Prosecutor
to probe Lingle
campaign

At issue is whether the
gubernatorial hopeful knowingly
violated state campaign
spending law

By Craig Gima
Star-Bulletin

Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle says he will expedite an investigation into whether to file criminal charges against Republican gubernatorial candidate Linda Lingle for exceeding state campaign spending limits.

By a 3-2 vote, the Campaign Spending Commission yesterday referred a Democratic Party complaint against Lingle to the prosecutor's office.

"Something like this you would like to resolve as quickly as possible," Carlisle said today. "You don't want that to influence an election one way or another if you can avoid it."

However, Carlisle could not say if his investigation would be wrapped up by Nov. 3's general election.

The Democratic Party filed the complaint with the commission last week, alleging a criminal violation. The commission combined that complaint with those from defeated GOP gubernatorial candidate Frank Fasi and Libertarian gubernatorial hopeful George Peabody.

If convicted of the misdemeanor, Lingle would not be able to hold public office for four years and would not be able to serve as governor even if elected.

Attorney Richard Clifton, who spoke before the commission on Lingle's behalf, said he believes the commission passed the matter on to the prosecutor's office because it does not have the staff to investigate the complaint.

"I'm confident he (Carlisle) is going to look at it and not have to work real hard to conclude there's no criminal violation here," Clifton said.

But state Democratic Party Chairman Walter Heen said the case has moved to another level.

"The commission is saying that there is probable cause to believe that a violation can be found, and that has been referred to the prosecuting attorney's office for further discussion," Heen said.

Carlisle must decide if Lingle knowingly exceeded the limit during the primary election. If he does not file charges, the complaint will go back to the commission.

Clifton told the commission there is no evidence Lingle intended to exceed the spending limits. He said Lingle returned $136,229 in public funds once she found out the campaign had exceeded the $1.36 million in spending for the primary.

He noted that in 1994, Gov. Ben Cayetano kept $312,000 in public money after exceeding the spending limit by reclassifying expenditures as fund-raising expenses. The commission took 2-1/2 years to consider a complaint by the Republican Party, then dismissed it.

Clifton said Lingle could have reclassified expenses but decided to just return the money.

Cayetano said he does not intend to make a further campaign issue of the overspending.

"As far as I'm concerned, there are more important issues," he said after yesterday's commission vote. "People can decide for themselves whatever happens at the prosecutor's office."

He also said he is not involved in the party's complaint.

Before making its decision, four members of the five-member commission went into executive session to meet with its attorneys.

"I'd be very curious as to what was said in that room because the discussion after that meeting was different from the discussion before," Clifton said.

Commission Chairman A. Duane Black said the commission wanted to clear up confusion over the campaign spending law.