From: HawaiiGay1@aol.com Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 17:46:31 -0400 (EDT) Subject: New Alert & ITT Supports Hawaii Civil Rights - Pulls out of Covert Council Aloha Folks, Our community has a lot of communication connections that really matter. And they are ways to bring the right information to bear on those who need to know. Enclosed in this alert is: 1. Response from ITT Sheraton cancelling their membership in the so-called Hawaii Business Health Council as a response to a review of their membership in this group after the group's taking a position to demand Governor Cayetano to veto the RB legislation. This request for review was brought to ITT Sheraton by a recipient of our original alert request!!!! 2. The second is a copy of the text sent by GLEA Foundation to the Chairman of Bank of Hawaii who helped hid the members who were behind the veto request: particularly one business that is in major conflict of interest with their board member Jack Hoag who is on the board of First Hawaiian Bank (former CEO), is major leader of the Mormon church in Hawaii, and leader founder of the Mormon group called Hawaii's Future Today anti-Gay marriage organization. 3. This is the original alert message (that has obviously begun to pay off) with additional contact information for those who want to help pursue corrective actions. #1. ITT Sheraton notification of cancellation of membership in the so-called Hawaii Business Health Council - sent to participant in our alert network - Mahalo Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 17:59:40 -0400 (Dolores M. Sanchez) Vice President, ITT Sheraton Corp. Director of Media Relations Subject: Re[2]: ITT Sheraton, Human rights violations Again, thank you for your letter to us. I spoke with my colleagues in Hawaii, and we thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. ITT Sheraton's Hawaii region recently joined the Hawaii Business Health Council, an organization we understood to invite discussion about employee/employer healthcare matters. ITT Sheraton's Hawaii Region cancelled its membership today, effective immediately. ITT Sheraton's Hawaii Region: 1) was unaware of the letter to the Governor of Hawaii or the organization's position regarding reciprocal benefits and the same-sex marriage legislation, 2) was not advised or consulted on the matter addressed in the letter, 3) has not seen the letter, 4) contacted the organization and withdrew its membership, effective today, and 5) requested that ITT Sheraton's name not be represented as a member or in support of the organization's position on the subject. As noted in my previous letter to you, ITT Sheraton Corporation, by policy and practice, has always pursued a policy of affirmative action and equal opportunity, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability or status as a disabled or Vietnam era veteran. I can assure you that the company maintains that policy and practice and will do so in the future, both in terms of its employees and in terms of its customers, partners, vendors and hotel owners. ITT Sheraton is committed to supporting and endorsing diversity and has in place a Diversity Management Task Force, accountable directly to Dan Weadock, ITT Sheraton's President and Chief Executive Officer, and to Rob Brokaw, ITT Sheraton's Senior Vice President and Director of Human Resources. We thank you for bringing this matter to our attention, and we hope that you recognize our swift and sure action as evidence that we, indeed, support diversity and take it very seriously. We also hope that you allow your SCI membership to continue to bring you the benefits of earning and redeeming travel faster than any competitive program, while enjoying stays at ITT Sheraton's 427 hotels and resorts in 62 countries. If I can answer any questions for you, feel free to contact me again. If you wish to call me rather than write, my phone number is 617/367-5481 in Boston, Massachusetts. Sincerely, Dolores Sanchez Vice President, ITT Sheraton Corp. Director of Media Relations ************* #2 - Letter from GLEA Foundation to Bank of Hawaii Chairman, Richard Dahl June 10, 1997 Mr. Richard Dahl Chairman, Bank of Hawaii FAX: (808) 521-7602 Dear Mr. Dahl: It is now June the 10, 1997, six days since I contacted your office to request information regarding Bank of Hawaii's participation in the so-called "Hawaii Business Health Council," its mission statement, its letter to Governor Cayetano requesting a veto of health-related benefits of employees and their reciprocal beneficiaries, and a list of participating businesses in this council. I have not heard a response to that request from you or anyone affiliated with Bank of Hawaii. I am surprised that you are in support of the hiding of organizational relationships of your bank with other business institutions under the heading "business health" to promote a veto of a bill that would extend quality health care to a segment of Hawaii's citizenry, complete opposition to the mission statement. Bank of Hawaii executives presented numerous media interviews regarding this demand for a veto without being willing to have your actions and the members' actions scrutinized by the public and those in the legislative process. I believe this community finds your actions deplorable and unethical at a minimum. Since there is no sense of decency to your actions other than going public without public scrutiny of the member businesses it seems that your actions are of the most deceptive type and unbefitting ethical business