Mayor hit with
new charge

The campaign panel now alleges
improper spending and
unreported donations

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By Rick Daysog
rdaysog@starbulletin.com

The head of the state Campaign Spending Commission has filed a new complaint against Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign, alleging that it paid more than $20,000 in improper expenditures that included travel to the Philippines, mainland air fares and parking tickets for a staffer.

In a four-count complaint dated Feb. 1, Robert Watada, the commission's executive director, also said the Harris campaign failed to report that it collected more than $100,000 in "soft money" contributions on behalf of the Democratic National Committee in 2000.

Watada, who will hold a hearing on the complaint during its Feb. 13 meeting, is seeking to fine the Harris campaign, but the amount has not yet been determined.

Under state law, the commission can fine the campaign as much as three times the amount of the questionable contributions and expenditures.

Ruth Ann Becker, a spokeswoman for the Harris campaign, had no immediate comment. Harris -- who plans to run for governor this year as a Democrat -- has denied wrongdoing and has accused Watada of taking part in a vendetta against his campaign.

In his complaint, Watada said the Harris campaign made 38 payments that appear to be unrelated to the campaign between 1996 and 2000.

They included $10,803 for travel and lodging expenses for October 2000, and November 2000, staffer meetings with Democratic National Committee officials, $1,116.50 for air fares and hotel lodgings for a trip to the Philippines in January 1996 and $262.66 in parking tickets issued to campaign staffer Mike Amii in 1996, Watada said.

Amii contested the tickets in court and the campaign paid $25 to defend him, according to Watada. Amii couldn't be reached for immediate comment.

In the nine-page complaint, Watada also alleged that the Harris campaign submitted a number of checks totaling $100,250 from local residents to the Democratic National Committee in November 2000.

The checks, which went to assist Al Gore's presidential campaign, should have been reported as a campaign contribution to the Harris campaign since the campaign collected the money, Watada said.

The latest complaint comes as the five-member commission last month voted to refer a separate two-count complaint against the Harris campaign to state Prosecutor Peter Carlisle for a criminal investigation.

In that filing, the commission alleged that the Harris 2000 campaign intentionally took contributions and booked them under false names.

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 election, from people and companies linked to dozens of city contractors.