Mayor Kirk Caldwell denied at a recent debate with opponent Charles Djou that his post as a director of Territorial Savings Bank, which pays him $200,000 to $299,000 a year according to his financial disclosure, constitutes a second job in addition to his mayoral role that pays $164,928.
He described the lucrative bank position he’s clung to tenaciously against charges of conflict of interest as more of a service than a job, like he was helping out a community group.
How could it be a job, he asked, when he puts in only an hour or two a month for the bank?
Question to him, then: Unless he lays golden eggs, what could he possibly provide in an hour a month that’s worth $299,000 to Territorial other than political influence?
The mayor has pinned his defense of the dual income on advice from the Ethics Commission that there’s no conflict of interest because the city has no deposits with Territorial.
But to say there’s no conflict under the city’s narrowly construed ethics code doesn’t necessarily equate to it being ethical.
Neither the mayor nor the Ethics Commission has offered examples of other Hawaii chief executives on either the city or state level who have mixed such rich outside positions with their public jobs.
In the debate, Caldwell turned the question into a commercial for his bank, saying critics are “denigrating the good work of Territorial Savings. … Their sole purpose is to put people into their homes; 95 percent of their work is single-family, residential loans.”
Which means the bank and its clients have a strong financial interest in everything the city does related to housing — planning and zoning, property taxes, building codes and permits, roads, rail and public works, among others.
And Territorial officers and clients have well-paid-for opportunities to whisper their concerns into the mayor’s ear that few others enjoy.
No conflict of interest?
According to Territorial’s annual report, one of Caldwell’s duties is to head the committee that sets pay for bank executives, while Honolulu Civil Beat has reported that said executives donated at least $25,000 to his mayoral campaigns.
No conflict of interest?
Instead of the city Ethics Code’s wiggly definitions, let’s go with a simple definition of ethics from late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart: “Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.”
Does the mayor’s Territorial tap dancing live up to this?
Even without the Territorial money, Caldwell and his wife, Bank of Hawaii executive Donna Tanoue, had joint income of at least $864,000 in 2015 and owned millions worth of stock from their banks.
How much does he need before city taxpayers who provide him a reasonable salary get his full attention with no question of conflict?
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
