2 complaints on PAC slated for fresh vote

The state Campaign Spending Commission on Nov. 19 will vote again on whether two complaints against the Pacific Resource Partnership Political Action Committee should be reviewed by state attorneys for criminal prosecution.

The commission voted 2-1 Wednesday, failing to muster three votes to make a decision on whether to refer for review the two complaints — one by former Gov. Ben Cayetano and the other by commission Executive Director Kristin Izumi-Nitao.

Cayetano’s complaint alleges that the PRP PAC schemed to defeat his mayoral candidacy months before it filed formally as a PAC, failed to state clearly that expenditures were made to oppose his candidacy and failed to report several hundred thousand dollars of expenditures to hire several consultants and public relations people.

Cayetano urged the commission to forward his complaint to attorneys so that the PRP PAC and John White, its executive director, could be prosecuted criminally for a Class C felony, as allowed when a campaign financing violation is believed to be intentional.

Commission staff recommended that Cayetano’s case be dropped since the PRP PAC last month already paid a $1,250 fine for failing to report more than $200,000 total to campaign consultant Andrew Winer, public relations firm Hoakea Communications and mainland political consultant Jason Stanford. The super PAC also amended its 2012 reports to reflect the additions.

PRP PAC attorney Leroy Colombe said: "What we have here is a simple reporting issue that’s been resolved by the commission."

Cayetano said that far from acknowledging the super PAC’s omissions as errors, Colombe argued that the PRP PAC believes money spent before May 21 was during an exploratory stage when it was trying to determine whether it should make the effort to try to influence voters.

"This guy just doesn’t get it," Cayetano said of Colombe, pointing out that both Winer and Hoakea were paid more than $100,000 and were instrumental strategists in the campaign to defeat his candidacy.

Commission member Eldon Ching said the amount under question represented only a small portion of what the PRP PAC ultimately spent. "To me it was just a misinterpretation of statute."

Campaign financing reports show the PRP PAC spent $3.6 million to defeat Cayetano, which does not include the amount spent in direct support to then-mayoral candidates Kirk Caldwell or Peter Carlisle.

Ching said he may have felt differently if there was more evidence showing intent or reckless disregard.

But commission Chairman G. William Snipes and commission member Gregory Shoda said they want to see the matter forwarded to prosecutors, who could investigate whether there would be enough to prosecute based on intent or reckless. "If not, we retain jurisdiction and it comes back to us," Snipes said.

They noted that PRP’s tactics have been questioned in the past. To settle a defamation lawsuit that the former governor brought against the PRP PAC, PRP officials agreed to run a newspaper advertisement publicly apologizing to Cayetano and to make contributions to two of his favorite charities.

The 2-1 split left the five-member commission without enough votes to proceed. Commission member Tina Pedro Gomes was ill and did not attend Wednesday’s meeting. Commission member Adrienne Yoshihara recused herself from PRP matters, pointing out that she and Colombe, the super PAC’s attorney, are partners in the law firm Chun Kerr LLP.

Izumi-Nitao’s complaint charges the super PAC with failing to report an invoice for more than $86,000 for money spent to help the 2012 campaigns of Caldwell and two others.

Commission staff urged commissioners to accept its recommendation to either fine the super PAC $1,000 or send the matter to attorneys for possible prosecution.

The invoice was for fliers mailed out by mainland advertising firm Mission Control Inc. to help the successful campaigns of Caldwell, Carol Fukunaga and Valerie Poindexter. Caldwell went on to become mayor, Fukunaga a member of the Honolulu City Council and Poindexter a member of the Hawaii County Council.

"We should be fined for that," Colombe told the commission, describing the lack of reporting as "clearly an isolated incident."

Snipes initially moved to accept the fine, but Shoda persuaded him to again support referring the complaint to prosecutors.