Top campaign finance
investigator to retire

Watada’s pursuit led to
convictions and hurt Harris’
ambitions

Bob Watada, whose investigations into campaign finance abuses helped derail Mayor Jeremy Harris' 2002 gubernatorial effort and led to criminal convictions of three isle lawmakers, said he plans to retire next year.

The 65-year-old Watada, who has served as executive director of the state Campaign Spending Commission for nearly a decade, said yesterday that he will step down after next year's legislative session.

Watada discussed his pending retirement with the commission's five-member board, who will be charged with finding his replacement.

He said he will remain on board until the commission hires a successor and that he is willing to work as a volunteer during the transition.

"We have big shoes to fill," said Commissioner Steven Olbrich.

Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said he has respected Watada's independence and fearlessness in pursuing violators of the state's campaign finance laws. Carlisle said Watada has done the public a great service in "making sure our elections are done in a democratic way."

An economist by training, Watada previously worked for 19 years as an administrator in the state Labor Department.

He was appointed by the commission in February 1995 after his predecessor, Jack Gonzales, was indicted by a federal grand jury for his role in bilking $10 million from a local labor organization.

Gonzales, who was known for his lax enforcement of the state's campaign spending laws, was convicted and received a 15-year prison sentence.

Before his appointment as the commission's executive director, Watada served eight years on the commission's five-member board.

Watada said that when he showed up for his first meeting as a commissioner, then-director Gonzales did not even know that he had been named to the board.

Watada added that Gonzales often failed to notify him about the dates and times of commission meetings.

"His philosophy was the less the commissioners knew, the better it was because if there was a lawsuit, we could say, 'We don't know,'" Watada said.

Watada's 10-year tenure as executive director has been nothing like his predecessor's.

Watada's early investigation into campaign expenditures by then-City Councilwoman Rene Mansho led to her criminal convictions for theft.

During the late-1990s Bishop Estate controversy, the commission's investigations into the finances of ex-state Sens. Milton Holt and Marshall Ige also led to criminal convictions.

On May 30, 2002, Harris was the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination when he dropped out of the race, saying polls showed he could not win the November general election. Although he did not cite Watada's ongoing probe of his campaign, Harris said his faltering popularity was due to "a year of bad publicity."

The commission's three-year investigation into the Harris campaign has led to more than $700,000 in fines and resulted in dozens of donors being charged with criminal violations of state campaign finance law.

Carlisle praised Watada as "sort of a lone warrior."

"He decided long ago that he was going to do the job regardless of whose feathers were going to be ruffled," Carlisle said.