Prosecutors cite Mirikitani's notes
By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer
Honolulu Councilman Andy Mirikitani acknowledged yesterday that he accepted a $4,000 campaign contribution from a former aide, but steadfastly denied that it was part of a plan to give two former employees hefty bonuses in exchange for some form of kickbacks.
Advertiser library photo • Nov. 8, 2000
"I never told her the bonus and campaign contribution were linked — I don't know how much clearer I could have been," Mirikitani said, referring to allegations by Cindy McMillan.
Andy Mirikitani said there were no strings attached to his aide's bonus.
But in the prosecutors' efforts to discredit his testimony, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Seabright produced handwritten notes prepared by the councilman on two separate occasions last year. On the basis of those notes, Seabright suggested that Mirikitani was less than truthful when he tried to explain remarks he made to another former aide during a conversation taped by the FBI.
The three-term member of the City Council is on trial in U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor's courtroom on charges of theft, bribery, extortion, wire fraud and witness tampering. The prosecution claims Mirikitani gave two former employees nearly $26,600 in exchange for their giving him or his campaign more than $6,800.
In response to questions from his lawyer, John Edmunds, Mirikitani testified yesterday that when he met with former aide Jonn Serikawa at a Tantalus park on Feb. 10, 2000, he had not heard from anyone that the FBI was investigating the kickback allegation.
But just a few hours later, Seabright produced several pages of handwritten notes, dated Jan. 4, 2000, that make reference to calls from two television news reporters asking Mirikitani to comment on an FBI investigation into the kickback allegations.
When confronted with the notes, Mirikitani said he had not yet been told by "credible sources" before the meeting with Serikawa that the FBI was investigating.
The prosecution claims Mirikitani agreed to the Tantalus meeting with Serikawa in hopes of persuading him to back away from the kickback allegation. Mirikitani, however, said he met with Seri-
kawa solely to try to persuade him not to go through with complaints that Serikawa and another aide had filed against Mirikitani with the Honolulu Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
A hearing before the commission was scheduled for the day after Mirikitani's meeting with Serikawa at the Tantalus park. During the meeting, Mirikitani said, he became concerned that Serikawa and former aide Scott Lasater, who wasn't present, had devised a scheme to trick him into saying something damaging and that such a statement could be used against him at the EEOC hearing.
Mirikitani said that at one point in the Tantalus conversation, Serikawa told him "I can't keep ducking the FBI." The FBI fitted Serikawa with a recording device for the meeting with Mirikitani.
Mirikitani said he thought Serikawa was saying that he filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and that the FBI "could be" investigating a complaint forwarded to the federal commission.
Later, in response to questions from Seabright, Mirikitani said that although he is a lawyer, he was not necessarily aware that EEOC complaints are a matter of civil law, not criminal law, or that the FBI investigates criminal matters only.
"That's not my area of expertise,'' Mirikitani said.
Also during yesterday's court session, Mirikitani said he gave former aide McMillan a bonus of about $16,900, later asked for a campaign contribution and received the $4,000 contribution. He insisted, though, that he told McMillan that the bonus did not depend on her agreeing to give some of the money back in the form of a campaign contribution.
Both McMillan and Serikawa testified previously that Mirikitani approached them with the idea of a bonus in return for cash or a contribution.
In response to questions from Edmunds, Mirikitani said that McMillan was the only one of his employees to give him a campaign donation and that Serikawa gave him neither cash nor a campaign contribution.
Seabright, however, produced more of Mirikitani's handwritten notes prepared as a response to news reporters asking if it were proper for a councilman to accept contributions from an employee.
Mirikitani had written: "Like anyone else, my employees have a right to make campaign contributions, That's their choice."
Seabright asked Mirikitani if he was referring to both McMillan and Serikawa in the notes.
"I don't believe I was," Mirikitani said.
Why, then, did he use a plural noun and pronoun, Seabright asked.
"This was just a rough draft ... a very rough version of something that would be prepared to write up," Mirikitani said.
The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday and will likely be turned over to the jury to begin deliberations Thursday.
