The Campaign Spending Commission has cleared House Vice Speaker Joey Manahan of wrongdoing in an inquiry about reimbursements Manahan claimed from his campaign fund to cover the cost of food and beverage.
The commission asked Manahan, 41, to explain a large number of filings for reimbursements for meals on his most recent campaign spending statement.
Kristin Izumi-Nitao, executive director of the commission, said Manahan listed 143 reimbursements with a total of $9,660.58 for food and beverage from Jan. 1 to June 30. Campaign funds can be used only for campaign expenses and not for personal expenses, and the commission approached Manahan to try to determine whether those food expenses were related to campaign activities, she said.
Manahan is a candidate for City Council in District 7, which includes Kalihi, Kapalama, Iwilei, Mapunapuna, Salt Lake and Foster Village.
Commission staff met Tuesday with Mary Ann Manahan, Manahan’s wife, who is campaign co-chairwoman, and issued a letter explaining that "we conclude that you have been able to substantiate that these were campaign-related expenses," Izumi-Nitao said.
An expense is considered campaign-related if it influences "a nomination for election into the office he seeks," she said. "They were able to go through each one and show us a receipt, and they had notes as to what the event was or what they would have talked about," Izumi-Nitao said.
Izumi-Nitao said the review of Manahan’s most recent campaign report is closed.
"I’m glad we have cleared this issue with the campaign spending commission," Manahan said in a news release. "I was confident that all our expenditures would be justified as being campaign-related. We keep detailed records of all our transactions, and we report everything so as to be transparent. It’s hard work raising funds for campaign, so we are very careful on how we spend it."
