Re: Public Money to Support Private Gain


On Sun, 28 Aug 2005, John W. Bienko wrote:

I would suggest.. that the Kona Coffee Council find
an innovative way to participate in the PLK
enterprise.. thereby getting some guarranty in
sharing some of the future profits of PLK.. since PLK
obtained the $25 million bond issue with the active
support of the Government of Hawai`i... public
monies. Perhaps the legislators could insist that the
new board of directors of PLK would have an equal
number of KCC member/directors who would represent
the interests of the farmers. -- Longing to be closer


Generally, creditors of the company sit on the board to
represent their interests. Perhaps the state may have a
representative on the board since it is giving up tax
revenue from the bonds, and to insure that the company
does spend the money wisely to start and build the
company.

I would guess that the Kona farmers may want to lobby
the gov to have one of them sit in it's place on the
board. But wouldn't PLC object if it perceives that the
representative is a competitor, and that the
representative would not act in the best interest of
PLC? The Governor's rep is to insure after all that PLC
becomes a success. Your fear that PLC would not act in
the interest of Kona Coffee growers seems unreasonable
since PLC needs to buy from them.

--alvin

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