Chuck Totto, the Honolulu Ethics Commission’s longtime executive director, is on leave following an independent investigation by the commissioners into the management of the agency’s staff.
Commission Chairwoman Victoria Marks declined to answer any questions pertaining to
Totto’s job status. Totto holds the dual title of commission legal counsel and executive director.
However, Marks read a prepared four-sentence statement. “The Ethics Commission was presented with an internal complaint regarding the management of the commission’s staff and personnel,” she said. “The commissioners retained an outside, neutral investigator to evaluate the allegations of the complaint.
“Based on that investigation, the commissioners took appropriate, corrective action and believe the internal management and personnel issues have been resolved,” she said.
“The Ethics Commission continues to administer, investigate and enforce the city’s ethics laws and will continue with its mission to ensure compliance with the city’s ethics standards.”
Describing it as a personnel matter, Marks declined to comment on the nature of the allegations as well as investigative conclusions and resolution.
Asked who is leading day-to-day operations of the commission staff, Marks responded that assistant legal counsel Laurie Wong is in charge “in consultation with me.”
A voicemail greeting on Totto’s office desk line said he is out and would return April 4.
On Wednesday, Marks presented the commission’s annual agency presentation to the City Council Budget Committee. Totto has made the presentations in the past. Budget Committee members did not inquire about Totto’s absence.
Efforts to reach Totto Friday were unsuccessful.
Totto, in the last year, has increasingly been at odds with a majority of commission members.
In June, the commission voted 5-1 to implement a strict media policy that severely curtailed what Totto, other commission staff and even commissioners themselves could say to reporters. The policy required Totto to consult with at least the chairman of the commission before speaking to the media.
In response to outcry from the media, good government advocates and the public, who described the policy as a muzzle on Totto, the commission voted 4-3 to rescind it and then voted 7-0 to approve a bit more freedom tied to permissible public comment for Totto, staff and the commissioners.
Critics pointed out that the stricter policy was adopted one month after Totto was chastised by city Corporation Counsel Donna Leong for comments he made on a case involving former Councilman Nestor Garcia. Totto told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, and other media, that his staff raised questions about the validity of Garcia’s votes on the city’s $6.57 billion rail project and other major land-use decisions after the commission staff found that he improperly accepted gifts from lobbyists and other parties that would benefit from those land use approvals.
Later, Leong submitted written testimony supporting the stricter media policy and cited Totto’s comments to the media.
Critics of Totto — who has written advisory opinions against mayors, Council members and other powerful people in city government over a span of more than a decade — say he has long gone unchecked while conducting investigations subjectively.
Supporters, however, believe the director should have the authority to conduct investigations without fear of political influence.
