Mayor seen as target of investigation

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

A string of recent arrests and the sentencing of a key figure in the wide-ranging investigation of illegal campaign contributions to Mayor Jeremy Harris appear to signal that the lengthy probe is heating up and showing results.

Prosecutors say the investigation does not concentrate unfairly on Mayor Jeremy Harris. Advertiser library photo

"Why is one guy being singled out?" said Harris attorney William McCorriston. "It's just unfair that this is being portrayed as a Harris issue, when this has been part of many election cycles historically. It's gotten to the point where it's ridiculous."

At least 11 other people have been booked on suspicion of campaign-related crimes in the last two weeks. All were released uncharged.

McCorriston labeled the flurry of arrests a "Gestapo tactic" designed to embarrass and intimidate people into providing information or entering pleas.

A police spokeswoman said it is common for suspects who are not considered a flight risk to be booked and released pending further investigation. A suspect cannot be held without charges for more than 48 hours, she said.

Police and prosecutors have never stated that the probe would focus only on money received by Harris' campaign committee. An assistant to City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said investigators are looking at all campaign spending violations.

But all seven people formally charged with participating in illegal campaign activities since the probe began 18 months ago were accused in relation to Harris' campaign. Ample evidence shows other politicians also received illegal donations.

Others received money

In the last year, the state Campaign Spending Commission has fined dozens of companies that made illicit contributions. The bulk of the money went to Harris, but not all.

The president of Honolulu engineering firm SSFM International Inc., Michael Matsumoto, was sentenced Tuesday after pleading no-contest to two charges of funneling $140,000 to Harris through employees, relatives and friends.

Matsumoto was ordered to perform 300 hours of community service and pay $15,000 to a victims restitution fund. Four other current or former SSFM officials pleaded no-contest to campaign violations earlier and were fined $1,000 each.

Campaign records show some of the people named in that probe gave heavily to other politicians during the same time period. No one has been charged with criminal wrongdoing in relation to money that went to the others.

State Campaign Spending Commission director Robert Watada said some of those contributions were clearly illegal, however, and that he would seek a "substantial" fine against SSFM based on money that went to several candidates besides Harris. "There were quite a few," he said.

Focus on mayor denied

Deputy Prosecutor Randal Lee has said he was handling the probe without bias or preconceptions and simply following the evidence where it leads, balancing a heavy case load with limited resources.

Jim Fulton, an assistant to Carlisle, said the probe does not concentrate unfairly on Harris.

"I think we've made it clear all along that it is not specifically focused just on him," Fulton said. "This investigation is not focused on any individual or elected official."

The probe began in January 2002 after Watada found what he believed was evidence Harris' campaign committee had falsified donation reports to evade the legal contribution limit of $4,000 per donor.

No one has been charged with such an offense since, and a key fund-raising figure in Harris' campaign has died, but the probe expanded in many other directions.

Investigators have issued more than 600 subpoenas to a range of companies and individuals, making it one of the most extensive investigations in state history.

"When you spend these kinds of resources, you should be ready to go in and find big things. But they haven't, because they're not there," said Harris campaign attorney Chris Parsons.

Business as usual

Longtime Honolulu attorney Earle Partington, who represented one of the misdemeanor SSFM defendants, said it was clear illegal political donations did not begin with the Harris campaign.

"Quite frankly, all these illicit donations have been part of a system that's existed forever in Hawai'i," he said. "It's only recently that we've become mature enough to crack down on them."

Partington said it appeared prosecutors were trying to build a case that would lead to charges against people close to the mayor, but they seemed to have had little success.

"I think it's always been a fishing expedition, but it's not an expedition without any basis," Partington said. "You'd have to be an idiot not to know that this is the way business has always been done in Hawai'i."

The Campaign Spending Commission is scheduled to vote today on a $53,500 fine that former Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawai'i chairman Wesley Segawa agreed to pay for making illegal donations to Harris and four others.

The commission found that Segawa illegally funneled $26,275 to Harris, $21,950 to former Gov. Ben Cayetano, $14,300 to former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, $12,500 to former Maui Mayor James "Kimo" Apana, and $3,000 to Hawai'i County Councilman and former mayoral candidate Fred Holshuh.

Segawa was arrested Friday on suspicion of money laundering, illegal ownership of a business, making campaign donations under a false name, and an illegal business practice known as monopolization. He was released pending further investigation.

Among the others arrested were three top officials from R.M Towill Corp., another engineering firm that gave big campaign contributions to Harris and others.

A member of Harris' Cabinet, city community services director Mike Amii, was arrested in July 2002 but not formally charged with a crime until he agreed, nearly a year after his arrest, to plead no-contest to misdemeanor theft.

Amii admitted instructing a City Hall staffer to do Harris campaign work during office hours. He was ordered this month to pay $495 in fines and restitution, and remains on the job.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.