The state Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a fine of more than $23,000 imposed on former Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee Rowena Akana for violations of the state ethics code.
Akana vowed Tuesday to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
“Our court system really needs to be overhauled,” she declared.
The state Ethics Commission described the ruling,
issued Tuesday, as a significant legal victory.
Robert Harris, the commission’s executive director and general counsel, said the decision reinforces the commission’s mission to uphold ethical standards and conduct.
“It’s an affirmation of an ethics code that applies to all state employees, including OHA trustees,” Harris said.
Harris said the commission devoted a significant amount of resources investigating Akana, and any other decision by the court would have undermined the agency and put the effectiveness of the ethics code in doubt.
Instead, the intermediate court affirmed the commission’s decision on all counts.
The commission in 2018 charged Akana with nearly 50 infractions of the state’s Gifts Law, Gifts Reporting Law and Fair Treatment Law.
The charges originally ranged from accepting a $72,000 cash gift to help pay for legal fees to using her trustee allowance to pay for food as well as to buy home cable television services, a Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club membership and an Apple iTunes gift card.
Akana, a former OHA trustee of nearly three decades, fought the allegations during a weeklong contested case hearing, only the third such proceeding in more than 30 years.
In the end, the commission imposed a $23,106.53 administrative fine. Akana appealed to the Circuit Court and lost and then appealed to the intermediate court.
In an interview Tuesday, Akana argued that the state Constitution gives OHA more leeway in the use of its funds and that many of the state’s judges apparently don’t seem to understand that.
“The money I spent was strictly approved by the fiscal office of OHA,” she said. “If (the Ethics Commission) had a problem with it, they should have sued the fiscal office.”
But the court, in its decision, cited OHA policy that indicated it does not pre-
authorize trustee spending and only tries to check expenditures at the end of the year.
The court ruled that the commission had every right to investigate any of the suspect expenditures.
Commission Chair Wesley F. Fong, the only member left who was on the board at the time of Akana’s 2018 contested case hearing, said he was grateful for the court’s decision.
“It shows that no state employee or state board member is above the state ethics law in Hawai‘i,” Fong said in a statement. “The public can be confident in the Commission’s ability to address and rectify ethical concerns, contributing to a more accountable and transparent government.”
Akana said she became
a target of foes within OHA and that the timing of the contested case hearing in October 2018 was designed to keep her from campaigning for reelection. The
seven-time incumbent and former OHA chair captured more than 100,000 votes that year but fell short of
reelection.
