Posted on: Friday, May 2, 2003
4 O'ahu companies agree to fines for political donations
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Four Honolulu companies have agreed to pay a total of $35,500 in fines for allegedly making illegal campaign contributions, mostly to Mayor Jeremy Harris.
Meanwhile, lawmakers yesterday hotly debated a controversial campaign finance bill that was dead for the legislative session but continued to draw fire.
The state Campaign Spending Commission negotiated the largest fine, $32,000, with consulting engineers Shimabukuro, Endo and Yoshizaki.
The firm allegedly funneled excess campaign contributions of $11,750 to Harris and $8,000 to former Gov. Ben Cayetano. Company officials declined to comment, and their attorney was not immediately available.
The three other fines involved lesser allegedly illegal donations to Harris and much smaller fines. Group 70 International architects agreed to pay $2,000; Hida, Okamoto and Associates engineering will pay $1,000; and Alan Nishimoto, a financial services planner, will pay $500.
Dozens of companies have been fined over the past year, many of them architects and engineers who work on city projects and donated heavily to Harris. The mayor has said he did not seek or knowingly accept any illegal contributions.
The Legislature wrestled for months over proposals to further restrict campaign fund-raising, including a ban on contributions from government contractors, but could not reach agreement.
Sen. Cal Kawamoto, a driving force behind the bill that other lawmakers complained was full of loopholes, said he had been unfairly blamed for its demise.
He unsuccessfully called yesterday for the Senate to approve the measure symbolically "so that we can send a message to the do-gooders who are ... blaming me for the failure of campaign spending."
Kawamoto, D-18th (Waipahu, Crestview, Pearl City), charged on the Senate floor that campaign commission director Robert Watada had become "overzealous" and launched probes that "look like gestapo activities."
In response, Watada said only that "the commission follows the law." Watada is investigating whether Kawamoto misused campaign funds, which the senator firmly denies.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
