Librarian files complaint
over Lingle reform group
A public-school librarian filed a complaint yesterday with the state Ethics Commission over Gov. Linda Lingle's use of state resources to support a private nonprofit corporation lobbying for her education reform plan.
The complaint was filed as questions persisted over how the Lingle administration was able to create and help operate the private company -- actions that appear to violate the state's ethics laws.
Faith Tomoyasu, a librarian at Lehua Elementary School in Pearl City, filed the complaint after reading a Star-Bulletin article Sunday detailing how the Lingle administration established the private entity to solicit donations for promoting and lobbying for her education initiatives.
Citizens Achieving Reform in Education originally was formed by Lingle in October as an advisory group but became a nonprofit corporation on New Year's Eve and later registered as a political action committee as well, according to state records. It has raised $80,000 in donations from three donors.
Even though CARE is registered with the state and federal governments as a private corporation, it has maintained its ties to the Lingle administration, using state offices and state workers.
Tomoyasu said she had asked CARE orally and in writing a variety of questions last year, including how it would be structured and how its operations would be funded, but she never received specific answers.
When she read the Star-Bulletin article, Tomoyasu, a longtime Democrat, said she was so troubled that she filed the complaint against the Republican governor.
Bob Awana, Lingle's chief of staff, had told the Star-Bulletin last week that when he raised a question about the plan to set up a private nonprofit corporation for soliciting donations, it was given the green light by someone within the administration. However, he could not recall whom.
If the Ethics Commission pursues an investigation and determines violations have occurred, it would forward its findings to the Legislature and the attorney general's office.
The state's ethics code generally prohibits state resources from being used for private organizations and state employees from using their offices to give preferential treatment to any organization.