Posted on: Thursday, September 18, 2003

EDITORIAL
Police commissioner is obligated to resign

Having been charged with making illegal donations to the Harris campaign committee, Leonard Leong should, in the public interest, immediately resign from the Honolulu Police Commission.

This position is simply too sensitive to allow the slightest suspicion of wrongdoing to taint it.

We realize, of course, that Leong is innocent until and unless he is proven guilty of this misdemeanor charge. We also realize that members of public bodies who find themselves in conflict-of-interest situations normally can simply recuse themselves from matters relating to the conflict.

But the Police Commission is the public's only window into an organization that prefers to conduct much of its business in secret. The reliance of the public on the seven members of the commission is therefore absolute.

For some 19 months, the Police Department and the city prosecutor's office have pursued a massive investigation of illegal campaign contributions, focused largely on money that went to Mayor Jeremy Harris. Since Leong is a Harris appointee, how can the public possibly be confident of Leong's role as an HPD watchdog, ensuring that no part of this investigation falls through the cracks?

Leong, a vice president of Royal Contracting Co., is the 10th person to be charged in a criminal court since the probe of the mayor's campaign finances began. Six of the 10 were fined after pleading no contest, and the others are awaiting trial.

Harris' attorney has said the mayor never solicited or knowingly accepted illegal donations, and Leong is innocent until proven guilty. But there's no telling how long it will take to bring this investigation to a conclusion. Clearly the public confidence in its Police Commission cannot last that long.