No, good things don’t always come in threes — in fact, when it comes to federal subpoenas, things could get downright bad.
News broke Monday that the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation has been hit with its third subpoena from federal investigators looking into possible criminality over Oahu’s rail project, now estimated to cost $9.2 billion, some $4 billion over budget and years behind schedule.
What’s especially intriguing about this third subpoena is that it’s seeking information — evidence — from behind the heavy veil of secrecy that shrouds “executive sessions.”
Those who follow government meetings know that Hawaii’s Sunshine Law requires public meetings to be conducted, well, in the public and in the open. The standard to go into executive session is rightfully high: a two-thirds vote of board members attending is needed, and the reason must be publicly announced. These reasons are purposely narrow: to discuss matters concerning personnel, litigation involving the board or body, or to protect the board’s attorney-client privilege.
HART’s ballooning budget, and the actions that brought it to this point, are now under intense scrutiny. These federal subpoenas come on the heels of scathing rail audits: one by the city auditor, and two so far in a four-report series by the state auditor. In fact, state auditor Les Kondo had tried, unsuccessfully, to access the HART board’s executive-session minutes from 2014 through 2016. Disappointingly, HART, relying on advice from its city lawyers, turned over some minutes that were so ridiculously redacted that, as Kondo’s audit noted, they were “indecipherable and meaningless.”
HART this week said it would try its best to comply with the subpoena, but still hedged, saying its lawyers would guide any disclosure. The state auditor’s process would have shielded any confidential information, but even then, HART officials refused to lift the secrecy cloak. This time, the hefty hand of a federal investigation could do it for them.
