Hawaii U.S. Attorney Clare Connors had quite the introduction after a month on the job, presiding over the announcement of a federal wire fraud and bribery case she inherited against former state Sen. J. Kalani English and state Rep. Ty Cullen.
Connors said the charges “reflect the priority of the federal law enforcement community here in Hawaii to investigate and prosecute corrupt practices by our state public and elected officials.”
The obvious question was, where was Connors in her state attorney general job she just left in investigating wrongdoing involving state leaders?
As with other recent corruption cases against Louis and Katherine Kealoha, three city officials accused of conspiracy in Louis Kealoha’s $250,000 buyout as police chief, six city employees charged with taking bribes for planning permits and a local engineer who bribed state officials, the feds cleaned up local graft while state and county prosecutors were missing in action.
It’s an alarming picture of public officials in a one-party state thinking they can act with impunity while intimidated local enforcers look away for fear of getting the Les Kondo treatment — the year of naked harassment the state auditor has received from the state House after Kondo’s watchdog agency somehow angered Speaker Scott Saiki and Majority Leader Della Au Belatti.
Kondo’s not the only one who’s been worked over after standing up to lawmakers.
Former University of Hawaii President M.R.C. Greenwood was hounded from office by vicious hearings and budget cuts after a dispute with Sen. Donna Mercado Kim that started with Kim’s displeasure that her son’s law school application moved too slow (it turned out he hadn’t applied).
Senate tourism chairman Glenn Wakai has been accused of repeatedly bullying the Hawaii Tourism Authority after his wife lost her job at the agency in a dispute with leadership.
The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts faced budgetary pressure and other harassment after staff complained about a racist tirade directed at them by a legislator.
The last attorney general to seriously probe public corruption, Margery Bronster vs. Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate trustees, was voted down for a second term by senators under the influence of the discredited trustees.
At the city, former Ethics Commission director Chuck Totto was forced out after asking too many questions about Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s inaugural funding and attempting to investigate the Kealohas.
Even the Judiciary can face retaliatory budget cuts for rulings legislators don’t like and lowball pay raises for judges from a salary commission appointed mostly by the Legislature.
When Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald dissented in a Supreme Court ruling striking down the Legislature’s corrupt gut-and-replace practice, you wondered if it was legal principles or trying to protect courts from retaliation.
With a history of abusing their power to get their way, legislators can’t credibly feign surprise that colleagues accepted bribes.
If most are honest, as they claim, prove it by reforming the rules that abet legislative abuse and assuring those who cheat and bully don’t get powerful leadership positions such as English and Cullen enjoyed.
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