practices. This is additionally true of the other member businesses that we have since identified and who are identified herein: GTE Hawaiian Tel, BHP Hawaii, Hawaii National Bank, Hawaiian Tug & Barge, Corp., Hawaiian Electric Co., Hotel, Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., Liberty House, Liberty House, Hilton Hawaiian Village - Hilton Hotels, Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, ITT Sheraton Hotels, Pacific Guardian Life, Kamehameha Schools, Bishop Estate, Servco Pacific Inc., Alexander & Baldwin, Theo H Davis & Co, Ltd., American Linen, Times Super Market, Ltd., American Savings Bank, Young Brothers, Ltd., American International, AMFAC/JMB Hawaii Inc., Bank of America, Bank of Hawaii, C Brewer & Co, Ltd, Castle & Cooke, City Bank, International Savings and Loan, Crazy Shirts, Inc., Duty Free Shoppers Ltd,The Estate of James Campbell, and First Hawaiian Bank. Since my first contacting your office for the requested information, including asking you to review Bank of Hawaii's position on the request for a veto, I have individually contacted several of the legislators who were involved with the legislation to find out that they had never heard of this council. And that when they met with several representatives of this council that they were not made aware of the member businesses. Since at least one of these businesses has major a conflict of interest with its leadership and leadership of the Mormon church and stated founder and leader of Hawaii's Future Today, a major public antagonists of equal rights for Gay men and women, it becomes important to all who are watching this legislation to know that Bank of Hawaii help to hide that businesses involvement and surprising last minute challenge to a measure that has been visible in this year's legislative session since January. Surprisingly none of these member businesses had made any such challenges while it was within the legislature. At this point, I am now requesting copies of the minutes of the meetings of the Hawaii Business Health Council during this past calendar year. I believe that the information contained in the actions and deliberations of this group would be of great interest to the people of Hawaii and in particular to the people who would lost the rights to quality health care that this group is opposing. I hope you will see the merit in forwarding copies of these minutes to me at your earliest convenience. Sincerely, William E. Woods, MPH Executive Director #3. Aloha Folks, This is an information and alert. Perhaps you would like to know and help? Last week the headline of the Honolulu Advertiser screamed that a major business concern (a coalition of 30 businesses) had sent a letter to Governor Cayetano requesting that he veto HB118 (Reciprocal Beneficiaries) [domestic partnership everywhere else in the world.] The group called itself the "Hawaii Business Health Council (HBHC) " headed by its president Duane D. Feekin, Director of Human Resources for Bank of Hawaii (Hawaii's largest bank). As a public health professional and a lobbyist for more than 25 years in Hawaii I had never heard of this group. I first contacted the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce who had never heard of this group either. I then contacted Small Business Hawaii, who's Executive Director (and also Senator) Sam a stated he had never heard of this group either. Since the group was not listed with these two business groups and with telephone directory, I contacted the author of the article who told me the job title of Mr. Feekin (808) 537-8822) and his location in the headquarters of Bank of Hawaii. I then left messages and got a return call from him about two hours later. 1. He refused to tell me or give me a list of members of the "Council" that had sent the letter to the governor. 2. He refused to read or give me a copy of the letter he sent to the governor although he referred to it in this article and subsequent ones in Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Pacific Business News. 3. He stated the mission of the "Council" was "to promote quality health care for all." I was emphatic in requesting that he contact the council and request they release the names of their members and a copy of the letter. He said he would be meeting with them in the afternoon and would get back to me if they agreed to the request. I have not received a follow up call on this matter from him, his office, or other council members. I then contacted the Chairman of Bank of Hawaii, Mr. Richard Dahl at (808) 537-8360 and conveyed the same requests plus an added one to request that Bank of Hawaii review its participation in this council and to retract its support for the veto contained in their recommendation to the governor. I based this request to retract their support for that position because the stated mission of the council was purported to be to increase the quality of health care for all which was directly opposite to the request for a veto. The measure would increase health care coverage for many individuals currently not eligible for health care. I did not receive any call back from Mr. Dahl's office either. However, I did get a rather irate call from Ms. Linda Chin, Bank of Hawaii Corporate Communications Manager (808) 537-8658 that was really peeved that I did not contact her instead of other BOH personnel (I am sure she meant Mr. Dahl). I made the same requests of her and also have not received any other communications from her. One of my first steps was also to contact Governor