Yoshimura accused
of condo conflict
of interest

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

Colleagues of Councilman Jon Yoshimura say he has a conflict of interest in the Harbor Court condominium project.

Council Chairman Mufi Hannemann and members Steve Holmes and Donna Mercado Kim say Yoshimura should not be voting on matters involving the Harbor Court project because he is working for the project's chief lender.

Harbor Court Developers owes the city about $12 million for the fee interest of the property.

Yoshimura, an attorney, disclosed yesterday that he is being paid by the law firm of Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson Hand to do lobbying work at the state Legislature on behalf of Trinity Investment Trust LLC.

Yoshimura said that under the direction of former Gov. John Waihee, a Verner Liipfert attorney, he is lobbying to help Trinity gain the right to put up an underground parking lot at the Aloha Tower Marketplace's Irwin Park.

In early February, after he began working for Trinity, he participated in a closed-door vote of the Policy Committee that rejected a $6 million offer from Trinity and the developer as settlement for the money owed. Yoshimura later met with several Council members to discuss whether the city should present a counteroffer to settle at $10 million.

"I would have recused myself," Hannemann said, referring to the February vote.

Yoshimura said he does not believe there is a conflict because his work for Trinity has nothing to do with its situation with the city. He said he will seek an opinion from the Ethics Commission.