The Honolulu Ethics Commission on Wednesday dropped complaints against City Council members Ikaika Anderson and Ann Kobayashi, and former Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz over claims that they failed to disclose gifts from lobbyists before taking critical votes on the $6 billion rail project.

Anderson, Kobayashi and Council Chairman Ernie Martin said that because of the decision, there is no need to redo the votes on rail or other projects deemed questionable because they were beneficial to the interests of three lobbyists: the defunct Campbell Estate and its successor company, Aina Nui, and controversial pro-rail group Pacific Resources Partnership.

The complaints have been watched closely because ofthe impact they may have on the city’s $6 billion rail project. Some contend that failure to disclose the gifts by the lobbyists invalidated the votes of those C councilors Concil members on those measures — thus requiring the current Council to revote on them.

“It seems to us that that issue is null and void at this point,” Anderson said at a news conference at City Hall late Wednesday.

Martin, in a statement, said the commission’s action “is a definite statement that no further action is necessary toward reaffirming the votes that were previously cast.”

A lawsuit filed by Campbell Estate heiress Abigail Kawananakoa against the city demanded that the Council conduct a revote of 11 measures, including key rail measures, that had been called into question because of the gifts. An attorney for Kawananakoa declined to comment but gave no indication the lawsuit would go away.

The complaints against the three were brought by Ethics Commission Executive Director Chuck Totto, who alleged that they accepted prohibited gifts from lobbyists, then failed to disclose those conflicts of interest before voting on bills and resolutions that were favorable to those lobbyists.

Anderson and Kobayashi said they feel exonerated.

Kobayashi said it was troubling to have votes she cast under a cloud. “To have your integrity questioned (and being accused) that we did something wrong, I’m glad we stood by our values and our principles that we’ve always lived with.”

A similar case filed against former Councilman Todd Apo remains active and is expected to be taken up at the commission’s Oct. 21 hearing. Apo, reached Wednesday night, declined to comment.

Four Ethics Commission members — Riki May Amano, Victoria Marks, Stephen Silva and Allene Suemori — heard arguments made by Colleen Hanabusa, the attorney for Anderson, Dela Cruz and Kobayashi, behind closed doors in a contested case hearing on Friday. They then signed off on the written order granting the dismissals Wednesday morning.

Two other commission members — Michael Lilly and Stanford Yuen — recused themselves from the cases. Ethics Commission Chairwoman Katy Chen was on the mainland.

Wednesday’s four-page order by the commission said that Totto, as the complainant in the three cases, dismissed all of the claims against Kobayashi and Dela Cruz. In Anderson’s case, all counts against him were dropped except one count that he accepted three gifts from a lobbyist that totaled more than $200. But because one of the gifts was related to campaign or political matters, the commission members said they agreed to drop the case due to lack of jurisdiction.

The cases against five current and former Council members were initiated by Totto shortly after state Rep. Romy Cachola, a former councilman, agreed to pay a fine to settle a complaint that he accepted gifts and didn’t disclose a conflict of interest before voting on numerous bills.

In paying the fine, Cachola made no admission of wrongdoing, but stated publicly that at least five of his colleagues voted on the same measures after accepting similar gifts from the same lobbyists.

Earlier this year, former Councilman Nestor Garcia also agreed to pay a fine to settle charges brought against him without admission of any wrongdoing.

Hanabusa, who also attended the Honolulu Hale news conference with Anderson and Kobayashi, said Ethics Commission staff unfairly charged her clients with the same infractions levied against Cachola, even though neither accepted gifts to the extent that he did. “They all got assessed the same amount — it’s fundamentally not fair and it denies everyone’s due process rights.”

Council members are allowed to receive up to $200 in any given fiscal year and the commission could not show her clients exceeded that, she said.

“Obviously, none of us participated in any events to the extent that he did,” Anderson said of Cachola.

Anderson said he does not feel it was necessary to disclose the gifts because they came from people with whom he has friendships that pre-date his time in elected office.

Hanabusa, a former U.S. representative, was appointed by Mayor Kirk Caldwell to be a board member of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation this summer. She said Wednesday that her representation of Anderson, Dela Cruz and Kobayashi began in January.

She said Corporation Counsel Donna Leong’s office gave an opinion that the two positions were not a conflict of interest, adding that she would not have accepted the HART post otherwise.

In a related development, the Council voted 8-1 Wednesday morning to give the first of three approvals to Bill 73, essentially a revote of a 2012 bill authorizing the city to issue general obligation bonds for rail and other projects. It was one of the 11 votes called into question by Kawananakoa.

Kobayashi, who has consistently voted “no” on decisions advancing the current rail project, was the lone dissenting vote.

City officials said they did not ask for the revote because they did not think any of the votes were invalid. But bond counsel required an approval from Leong showing no disputes involving the bond authorization, and Leong could not sign a statement attesting to that because the 2012 approval was one challenged by Kawananakoa’s lawsuit, city officials said.

Leong has previously stated that she did not feel there needed to be any revotes because the Ethics Commission never concluded that Cachola or Garcia had done anything wrong.

The Council is fast-tracking Bill 73 because HART officials say they need to be able to draw down the cash from the short-term bond sales to pay for bills by the end of January or risk up to $3 million in finance charges.

Brennon Morioka, deputy HART director, said the HART board must also vote to OK the bond authorization by December.