Cayetano's office to request a copy of the letter that had been referred to in the article. I asked also if it included a list of participating businesses in the council. About an hour later the letter was located in one of the staff's offices and Faxed to me (GLEA Foundation). The thirty businesses are as follows: GTE Hawaiian Tel BHP Hawaii Hawaii National Bank Hawaiian Tug & Barge, Corp. Hawaiian Electric Co Ilikai Hotel Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. Liberty House P.O. Box 2690 Honolulu, HI 96845 E-mail feedback to: customer.service@libertyhouse.com Telephone Numbers: General (Voice) (808) 941-2345 U.S. & International Catalog Service Toll Free (Voice) (800) 654-9970 U.S. Only Catalog Service Toll Free (Fax) (800) 592-4067 U.S. Only Hilton Hawaiian Village - Hilton Hotels E-mail feedback from: http://www.hilton.com/feedback/contactus.html The Hilton Customer Service Center fax line: 1-972-788-1818 Hilton Hawaiian Village 2005 Kalia Road Honolulu, HI 96815 Tel: 808/949-4321 Fax: 808/947-7898 Outrigger Hotels & Resorts - Outrigger Hotels 2375 Kuhio Avenue, Honolulu, Hawaii 96815-2939, (808) 921-6600 E-mail feedback from: http://www.outrigger.com/guest.html Phone/fax: 24 Hour Toll-Free (US & Canada) 1-800- OUTRIGGER (688-7444) 24 Hour Toll-Free Fax (US & Canada): 1-800-622- 4852 ITT Sheraton Hotels E-mail feedback from: http://www.sheraton.com/sheraton/html/feedback/fee_emai.html Media contacts: Dolores_M._Sanchez@ittsheraton.com Pacific Guardian Life Kamehameha Schools, Bishop Estate Servco Pacific Inc. Alexander & Baldwin Theo H Davis & Co, Ltd. American Linen Times Super Market, Ltd. American Savings Bank Young Brothers, Ltd. American International AMFAC/JMB Hawaii Inc. Bank of America Bank of Hawaii C Brewer & Co, Ltd Castle & Cooke City Bank, International Savings and Loan Crazy Shirts, Inc. Duty Free Shoppers Ltd The Estate of James Campbell First Hawaiian Bank It was not at all surprising that First Hawaian Bank was participating in this group to promote the VETO. Jack Hoag, First Hawaiian's previous CEO and current Board member, is the founder and driving force behind the Mormon anti-Gay marriage attack group, Hawaii's Future Today. The body of the letter is as follows: A letter from Duane D Feekin to Ben Cayetano (all grammar and punctuation as in the letter)- The Hawaii Legislature dealt with many complex and emotional issues throughout the 1997 Session. With the very best of intentions and in a spirit of compromise, many issues have been addressed and forwarded to your office for action. This letter from the Hawaii Business Health Council (HBHC) is to recommend your veto on House Bill 118 relating to unmarried couples. The HBHC is a group of major Hawaii-based employers whose mission is to ensure both quality and efficiency in the delivery of healthcare within our state. We have a very positive relationship with all healthcare providers and insurers and work as a partner with these entities in accomplishing our mission. We seek your veto on House Bill 118 for three specific reasons: First, the bill appears seriously flawed in the language and will create much confusion and mistrust within our communities. Second, the Bill becomes effective July 1, 1997 which does not allow for adequate research to fully understand the impact on the many sectors which make up the Hawaii community. And third, the full financial impact of this Bill has yet to be determined. This Bill may expose the state's Treasury to serious negative impact during a period of time when you are attempting to manage a difficult financial situation. Governor Cayetano, it is not often that the HBHC takes a position on a legislative issue, and we regret that you have been placed in the position which may require your veto. We sincerely believe that when you examine the facts, you will agree that a veto is the appropriate action for House Bill 118. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Duane D. Feekin President I believe without exception all of these businesses maintain active professional lobbying forces that were well aware of this bill from the first week of the legislative session and its intention to cover any two people who could not otherwise marry. To wait until after there are no more hearings or public forums to promote veto of the bill because it might cause financial problems, but they have no data to suspect this, demonstrates a powerful attack with little recourse for those who support it. I am encouraging everyone in Hawaii to write Governor Cayetano and to demonstrate support for HB118 and to challenge the position of this council to have it vetoed. His address is: Governor Benjamin Cayetano, Hawaii State Capitol, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 I encourage any and all of you to contact the Bank of Hawaii and the other businesses listed an challenge their position in light of their mission to promote quality health care for all. We have not had time to gather all the contact numbers for most of the businesses, but hope to add that information in future posts. If you have contact information, please send copy of it to us. Also please send copy of any communication related to this alert to us for our archives . . . and to help know what effect we are having. Do good, Bill Woods, MPH Hawaii Gay Marriage Project GLEA Foundation A non-profit community service and advocacy agency Supported totally by donations and volunteers - no paid staff. Tax-deductible donations are encouraged to: GLEA Foundation P.O. Box 37083 Honolulu, Hawaii 96837