Continuing his unbroken streak of absolutely jaw-dropping bad appointments, Governor Ige picked a Monsanto GMO seed corn farmer and illegal cock fighting enthusiast to represent Maui’s District 13 – a district which voted overwhelmingly in favor of the GMO Moratorium. One assumes she could not have won the seat in an open election.

Ige was given three choices. Lucienne de Naie had previously run for Maui County Council and won District 13. Lori Buchanan, popular and outstanding Moloka’i activist who works for Maui Invasive Species Committee was also one of the three finalists for the seat. But like a heat seeking missile, Ige went straight for the most inappropriate candidate, GMO and cock fighting supporter Lynn DeCoite.

Speaking of the euphemistically named “Gamefowl Association” DeCoite defiantly defended her support of illegal cock fighting in the Moloka’i Dispatch

“The Gamefowl Association [is part of] Hawaiian culture, so we incorporated them in Kuhio Day this year, bringing education and awareness to the people and preserving and perpetuating gamefowl on Molokai,” said Lynn Decoite, president of Ahapua`a Molokai and co-organizer of the event.”

The “Gamefowl Association” is the brain child of illegal cock fighting enthusiast Mike Arce and Lynn is a proud member as shown on her Facebook page. Although Lynn has never been charged with cock fighting, various DeCoites have run afoul (afowl?) of the law against cock fighting. In 2010 the Gamefowl Association attempted to get a resolution passed celebrating cock fighting.

Here is one of the DeCoites seated by a Moloka’i cock fighting pit:

The Humane Society condemns cock fighting as cruel saying:

Even birds who aren’t killed during cockfights suffer terribly. Regardless of how exhausted or injured they become (common injuries include punctured lungs, broken bones, and pierced eyes), the birds cannot escape from the fighting pit. The razor-sharp steel blades or “gaffs” (which resemble 3-inch-long, curved ice picks) tied to the birds’ legs are so sharp and dangerous that cockfighters themselves have been killed when accidentally slashed by their own birds.

Cock fighting is usually associated with illegal gambling.

Congratulations Governor Ige. It wasn’t enough to appoint another lobbyist – you had to appoint someone who advocates cruel and illegal behavior.

UPDATE: Governor Ige shown with Lynn DeCoite at the Moloka’i Gamefowl Association. Isn’t supporting organized crime an impeachable offense?

UPDATE #2: Moloka’i Gamefowl Association Facebook. Here are a few screenshots taken this morning.