Development agency defends contracting
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
The chairman of the state's Housing and Community Development Corp. defended the agency's executive director this week, saying Sharyn Miyashiro did not violate federal conflict-of-interest rules when she awarded a $768,000 nonbid contract two years ago to a company partly owned by her ex-husband.
Advertiser library photo • July 25, 2002
Wesley Segawa, chairman of the housing agency, defended Miyashiro in a letter faxed Monday to Michael Liu, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Sharyn Miyashiro awarded a federally financed housing contract to a company founded by her ex-husband.
Last month, Liu questioned Miyashiro's decision to award the federally financed contract to Punaluu Builders, Inc., a company founded and partly owned by her former husband, Dennis Mitsunaga.
Miyashiro and Mitsunaga were divorced 21 years ago but still jointly own a condominium. Terms of their divorce settlement required Mitsunaga to pay the mortgage and repair bills on the home until Miyashiro remarried. The agreement also required Mitsunaga to supply Miyashiro with a car until she remarried.
Miyashiro never remarried. She has refused to say if the terms of the divorce agreement are still in force.
Segawa said in the letter that the state attorney general's office advised him that the federal conflict-of-interest regulation which Liu said had been violated did not apply to the contract Miyashiro awarded to Punaluu Builders.
The section Liu cited concerns federal "Section 8" rental housing money which is not involved in the Punaluu Builders contract, Segawa said.
He said another section of federal conflict-of-interest regulations is more applicable to the Punaluu Builders contract, but even under that section no violation occurred because Miyashiro does not hold a financial stake in her ex-husband's company.
But the second section of federal conflict-of-interest regulations does say that an officer of a state housing agency such as Miyashiro "will neither solicit nor accept gratuities, favors or anything of monetary value from contractors (or) potential contractors."
Deputy Attorney General John Wong said yesterday that the regulation appears to be aimed at payments meant to influence the award of a contract, which would not be the case for any payments from Mitsunaga to Miyashiro per the terms of a 21-year-old divorce settlement.
Miyashiro is also asking the state Ethics Commission for a ruling on her actions in the Punaluu Builders contract award, Segawa told Liu.
She also provided the agency board with a written statement that says she has "no financial interest in any companies owned by Dennis Mitsunaga."
That statement does not say whether or not she is still receiving mortgage or home repair payments from Mitsunaga or if he is supplying her with a car.
Gov. Ben Cayetano said in July that Mitsunaga had been paying Miyashiro's home mortgage bills but the payments stopped "about two years ago" when the mortgage loan was paid off.
He said he didn't think Miyashiro had a conflict of interest in awarding the contract, which went to Punaluu Builders on Sept. 22, 2000. Miyashiro directed the staff to award it to the firm after other companies that had expressed interest in the job failed to submit bids.
Segawa is Dennis Mitsunaga's second cousin. Both men are engineers originally from Hilo and their companies have done extensive business with each other.
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2447.
