Yoshimura to be fined $3,532
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
The state Campaign Spending Commission yesterday approved a $3,532 fine for Honolulu City Council Chairman Jon Yoshimura as a settlement in a dispute over his campaign fund expenses.
The commission raised questions over Yoshimura's expenditures and had been reviewing his campaign finances for the past two years.
Yesterday, commission executive director Bob Watada said the group found that about $3,500 of Yoshimura's campaign expenditures were "inappropriate."
Among such expenditures were tuxedo rentals for formal political and community events as well as $767 in travel expenses related to his unsuccessful attempt to bring a Smithsonian Institution exhibit to Honolulu. Yoshimura also used his campaign fund to pay $130 in parking violations, $551 for a golf tournament, and other travel expenses to attend Neighbor Island functions, which he initially described as "campaign meetings."
Yoshimura must pay the fine to the Hawai'i Election Campaign Fund out of his personal account and will propose a pay schedule, Watada said.
The commission initially raised questions concerning $16,000 in expenditures, of which $7,000 was fully justified, according to Watada. The difference between the remaining $9,000 in question and the $3,532 fine agreed to were "gray areas" in which "we gave him the benefit of the doubt," Watada said.
Yoshimura said in a letter to the commission that the settlement was fair and thanked Watada for helping him "better understand our sometimes vague spending restrictions."
"At the time the questioned expenditures were made, I truly believed they were being made for campaign purposes," Yoshimura said. He also requested the commission to consider publishing a handbook for candidates explaining campaign spending laws "in plain English."
"Examples and a list of spending and fund-raising 'dos and don'ts' would help well-intentioned candidates from making mistakes like the ones I made," he said.
Yoshimura is running for lieutenant governor and is one of seven council members prohibited by term limits from running for re-election.
Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
