Big Island Mayor Billy Kenoi once was considered a rising star in Hawaii’s Democratic Party, destined for statewide office, or even a national post. He has only himself to blame for ruining that future.
Kenoi’s blatant pattern of misusing taxpayers’ funds for his own benefit has shattered the public trust and makes him unfit to lead Hawaii County.
He should resign, for the good of the people he was elected to serve and instead has betrayed — spending their hard-earned money on personal perks such as sporting equipment, luxury hotels and nights on the town at hostess bars.
Kenoi’s personal charisma is no substitute for the honesty, integrity and leadership required of the office. Since it was first reported two weeks ago that Kenoi had misused the county-issued credit card known as a pCard, facts that implicate him as knowingly culpable in a pattern of misconduct keep piling up.
The savvy former criminal defense attorney’s initial excuse — that he never intended to defraud anyone — is a common response of those accused of white-collar offenses.
His assertion that he thought it was OK to use his pCard for personal expenses as long as he paid back the money is contradicted by facts revealed since he held a press conference in Honolulu to try to explain himself.
Hawaii County policies specify that pCards are only for authorized expenses necessary for official government business, that personal purchases are strictly prohibited, and that cardholders must sign a user agreement asserting that they understand the rules — which Kenoi did.
Moreover, the Hawaii County finance director confirmed that Kenoi had been warned over the years about his misuse, but retained use of the card.
Even worse: Of the $129,580 Kenoi charged on his pCard since taking office, he’s paid back more than $31,112 of it. That means a full 24 percent of his total charges never should have been made in the first place. Most damning: Kenoi paid at least $9,500 of that reimbursement only after his misconduct was exposed by a Hawaii island newspaper; $7,500 was paid two days after the article ran on March 29 and another $2,055 on Friday.
Given this sequence of events, how can the mayor plausibly claim that he didn’t know he was doing anything wrong and that he never intended to defraud the taxpayers? If a whistleblower had not supplied the newspaper with a key document — which detailed a $892 charge by Kenoi at a Honolulu hostess bar in December 2013 — it is doubtful taxpayers ever would have been fully reimbursed.
Late last week, it was confirmed that Kenoi faces a new controversy, for allegedly failing to report as gifts thousands of dollars worth of travel paid for by others, as required by ethics laws. These requirements are important and protect the public interest by revealing who may be trying to influence elected officials.
Add those claims to the two investigations Kenoi already faces, both of which Hawaii County officials have prudently sought to move to other counties to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The Maui County Corporation Counsel’s Office is handling an ethics complaint filed by a Hawaii County resident calling on Kenoi and the county finance director to be removed from their posts.
Hawaii County’s prosecutor has asked the state Attorney General to undertake the potential criminal investigation, a request that should be granted not only because the county has sought the intervention but also because this case may have statewide implications.
State resources benefit Hawaii County, so it is not only taxpayers on that island who may have been harmed by Kenoi’s excessive spending.
Ironically, Kenoi was living high on the taxpayers’ dime at a time when he was preaching austerity for Hawaii County government employees and residents. He took pride in reducing the size and cost of government, and hailed county workers for "their willingness to do more with less."
Mayor Kenoi failed to apply that same standard to his own conduct.
It is time to hold him accountable.
