Hirono loophole on fund-raisers ruled legal

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, who decided recently to run for mayor instead of governor, may end up benefiting from eight fund-raisers by next year's election, while other mayoral candidates are limited to two.

In a separate matter, state Campaign Spending Commission Executive Director Bob Watada said yesterday that more than 60 companies and individuals may have made illegal contributions to Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign.

The commission yesterday issued an advisory opinion that Hirono did not break the law by having more than two fund-raisers while running for governor. Gubernatorial candidates have no limits on fund-raising activities.

Hirono already had six fund-raisers in July 2000, said commission associate director Tony Baldomero.

Watada later said there was nothing in the law that prevented Hirono, now a mayoral candidate, from having two more fund-raisers, as long as she did not receive more than $4,000 per contributor, the limit for mayoral candidates.

"She was running for governor and she had (more than two), and those were perfectly legal," Watada said. "She's now changing office to mayor, which allows you two. So she can have two.

"The law doesn't address when somebody is running for higher office, then moving to running for a lower office," he said. "Yes, it may be unfair, but the commission can only follow the law and only ask candidates to follow the law.... We have no authority to keep her from having a fund-raiser."

Watada said the commission will suggest amendments to the Legislature this coming session "as to what remedies we would have."

Mayoral candidate Keith Kane-shiro said the loophole would encourage candidates to run for higher office before declaring a run for a lower office.

"The ruling does place us at a disadvantage," he said. "However. my campaign is a campaign for votes and not for money."

Mayoral candidates Mufi Hannemann, Duke Bainum and Frank Fasi could not be reached for comment last night.

In the Harris matter, the commission reluctantly approved a settlement that mandates a $5,500 fine from Honolulu Police Commission member and Waikiki restaurateur Alan Ho and his business partners Ben Fung and Edward Yu.

Watada said Ho had violated state campaign spending laws by contributing $15,500 to the Harris 2000 campaign and $6,000 to Harris' 1996 campaign.

Ho said he contributed to Harris' campaign as an individual and through several of his businesses, claiming no knowledge of campaign spending regulations, Watada said.

Watada said the commission could not find evidence the violation was intentional, and the settlement represented a happy medium. The commission eventually voted 3-0 to approve the settlement.

Watada said Ho is the first of more than 60 companies the commission is investigating in the Harris campaign.

Others fined for contributing more than $4,000 to the Harris campaign included AES Design Group, fined $750; Hawaii Design Associates, fined $500; Community Planning, $500; and John Farias, Jr., $500.

Harris must hand over all excess money to the Hawai'i Election Campaign trust fund.