Engineers get $2,000 fine,
community service

A state judge fined two local engineers $2,000 each yesterday and ordered them to complete 200 hours of community service after they pleaded no contest to charges of making illegal political contributions to Mayor Jeremy Harris' campaign.

District Judge Faye Koyanagi granted a request by Lennox Nishimura and Myles Shimokawa for a deferral of their no-contest pleas. The deferral gives the engineers the opportunity to get their criminal cases dismissed if they stay out of trouble for a year.

Attorney Howard Luke, who represents Nishimura and Shimokawa, could not be reached for comment.

Nishimura is president of the engineering firm ECS Inc., and Shimokawa is president of the KSF Inc. engineering firm.

According to prosecutors, Nishimura and Shimokawa made political donations under false names to the Harris campaign and exceeded the $4,000 contribution limit.

A 2003 investigation by the state Campaign Spending Commission found that Nishimura's company funneled $30,000 to the Harris campaign.

The commission, which fined ECS $49,000, also found that people linked to the company contributed $26,400 to former Gov. Ben Cayetano and $16,600 to ex-Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono's campaign.

The commission also fined Shimokawa's KSF $16,000 last year for giving more than $10,000 to the Harris campaign and $24,000 to Cayetano's campaign.

Under state law, an individual or corporation can give no more than $6,000 for the governor's race and $4,000 for other races during a four-year election cycle. They also are barred from giving money under a false name.