Posted on: Friday, January 25, 2002
Felix report faces U.S. review
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
The federal judge overseeing the state's compliance in providing services to special-education students in the Felix case has asked the Justice Department to investigate allegations of wrongdoing.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra said yesterday that he will give federal investigators a state legislative committee report that alleges poor oversight of spending by the Department of Education and Department of Health.
The two state agencies are responsible for improving service to special-education children under the Felix consent decree, but the report said there have been instances of overcharging, waste and conflicts of interest.
The committee report made no specific charges, but the panel asked the state attorney general's office to investigate the allegations and consider criminal charges.
According to Shelby Floyd, an attorney for plaintiffs against the DOE, Ezra expressed concern about conflicts of interest that appear to exist because the state attorney general represents the two departments in the Felix litigation.
Floyd said Ezra was "referring all those issues" to the Justice Department to avoid "any improper conduct from the political arena, where it clearly is now."
She said the judge also will ask Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle to look into the allegations of wrongdoing.
U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo Jr. said Ezra has not limited the investigation to the committee report.
"He has asked us to review the entire matter, and we will do so," the Hawai'i-based federal prosecutor said.
State Attorney General Earl Anzai, disagreeing with Ezra's assessment, said there are no conflicts of interest in his office. He said his office has launched its own investigation.
Anzai said: "We don't represent any of these people individually. The only people we represent in this case are the state, the superintendent of education and the director of health, and we represent them only in their official capacity. We don't represent any of the employees that may be possible targets of a criminal investigation and we never would in a criminal matter."
Attorney Jeff Portnoy, the court-appointed special master in the Felix case, said he has asked the attorney general's office repeatedly for any information regarding misuse of government money or malfeasance. According to Portnoy, the requests have been made over seven years but the office has maintained that it had no such information.
Portnoy said he has no knowledge of any wrongdoing, but he applauded Ezra's ruling.
"The only people who have alleged wrongdoing is the special committee," he said. "But to the extent that there may be something out there and the fact that we're not getting that information from the attorney general's office despite seven years of request, I assume the judge decided that he would ask the federal agency to review it."
Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, co-chairwoman of the Joint Senate-House Felix Investigative Committee, said Ezra's referral "at least validates the fact that the committee raised issues that even causes him to pause and ponder."
"Even if he doesn't believe there is sufficient evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the fact that he sent it out for investigation to me is a good sign," said Hanabusa, D-21st (Kalaeloa, Makaha). "And it also means that the people will get some additional independent analysis of what happened."
Committee co-chairman Scott Saiki, D-20th (Kapahulu, Mo'ili'ili), was also pleased.
"I think that all the parties involved in the consent decree want to determine once and for all whether or not there is abuse and waste in the consent decree and this is one way to resolve it," he said. "Our report only highlights some of the problems that exist within the consent decree. We did not have the time or all of the resources to conduct the most thorough investigation. So hopefully the Justice Department or the prosecutor's office will be able to give even more to the investigation."
Staff writer Lynda Arakawa contributed to this report.
