Campaign spending panel sued for alleged violations
The suit is brought by a firm that was suspected of illegal campaign donations
Executives with a Honolulu engineering firm once investigated for allegedly making illegal campaign contributions to former Mayor Jeremy Harris have sued the state Campaign Spending Commission, citing violations of open-meeting laws.
The complaint, filed Thursday in Circuit Court, argues that commissioners broke several procedures at a special meeting June 1, when they voted down a request by Nagamine Okawa Engineers Inc. for a declaratory ruling or an advisory opinion.
The firm argues that its executives and their relatives have been "the target of unsubstantiated and unproven allegations of alleged campaign spending violations."
According to the complaint, commissioners failed to give adequate notice about the meeting to a lawyer representing Norman Nagamine, one of the firm's executives.
It also said the agenda did not specify what topics commissioners would discuss or which documents and exhibits they would consider.
The complaint alleges that commissioners immediately denied the firm's request for declaratory relief without listening to public comments when they returned from executive session.
The suit seeks a court order that would overturn the commission's decision and allow lawyers representing the firm's executives to comment on their petition, among other things.
Barbara Wong, executive director for the commission, said she could not answer any questions about the case yesterday because she had not yet seen the complaint.
Nagamine, reached this week at his office, referred all questions to his lawyer. Three lawyers representing Nagamine Okawa did not return calls seeking comment.
The investigation into whether Nagamine and his work partner, Dwight Okawa, circumvented campaign spending laws by illegally using relatives to donate company money to Harris officially ended in November because of insufficient evidence, said Jim Fulton, executive assistant at the city Prosecutor's Office.
The alleged campaign spending violations occurred between 1996 and 2000.