Bad times
at City Hall
The issue: Andy Mirikitani's
corruption raises questions
about all politicians.
ANDY Mirikitani's prison sentence should put other politicians on notice that corruption has its price. Mirikitani portrayed himself as a public servant and champion of ethical conduct, but his actions told of a deceitful city councilman unworthy of his constituents' trust. Appropriately, a jury of citizens brought him down.His prison sentence of four years and three months at a minimal-security federal prison on the mainland may seem inadequate. However, unlike the state judicial system, the federal truth-in-sentencing system has no parole, so Mirikitani is likely to serve nearly his entire sentence, with small credits for good behavior. That amount of lost freedom is significant.
In addition, Mirikitani, 46, probably will struggle after his prison term ends. He is a lawyer by profession, but the moral turpitude of his crimes is certain to bring his disbarment.
Mirikitani is the first elected official in Hawaii to be convicted of federal felony charges while in office. As a city councilman for the past decade, he worked on issues such as campaign reform, the environment, sexual discrimination, pornography and, yes, ethics. When then-Mayor Frank Fasi in 1993 ordered city employees to contribute to Fasi's campaign fund, Mirikitani gained enactment, over Fasi's veto, of an ordinance prohibiting such coercion.
The irony is that Mirikitani was convicted of extorting kickbacks into his campaign fund from two of his employees' bonus payments. When Mirikitani learned afterward that they would be questioned by authorities, he tried to silence them, then lied by denying there was any connection between the employees' bonuses and their campaign contributions.
"He broke the public's trust," said Missy Sato, the 21-year-old jury forewoman. "They're always wondering why the public doesn't like government officials. Well, this is the reason -- because we can't trust them all the time."
Mirikitani should have resigned from the City Council immediately after his conviction in July. Instead, he showed no remorse and subjected the Council to a five-month ordeal through his continued presence. As a final dip into the public trough, Mirikitani on Nov. 31 -- the day before he finally resigned -- married his partner in corruption, Sharron Bynum, entitling her to share lifetime health insurance and other benefits from his city employment.
While Mirikitani's colleagues had become aware of his dishonesty -- he once assured them privately that a reform measure he had sponsored would not withstand legal challenges -- his constituents relied upon his public positions. Mirikitani's actions justify diligent skepticism of all public officials.
The issue: Jon Yoshimura's lies
generate suspicion about his
character as a public official.
CITY Council Chairman Jon Yoshimura may have his own agenda for his candidacy for lieutenant governor, but those concerns are superseded by an issue of his own weaving: his credibility. The state judiciary has inquired into his lies about a 1999 traffic accident and is in disagreement only about how long to suspend him from practicing law. Next year, the voters may be handed the basic question about whether he should be in any position of public trust.The staff of the Office of Disciplinary Counsel recommended that lawyer Yoshimura, a former television cameraman and reporter, be suspended from the bar for a year and be required to petition for reinstatement. The Supreme Court's Disciplinary Board will decide upon the length of his suspension. A board committee favors a one-month suspension, concluding that Yoshimura "did finally recant his false statements" to police and the media about the accident. That is debatable.
About 12:45 a.m. on July 13, 1999, Yoshimura pulled his car out of a parking place fronting Ward Centre, made a U-turn and struck a parked, unoccupied car. He then drove home, where he was confronted less than an hour later by police who had been given his car license number by witnesses. He said he thought his car had struck a utility pole. Yoshimura denied having been drinking, although a police report described him as showing "objective symptoms of alcohol influence."
A month later, after paying a $35 fine for striking an unattended vehicle, Yoshimura told the press that he had had one drink before the accident and two scotches at home before the police arrived. He stuck to his story that his car had struck a pole. Three witnesses to the accident scoffed at the notion that Yoshimura could have mistaken the car for a utility pole.
Yoshimura the politician has tried to put the best spin on this self-induced predicament, but it has worsened at every turn. If he had stopped his car immediately after the accident, or even owned up to police and the press about his derelict conduct, he could have been accused of bad judgment and not much more. The logical question is how much Yoshimura had really imbibed that night prior to the accident.
Yoshimura's continued refusal to confess to misconduct that has become increasingly obvious raises doubts about his worthiness to hold public office. The voters will decide whether to get past the issue of the accident and even consider Yoshimura's political views -- a significant leap.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comRichard Halloran, editorial page director, 529-4790; rhalloran@starbulletin.com
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