Bill advances to allow city ethics fines

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Voters may have a chance to decide whether city employees and members of boards andcommissions should be fined for ethical violations.

Currently the city Ethics Commission only has two options when there is an ethics violation — sending a letter of reprimand or forwarding the case to the city prosecutor for criminal prosecution.

"I think that there are probably numerous times where the remedy is somewhere in between. You need something a little more than a slap on the wrist, but it doesn't quite rise to the level of criminal prosecution and sending somebody off to jail," said Councilman Charles Djou.

The City Council Executive Matters committee unanimously approved Djou's resolution that would put the issue on the November ballot so voters can decide if the city charter should be amended to give the Ethics Commission authority to issue civil fines.

The matter could be decided at the Jan. 28 meeting, after the council hears from corporation counsel about whether the state law allows the city to issue fines in this case. City attorneys are also looking into whether the authority can be granted through ordinance, instead of amending the city charter.

Chuck Totto, executive director of the ethics commission, said fines could help the city recoup some of the money lost when money is misused. "If somebody is really disregarding the ethics laws, it can cause a lot of financial harm to the city," he said.

He pointed to the case of former Councilwoman Rene Mansho as an example. Mansho misused about $150,000 in city resources while having city employees work on her campaign and fund-raising events. However, she was only fined $40,000. "The city was never made whole," Totto said.

He added, however, "This is not a crusade. There are very few cases that I've seen that fines should even be considered."

For instance, Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi failing to disclose her membership on nonprofit boards before voting on a budget that awarded them money would probably not result in a fine because she would probably not do it again after being informed of the violation by the commission.

"Other people in their actions might be brazen about not following the ethics laws," Totto said.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.