Local boy Ed Kubo stands tall as U.S. attorney
By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer
When Ed Kubo is sworn in today as U.S. attorney for Hawai'i, it will be in large part because of what a career counselor at the University of Hawai'i told him more than 25 years ago.
Advertiser library photo
"I was content to be a C student my first two years," Kubo said. "I went to see this counselor between my sophomore and junior years and told her I wanted to be an attorney. She told me, 'You don't have the grades to get into law school. You better look for another career.'
Under then-Prosecutor Chuck Marsland, Ed Kubo became instrumental in prosecuting cockfighting, prostitution, narcotics and pornography charges.
"I was devastated."
So the idea of becoming a lawyer, one that had been fueled by endless television episodes of Perry Mason and Owen Marshall, was shelved temporarily.
Kubo contemplated the notion of becoming a career soldier like his father, who retired with the rank of command sergeant major, or perhaps a police officer.
"There's nothing wrong with either one of the two callings, but I just couldn't shake the idea of becoming an attorney," the 48-year-old said. "I don't think that counselor had any idea how much she motivated me. There was this burning anger — I can do this, I kept telling myself.
"So, I put my nose to the grindstone for the next two years and applied myself."
Ed Kubo, C student, had become Ed Kubo, A student, holder of both a bachelor's degree in political science from UH and a shot at a law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.
Three years later, in 1980, law degree in hand, Kubo went to work for the Honolulu city prosecutor at the time, Togo Nakagawa.
Kubo left the prosecutor's office in 1983 and went to work for a large law firm, specializing in construction litigation and insurance defense. The reason for the change, he said, had much to do with losing a murder trial.
"I was too emotionally involved and when I lost, I was devastated," Kubo said.
Two years into his career as a private attorney, he got a call from Chuck Marsland, who had defeated Nakagawa as city prosecutor.
Ed Kubo
Born: July 9, 1953, in Honolulu.
Graduated: Waipahu High School , Class of '71; University of Hawai'i, Class of '76; University of San Diego School of Law, Class of '79.
Career: City deputy prosecutor 1980-83; private law firm 1983-85; city deputy prosecutor 1985-90; assistant U.S. attorney 1990-2001. U.S. attorney for the District of Hawai'i, Dec. 7, 2001.
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Reputation: A career prosecutor well-grounded in Hawai'i issues, methodical, a workaholic whose abilities are sometimes underestimated by opponents in the courtroom until it is too late.
"He asked me, 'When are you coming home?' It really was a home to me," Kubo said. "I was going through a lot of soul-searching. Do I really want to stay in civil litigation and make a lot of money or return to what I believe is my true calling? I really missed the interaction with the police investigators. I went back to being a prosecutor."
Under Marsland, Kubo became instrumental in prosecuting cockfighting, prostitution, narcotics and pornography charges.
Hawai'i courts in the early 1980s were establishing community standards, deciding what adults could watch in their own homes and what could be shown, and sold, in movie theaters.
"We went after the worst of the worst," Kubo said. "We shut down seven theaters in one night and seized more than 300 videotapes, many of them involving child pornography or bestiality."
In 1988, Marsland lost the election for city prosecutor to Keith Kaneshiro. Kubo stayed on and was asked to head a program targeting repeat offenders in Waikiki.
For eight months, Kubo put in 18- to 20-hour days. "We had a 98 percent conviction rate."
In early 1990, Kubo got a call from the then-U.S. Attorney Dan Bent, offering him a job. Kubo said he told Bent he definitely wanted the job, but asked if Bent could wait a few months.
Kubo wanted to finish some key city cases he was working on, notably that of Alexander "Boy" Carvalho, who was accused of beating his wife to death in Waimanalo. In addition, after 9 1/2 years as a deputy city prosecutor, Kubo was a few months shy of being vested in the city and state retirement system.
But during the latter months of 1990, Bent stepped up his recruiting efforts and in December, Kubo became an assistant U.S. attorney.
"I just kissed off the 9 1/2 years of working for the city," he said. "Every career prosecutor dreams of being in federal court.
"At that point, I felt there was nothing more in my life to achieve, I thought I had done everything that I had set out to do. I had no ambition to become the U.S. attorney for Hawai'i."
That changed, however, soon after George W. Bush was declared the winner of the 2000 presidential election and Kubo received a invitation to his inauguration. A short time later, he was approached by the Hawaii for Bush Committee, which had begun looking for candidates for the job of U.S. attorney.
Kubo said he initially declined, but later accepted the offer after talking things over with his three college-age children.
Kubo, 48, became the official successor to Steve Alm as U.S. attorney for Hawai'i after U.S. District Judge David Ezra administered the oath of office in an informal ceremony Dec. 7. Ezra will repeat the process in a formal swearing-in today.
Four items top Kubo's priority list.
He said he will spearhead efforts in Hawai'i to have all law enforcement agencies share information with one another about the threat of terrorism and what is being done to combat those threats.
President Bush's "Safe Neighborhood" project, aimed at taking guns out of the hands of repeat offenders, will get his full support, Kubo said. "So many times we hear about so and so having 40 prior arrests. There comes a time when the federal government must be willing to assist in separating violent predators from the rest of the community."
Kubo said he remains committed to drug interdiction as a top priority. For the first time, he wants to look at what role containerized ocean freight and surface shipping might play in Hawai'i drug trafficking.
Protecting tourism rounds out his list of top priorities.
"I am so acutely aware that tourism plays such an important role in terms of the number of people employed in that industry here," Kubo said.
Kubo said he won't play politics. He said he considered himself a Democrat during his early adult years, but is now a "moderate" Republican, the conversion taking place years ago when he worked for Marsland.
While his appointment is a political one, Kubo said "the Bush people" made things clear in terms of what they expect.
"They told me, 'Do your job as good as you did it before and never mind politics'," he said. "That's fine with me. I am a local boy through and through and I know my roots. I am proud to be the first public school graduate to serve as U.S. attorney for Hawai'i. I am proud to be the first U.S. attorney of Japanese ancestry and the first of Puerto Rican ancestry in Hawai'i."
