COUNCIL FOR NATIVE HAWAIIAN ADVANCEMENT LEADER IS UNDER-COVER OIL LOBBYIST
Long Suppressed Evidence Subject Of Investigative Article
Council For Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) CEO Robin Danner and her sister Jade, have been exposed as under-cover lobbyists, paid by Arctic Power, an influential lobbying entity for Alaska oil development. They were paid to use Native Hawaiian political forums as an avenue for protecting Senator Akaka’s vote for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), according to an investigative article published in the October 16th issue of the Hawai’i Island Journal (HIJ).
The article, “NATIVES, SENATORS, AND OIL: The connections between drilling in the ANWR and the Native Hawaiian Federal Recognition Bill,” was written by Native Hawaiian investigative reporter Anne Keala Kelly. Kelly reveals that Arctic Power paid CNHA President and CEO, Robin Danner, and her sister Jade, to interfere directly with the Native Hawaiian political process and to destroy support for the Native Alaskan Gwich’in people in their quest to prevent oil drilling in the refuge.
The story also explains how an oil-dependent Alaska Native Corporation has given money to the CNHA that went toward lobbying efforts for the Akaka-Stevens federal recognition bill.
Former Honolulu Weekly editor Curt Sanburn stated in late January, “This story can change the world”, but two weeks later censored the piece. Sanburn’s successor at the Weekly, Sanford Lung, also committed to run the article, asked the writer for a new edited draft, then refused to publish it. Kelly has published over 60 articles for the Honolulu Weekly just during the past 3 years.
“Proponents for a free Hawai’i are elated that the Hawai’i Island Journal has the courage to take on the Danners and their powerful political backers,” remarked Kai`opua Fyfe, Koani Foundation board member. “The truth is out about their real motives in backing the Akaka bill.”
For more information, call the Koani Foundation at (808) 822-7643. To view the documents cited in Kelly’s article, visit http://www.hawaii-nation.org/danner.html
