Police official fined
for illegal giftLeonard Leong pleads
no contest to illicit
political contributions
Leonard Leong has become the first Honolulu police commissioner to plead no contest to a misdemeanor offense -- making an illegal political donation.
State District Judge Lono Lee fined Leong $1,000 yesterday and ordered him to pay $50 to the state Criminal Victim Compensation Fund after Leong changed his not-guilty plea to no contest on the charge of making a false-name campaign contribution to Mayor Jeremy Harris campaign.
The judge rejected a prosecutor's request for probation and granted the 56-year-old Leong the opportunity to have his criminal case dismissed if he stays out of trouble for a year.
Lee pointed to Leong's "exemplary" record in the community and said Leong was unlikely to repeat such an offense in the future.
Leong, a vice president with Royal Contracting Inc., apologized for his actions but said he hasn't made up his mind whether he will step down from the Police Commission, which will meet today in executive session to discuss Leong's plea. Several fellow commissioners have urged Leong to resign.
Leong, appointed to the seven-member commission in 1996 by Harris and reappointed in 2001, said he has Harris' support and noted the city Department of the Corporation Counsel told him there is no city rule that requires him to step down if convicted of a misdemeanor.
"I accept responsibility for my actions, and I'd like to apologize to the court, the community, to my friends, to my family, and especially to my parents," Leong said.
City spokeswoman Carol Costa did not return several calls seeking comment.
Leong changed his plea one day after Royal Contracting, a major city contractor, negotiated a deal to pay a $20,000 fine to the state Campaign Spending Commission. That proposal covers the donation of more than $53,000 in illegal political contributions to Harris, former City Councilman Mufi Hannemann and ex-gubernatorial candidate D.G. "Andy" Anderson.
It also comes a day before an Oahu grand jury is scheduled to investigate tens of thousands of dollars in alleged illegal political donations linked to employees of engineering firm R.M. Towill Corp., which also is a major city contractor.
Under state law, a person or company can give no more than $4,000 for a mayoral race and $6,000 for a gubernatorial race during a four-year election period. Donors also are barred from making contributions under false names.
According to a criminal complaint filed in September, city prosecutors alleged that Leong illegally contributed $3,000 to the Harris campaign between 1997 and 1999 in the name of his sister, Lisa Ann Leong.
Deputy Prosecutor Randal Lee said Leong not only made excessive political contributions to the Harris campaign, but took steps to conceal them. The misdemeanor charge of making a campaign contribution under a false name is punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.
"What Mr. Leong did in this particular case not only undermined the electoral process, but also undermined the position which he held at the police commission," Lee said. "It's wrong, illegal and fundamentally, it's unfair. It's really the voters who are cheated by this."
According to an HPD historian, Leong's no-contest plea is the first of its kind by a sitting commissioner. The official, who declined to be named, said he was unable to find any instance in which a commission member was convicted or pleaded no contest to a felony or a misdemeanor since the commission was founded in 1932.
The commission is a voluntary board that investigates charges brought by the public against police officers. It also has the authority to hire and fire the police chief.
Leong's company, Royal Contracting, has received more than $38 million in city construction work since 1994. Projects include a $4.5 million road repair contract in 2000 and $10.8 million in emergency sewer line and sinkhole repairs in Moiliili in 2002.
The city contracts were awarded through competitive bidding. City officials have said campaign contributions have no influence on awarding contracts.
Leong also figures in the prosecutor's investigation into city Managing Director Ben Lee's receipt of historic city curbstones at his Punchbowl district home from Royal Contracting. Leong and Lee have said the blue-rock curbstones had no value but have since returned them to the city. Prosecutors declined comment on the matter, saying his office's investigation is pending.
