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GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi said that his county credit card being taken away is sufficient punishment for his history of using it for personal purchases.
The Hawaii County ethics commission Wednesday morning unanimously postponed hearing a complaint about Mayor Billy Kenoi’s purchase-card spending until the state Attorney General finishes a separate criminal investigation.
One of Kenoi’s three Honolulu criminal defense attorneys, Howard Luke, told the three-member commission “I will call it misuse of the pCard.”
The ethics commission members — who were appointed by Kenoi — nevertheless voted to let the A.G.’s investigation run its course before considering the complaint filed by Kapaau resident Lanric Hyland, 76, a retired California jail administrator.
Hyland wants to see Kenoi put in jail for $129,580.73 in charges on his county-issued pCard that included a $1,200 surfboard and $400 spent at the Camelot Restaurant and Lounge hostess bar and $892 at the Club Evergreen hostess bar, which are both located in Honolulu.
Kenoi has publicly apologized twice, taken responsibility and reimbursed the county $31,112.59.
Hyland was furious following the commission’s decision, particularly because he was not allowed to read four pages of testimony via video conference from Kapaau.
“It’s just ludicrous,” Hyland said. “It’s disgusting. They just said, ‘Hell with you, Lanric. We don’t listen to citizens.’ That’s what the board said today: ‘We let the lawyers talk to us and tell us what to do.’”
