Harris should begin
internal investigationThe issue: The mayor says
charges against his 2000 campaign
are politically motivatedMAYOR Harris has wonderful faith in his campaign staff, enough to furiously reject allegations of wrongdoing without knowing the specifics. Before going forward with accusations of a vendetta and selective prosecution by the accuser, Harris should conduct his own internal investigation to find out what occurred within his campaign-financing operation at what he acknowledges to have been arm's length.
The mayor has hired an independent accounting firm to audit his campaign records, the first step toward gaining a better understanding of an operation in which Harris claims to have had little involvement. The audit may be necessary for Harris to wage a good legal defense. It also could be politically valuable if he shares the information with a voting public that has acquired doubts about Harris's veracity because of last week's complaint by the state Campaign Spending Commission.
Harris would be foolish to think that the commission might refer a two-count complaint against his 2000 mayoral campaign to the city prosecutor without some evidence, but that is what he seems to be saying. If Prosecutor Peter Carlisle files charges, evidence will surface, but that does little good now for Harris or the public.
Four of the commission's five members voted last week to refer the charges to Carlisle, so Harris's claim that it resulted from a political vendetta by Robert Watada, the commission's executive director, looks specious. The only commission member who abstained from the vote had used Roger Liu, the Harris campaign's accountant, as his own accountant.
However, the lack of specific allegations in the commission's complaint makes it impossible for the Harris campaign to respond in any detail. The commission gave Carlisle several boxes of canceled checks, bank statements and transcripts of dozens of interviews of witnesses by commission staffers and private investigators. Together, Watada says, the material contains "fairly solid evidence" of deliberate violations by the Harris campaign. Watada says several people told the commission that Harris campaign workers had falsely listed them as contributors.
The complaint accuses the campaign of laundering money to subvert a $4,000 limit on contributions from individuals or companies. In one case, campaign workers attributed incorrect names to donations by Geolabs Inc., according to the company's lawyer. Geolabs paid a record $64,000 fine for its excessive largess.
While the commission's complaint names Harris, his campaign and top campaign officials Lex Brodie, Peter Char and Liu, it does not implicate, by name, any person in a specific act of wrongdoing. That will have to be clarified if Carlisle concludes that criminal prosecution is warranted.
Program cuts back
unemployment, pestsThe issue: The work project
provides jobs for a worthwhile
environmental effort.THE state's emergency environmental eradication program appears to be fulfilling its purpose of providing employment for those who lost their jobs after Sept. 11 and helping to rid the islands of harmful pests. At a cost of $1.5 million, it is money well spent.
Although the 227 jobs created are dwarfed by the 51,700 who have filed unemployment claims since the terrorist attacks, that's still 227 people who are earning paychecks instead of being on the dole. Those who have been hired seem to appreciate the opportunity and the work they are doing is important to Hawaii.
The eradication program, set up by the state Legislature during an emergency session called after the terrorist attacks decimated the state's tourism-based economy, puts people to work removing miconia plants and coqui frogs and educating residents about dengue fever and the mosquitoes that spread the disease.
In Hawaii, miconia presents a serious threat not only to native plants and animals, but to watersheds -- which provide drinking water and irrigation -- by killing ground-cover plants that hold soil in place and precipitating erosion. The frogs' loud, chirping calls have been disturbing residents' sleep for years and their migration into resort areas would adversely affect the hotel industry. Environmental officials also fear that the frogs will endanger Hawaii's native species. The outbreak of dengue fever last year was transmitted by another alien species, the Asian tiger mosquito.
Concern about invasive species, often dismissed as purview of environmental alarmists, is growing as government and businesses discover the economic damage non-indigenous plants and animals can do. A 1999 study by Cornell University put the annual nationwide toll of invasive species at a staggering $138 billion, primarily in food production losses.
The state's eradication program, which began in early December, was intended as a temporary work project and will expire after three months. However, its success should be cause for legislators to review its effectiveness and possibly renew the program or set up a permanent one. A trained cadre of workers that could shift its duties to attack the latest environmental threats would clearly benefit Hawaii. If the state had such a force in place when miconia was first discovered here in 1998, it could have eliminated the plant at a cost of a few thousand dollars. Today, local experts estimate that removing miconia from Maui and the Big Island alone could cost as much as $47 million.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comRichard Halloran, editorial page director, 529-4790; rhalloran@starbulletin.com
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (USPS 249460) is published daily by
John Flanagan, contributing editor 294-3533; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
Oahu Publications at 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813.
Periodicals postage paid at Honolulu, Hawaii. Postmaster: Send address changes to
Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.
