Ex-police commissioner praised despite admission of illegal donation
Advertiser Staff
Mayor Jeremy Harris praised former police commissioner Leonard Leong yesterday but declined to say whether he believed it had been necessary for Leong to resign after pleading no contest to making illegal campaign donations to Harris.
"Leonard did a superb job as police commissioner and as a chairman of the commission," Harris said in his first public comments on the controversy since Leong resigned Monday while Harris was on the Mainland.
Harris appointed Leong to the commission in 1996, and he later served as chairman.
"I think probably he will go down as one of the best police commission chairs the city has ever had," Harris continued. "He dedicated an enormous amount of time and effort to the position, actually going out in the field with the police officers in their squad cars to learn about their problems and their concerns, and I think he served the city well."
Harris said it had been up to Leong to decide whether he should resign after admitting he donated $3,000 to Harris under his sister's name.
Leong was fined $1,000 for the misdemeanor, and the state Campaign Spending Commission later approved a $20,000 fine against him and the company he works for as vice president, Royal Contracting, for similar violations.
Leong said the donations had not been intended to boost the company's chances of winning city construction contracts, and that he didn't really feel it was necessary to resign from the Police Commission.
But others on the seven-member panel, and on the City Council, argued that he would undermine the commission's integrity if he remained after admitting a crime. Leong said he reluctantly stepped down partly to spare his friend Harris from being placed in the awkward position of publicly deciding whether he should remain.
The commission rules on allegations of police misconduct and selects the chief of police. Leong is the only public official to be charged by prosecutors with wrongdoing since a wide-ranging campaign finance probe began nearly two years ago.
