Two firms in Harris probe key sponsors of summit

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Two companies whose employees have been subpoenaed to testify next week before an investigative grand jury were among the top financial sponsors of a 1999 environmental conference that prosecutors have questioned City Council members about.

Contributions to Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign and the awarding of city contracts are under investigation. Advertiser library photo

The grand jury is probing campaign contributions to Mayor Jeremy Harris and the awarding of city contracts. It also has subpoenaed four past and current members of Harris' cabinet.

Officials from R.M Towill and ParEn did not return calls. Employees of both companies, and their relatives, gave a total of more than $100,000 to Harris' last two mayoral campaigns, according to state Campaign Spending Commission records. Each company has been awarded city contracts worth millions of dollars.

The commission has long been investigating whether any of the contributors were illegally reimbursed by the companies to evade limits on the amount a single person or entity can contribute to a campaign. Several other companies have been fined for giving more than the contribution limits.

The Friends group is headed by Peter Char, chief fund-raiser for Harris' re-election and gubernatorial campaigns, but the group is not incorporated as a campaign entity and has not engaged in campaign functions, its officers say. Char has been under medical treatment and was unavailable for comment.

Prosecutors have reviewed the Friends' financial records and have questioned several Council members about $100,000 in city money that went toward hosting the summit. The event allowed Harris to showcase his knowledge about environmental issues while playing host to visiting dignitaries as well as local and international contractors.

People interviewed by investigators said it did not appear that Council members are suspected of wrongdoing, but that prosecutors want to know whether it was clearly understood that the Friends would handle the city money.

Some Council members say that was not evident, but that the Council rarely questions specifically who will be awarded money appropriated for special events. William McCorriston, attorney for the Friends as well as Harris, said all city money for the environmental conference has been properly accounted for. The city's top finance official says this as well.

But Campaign Spending Commission director Robert Watada said he has unsuccessfully inquired for months about the Friends' financial activities because of the group's links to Harris campaign officials and contributors.

"We have asked, and they refuse to tell us anything," Watada said. "Some campaign contributors, as we look at them, are telling us they made contributions to that organization, so we're interested in why they made them."

Some contributors to the Friends appeared not to know the difference between making a donation to the group and to Harris' campaign because some of the same people were involved in each, Watada said.

Harris in 1999 called for the Friends to make its financial information public after other officials questioned why it should remain secret.

Harris' spokeswoman, Carol Costa, said Friday that she did not know whether the mayor wanted the group to release more recent and comprehensive lists of its contributions and expenditures. She said yesterday that such matters are up to the Friends to decide.

But Michael Shea, a tax attorney and member of the Friends' board of directors, said he had no problem releasing the information and became aware only recently that Watada had requested it.

"Nobody told me about it," he said. "I'm going to get the stuff out as fast as I can."

Shea said prosecutors had already subpoenaed "every piece of paper" the Friends has, and that the group had readily provided the documents. He said he is scheduled to be interviewed by prosecutors soon and has nothing to hide.

"I'm just going to answer any questions I have the answer to, and not answer any I don't know," he said.

Harris has repeatedly insisted that there is no connection between campaign contributions and city contracts, and officials who deal directly with the awarding of contracts say they have not been pressured by anyone to award contracts to the mayor's political supporters.

The city charter normally requires the City Council to accept any money or other gifts to the city for special events or any other purpose. But since contributions for the environmental summit went directly to the Friends, disclosure of donations and acceptance by the council were not technically necessary.

Former Mayor Frank Fasi said the lack of disclosure was wrong and that the Council should have officially accepted the donations.

"It was advertised as something the city administration was involved in directly," and contributions to the event should have been considered gifts to the city, Fasi said.

The cover of a program for the conference says it was "presented by the City and County of Honolulu" in partnership with various sponsors, but does not mention the Friends.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.