Blame the candidate
for campaign violationsThe issue: Analyses of political
contributions reveal bundling of
campaign donations from
government contractors.PLACING limits on individual and company contributions to political candidates was supposed to eliminate -- or at least sharply reduce -- wheeling and dealing in campaign money and government contracts. Signs of such bartering are apparent in Mayor Harris's campaign fund-raising practices, but his attorney complains that the mayor is being singled out for campaign practices that have been widely accepted.
That explanation is supported by an examination of political donations linked with one of Hawaii's largest engineering firms, to the benefit not only of Harris but of Governor Cayetano, Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono and Maui Mayor James "Kimo" Apana. However, Linda Lingle, whom Harris hopes to face in this year's gubernatorial election, can boast of support based on political loyalty instead of financial dividends. Harris's refusal to cooperate in the investigation of his campaigns' practices strips him of the naiveté that he claims.
Since 1996, SSFM International Inc. executives made nearly five dozen political contributions totaling nearly $200,000, of which $92,500 went into Harris's campaign coffers. SSFM, the state's fourth-largest engineering firm, has numerous state and county contracts.
The state Campaign Spending Commission has fined another contractor, Geolabs Inc., $64,000 for making illegal contributions totaling $124,000 -- slightly more than half of the contributions it made to Democrats. The commission has begun looking into the SSFM contributions.
Political contributions from individuals or companies to a political candidate are limited to $4,000 to a mayoral candidate and $6,000 to a candidate for governor during a four-year election cycle. Coordinating contributions that are closely associated -- such as those from employees or their relatives -- is called bundling and is legal, as long as the company doesn't recompense the contributors. Such bundles with ties to government contractors are made for an obvious purpose -- to gain an upper hand in obtaining more government contracts.
Relatives of SSFM's officers made 24 contributions to the Harris campaign in 1996, according to a computer-assisted analysis by the Star-Bulletin's Rick Daysog. Those included individual $4,000 contributions from the chief executive officer's mother, brother and sister-in-law, and the vice-president's mother and two of his wife's relatives.
William McCorriston, an attorney for Harris, says that his client has been unfairly singled out. He says Lingle accepted 129 contributions from people who did not list their occupations or employers.
Unless those incomplete contribution forms were included in a political bundle, Lingle would have had no reason to suspect wrongdoing beyond minor oversights. While Harris may try to insulate himself from this seamy side of politics, he can't claim ignorance or use the "everybody does it" defense of a system to which his political career owes so much.
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Failure of merger leaves
turbulence in its wakeThe issue: The proposal to combine
operations of Aloha and Hawaiian airlines
breaks down over changes in the agreement.THE collapse of the proposed merger of Hawaii's interisland airlines leaves consumers no more assured of continued reliable service since both companies are still flying through turbulent economic atmospheres. The airlines should explore all permissible cooperative efforts that would help them build financial strength and remain competitive.
Although it appears that Hawaiian and Aloha will remain on their separate flight paths, state leaders should keep an eye on further developments; a large measure of Hawaii's economic stability rests on dependable air service.
The merger apparently fell through when Hawaiian came up with a new plan that would have eliminated former Continental Airlines executive Greg Brenneman and his Texas-based TurnWorks Inc. from any role in the operation. Brenneman had been the leading force in bringing together the two airlines, which have had a history of business and personal power conflicts. Hawaiian's plan would have put John W. Adams, its chairman, in charge of the merged operations and given Hawaiian hold of five of 11 directorships against Aloha's three, a condition Aloha found unacceptable.
Both airlines have been bleeding red ink for years, although Aloha appears to be more financially wobbly than Hawaiian. Since Sept. 11, the companies have lost tens of thousands of dollars and when the merger was announced in December, both said conditions in the industry made the move necessary. In recent weeks, however, Hawaiian has pushed ahead, just last week launching daily service from Maui to Seattle to its flight schedule.
It may be that Hawaiian, which announced Saturday that it would not extend an April 18 deadline for a merger agreement, saw no need to keep Brenneman in the plan. Adams says Hawaiian continues to believe a merger would be in the best interests of the two companies, but whether the airlines can renew the effort -- which Brenneman had characterized as "a marriage between the Hatfields and the McCoys" -- is uncertain.
Market forces may well send one airline or the other crashing. They have other options. In November, Congress granted a special antitrust exemption that would allow the airlines to collaborate on certain of their operations, such as flight schedules and routes as well as pricing. They have yet to take advantage of state or federal loan guarantees. Governor Cayetano, who says his administration will do its best to assure two viable airlines for Hawaii, should push Hawaiian and Aloha to explore all possibilities. An airline monopoly, however it occurs, would have undesirable repercussions on the state's economy.
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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.comJohn Flanagan, contributing editor 294-3533; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
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