District judge will decide Tam’s fate today

State prosecutors will seek a jail term today for former Honolulu Councilman Rod Tam on charges of stealing city funds and violating campaign spending laws.

But Tam will ask that he be given a chance to have the misdemeanor and petty misdemeanor charges dismissed if he abides by conditions similar to probation.

Honolulu part-time District Judge Randal Shintani has scheduled the sentencing hearing for 1:30 p.m. today.

The hearing will be nearly a year since Tam pleaded guilty on Nov. 23 to theft and falsifying documents in charging the city more than he paid for meals from 2007 to 2009.

Tam pleaded no contest in June to campaign spending violations in 2008 and 2009.

The charges include using campaign funds for personal use, falsely reporting the use of campaign money and failing to report campaign donations.

The sentencing hearing was postponed several times at the request of the prosecution and the defense as well as the judge, who wanted a pre-sentence report on Tam before ruling.

Lori Wada, deputy attorney general, will oppose Tam’s request for a deferral of his guilty and no-contest pleas, which would result in the dismissal of the charges if he stays out of trouble.

Wada, who said Monday she will disclose how much jail she is seeking at today’s hearing, will also ask that Tam perform community service and pay a fine.

Tam faces sentencing on a total of 13 petty misdemeanor and 21 misdemeanor charges in the two cases.

Misdemeanor charges each carry up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000. Petty misdemeanors each have a jail term of up to 30 days and a fine of up to $1,000.

State courts, however, rarely string jail sentences on those charges consecutively and often order any jail terms to run at the same time.

Since pleading guilty in November, Tam left the City Council after the end of his second four-year term at the start of 2011.

He has served 32 years in elective office, including terms on the Council, a neighborhood board and the state Legislature.