Hawaii politics in a nutshell. (All our judges are appointed, not elected)
Indicted Executives investigated for 20 years--gave politicians $2.1M
SA: … In the past 10 years, Mitsunaga; his wife, Chan; son Bert; daughter Lois; and listed officers of Mitsunaga & Associates and Mitsunaga Construction Inc., including Otani, McDonald and Fujii, have given a total of $2.1 million to candidates for state and county office….
Dennis Mitsunaga had been accused by county prosecutors and the state Campaign Spending Commission of “pay-to-play” schemes dating back to his firm’s work on state contracts during former Gov. Ben Cayetano’s administration. The June 2 federal indictment is the first time he has been charged with a crime in connection to his political giving….
His company received government contracts as recently as just days before the federal indictment.
On May 27, MAI was awarded a two-year contract worth $1 million to provide construction management services statewide, according to the contract description listed in the Hawaii Awards and Notices Data System.
In February, MAI received a three-year contract worth approximately $1.62 million from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to provide “home inspection services — construction.”
In December, MAI was awarded a five-year contract worth $5 million from the state Department of Transportation to provide “civil, environmental, structural, electrical, surveying, geotechnical, landscaping and traffic engineering services” as required statewide….
Mitsunaga’s hui of donors has been a significant fundraiser for state and county leaders, including Gov. David Ige and former Govs. Neil Abercrombie and Cayetano, and Mayor Rick Blangiardi and former mayors Kirk Caldwell and Harris.
Otani, one of the defendants named in the federal indictment, helped coordinate Abercrombie’s inauguration, and MAI gave $30,000 to fund the activities in addition to bundling $54,000 for Abercrombie’s campaign.
MAI donors also funneled money to county council chairs, zoning committee chairs and lawmakers who sit on the Legislature’s money committees….
In 2003, Randal Lee, a retired Circuit Court judge who now works as an assistant professor of criminal justice at Hawaii Pacific University, was a deputy prosecuting attorney when he began working with then-Honolulu Police Department Maj. Daniel Hanagami to look into alleged campaign spending violations.
The investigation focused on dozens of firms and individuals who allegedly bundled contributions or donated to the campaigns of Harris, Cayetano and former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono under false names in order to circumvent contribution limits.
During a state District Court hearing in September 2004, Lee said local engineer George Nishimura, who pleaded no contest to making an illegal contribution to Harris’ campaign, had told investigators that Dennis Mitsunaga “was instrumental in securing state and city jobs” for him.
“It became obvious that pay-to-play schemes were part of the political culture in Hawaii,” Lee told the Star-Advertiser. “The indictment is a sad reflection that corruption is still alive and prevalent in Hawaii. We see elected officials being bought out, and now the indictment shows us that the criminal justice system can be bought out and used to go after our enemies….
Hanagami said the 2003 investigation started by identifying donors who gave money from a third party seeking to skirt donation limits. Many times the listed donor had been told it was perfectly legal to donate in their name on behalf of someone else supplying the funds, he said….
read … Indicted executives are prolific Hawaii political donors |
