Writer's Block

Nishiki accepted Dowling loan

Update: View the complete story from Thursday's paper here.


Not much I can say at this point about my story on a $100,000 loan from development firm Dowling Co. accepted by Wayne Nishiki -- the full story will be in Thursday's paper.

We heard whispers about the loan late last week, not long after it came up in a Board of Ethics meeting. I was home sick Monday but checked on the disclosure Tuesday and confirmed it was real. The story got bumped from Wednesday's paper because of the Lanai fire and in order to give Nishiki time to respond. By late morning Wednesday it was apparent so many people were talking about it that we couldn't hold the story any longer and we posted it to our web site.

The loan was disclosed on something called a "financial interest disclosure form." All state and county appointed and elected officials (and candidates) must file this form, which includes information about the person's sources of income, investments, property ownership, gifts and debts -- which is where the Dowling loan was disclosed on Nishiki's form. The county disclosures are on file at the Maui County Clerk's office once they are reviewed and accepted by the Board of Ethics (state disclosures available at the state Ethics Commission). However, because Nishiki's form is still being reviewed by the board, it is not yet available from the County Clerk.

I'll say this: I've routinely checked financial disclosure forms for years, but I've never come across anything this interesting before!