Campaign panel votes to accept $300K fine
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
The state Campaign Spending Commission yesterday issued the largest fine in Hawai'i history for illegal political donations.
The panel voted 3-0 to accept a $303,000 penalty that SSFM International Inc. President Michael Matsumoto agreed to pay through a conciliation agreement.
The deal, made public last week, ends a lengthy investigation into money Matsumoto and the company funneled to six politicians between 1996 and 2001.
Investigators who examined bank statements and other financial records found that $425,000 in illegal campaign donations were made to Mayor Jeremy Harris, former Gov. Ben Cayetano, former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, former Mayor Frank Fasi, former Maui Mayor James "Kimo" Apana and former City Councilman Arnold Morgado.
Matsumoto will have at least two years to pay the fine, commission director Robert Watada said.
Other companies remain under investigation, but the two-year probe may wind down by the end of December, he said.
"We're going to do our job and pursue what we feel are violations, and do whatever it takes to ensure people are following the rules," Watada said.
The commission also approved a $44,500 fine against Gary T. Okamoto, president of Wilson Okamoto and Associates Inc., and his wife, Lori, for making illegal donations to Harris, Cayetano, Morgado, Apana and Hirono.
And attorney Edward Y.C. Chun, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor campaign violation last month, will pay $3,500 for helping to funnel illegal donations to Harris.
Chun, a senior partner in the Honolulu law firm Chun Kerr Dodd Beaman and Wong, admitted in the criminal case that he had arranged for the Food Pantry grocery chain to make the donations. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 1.
Matsumoto pleaded no contest this year to a felony money-laundering charge for illegal donations to Harris. He was sentenced in July to 300 hours of community service and ordered to pay $15,000 to the Crime Victims Compensation Fund.
Prosecutors identified $140,000 that Matsumoto funneled to Harris through employees, relatives and friends.
The campaign spending commission found additional donations that brought the total to $212,000 over three campaign periods, Watada said.
Matsumoto's attorney said Matsumoto has taken full responsibility for the donations and wants to focus on his company's future.
None of the politicians or officials from their campaigns have been charged with wrongdoing.
Also, Edward K. Noda was scheduled for arraignment yesterday on felony and misdemeanor charges of making contributions under false names to Harris, Cayetano, Hirono and Gov. Linda Lingle.
Noda's arraignment was postponed until Nov. 20.
Noda is vice president of Edward K. Noda and Associates, an engineering firm that agreed in August to pay a $74,000 fine for making illegal donations totaling more than $120,000. The penalty had been the commission's largest until Matsumoto's.
Watada said the Campaign Spending Commission will ask the Legislature next year to consider barring direct campaign donations from corporations and unions, a proposal that stalled earlier this year. He said he also hopes to bar donations from government contractors during a specified "window" of time before and after contracts are bid on.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
