Estate gives
campaign donor data
to state inquiry
Bronster had accused a
Peters aide of helping to illegally
finance a former state senatorLindsey lawyer fined for delay
By Rick Daysog
Star-BulletinThe Bishop Estate has turned over to the attorney general's office records held by a longtime aide to trustee Henry Peters, in cooperation with an investigation of allegations of illegal campaign contributions by trust employees and vendors.
The attorney general's office previously subpoenaed the contents of a safe owned by Namlyn Snow, the estate's former government relations director and Peters' assistant, who died May 14 after a lengthy illness.
Sources said the estate complied with the attorney general's subpoena and delivered the campaign-related materials to state investigators over the weekend.
The action came after interim trustees were put in place to run the affairs of the estate upon Probate Judge Kevin Chang's May 7 order temporarily removing Peters and the other trustees.
Cynthia Quinn, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, declined comment. Nathan Aipa, the estate's acting chief operating officer, also could not be reached for response.
In a September 1998 removal suit, then-Attorney General Margery Bronster alleged that Snow took part in an elaborate campaign finance scheme involving the re-election efforts of former state Sen. Milton Holt, a high-ranking trust employee.
According to the attorney general's suit, Snow directed several estate contractors to pay a $12,334 debt owed to a local printing company by Holt for his unsuccessful 1996 campaign.
The estate last week disclosed that it paid one of the firms, Kajioka Yamachi Architects, about $1 million for the year ending June 30, 1998. The Kajioka firm is headed by Allen Kajioka, a longtime friend of trustee Richard "Dickie" Wong who served as the trustee's campaign chairman when Wong was president of the state Senate.
The estate and the Kajioka firm denied wrongdoing.
Holt, who recently was indicted for violating federal campaign laws, also has denied wrongdoing.
An Oahu grand jury -- convened at the request of the attorney general's office -- is investigating the alleged illegal campaign finance scheme.
Judge fines Lindsey
By Rick Daysog
attorney for ‘wasted’
day during trial
Star-BulletinA state judge has fined a lawyer for ousted Bishop Estate trustee Lokelani Lindsey $3,850 for delays to a five-month trial in which Lindsey was removed from her $1 million-a-year post.
Circuit Judge Bambi Weil yesterday said Lindsey's lawyer Michael Green in effect "wasted" a day Dec. 30 after he asked to be excused from the trial due to a stress-related illness.
The same day that Green was excused from the Lindsey trial he appeared in federal court for a separate matter. On the following day, Green played golf at the Turtle Bay Hilton with Gov. Ben Cayetano.
"When you made representations to this court and then act contrary to those representations that is a matter of concern between the court and counsel," Weil told Green.
Green previously submitted a note from his doctor, saying he suffered from a stress-related inner ear problem that made him dizzy. Green -- noting that he had been working 15-hour days to keep pace with the complex case -- said on Dec. 29 he nearly passed out in court while cross-examining a witness.
"Looking back at it, it was pretty stupid. I should have just stayed in bed and had done nothing," Green said.
Weil yesterday disclosed that she received a Feb. 5 letter from Cayetano explaining his golf outing with Green, who is married to Cayetano's cousin. Cayetano, who opened his letter to Weil with "Dear Judge Bambi," said he and Green often played golf on New Year's Eve but during the last outing he saw that Green was not feeling well.
"I noticed Michael was not feeling his usual outgoing self. Moreover, his play was terrible," Cayetano said.
"I asked him if he was feeling all right and he told me he had not been feeling well over the past week."
Yesterday's ruling comes after Weil on May 6 permanently removed Lindsey as a Bishop Estate trustee following a five-month trial.
Fellow trustees Oswald Stender and Gerard Jervis had sued for Lindsey's ouster, saying she breached her fiduciary duties, mismanaged the estate-run Kamehameha Schools and intimidated teachers and students.
Bishop Estate Archive
