Lobbying Event In Maui; The Wrong Thing At Wrong Time?

In a fit of irony, about 100 people made the trip to Hawaii to attend an in-person event for lobbyists and lawmakers to discuss restrictions during the pandemic.

Politico on Monday reported that about 100 people from four different states are in attendance at a four-day conference in Maui organized by the Independent Voter Project. The theme of the conference is how to open state economies safely during the pandemic.

Jack Pitney, a politics professor at California’s Claremont McKenna College, was quoted as saying the public reaction to such a gathering won’t be good.

“Fair to say that the timing isn’t great," he said.

Several state leaders have enacted tighter restrictions as new cases of COVID-19 continue to break records. Some of those restrictions will most certainly lead to many families cancelling their holiday travel plans -- Maui or not.

Politico added that usual attendees such as California utility Pacific Gas & Electric and the Western States Petroleum Association sat out the event.

"Is it still on?" asked Kevin Slagle from the petroleum group. "Nobody is going to Maui this year."

But they did. Dan Howle, the executive director at the Independent Voter Project, said the 18^th annual event was limited in capacity this year and followed travel guidelines for Hawaii. Attendees needed to provide proof they were negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of arrival.

"It really doesn’t matter where you’re coming from as long as you have a negative Covid test before you arrive here," Howle was quoted as saying.

Howle added there would be no happy-hour gatherings and that strict requirements are in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. County officials consented to the gathering as well.

The event attended by powerful lobbyists and politicians alike is reminiscent in ways of the controversy surrounding media icon Kim Kardashian’s private birthday party. In opulent fashion, Kardashian flew close friends and family to an undisclosed island for her 40^th birthday party. While she said people quarantined and went through health screens before attending, the trip was widely criticized online as a display of elite privilege.

California lawmakers in particularly were criticized for attending. Adam Housley, an Emmy-winning Los Angeles-based correspondent, said on Twitter there should be “outrage” in the national media over the event.

State Sen. Melissa Melendez said first California Gov. Gavin Newsom was caught attending private events, in defiance of state restrictions.

“And now, state legislators who no doubt are telling their constituents not to gather, are gathering at a tropical luxury resort,” she said through Twitter.