Architect faces charges
for Harris donations
City prosecutors have filed criminal charges against a local landscape architect, alleging he made illegal political donations to Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign.
Prosecutors allege that Lester Inouye made an excessive political contribution to the Harris campaign and made a political donation under a false name.
The charges, filed in state District Court yesterday, are an outgrowth of prosecutors' investigation into local engineering firm R.M Towill Corp. Inouye's company, Lester H. Inouye & Associates Inc., is a Towill subcontractor.
Inouye referred questions to his attorney Renee Yuen, who could not be reached for comment. Prosecutors also had no comment.
If convicted, Inouye faces up to a year in jail.
State campaign spending records show that Inouye contributed $2,000 to the Harris campaign between 1999 and 2001. Those records also show that his office manager, Carolyn Inouye, donated $2,250.
Under state law, a donor can give no more than $4,000 to a mayoral candidate during a four-year election cycle.
Donors also are barred from making political donations in the names of others to circumvent that $4,000 cap.
Since January 2002, the Prosecutor's Office has issued criminal charges against nearly 30 donors linked to major city contractors.