Posted on: Friday, December 27, 2002
Convictions may taint City Council's legacy
• City Council inauguration ceremonies set
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
During the tenure of the nine Honolulu City Council members elected in 1998, the council created more open space on O'ahu, watched the revitalization of Waikiki, encouraged development of Kapolei's "Second City," and banned smoking in restaurants.
But highly publicized criminal cases against Andy Mirikitani and Rene Mansho may cast a pall over the legacy left by the members whose terms end Thursday.
"Once you get a black eye on something, people are always going to remember what happened," council Chairman John DeSoto once observed. "You can do 10 things good and one thing bad, and you get labeled for that."
Of the nine City Council members elected to four-year seats in 1998, only five will reach the end of their terms. Two — Donna Mercado Kim and Mufi Hannemann — resigned in 2000 to pursue higher office. And Mirikitani and Mansho left midterm to spend time behind bars for felony theft and other charges.
Mirikitani was convicted in federal court in July last year of theft, bribery, extortion, wire fraud and witness tampering after offering two former city aides bonuses if they kicked back some of the money. He is serving a four-year, three-month term in federal prison in Nevada. Mansho started serving a one-year jail term in June after pleading guilty to the theft charges of stealing at least $20,000 in city money and more than $300 of her campaign money.
Duke Bainum, DeSoto, John Henry Felix, Steve Holmes and Jon Yoshimura, all council veterans barred by term limits from running for re-election — will leave citing various accomplishments. But former Democratic Party Chairman Walter Heen said the council's image was hurt by criminal cases. "The overall perception of the council is pretty bad," he said.
Four of the five who will reach the end of their terms were plagued by nagging problems that fueled the perception of a council mired in ethical difficulties. They include Yoshimura who admitted lying about a traffic accident, Felix defying the city with his 'Aina Haina wedding chapel business, DeSoto contesting campaign spending issues and allegations that Holmes misrepresented his college record.
But despite difficulties, the five suggest they managed to serve their constituents with a variety of projects that will eventually outweigh the problems they faced.
"It's very disappointing for those of us on the council who worked hard over the years to be tainted by Andy and Rene," Holmes said. He hopes that history will note that those were individual actions and "the rest of the council as a whole did a number of good works."
The five collectively have 58 years of council experience. DeSoto leaves with 16 years in office, Felix with 14, Holmes with 12 and Bainum and Yoshimura with eight.
Six newcomers — Mike Gabbard, Donovan Dela Cruz, Charles Djou, Barbara Marshall, Rod Tam and Nestor Garcia — will join incumbents Romy Cachola, Ann Kobayashi and Gary Okino. Collectively, the nine members will have five years of experience.
Bainum, a physician, is the only one completing his term unscathed. He could not be reached for comment on his accomplishments, but his staff said he assisted the redevelopment of Waikiki and Kaimuki.
While he served as budget chairman, he was the first council member to call for an investigation into the 'Ewa Villages scandal, in which former housing official Michael Kahapea was convicted of stealing almost $5.8 million from the city.
Bainum also introduced an ethics law that set a $200 annual cap on the value of gifts given by any one source to a city official. The law was passed unanimously the day before Mansho was arraigned on felony theft charges.
Yoshimura, a former TV journalist, came to the council in 1994 and served as chairman from 1999 to 2002. His accomplishments include working to reduce crime in the Chinatown area through community policing and Weed and Seed programs and establishing a Fort Street Mall business improvement district.
"I'm very pleased that for seven of the eight years I was on the council we kept the property tax rate the same, despite the fact that from 1995 to 2002 we saw a drop in property tax revenue of almost $60 million," he said.
Yoshimura, however, found himself in the middle of controversy. He drove away after hitting a parked car near Ward Centre in July 1999 and explained that he thought he had backed into a utility pole as he left work and said he had not been drinking. He later acknowledged he had had a drink at a restaurant before he hit the car. The Hawai'i Supreme Court suspended him from practicing law for six months for lying.
Last year, Yoshimura was also ordered to pay the state Campaign Spending Commission a $3,532 fine for misuse of campaign money.
Council Chairman John DeSoto, a national motocross champion, is being investigated by the Campaign Spending Commission over vehicle related expenditures. Over a five-year period, DeSoto's vehicle expenses totalled about $85,000, and included the lease for a vehicle he used in the campaign.
Robert Watada, director of the commission, said DeSoto's campaign spending reports indicate that he used the vehicle for other things, such as council business, but the expenses were charged to the campaign. Watada said he hopes the investigation will be concluded within a month. DeSoto, who drives to City Hall from Makaha, denied any wrongdoing. He said that he used his truck only for elections, adding that he has been using a vehicle in his campaign for the past 14 years. "(The commission) should have told me a long time ago if there was a problem," he said.
Over 16 years, DeSoto fought passionately — but unsuccessfully — to protect landowners from mandatory leasehold conversion for condominiums, to make sewer and water fees equitable for constituents in his dry Leeward district and to ban alcohol in city facilities.
Felix has a long list of initiatives he saw passed into law, beginning with anti-tobacco legislation that prohibited smoking in the workplace, city vehicles, Hanauma Bay, restaurants and common areas of residential condominiums.
"The smoking bill was one of the greatest challenges and one of the most positive bills enacted into an ordinance," he said.
Recently, his mandatory leasehold conversion ordinance for condominiums adopted in 1992 has been under fire, but Felix still defends the measure. "(Residential leasehold) is an archaic system and it's hurting our economy," he said. "The whole system has to be reformed."
Once he leaves office, Felix said he will continue his work with non-profit organizations and look after his business interests, which include a controversial wedding chapel run out of his 'Aina Haina home since 1999.
Felix battled the city over whether the chapel violated city land use regulations, and in August Circuit Court Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo found that he had been violating the city's regulations, but that he could make a few changes to comply. Considering himself vindicated, Felix said he will continue to offer the weddings, and hopes the controversy will not be part of his legacy. "Hopefully I will not be remembered as 'the wedding guy,'" he said.
Holmes, a former park ranger and the city's champion for environmental issues, leaves behind more than 1,500 acres acquired since 1995 to create parks on the Windward side, including the Kahalu'u Regional Park, He'eia Kea Valley and Waiahole Beach Park. He said the council approved parks all over the island during his tenure.
Holmes fell under scrutiny over his educational credentials after University of Iowa officials said they had no record of the two degrees he claims to have earned there.
Also departing next month will be Councilwoman Darrlyn Bunda, who was appointed in August to replace Mansho.
Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
