COURTESY OF KITV4 NEWS
Campaign sign wavers for state Sen. Melodie Aduja in this undated photo included her now-ex-husband William Lee Williams, to her right.
State senator’s
payments prompt
campaign probeSuspicion arises after $32,000
was paid to her then-husband
State Campaign Spending Commission investigators are looking into expense reports filed by state Sen. Melodie Aduja because her campaign gave $32,000 in cash payments to her then-husband.
Aduja's ex-husband, William Lee Williams, is a convicted felon who was arrested in a Chinatown drug raid April 1, for suspicion of third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug. He remains in custody.
Bob Watada, Campaign Spending Commission executive director, said the withdrawals from Aduja's campaign treasury are suspicious because of their frequency and the large amount.
Between June and November 2002, Williams, who was then married to Aduja, was paid a total of $32,214 in 28 separate withdrawals.
Most of the payments were in cash and were for an even $500. The largest withdrawal was for $13,254, made on Nov. 8, just after Aduja (D, Kahuku-Kaneohe) won her Senate seat against Republican Lacene Terri.
"Questions have been raised and we are looking into it," Watada said. "The pattern of the expenses raises questions."
So many petty cash expenses raise "a red flag," Watada said.
Aduja, however, said Williams did not give any indications "that he was maintaining a lifestyle other than that of being clean, sober and healthy."
Campaign law requires that money raised for a campaign be spent only to influence an election. Personal use of campaign money is forbidden.
Aduja said her campaign reports have all been audited and that she has receipts for all expenditures.
"Most of it would be for gas and food. I have supporters, and we sign-waved and canvassed every day," Aduja said.
Asked if there was any concern that Williams spent the money on drugs, Aduja said, "No."
Aduja is a private attorney and former city deputy prosecutor who was co-chairwoman of the House-Senate Task Force on Ice and Drug Abatement last summer.
Williams, 40, and Aduja, 44, were married on Christmas Day in 1997. They were divorced last August.
On July 19, 1996, Williams was found guilty of second-degree theft and sentenced to 100 hours of community service, 69 days in prison and five years' probation.
Aduja said yesterday she had not known about Williams' conviction and learned about his arrest last week from news reports.
"I didn't know that. I had no idea," Aduja said when told about Williams' criminal background.
Her husband's problems with drugs, however, caused him to seek treatment last year.
"He respected us, the children (Aduja has two young children), and I suppose that if he needed to do what he was doing, he wouldn't do it around us. I never saw it," Aduja said.
But Aduja acknowledged that Williams did go for treatment.
"It was really costly," she said, although she declined to talk about Williams' problems.
During a speech in the Senate earlier this year, Aduja spoke passionately about the problem of drugs in the community.
"I want especially to take note of a most disturbing finding. That is, the number of families whose members' lives have suffered irreparable harm by the behavior of individuals who have fallen prey to the use of illicit drugs," she said.
Yesterday, Aduja said drugs have hurt her own family.
"It impacted our family in a big way. Basically, the children have no father," Aduja said.
The freshman senator had a campaign treasury of about $86,000 during her 2002 campaign, including a $50,000 loan from her father, former state Rep. Peter Aduja.
The victorious campaign was her second attempt at public office; she ran unsuccessfully against former City Councilman Steve Holmes in 1998.
In 2002, Aduja beat incumbent state Sen. Bob Nakata in the primary election before winning the general election. She is vice chairwoman of two committees: Economic Development, and Science, Arts and Technology.
