Former Big Island man resigns high-ranking post following remark about Clinton

HILO — A Big Island native and former editor of West Hawaii Today resigned from his CEO post of the U.S. Space Foundation on Monday, about three weeks after coming under fire for making crude Facebook comments about Hillary Clinton.

In February, Elliot Holokauahi Pulham linked on his Facebook page to a news article titled “Hookers for Hillary: Meet the sex workers caucusing for Clinton in Nevada.”

Before posting the link, Pulham added his own comment, which reads, “It takes a whore to know a whore? Hookers for Hillary. You can’t make this (explative) up!”

Early this month, the online news site “Nasa Watch” took a screen shot of Pulham’s comment, critiquing it as an “utterly inappropriate profane NSFW [Not Safe For Work] comments.”

Pulham later posted in response: “From time to time, I do post some irreverent things to Facebook … if something I’ve said has pierced your oh-so-tender, and oh-so-thin skin, please feel free to unfriend me!”

Pulham resigned Monday, according to the Denver Post, and was replaced on an acting basis by the nonprofit’s Chief Operating Officer Shelli Brunswick. It’s unclear if his resignation was directly related to his Facebook post. Both comments have since been removed.

Pulham worked at West Hawaii as “editor and columnist” from 1982 to 1986, according to information on his personal website. He also lists himself as a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Pulham had headed the Colorado-based Space Foundation for at least 15 years. The foundation hosts space and aerospace industry-related educational events and hosts a widely attended Space Symposium each year, according to the Denver Business Journal.

Pulham was featured at one point in a story on the UH-Manoa’s alumni website and described as “a thought leader in the space industry.”