Berg fined for not reporting T-shirt donation

Honolulu City Councilman Tom Berg was fined $250 by the state Campaign Spending Commission on Wednesday for failing to disclose that he had received 24 T-shirts from a campaign supporter.

A second complaint before the commission was dismissed because its claims could not be substantiated.

The commission, meanwhile, chose to defer a third case involving much broader and serious charges against Berg by his fired chief of staff, who alleged he used his Council office for political and personal gain.

In the first case, filed by environmental activist Carroll Cox, Berg was accused of a series of wrongdoings including failing to report several campaign luncheons that were paid for by his Council staff.

The commission dismissed those counts but did find that Berg failed to report the in-kind donation of 24 campaign T-shirts from supporter Patty Teruya.

Another complaint filed by Cox was dismissed in its entirety. It alleged that Berg accepted contributions from two people involved with a controversial Waianae Coast business but did not report them.

The case was dismissed because the contributions were received and then returned before the appropriate filing report deadline, according to commission staff.

Cox, after the decisions, said he was disappointed with the commission for not looking deeper into his charges, calling the agency too "poorly funded" to do a more thorough job.

The third case against Berg was deferred to allow the first-term councilman time to respond to allegations by Eric Ryan, his former chief of staff. Ryan charged in his complaint, among other things, that Berg had Council staff use city taxpayer time to help his re-election campaign and that Ryan received a raise in his staff salary in exchange for election-related work or purchases.

Ryan urged commissioners to forward the charges to the state Attorney General’s Office for prosecution.

The commission staff recommended that Berg be fined $28,646 for in-kind contributions by Council staffers, but commission members chose to defer a vote on the case to allow Berg time to respond. Berg said he did not issue a written response to Ryan’s complaints because he had addressed similar charges Ryan filed against him before the city Ethics Commission, did not believe the charges were campaign-related and did not think the commission would take the charges seriously.

"When you guys think there’s campaigning going on, I’m going, ‘This is ethics,’ and I’ve responded to (the Ethics Commission)," Berg told commissioners. "When you’re telling me there’s campaigning going on in the workplace, I’ve just dismissed this with you folks (because) it’s completely false."

Berg acknowledged that he did not open a CD-ROM given to him by campaign commission staff.

Commission staff attorney Gary Kam said, "If he had opened up the CD-ROM, he would know what is being alleged by Eric Ryan."

Berg said he could not locate a CD-ROM detailing the allegations against him and asked for another copy so that he could properly respond in the next week as requested by the commission.

After Berg’s submittal, Ryan will be given several days to respond in writing before the case goes for a vote by the commission on Nov. 14.

Ryan, after the meeting, said he has not yet filed a complaint with the city Ethics Commission and has only been responding to commission Executive Director Chuck Totto.

Totto told the Star-Advertiser Wednesday afternoon that his agency is looking into 12 pending cases involving Berg, some of which were initiated by his staff. He would not disclose any outside parties that brought cases against Berg. Nor would he discuss the charges against Berg.

Berg called Ryan’s statements "99.9 percent false … totally concocted," and the work of a disgruntled former employee bent on ruining him. Berg fired Ryan in the summer of 2011. Berg said he has also filed criminal charges against Ryan for using electronic means to steal money from his personal bank account.

Berg said Ryan, without his knowledge, also collected campaign contributions and put them in accounts he controlled and is now claiming they were not reported as contributions.

Evelyn Souza, Berg’s current chief of staff, told commission members that staff members do not campaign on city time.

If they did, she said, "I would have left this office months ago."

Ryan has also been involved in a series of legal entanglements with state Rep. Kymberly Pine, who is challenging Berg for his Council seat.

Berg formerly worked for Pine.