Posted on: Friday, February 14, 2003
Company fined $49,300
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
The state Campaign Spending Commission has approved a $49,300 fine against Honolulu engineering company ECS Inc. for illegal campaign contributions.
The panel also approved a fine on Gov. Linda Lingle, who agreed to pay $200 to settle a complaint that she abused Maui County resources in 1998.
ECS illegally funneled money to several politicians, including nearly $30,000 to Mayor Jeremy Harris and nearly $20,000 to former Gov. Ben Cayetano, according to an agreement the company signed.
The firm gave money to family members and employees to donate in their names, circumventing a state law that limits donors to giving $6,000 to a candidate for governor, commission director Robert Watada said.
The company's attorney declined to comment. More than a dozen other firms have been fined over the past year in similar cases, and the head of one firm is awaiting sentencing on a felony money laundering charge.
The complaint against Lingle was filed last year by the state Democratic Party, and charged that Lingle inappropriately issued a news release on Maui County letterhead to criticize Cayetano during her run against him for governor in 1998.
Lingle, a Republican, was Maui's mayor. Activities that are purely related to an election campaign are supposed to remain separate from government work.
"We're not admitting any wrongdoing of any sort," Lingle's attorney, Shelton G.W. Jim On said of the fine. "But it would be an inappropriate use of taxpayers' money if we were to contest this."
Watada said there was no evidence that Lingle deliberately misused Maui resources or that the incident was part of any larger scheme.
State Democratic Party Chairwoman Lorraine Akiba said she was satisfied with the fine.
"I'm glad the Campaign Spending Commission didn't just let it go without any action," she said. "We want to make sure nobody's above the law, whether you're the governor or a Republican or whomever. I think that if Lingle's campaign didn't feel there was any violation, they would have fought it."
Lingle campaign attorney Nelson Befitel said the governor "obviously has much more important things to do right now than go to a contested cases hearing to prove her innocence."
The commission also issued a $3,000 fine to settle a case against Oda/McCarthy Architects for making improper donations to Harris and to former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono. In addition, MGD Technologies, was fined $600 for excessive donations to Harris.
The commission dismissed a complaint against Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 5, in which member Patrick Gallagher alleged that the union failed to disclose assistance to Hirono. The union was fined $250 for filing a late report, however.
Another complaint, against Sen. Cal Kawamoto, was postponed for further investigation, despite Kawamoto's insistence that it should be thrown out. Independent government watchdog George Fox alleges that Kawamoto made improper donations to charities from his campaign fund.
Kawamoto loudly declared that he had done nothing wrong, and complained that he was "being crucified in public." He was peeved that an Internet site had compared his situation with that of former City Councilwoman Rene Mansho, who is in prison on theft charges.
