FBI joins Harris Federal investigators have joined city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle's investigation into Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris' political campaign, in a move that could have a major impact on this year's gubernatorial elections.
campaign probe
Agents have met with city
prosecutors assessing the caseBy Rick Daysog
rdaysog@starbulletin.comFBI agents have met several times with the city prosecutors to discuss the state Campaign Spending Commission's complaint against Harris, his campaign and several of the campaign's top officers, according to people familiar with the case.
Carlisle declined comment on whether his office was working with other agencies. He also declined comment on whether his office will go to a grand jury to investigate the commission's complaint.
Bob Watada, Campaign Spending Commission executive director, also had no response on the potential criminal probe. The U.S. Attorney's office had no comment.
Harris said today that he was not aware of the federal investigation.
"There have been no requests for interviews with anyone with the FBI or any other law enforcement agency, the Federal Election Commission or the U.S. Attorney's Office," said Ruth Ann Becker, a spokeswoman for Harris' campaign.
Harris has announced plans to run for governor this year as a Democrat.
"I am confident the prosecutor will hear our case impartially and objectively and will conclude that there was absolutely no criminal intent on the part of anyone attacked by (Bob) Watada." Jeremy Harris
Honolulu mayor
Yesterday, the state Campaign Spending Commission turned over its investigation into Harris' 2000 mayoral campaign to Carlisle's office.
By a 4-0 vote with one member abstaining, the commission referred its two-count complaint against Harris; his campaign; and his top campaign officials, Lex Brodie, Roger Liu and Peter Char.
Commission member Richard Choy recused himself since Liu served as his accountant.
While the complaint did not give specific details about criminal wrongdoing, Watada said his office's year-old investigation has found a pattern of wrongdoing.
He said several witnesses told his office under oath that they didn't donate money to Harris' campaign but were listed by campaign workers as doing so.
Other witnesses also said they donated money to a fund-raiser but were not listed as doing so, Watada said.
"We have seen fairly solid evidence that there were deliberate violations by the Harris campaign and its top officials," Watada said.
Harris took issue with the Campaign Spending Commission's referral, saying it's part of a "politically motivated vendetta." He urged Carlisle to conduct his review as quickly as possible.
"Obviously this has done tremendous damage to my campaign. I am hoping Peter Carlisle will quickly step in and investigate and in so doing, he'll clear the names of me and Lex Brodie, Peter Char and Roger Liu. And if that's the case, then the campaign can go full speed," Harris said this morning before the opening of the Legislature.
Carlisle promised to conduct an initial review of the commission's complaint as quickly as possible.
Based on the findings of that initial review, Carlisle will make a determination as to whether his office will pursue criminal charges, drop the case or refer it to another agency.
Carlisle gave no timetable for his review.
William McCorriston, attorney for Harris and Char, said he believes that Carlisle should dismiss the complaint, saying it's meritless.
McCorriston said the complaint didn't specify whether any of the named parties conducted a criminal act.
McCorriston faulted the commission for not giving him the opportunity to tell Harris' side of the story since it limited his remarks in yesterday's meeting to just three minutes.
He added that Watada has unfairly singled out the Harris campaign when the gubernatorial campaigns of former Maui Mayor Linda Lingle and Gov. Ben Cayetano have made similar errors.
McCorriston -- who plans to meet with Harris this week to discuss his legal options -- said he may consider suing the commission for violating his clients' right to due process.
"To call this a kangaroo court would be a disservice to marsupials," McCorriston said.
"You know as I know -- and let's not fool anybody -- that this will have a direct impact on Jeremy Harris' ability to raise money, his ability to run his campaign and his ability to get elected. And you're doing that without having one piece of evidence."
One political analyst believes the damage to the Harris campaign will be felt immediately, given the tight governor's race.
Yas Kuroda, political science professor at the University of Hawaii, said the stigma of a federal investigation will have adverse effects, even if the investigation doesn't turn up any wrongdoing.
If Harris gets by state Rep. Ed Case and former state Sen. Andy Anderson in the Democratic primary election, he will likely run against Republican Linda Lingle, who narrowly lost to Cayetano in the 1998 governor's race.
"Obviously, it's not going to have a positive impact," Kuroda said.
"The mere fact that he is being investigated will have adverse effects regardless of the findings."
The commission began taking a close look into contributions to the Harris campaign last year after the Star-Bulletin reported that the mayor's campaign raised nearly $750,000, or about a quarter of his $3 million war chest for the 2000 re-election, from people and companies linked to dozens of city contractors.
Watada defended his handling of the complaint, saying he deliberately kept out many of the findings of his investigation to allow the Prosecutor's Office to conduct its own investigation.
Watada -- who is investigating more than 50 local companies that contributed to the Harris campaign -- said his office turned over several boxes to Carlisle's office yesterday. The records include copies of canceled checks, bank statements and transcripts of dozens of interviews with witnesses.
He added that some of the specifics of his investigation are detailed in a conciliation agreement with a major Harris contributor, Geolabs Inc., released yesterday.
Geolabs has agreed to pay a record $64,000 fine to settle charges that it made $124,000 in excessive contributions since 1996 to six political candidates, including Harris, Cayetano, Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, Maui Mayor James "Kimo" Apana, Big Island mayoral candidate Fred Holschuh and Honolulu mayoral candidate Arnold Morgado.
In particular, the firm admitted that it gave the Harris campaign more $48,000 in excessive contributions to the Harris campaign. Phillip Li, Geolabs' lawyer, said a number of those donations were purposely attributed to incorrect names by campaign workers.