Posted on: Friday, March 5, 2004
EDITORIAL
Lack of disclosure can taint good work
In public life, it is not always the conflicts of interest that get you. It is just as often the appearance of conflict that leads to headaches.
State Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st Dist. (Nanakuli — Makaha) is no doubt contemplating that lesson right now.
As detailed in a story yesterday by staff writer Jim Dooley, Hanabusa is involved in a web of relationships, generally secondary, with developer Jeff Stone and his Ko Olina resort project in Leeward O'ahu.
This becomes a matter of public interest because Hanabusa is a strong supporter of the Ko Olina project. As part of her support for Ko Olina, Hanabusa fought passionately for a controversial $75 million tax credit program designed to stimulate the development of a "world class" aquarium at the resort.
The tax credit and the potential of the aquarium have boosted prospects for the whole Ko Olina project.
That should be of some personal interest to Hanabusa, since, as Dooley reported, she lives there in a luxury condominium owned by her fiancee, John F. Souza. The condo was sold to Souza by Stone, who also is providing short-term financing. Further, Hanabusa's private law practice is in an office sublet to Souza by Stone.
As Dooley reported, and as Hanabusa stresses, both the real estate deal and the office lease appear to be market-rate, arm's length transactions.
Still, the entanglements between Hanabusa's personal dealings and her political causes should have been disclosed to her colleagues and the public. The senator says it never occurred to her to offer up a voluntary disclosure.
One tip on the value of voluntary disclosure might have come from a bill passed unanimously by the Senate last year that expands conflict-of-interest disclosures in a way that is very germane to Hanabusa's current situation.
The proposed law says that when a legislator's personal interests "may reasonably be perceived to be in potential conflict with pending legislation," that conflict should be revealed to a new ethics committee.
The purpose of such a law is to increase confidence and trust in the Legislature and its business. Voluntary disclosure would have much the same effect.
