Former City Councilman Rod Tam has been fined $813.53 by the city Ethics Commission for misusing city funds to buy city employees "appreciation lunches" and for a Chinese dinner for foreign delegates.
In an advisory opinion made public Wednesday, the Ethics Commission said Tam was unable to present any credible evidence that the expenses were related to his Council work or any legitimate city business.
Tam paid the fine on Nov. 8, but told the commission he was doing so "for the sole and exclusive purpose of avoiding the time, expense and inconvenience of further proceedings, and not because of any misconduct or wrongdoing."
In a written statement Wednesday, Tam said he planned to sue the city and the Ethics Commission "for alleged charges, financial penalties, fees and criminal allegations of wrongdoing that have been placed on me without juridical authorization (court judgment)."
He declined further comment.
The cases date back to 2009 and 2010, but a hearing had been delayed while Tam faced criminal prosecution and sentencing for previous misuse of city funds. His hearing was held Aug. 30.
The fine is equal to the amount for which he received reimbursement from the city.
According to the advisory opinion, Tam bought food — bentos, sandwiches, chips and Chinese takeout — for city workers on four separate dates from Nov. 22, 2009, to Jan. 5, 2010, totaling $585.93.
Tam had said the meals presented an opportunity to network with city employees to discuss morale, job qualifications and work conditions.
"Mr. Tam argued that the discussion is directly related to his duty as a council member because he helped to set the budget on city positions," the opinion states.
"After Mr. Tam was unable to present any credible evidence to show what specific information he obtained from these discussions or that the information was actually used in any way in his duties as a council member, the Commission found that the 114 meals were simply ‘appreciation lunches.’"
A separate reimbursement he received for $227.60 was for dinner Jan. 13, 2010, at Empress Restaurant for foreign delegates to "formulate international diplomatic relations," the commission said.
"But he was also unable to present any credible evidence of subsequent actions on his part or by the Chinese delegation which would have corroborated his assertion that the dinner was in fact for the purpose of establishing a sister city relationship," the commission said.
The decision was issued Sept. 12 and released Wednesday.
Tam was sentenced Nov. 1, 2011, to two days in jail and 300 hours of community service after pleading guilty in June of that year to 26 misdemeanor and petty misdemeanor counts of theft and falsifying documents.
The charges were related to overcharging the city $8 to $267 for meals at Honolulu restaurants from 2007 to 2009.
Tam pleaded no contest to eight misdemeanor counts of violating campaign spending laws by falsely claiming he had a meal with a volunteer at a restaurant, failing to report two campaign contributions, misusing campaign funds and failing to maintain receipts to verify expenses.
In March 2010, the Ethics Commission had fined Tam $2,000 and ordered him to pay $11,700 in restitution for using city funds to buy "hundreds" of meals totaling more than $22,000 unrelated to his city work from July 1, 2006, through June 30, 2009.
The commission retained jurisdiction over his reimbursement allowances for the remainder of his term, which ended in 2010. The fine announced Wednesday stems from reimbursements he sought after the March 2010 penalty was issued.
Tam, who had served 32 years in elected office, was unable to seek re-election to the Council because of term limits. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2010.
Also Wednesday, in response to complaints, the Ethics Commission found that former Deputy Police Chief Delbert Tatsuyama used his official city position to obtain special treatment from the Honolulu Police Department for his son’s Scouting event.
The commission said the overtime expense was $2,673.49 and Tatsuyama has agreed to reimburse the city.
In a news release, the commission said Tatsuyama went outside normal procedures to have HPD sponsor the "Say Hi" event, by actively overseeing and arranging for HPD to feature some of its most sophisticated services and equipment, including a helicopter, armored vehicle, bomb robot and canine units.
About 30 police officers worked at the event, 10 of whom were on overtime.
