Two Honolulu Airport security consultants appeared to get everything they wanted in their state contracts, including compensation packages that paid them more than top state officials, Gov. Linda Lingle wrote in a letter last week demanding their termination. Airport contract
payments criticizedThe governor says 2 fired
consultants were overcompensatedBy Rod Antone
rantone@starbulletin.comIn a four-page letter from Lingle to Transportation Director Rodney Haraga, the governor detailed why the contracts for Rudy Alivado and Ernest Moritomo should be terminated. The contracts' termination was announced Monday.
Lingle describes both contracts as exemplifying "much of what has been wrong with government in the state of Hawaii."
"It simply appears that the DOT approved, or was ordered to approve, everything Mr. Alivado and Mr. Moritomo could think of that they wanted in the contracts," she wrote.
Moritomo and Alivado issued separate news releases yesterday defending their work for the state. Alivado said: "We have worked hard since Governor (Ben) Cayetano assigned us to focus on corruption at HIA (Honolulu International Airport).
"It is unfortunate that we were not allowed to complete this investigation for the benefit of the taxpayers."
According to Lingle's letter, both men signed their first contracts with the Cayetano administration in 1997, with Alivado's base rate at $68,000 and Moritomo's rate at $50,000. The Transportation Department continued to renew their contracts annually with no change for the next two years.
However, in 2001, Lingle said Alivado's base rate went up to $74,000 while Moritomo's base rate went up to $56,000. The following year, Lingle said. Alivado's rate increased again to $77,000 while Moritomo's rate went up to $63,000.
The most recent contract renewal for both men came two weeks before Cayetano left office. The 2003 contract had Alivado, a retired Honolulu police major and former deputy director of the state Department of Public Safety, serving as executive assistant for security at a salary of $82,500 plus $25,000 for overtime and $12,000 for travel and incidental expenses. Moritomo, a former police officer, was to serve as special assistant for security at a salary of $70,000 plus $25,000 for overtime and $12,000 for travel and incidental expenses.
Lingle said in the letter that Alivado's possible compensation could reach $107,500 a year, which she described as exceeding the "salary of the governor, the lieutenant governor, all directors and most judges within the state of Hawaii." The governor's salary is $94,780.
In an e-mailed response to Star-Bulletin questions last night, Cayetano said, "Alivado and Moritomo did a great job in helping to root out corruption at the airport."
"Lingle's statements that Alivado and Moritomo could earn as much as $107,000 a year is a stretch." he wrote. "Theoretically, the investigators in the AG's office could make more because there is no cap on their overtime. Alivado and Moritomo earned every dollar paid to them -- and they saved the State from losing millions to corruption."
Cayetano added "Of course, none of this matters to Lingle. Her actions are vindictive and politically motivated."
In her letter, Lingle stated that the language in the contracts "mysteriously changed" from the state having discretion as to what kind of tools and equipment they would provide to saying that the state would "provide whatever equipment, tools supplies, prints, office space and computer programming Mr. Alivado and Mr. Moritomo deemed necessary."
She wrote that she didn't understand the rationale of a contract clause that said if the contracts were terminated, "the state had to pay for the full value of the base compensation provided ... without regard to whether the services were actually rendered or not."
State Department of Transportation Office of the Governor