Move to oust A HANDFUL of Councilwoman Rene Mansho's constituents met yesterday to plan her ouster in the wake of ethics violations.
Mansho from post
starts with small
citizens group
A former aide joins critics
who say she can't continueBy Diana Leone
Star-BulletinMansho has admitted she misspent campaign contributions and had city workers perform noncity work on city time, following investigations by the city Ethics and state Campaign Spending commissions. She was fined $80,000.
"I'm not happy about this at all. It's a really sad situation," said Larry McElheny, a North Shore resident and neighborhood board member who attended the meeting yesterday to talk about seeking Mansho's recall or impeachment. "It's clear to me that her judgment was such that she cannot continue."
He was joined by four others at the Wahiawa Zippy's Restaurant: his son Brook, fellow North Shore resident and neighborhood board member Ken Newfield, former Mansho aide Michelle Kidani and businesswoman Haunani Acohido, who alleged Mansho wrongly influenced a cruise line to use leis imported from Thailand instead of her locally grown ones.
Though small, the group yesterday said they believe that many more of the approximately 53,500 voters in Honolulu City Council District 1, which encompasses the North Shore, Mililani and Wahiawa, feel as they do.
The group expects to seek 1,000 registered voters' signatures asking the state Supreme Court to impeach Mansho.
Simultaneously, they will seek the approximately 5,350 signatures to ask for Mansho's resignation via a recall petition. If that many qualified voters ask for the councilwoman's resignation within 60 days and she does not quit within 10 days, the city clerk will be obliged to call a recall election.
"My advice to Rene Mansho would be to resign and not have all the gory details told," said Kidani. "As her senior advisor (for more than 11 years), I told her many times and advised her not to do what she was doing."
Both Acohido and Kidani said they do not want people to accuse them of being "disgruntled" with Mansho because of their former relationships with her. "I told her many times that what she's doing is wrong," said Kidani, who settled a workers' compensation case with the city in January and resigned.
Mansho and her attorney, Charles Price, could not be reached for comment yesterday. But Price has previously said Mansho did not intend to break any laws.
Mansho acknowledged two weeks ago that it was wrong to have her staff work on nongovernment activities on city time. Fellow City Council members have relieved her of leadership positions, including chairwoman of the Budget Committee and vice mayor.
"Even if the recall effort is not successful, the nature of the charges demand that the public at least go through this procedure," Newfield said.
"We deserve to be represented by someone at Council who can fairly and honestly represent this district -- and that person is no longer Rene Mansho."
City & County of Honolulu
