Decision to resign may rest with Harris
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Mayor Jeremy Harris is not likely to decide whether Police Commissioner Leonard Leong should resign until sometime after Harris returns from Greece on Wednesday and is fully briefed on the situation, his spokeswoman said.
Carol Costa said Harris had not yet responded to a message she left about the controversy that has surrounded Leong since he pleaded no contest Tuesday to a misdemeanor charge of making campaign contributions to Harris under a false name.
LEONG
Leong said he had not heard from Harris or his staff and did not plan to make a decision anytime soon.
"I'm just trying to see what the public feels about it," he said of the situation. "It's kind of hard because of the media."
Police Commission chairman Ronald Taketa said others on the seven-member panel that oversees the Honolulu Police Department clearly feel Leong must go, but have no authority to remove him.
"Unless Leonard voluntarily resigns under his own volition, nothing short of the mayor asking for his resignation would do it," Taketa said. "Anything that detracts from our credibility really hampers our ability to carry out our responsibilities," which include ruling on allegations of police misconduct and selecting the chief of police.
City Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz said no one who admits a criminal offense, or is convicted of one, should serve on any city commission.
There is no legal requirement that Leong step down. But council member Charles Djou said Leong is adding fuel to the controversy by prolonging it.
"I don't think this is going to die down any time soon," Djou said. "But maybe Mr. Leong feels Harris owes him a favor."
Commissioners are nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the council. The City Charter requires only that a commissioner be "a duly registered voter of the city."
Legal authority to remove a commissioner appears to rest solely with the mayor, though the council may approve a symbolic resolution urging a commissioner to resign. City Corporation Counsel David Arakawa could not be reached yesterday for a definitive opinion.
Harris is in Athens this week to give a speech before the World Congress of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.
Leong was fined $1,000 for the misdemeanor and said he took full responsibility for breaking the state's campaign spending law, which requires anyone making a campaign contribution to use their own money and report it as theirs.
The City Charter forbids any police officer to "support, advocate or aid in the election or defeat of any candidate for public office," other than voting, upon penalty of termination. The commissioners are not subject to the prohibition.
The last time a police commissioner was charged with a crime was 1973, when John K. Cabral struck a mailbox while driving on South King Street, injuring an 11-year-old girl. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident and failing to exercise care while driving, and resigned after pleading guilty to the second offense.
Reach Johnny Brannon at 525-8070 or jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.
