Waipahu parolees' role in campaign questioned
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
Two residents of a Waipahu "structured living" facility for probationers and parolees said the program's director threatened them with return to prison if they did not campaign for City Council candidate Ann Kobayashi, a former board member for the program.
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The men, who have since been returned to Halawa Correctional Facility for unrelated reasons, were among some 60 residents of the Fresh Start, Inc. program who regularly waved signs during Kobayashi's successful campaign. The program provides educational, vocational and counseling services to more than 100 full-time residents, many of them felons.
Ann Kobayashi said she gave $500 to the Fresh Start program after her election.
Halawa inmates Warren Kama and Justin Pires, who participated in the sign waving for Kobayashi, said Fresh Start President Ron Barker told program residents to pick up signs at her headquarters, where they would be assigned campaign locations.
Barker said he mentioned to Fresh Start residents during a group meeting that they could help wave signs for Kobayashi, but that participation was strictly up to them.
"I made it very clear it was not a mandatory requirement," Barker said. "I've known Ann for five years. She's been very supportive of our program. It was a volunteer effort by individuals, not by our organization."
Kama and Pires disagreed.
"There was nothing voluntary about it," Pires said.
"Ron Barker told us he'd send us 'back to the valley' if we didn't go wave signs," Pires said. "Back to the valley" he said, meant a resident on parole would be terminated from Fresh Start and returned to the Halawa correctional facility.
Kobayashi said she was aware that Fresh Start participants waved signs for her campaign and she welcomed the help.
Two days after she was elected to the City Council's Fifth District, replacing convicted Councilman Andy Mirikitani, Kobayashi made a $500 charitable donation to Fresh Start.
She said the donation was unrelated to the sign-waving services the Fresh Start residents provided. She said she gave another contribution on that same day to a care-giving group that volunteered on her campaign, but that donation was likewise unrelated.
"I donate to many organizations, usually in the beginning of the year and at the end of the year," Kobayashi said yesterday. "I suppose the timing could have been better — two days after the election — but there really was no connection between the contribution and the sign-waving."
Fresh Start President Barker said his facility's vehicles were used to transport as many as 60 of the residents three times a week to Kobayashi's campaign headquarters. The residents also waved signs to thank voters after Kobayashi was elected.
After Barker spoke to The Advertiser, several other Fresh Start residents called the newspaper to explain that they were not coerced into campaigning for Kobayashi.
"Ron explained to us in the house meeting that Ann Kobayashi helps people like us, she advocates for programs that are alternatives to jail," said Anna, who would not give her last name. "I was more than happy to participate. Nobody was forced to do it."
Laura Furtado, another resident, said she chose not to participate and faced no retaliation.
"We had a choice," Furtado said. "One day, I had to go to court early. I was tired when I got back, and I said I didn't want to go (wave signs). Nobody did anything to me. Mr. and Mrs. Barker have been really kind to us."
Barker said Pires violated Fresh Start rules and is bitter about being terminated from the program. He said Kama was terminated for leaving the program "to go live with his girlfriend."
Pires and Kama denied those allegations. They both say they were unfairly thrown out of Fresh Start for reasons unrelated to the Kobayashi campaign.
The head of another, larger private treatment program which provides services similar to Fresh Start questioned involving clients in political campaign activities on any basis, voluntary or not.
Larry Williams, administrator of Salvation Army Addiction Treatment Services said residents of such programs are particularly susceptible to suggestions or manipulations by the people who run the programs.
"We're very hesitant to bring clients to testify at legislative hearings, even when we're asked by the committees to bring someone," Williams said. "It's just not a good idea."
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2447.
