BY Rick Daysog
Advertiser Staff Writer
The state Attorney General's Office is investigating the finances of a nonprofit organization in Waipahu headed by former state Sen. Cal Kawamoto, The Advertiser has learned.
Officials in the attorney general's tax division have requested business records for the organization, and Kawamoto said he recently met with them.
"We have nothing to hide," Kawamoto said. "It's all in the public record."
The nonprofit Waipahu Community Adult Day Health Care and Youth Day Care Center is housed in a $3 million, 9,000-square-foot building constructed largely with city money on state land leased for $1 a year. The Waipahu Community Adult Day Health Care and Youth Day Care Center does not operate any programs at the site, but leases space to two separate nonprofit groups.
Kawamoto, who lost his bid for re-election in November after 10 years in office, transferred more than $130,000 of his left-over campaign funds to the Waipahu Center in December and April, according to state Campaign Spending Commission records. State law requires politicians to return all surplus campaign funds to original donors. If the donors can't be located, the money can be given to a nonprofit organization so long as it is not connected to the politician.
The state Campaign Spending Commission yesterday posted an agenda item, saying it plans to act on its long-running investigation into Kawamoto's campaign next week at the monthly commission meeting. At the meeting, the commission may file formal charges against the Waipahu Democrat, dismiss its long-running investigation, or refer it to Attorney General Mark Bennett or city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle for a criminal probe.
Kawamoto was fined $21,000 last year by the Campaign Spending Commission for failing to report dozens of campaign contributions, and for using campaign money for personal expenses.
Kawamoto, the Waipahu Center's president, lost his seat last year to retired school vice principal Clarence Nishihara. Nishihara criticized Kawamoto for opposing efforts to reform Hawai'i's campaign finance laws just as his campaign had come under investigation.
Kawamoto said the Waipahu Center's finances are properly accounted for and have been reviewed by an outside accounting firm. He declined to say which records were being sought by the Attorney General's Office.
The Waipahu Community Adult Day Health Care and Youth Day Center was built in 2003 with $2.7 million in city money and a $245,000 grant from the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.
The center operates under a 30-year lease agreement with the Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawaii, which receives $1 a year in rent from the organization.
In its filings with the Internal Revenue Service, the center said its primary purpose is to develop and operate facilities for adult day health care and child care centers.
The center provides none of its own programs but leases its building to Oahu Head Start, which provides early childcare services, and Health For All Inc., a Sacramento, Calif.-based nonprofit operator of senior healthcare centers.
The Waipahu organization's tax filings and Kawamoto's campaign records show that:
Kawamoto's campaign donated a $20,000 Subaru utility vehicle to the center after Kawamoto left office in January 2005. A copy of the vehicle's certificate of registration obtained by The Advertiser shows that the car was transferred to both Kawamoto and the center.
The vehicle was purchased with Kawamoto's campaign funds in 2003, and the Campaign Spending Commission criticized Kawamoto's use of campaign money to buy the car, saying it was largely used for Kawamoto's personal trips.
Under state law, political candidates can purchase big-ticket items such as cars with campaign money so long as they are used for campaign purposes. Any personal use of the vehicle must be reimbursed to the campaign.
Oahu Head Start and Health For All, the two agencies that occupy the Waipahu complex, lease the property. The rent is not listed on the center's latest tax filing. Federal law requires a nonprofit to list all rental income on its tax filings.
Kawamoto's campaign also gave the center two paintings by a Lana'i artist, which were purchased with $5,200 in campaign funds. Commission investigators previously had questioned Kawamoto's use of campaign money for the paintings.
