The chairwoman of the state Senate’s powerful Ways and Means Committee, which plays a key role in deciding who gets state funding, has been serving as a paid consultant for the Daniel K. Inouye Institute.
Financial disclosure forms filed with the Hawaii State Ethics Commission this year show that Sen. Jill Tokuda (D, Kailua-Kaneohe) has consulted on behalf of the Institute for its "program development and execution."
Tokuda maintains that there’s no conflict in her dual roles.
On its website, the Inouye Institute lists as its top priority the "establishment and construction of the Daniel K. Inouye Center for Democratic Leadership on the University of Hawaii Manoa campus."
The state has set aside $10 million to start that project, but UH regents and the institute’s executive director have concerns with design and construction right now, particularly given the various fiscal challenges that UH faces.
All construction issues aside, Tokuda stressed in a recent interview that her consulting has nothing to do with efforts to build a physical center for the Inouye Institute.
Instead, Tokuda and institute officials say, she works exclusively on educational programs involving the Smithsonian Institution, as well as with the Library of Congress, to develop a lecture series, among other initiatives.
"Those are separate from a building. Those have nothing to do with a building," Tokuda said. "I would say that it’s not connected at all because it does not necessitate a building to actually do the work."
Tokuda also said that her consulting contract initially ran from March 2014 through December and was set to resume after the current legislative session.
Daniel K. Inouye Institute Director Jennifer Sabas said that the group contracted Tokuda because she has a passion for education and a familiarity with various Washington, D.C.-based institutions.
Sabas declined to say how much Tokuda has been paid, but she said that payments were covered entirely with private foundation funds — not public dollars.
It was a point that Tokuda also wanted to make clear, making the distinction between public and private dollars.
Tokuda’s client on the Inouye Institute work is Kaimana Hila, which is Sabas’ company and the vehicle through which she serves as the institute’s director, she said. The firm also does some contract lobbying work on behalf of the pro-rail group Move Oahu Forward, Sabas added.
Tokuda said that she consulted with Senate attorneys to make sure she would not violate any conflict-of-interest law in taking Kaimana Hila on as a client. She added that she would double-check whether she would have a conflict if a vote for funding on their behalf ever came before the Senate.
"We’re not asking for any government funds for anything," Sabas said Monday. Nonetheless, Tokuda’s ascension to Ways and Means chairwoman was "the last thing we thought would happen" when they started the contract last year, and it "may or may not make sense to continue," Sabas said.
This is Tokuda’s first year serving as Ways and Means chairwoman.
Tokuda said the Ethics Commission staff initially informed her that she didn’t need to disclose her consulting work for the institute because she doesn’t represent Kaimana Hila or the institute before state agencies. Ethics laws obligate that lawmakers formally disclose any clients that they represent before such agencies.
"I don’t represent them, I don’t make any decisions for them," Tokuda said.
However, Ethics Commission Executive Director Les Kondo called her after learning that she had already spoken with his staff, Tokuda said, and he recommended that she disclose it "to be safe" now that she’s Ways and Means chairwoman.
Kondo, meanwhile, would neither confirm nor deny Tokuda’s account, saying that any advice he gives to lawmakers is not public.
"The important thing is I view it as separate," Tokuda said of her program development work.
She did add, however, that "for me, perception dictates people’s reality." Tokuda continued, "At this point … if it’s determined, unfortunately, that perception is too much of the reality" then, the senator said, she would consider not moving forward with the Inouye contract.
