Liquor panel gets reminder from ethics commission
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Honolulu Liquor Commission's acceptance of more than $9,000 in gifts from hotels, restaurants and stores for an annual statewide industry conference it hosted in 2000 raised an appearance of a conflict of interest, the city Ethics Commission has ruled.
The Ethics Commission did not find that individual inspectors or employees were influenced by the gifts from the liquor licensees and did not recommend any disciplinary action. The Ethics Commission, however, said the Liquor Commission should not have anything to do with planning future conference social events where gifts are generally distributed.
The ruling comes more than two years after the Ethics Commission said it was investigating allegations based on a complaint that the Liquor Commission allowed liquor licensees to donate beer, wine, liquor, food and restaurant and hotel gift certificates.
The annual conference — hosted by county liquor commissions on a rotating basis — brings together liquor commissioners and liquor, hotel and retail industry members to discuss and present work-related programs.
The ethics ruling involved the 48th annual Conference of Hawai'i State Liquor Commissioners at the Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hawai'i Hotel in September 2000.
According to the ruling, nine of the donors had 58 matters before the Liquor Commission at the time they made the donations. Those matters ranged from approval of license transfers to fines for sales of alcoholic beverages.
But the Ethics Commission decision said it "found no documentation of preferential treatment toward these licensee-donors when comparing decisions made after the conference gifts were donated and those decisions made before the donations."
Liquor Commission Administrator Wallace Weatherwax yesterday said the liquor commission will "do our best in trying to meet the requirements that they have set."
Weatherwax also said the Ethics Commission did not find evidence that any of the gifts were solicited by liquor commissioners or their employees. Many of the gifts came through the Hawai'i Hotel Association, which is not a licensee of the commission, although its members are.
He said the gifts were part of a more than 40-year-old tradition that he described as akin to a potluck. "They (donors) were coming to the conference," he said. "They wanted to enjoy the conference, so they brought gifts for themselves and for others to share."
Weatherwax noted that the investigation was more than two years old.
Chuck Totto, executive director of the city Ethics Commission, could not be reached yesterday to explain the length of time it took to come up with the ruling.
The Liquor Commission regulates the importation and sale of liquor and has the power to deny, condition or revoke liquor licenses.
In its ruling issued last month, the Ethics Commission said gifts included $6,000 in prizes from the Hawai'i Hotel Association and some of its members across the state. That figure included $3,100 in indirect contributions coming from O'ahu hotels and restaurants regulated by the Honolulu Liquor Commission.
Honolulu retail and wholesale licensees also donated about $3,000 worth of liquor, beer, food and soft drinks, while industry volunteers donated their services to help plan and coordinate the conference, the ruling said.
The gifts made up almost 30 percent of the $32,500 conference costs, which the Ethics Commission found significant. But the gifts accepted by individual commissioners were "of relatively small value and intended for all conference attendees, not just the Liquor Commission members or staff," the ruling stated.
The decision said no one from the Liquor Commission won any door prizes, which ranged in value from $40 to $1,100.
Individual conference participants received welcome bags that included T-shirts, key chains, caps and corkscrews, the ruling said. Conference attendees also received a $100-per-night rate at the Kahala Mandarin, $85 less than the kama'aina rate.
Murray Towill, executive director of the Hawai'i Hotel Association, had not yet seen the ruling but said that unless the donor of a particular gift was identified, the commissioners might not have known who made the donation.
In 2000 he said his organization solicited donations on behalf of the conference, as well as for conferences sponsored by other counties.
"We've certainly tried to support the liquor conferences that have been held on all the islands over the years," Towill said. "I think it's very useful for the industry and the commissioners to get together and talk about issues."
The ethics decision is not related to a criminal investigation of eight Honolulu liquor inspectors indicted by a federal grand jury last year. They were accused of taking bribes from hostess bars and strip clubs between October 2000 and December 2001. Five have pleaded guilty and three are set to go to trial in November.
Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
