Police commissioner denies violating law
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
A member of the Honolulu Police Commission is challenging allegations he violated state campaign spending laws by contributing more than $15,000 to Mayor Jeremy Harris' 2000 campaign.
The Campaign Spending Commission said Alan Ho donated $15,000 as an individual and through several of his businesses to Harris' successful re-election bid.
State spending laws prohibit an individual from contributing more than $4,000 to a single campaign.
The matter was listed on the spending commission's agenda for next week as a "conciliation agreement." But Ronald Amemiya, Ho's attorney, said there is no agreement.
Amemiya said Ho is president of the three companies that donated to the campaign, but Ho is not a majority shareholder in two of the companies, ABCER Investment and ABE Investment Group.
He said the $4,000 donation by each of the companies was legal.
Amemiya acknowledged that his client "unintentionally exceeded" the $4,000 limit by $5,500 through one company and through personal donations. But he said Ho's business has suffered greatly since Sept. 11 and asked the commission not to impose a fine.
Watada disagreed with Amemiya's interpretation of the law and said a contested case hearing will be held on the matter.
Amemiya has asked for an opinion from the attorney general's office on whether a president of a company who does not own a majority of the shares should be held accountable for the company's donations.
While Ho is challenging the commission's claims, four companies and an individual have acknowledged exceeding the limit on contributions made to the Harris campaign. The five have reached conciliation agreements that will be up for approval when the commission meets next week.
Watada said that besides the fines, which would range between $500 and $750, the Harris campaign will be asked to turn over the excess contributions to the Hawai'i Election Campaign Fund.
The excess contributions, which are in the $1,000 range, are not considered serious and mostly were oversights on the part of the contributors, Watada said. The five are AES Design Group, Hawai'i Design Associates, A.J. Construction, Community Planning and John Farias Jr.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
