While the changing of the bylaws regulating the Molokai Enterprise Community election process is possibly legal, it demonstrates a complete disregard for the democratic community process that was intended to be built into the design of the EC.

This decision by the EC to get rid of the election process shows the tremendous gap that can exist between what is morally acceptable and what is legal. Canceling the elections means that the current EC board majority will be able to use the balance of EC funds for whatever purpose it chooses, endorse projects that the community may or may not want, and withhold support from projects that oppose its will and purpose.

We have seen a pattern that began prior to last year’s EC election when the majority of the EC Board continuously refused to consider a community referendum vote to determine whether or not the community supported development at La’au.

This was followed by the EC election itself, where the EC board allowed for the appointments of Collette Machado and Cheryl Corbiel, despite overwhelming community opposition in a two-to-one victory against these two candidates.

Following the election was the decision by the majority of the EC Board to no longer allow the public to attend EC meetings.

As a result, all EC Board meetings have been held in secret since that time. This brings us to the most recent decision by the EC Board, which is to eliminate the EC election process altogether.

In all of these cases, the majority that used these power plays were those who supported the development at La’au and had close ties to Molokai Ranch.

I hope everyone’s eyes are opened to the true nature of this organization that has been politically corrupted beyond recognition. As sister entities, the Molokai Land Trust and the CDC are also the byproduct of such manipulation.