-centric Democratic machine that has wielded tightfisted control of the state.

If, however, it bothers you that suggestions by a Maui Health Care Initiative Task Force set up by the 2007 Legislature to quiet the uproar following the rejection of the Malulani plan didn’t receive even a hearing in the 2008 Legislature, take a look at the opposing candidates. If it bothers you that none of our legislative delegation even deigns to explain how that could happen, take a look at their opponents.

If it bothers you that many of our students attend classes year after year in what were supposed to be temporary buildings, take a look at the opponents. Are Oahu bureaucrats really better suited to oversee our schools than a local school board? If you believe the Oahu bureaucracy can truly increase test scores and improve facilities, vote for our current legislative delegation.

If you like the pace at which the widening of the Honoapiilani Highway between Maalaea and Lahaina is progressing — nothing in 50 years — keep our current legislative team. If the incredible speed with which the Lahaina bypass is being built impresses you, by all means vote for the incumbents. If, however, you think Maui folk might find these to be more pressing problems and address them more quickly, look at the opponents.

It really is that simple. If you believe the bureaucracies are best equipped to tackle our problems, keep the incumbents. If you think it’s time to try some home rule, check out the opponents.

Don’t buy the argument that the current delegation’s seniority and committee positions will be lost with a change. It’s OK to change horses in the middle of a stream if the horse you’re on won’t swim.

MAUI NEWS EDITORIAL: MAY 3, 2008
Legislature drops ball

The 2008 Legislature has come and gone, and so did any chance Maui would be given more 
home-rule over its medical facilities.   Read full story:

MAUI NEWS EDITORIAL: JULY 20, 2008
Editorials and health care
PUBLISHER’S NOTE 

Two questions that I receive often are: Whose opinion is that on the left side of the Opinion Page under The Maui News name? And, why are the newspaper's editorials so often about health care on Maui?

The answer to the first question is simple: The top left side of our Opinion Page is reserved for a
daily editorial. An editorial represents the newspaper's position on the issue discussed and since I'm the publisher of the newspaper, the opinion expressed is mine.

The second question is just as easy to answer: I don't understand why an attractive place to live like Maui doesn't have a 350-bed hospital with a wide variety of specialists. Read full story: 

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