State lawsuit weaves a tale of graft, political cronyism

A state lawsuit to recover losses from one of its many computer upgrades gone awry offers a remarkably candid glimpse of the corruptive politics that so often sink Hawaii’s efforts to solve critical problems.

As reported by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Kevin Dayton, the state is suing consultant Ciber Inc. for using connected lobbyists and “inappropriate political influence” to get the Abercrombie administration to pay out $8 million for a faulty new financial accounting system in the Department of Transportation, despite DOT concerns that the system didn’t work.

Gov. David Ige canceled the six-year project as a failure after tests found “the system was unable to perform even simple tasks.”

The lawsuit, filed by the attorney general, alleges Ciber Inc. used “bait-and-switch” tactics, fraudulently overstated its capabilities, submitted “erroneous invoices and fictitious change orders,” billed for work it knew was worthless and ran understaffed to boost its profit.

The consultant got away with it, the lawsuit alleges, by pressuring Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s office to undercut DOT project overseers.

The charges, if true, paint an alarming picture of how brazenly the influence game is sometimes played here.

The lawsuit alleges that Ciber appealed to Abercrombie’s office after DOT raised red flags about project failures and threatened to terminate the contract.

To press its case with the former governor, Ciber hired lobbyist John Radcliffe, a longtime political associate of Abercrombie’s who played leading roles in his 2010 campaign for governor, his fundraising and the transition committee that helped Abercrombie pick his Cabinet.

Abercrombie’s chief of staff, Bruce Coppa, got involved in the dispute and political appointee Audrey Hidano was assigned to oversee the Ciber project.

According to the lawsuit, Hidano warned DOT that the governor’s office wanted Ciber on the project despite its performance failures, and Coppa told Ciber it needn’t respond to letters of concern from DOT Deputy Director Jade Butay, who ultimately was moved to another department.

Ciber’s invoices and payments continued to flow despite DOT concerns.

After Abercrombie was defeated for re-election, Coppa went to work for Radcliffe’s lobbying firm, Capitol Consultants of Hawaii LLP.

Kudos to Ige for his willingness to air the dirty laundry of Democratic Party heavyweights to recover public funds that state attorneys believe were lost to political cronyism.

But the legal action so far is limited to Ciber Inc. and seeks no civil or criminal sanctions against public officials who allegedly facilitated the raid on the state treasury.

How is this not public corruption if the facts alleged in the Ciber lawsuit stand up as the case moves through Circuit Court?

If the attorney general can’t find a legal basis to go after the public officials involved, Ige and the Legislature need to take it as an imperative to toughen our anemic ethics, bribery and lobbying laws.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.