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Mansho case Saying the staff needed to do more work, the state Campaign Spending Commission has declined to forward a criminal complaint against City Councilwoman Rene Mansho to the state attorney general for investigation.
on hold until
February
Spending commission staffers
need more time to investigate
allegations of improper outlaysBy Richard Borreca
Star-BulletinEarlier this week, the commission staff had said that Mansho made more than $10,000 in unauthorized and improper expenditures from her campaign fund. She did that, commission staffers said, even after she was told they were not proper.
Mansho attorney Charles Price successfully argued before the commission yesterday afternoon that the councilwoman was trying to comply with the spending commission rules and had done nothing wrong.
But Robert Watada, Campaign Spending Commission executive director, said after the meeting that Mansho's Council staff was "scared to death" to discuss the allegations with the commission.
"The key is that if she had nothing to hide," Watada said, the staff would have cooperated.
He said Mansho had been advised that some of her campaign expenses were not proper, but she went along with them.
"It leads us to believe there were others," he said.
The commission, in the first rejection of a staff recommendation in recent memory, refused to approve a motion to send the complaint to the attorney general and then rejected a second move to have the staff resubmit the complaint in January.
Instead, the commission voted to ask the commission staff to investigate the case and come back with a report in February.
"I think we do owe her further investigation," Commissioner Della Au said.
At issue is whether Mansho spent money raised for a campaign for purposes other than furthering her own campaign.
Her attorney said Mansho made contributions to charities or service organizations and traveled to conferences and conventions related to her Council duties.
City & County of Honolulu
