The state Campaign Spending Commission yesterday approved a $40,000 fine for City Councilwoman Rene Mansho as part of a settlement that ends its probe of Mansho’s campaign spending law violations.
Mansho must pay $10,000 from personal accounts, but the remaining $30,000 can come from campaign money, said commission executive director Robert Watada. In return, the commission has agreed not to refer the matter for criminal prosecution.
"From 1989 to 1994, Councilmember Mansho spent over $48,000 for a wide range of personal expenses, including travel, meals, UH season football tickets, Christmas parties, council coffee clubs, seminars, library fines and other expenses unrelated to her campaign for office," Watada said.
The formal agreement includes details of Mansho’s actions. It includes her acknowledgment that in September 1999, she used council staff and resources to coordinate and organize the Aloha Scholarship Golf Tournament as a fund-raiser, without reporting any contributions or expenditures related to the tournament.
The tournament was advertised in connection with the Hawai‘i Academy of Performing Arts, and raised $21,750, including $6,500 that was dispersed in 12 scholarships.
The five-member commission yesterday voted 4 -1 to accept the settlement.
At the meeting, Commissioner Clifford Muraoka proposed that the commission reject the settlement in favor of referring it to the city prosecuting attorney, but no other commissioners supported that motion.
Afterward, Muraoka said he would have preferred to have "the prosecutor’s office look at it first" before accepting the settlement.
Commissioner Della Au questioned Watada on how the fine was determined and asked if it should be increased. "I don’t want us to appear to be just rubber-stamping something," she said.
Mansho’s attorney, Charles Price, sent out a statement declining to comment on the settlement until after tomorrow’s city Ethics Commission proceedings.
Price said Mansho would issue a statement after the Ethics Commission proceedings conclude, because the two probes "involve overlapping issues."
Price also sent the commission a letter indicating Mansho had authorized him to agree to the terms negotiated for the settlement.
Watada said the fine will basically wipe out Mansho’s remaining campaign money. He noted that a number of the violations date back more than five years, which is beyond the statute of limitations for legally pursuing the matter.
"It’s a fair settlement under the circumstances," Watada said.
Among other irregularities listed in the report, Mansho:
Spent $1,475 for breakfasts at the Hanohano Room; $5,079 for various travel expenses between 1995 and 2000; $1,560 for application fees for the Great Aloha Run; and $1,850 toward supporting "Aloha Boat Days" activities that include pier-side greetings for cruise ships.
Spent $9,841 for travel authorized by the Council to various Neighbor Island and Mainland destinations. Watada said that Mansho collected $10,661 in reimbursements from the city for the travel and lodging, then reimbursed her campaign only $2,820, leaving more than $7,000 unaccounted for.
Between 1989 and 2000, Mansho regularly used her council office and staff for campaign purposes during city working hours.
