Four more firms fined for excess donations
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
The state Campaign Spending Commission fined three Honolulu companies $1,000 each yesterday for making excess campaign contributions to Mayor Jeremy Harris, and fined a fourth firm $2,500 for excess contributions to former City Councilman Mufi Hannemann.
GKO and Associates and its officers made several contributions to Harris that totaled $8,000, or $4,000 more than the legal limit to a mayoral candidate during a single four-year campaign period, according to a conciliation agreement the firm signed with the commission.
Mechanical Engineers of Hawai'i gave Harris $7,250, an excess of $3,250, and Okahara and Associates gave Harris $4,750, or $750 too much.
RMY Construction Inc. and company employees and their relatives gave Hannemann's campaign $9,000 on two occasions and on both occasions $1,000 was in "false name contributions," meaning the company reimbursed the employee, according to a conciliation agreement with the state Campaign Spending Commission.
Campaign Spending Commission director Robert Watada said all the companies cooperated fully with his investigation and that none of the people involved admitted intentionally exceeding the donation limits.
"All of them felt that what they were doing, they could do," Watada said. "None of them admitted that they intended to violate the law. When we brought it to their attention that they were over the limit, they looked at their books and said, 'Yeah, you're right.'"
The commission has fined dozens of companies over the past year for making excess contributions to Harris and other politicians. Watada said he is still investigating donations made by many additional firms, and that they will likely result in additional fines soon.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
Correction: RMY Construction Inc. and company employees and their relatives gave former City Councilman Mufi Hannemann's campaign $9,000 on two occasions and on both occasions $1,000 was in "false name contributions," meaning the company reimbursed the employee, according to a conciliation agreement with the state Campaign Spending Commission. A previous version of this story contained other information.
