Big donors got big contracts
By Johnny Brannon and Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writers
Two of the Honolulu companies whose officials have been subpoenaed to testify before an O'ahu grand jury next month were awarded numerous non-bid city design contracts worth millions of dollars during Mayor Jeremy Harris' tenure, city purchasing records show.
R.M. Towill Corp. and Park Engineering/Paren Inc. employees and their relatives also donated a total of more than $120,000 to Harris' 2000 re-election campaign, state Campaign Spending Commission records show, and the agency has long been investigating whether those donations were improper.
Prosecutors are convening the investigative grand jury on Sept. 5 to probe the commission's allegations that Harris' campaign hid the source of donations and avoided contribution limits by attributing money to people who did not donate it.
Investigators also want to know whether any city contracts were awarded to Harris' political supporters in exchange for campaign contributions.
Four current and former members of Harris' cabinet who oversaw city contracting and finances have been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury, along with some campaign volunteers.
Harris has declined to comment on the investigation since the subpoenas were issued Monday, but his attorney said Harris would never tolerate corruption in city contracting or use taxpayer money to reward campaign contributors.
"If there's been a quid pro quo, or an allegation of a quid pro quo, it's very difficult to understand how it could work," Harris attorney William McCorriston said. "He's tried to do what's right and here he is being pummeled by the press and being under suspicion."
Harris structured the process for evaluating companies and awarding city contracts specifically to insulate decision-makers from political pressures, McCorriston said.
For non-bid design contracts, a panel of officials is to review projects and qualifications of interested companies, then submit a recommendation to the head of the city's Budget and Fiscal Services Department for final approval.
Officials from R.M Towill and Park Engineering did not return repeated calls Tuesday or yesterday, and an attorney for R.M. Towill twice declined to comment. Prosecutors said they are precluded from discussing grand jury proceedings.
The Harris administration has awarded contracts to R.M. Towill worth at least $23 million for work at the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, 'Ewa Villages revitalization project, and numerous other sewer system, canal, park and road projects, records show.
And Park Engineering has landed city contracts worth at least $5.9 million for work at city parks, the Honolulu Zoo, and various sewer, flood control, walkway and traffic projects.
People subpoenaed before investigative grand juries are not generally targeted for prosecution but may have information that could incriminate others before an indicting grand jury, according to legal experts.
Among the current and former city officials ordered to testify are Department of Design and Construction director Rae Loui; Department of Planning and Permitting director Randall Fujiki, who formerly headed Design and Construction; former Department of Budget and Fiscal Services director Caroll Takahashi; and former Finance Department director Roy Amemiya.
McCorriston said the members of Harris' administration have already answered many questions about city contracting and explained that the process is clean. Harris has repeatedly stated the same thing and has no reason to comment on the situation publicly, he said.
"The cabinet members have been talked to in the past by law enforcement officials and they've consistently stated there is no quid pro quo, and they're the best people to know," McCorriston said.
"In all honesty this grand jury investigation is nothing new, so no new response from the mayor is warranted. It's the same folks being questioned by the same people about the same subject, from the cabinet side."
He said he did not know whether the contractors had been questioned by investigators before, and that he did not know what campaign volunteers had been subpoenaed.
The Campaign Spending Commission has fined more than a dozen companies in recent months for making excess political contributions, mostly to Harris. The panel yesterday approved fines that four more firms agreed to pay as part of conciliation agreements with the commission.
Phillips, Brandt, Reddick and Associates Hawai'i Inc. was fined $3,500 for contributing $9,750 too much to Gov. Ben Cayetano and an excess $8,950 to Harris; Marc M. Siah and Associates was fined $1,000 for giving Harris $3,750 too much; Masa Fujioka and Associates was fined $1,000 for giving Harris $2,500 too much; and Diversified Energy Services was fined $500 for donating $250 too much to Harris.
Marc Siah said he had forgotten about a contribution to Harris and had not realized it fell within the same four-year election period as a subsequent donation, which together totaled more than the $4,000-per-donor limit for contributions to a mayoral candidate.
Masanobu Fujioka declined to comment, and officials from PBR and Diversified could not be reached yesterday.
The Harris administration awarded the Siah firm at least four contracts worth a total of $495,000 for work on drainage, canal, and disabled-access projects, city records show. And PBR won at least five contracts worth a total of $425,000 for work on park and landscape projects.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
