Architect fined $4,000
for donation to Harris
campaign
A state judge fined the president of the Outdoor Circle $4,000 today after he pleaded no contest to making illegal political donations to Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign.
District Judge Lono Lee also gave local landscape architect Lester Inouye the opportunity to get his criminal case dismissed if he stays out of trouble for a year.
Inouye, president of Lester H. Inouye & Associates, made no comment as he left the court today. His attorney Renee Yuen said that Inouye "accepted responsibility" for his actions.
"This is the only blemish on his record," Yuen said.
In a criminal complaint filed last month, prosecutors alleged that Inouye made excessive political contributions to the Harris campaign and donated the money under false names.
Deputy Prosecutor Chastity Tom said this morning that Inouye contributed about $19,000 to the Harris campaign through friends and relatives.
Tom, who opposed Inouye's request for a deferral, said that Inouye initially did not cooperate with investigators and only came forward after prosecutors threatened to indict relatives.
Inouye's case is an outgrowth of prosecutors' investigation into the local engineering firm of R.M. Towill Corp. Lester H. Inouye & Associates is a Towill subcontractor.
The case is not related to Inouye's role with the Outdoor Circle, which is a local environmental group.
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 Harris campaign donors linked to major city contractors.