Geothermal developers have pumped thousands of dollars into Cal Lee’s campaign to unseat OHA trustee and former chair, Haunani Apoliona, according to a blog post by Ian Lind this week.

Innovations Development Group, and its affiliate Honua Group, are the primary backers of Lee, a well-known football coach, according to campaign spending reports. 

From Lind: 

Campaign reports show that for more than a month after Lee filed papers to run for Apoliona’s at-large seat, Honua Group and Innovations paid all of the campaign’s expenses, most of which were carried on the campaign’s books as loans.

The two companies paid to reserve the internet domain name,Votecallee.com, rent a post office box, hire a public relations consultant, order campaign signs from a company in Los Angeles, and fly them back to Honolulu, and then run Lee’s first campaign ads in the Star-Advertiser.

Here’s what Lee told Civil Beat reporter Chad Blair last month about his interest in geothermal: 

CB: Geothermal — that’s something you’ve said you are interested in. Tell me about that.

Lee: Well, I have a electricity bill, and it’s high. Now, geothermal, the energy that it has and it saves money, it’s cheaper, why wouldn’t you want to [develop it]? It’s like a vision. Are you just going to be complacent, status quo, when everything is going up, up, up, up like oil? Wouldn’t you want to have a vision? And geothermal to me would be a heck of an idea. I mean, I don’t know everything about it, but people I talk to [they say] “That’s the way to go.”

I believe that the investment that OHA — the revenue — doesn’t it come back? That they would make money? It’s an investment for OHA. To me, that’s what the OHA strategic plan was — revenue. That’s what I hear. So, this would be a heck of a thing to do. They have something right now in Puna, and the money they get now is coming back to OHA.

Now, here’s Puna. You ever been to Puna? Very rural. Wouldn’t you want to give back to the community in Puna? Help the people, whatever you can do for them.

Read Lind’s full piece here: Geothermal developers aim to unseat OHA trustee Apoliona.

You can read more on Civil Beat’s interview with Lee here.