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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, July 21, 2005

Ex-candidate to plead guilty

By Ken Kobayashi
and Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writers

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Former congressional and lieutenant governor candidate Dalton Tanonaka, who has been under investigation by federal authorities in connection with campaign financing violations, is expected to plead guilty this morning in a federal felony case.

Michael Green, Tanonaka's lawyer, yesterday said Tanonaka will plead guilty to one misdemeanor and three felony counts at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Kevin Chang this morning. Tanonaka, 51, will make his first court appearance in the case, waive his right to be indicted by a federal grand jury, and plead guilty, Green said.

Tanonaka, a former journalist, yesterday referred questions to Green. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Purpura, who is listed as handling the prosecution, declined to comment.

Green said the charges are connected with Tanonaka's congressional race last year. Tanonaka ran as a Republican and was defeated by incumbent U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i.

Green yesterday did not specify the charges against his client, but said they pertain to false statements to federal agencies and disclosure statements.

"It had to do with some loans," Green said. "Ultimately you'll find out there were some technical violations of federal law and he has waived indictment and he has been trying to settle this with the federal government for a number of months."

Questions about Tanonaka's campaign activities were raised a month before the 2004 general election. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which campaigns and helps raise money for Democrats, filed a complaint against Tanonaka with the Federal Election Committee alleging that he did not have the financial means to make large loans to his congressional campaign.

A complaint also was filed by Tanonaka's former campaign manager, who alleged that Tanonaka intentionally violated state law by disguising and not reporting loans to his unsuccessful 2002 run for lieutenant governor.

The state Campaign Spending Commission referred the case to the city prosecutor's office and the case eventually was turned over to federal investigators.

Green said Tanonaka has cooperated with the U.S. attorney's office in the probe.

"He wants to take responsibility for what happened," Green said. "He's convinced that mistakes were made. No one was injured by the mistakes. No one lost any money. But he wants to deal with this head-on."

Green said he's hoping that Tanonaka will avoid prison time, but said federal plea agreements discuss the offenses, not possible punishment. He said that Tanonaka exercised "poor judgment," but that Tanonaka's actions were not malicious.

"There's nothing secretive. Everything that was done was basically done very upfront," Green said.

Tanonaka was born in Kohala on the Big Island and raised in Honolulu, where he graduated from Kalani High School. He began his career as a newspaper and TV reporter in Honolulu and worked as a reporter for The Advertiser in the 1970s.

Tanonaka later reported on business for CNN, CNBC, and NHK in Tokyo.

He also served as executive director of the city's Office of Economic Development and was international president of the Pacific Basin Economic Council.