Show cards or apologize, tourism official tells Wakai

The chairman of the board of the Hawaii Tourism Authority is calling on state Sen. Glenn Wakai to either produce some evidence of wrongdoing by HTA or apologize to the agency’s leadership.

Wakai said last week that his wife, Miki, quit her position as brand manager for the Japan market for the tourism authority last year after she had pointed out “suspicious” information that she observed at the authority.

“My wife, because of decisions that were being made, wasn’t happy,” said Wakai (D, Kalihi-Salt Lake-Aliamanu). “They made her feel very uncomfortable for pointing out things that were very suspicious, and so she resigned in July of last year.”

Rick Fried, a Honolulu lawyer and chairman of the HTA board, said Tuesday that Wakai’s comments to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser were the first the agency heard of any “suspicious” information or activities at the authority.

“If Sen. Wakai feels these accusations are true, he should produce any evidence he has to back them up, and if so, we’ll take the appropriate action,” Fried said. “I have seen no basis for it, but if there is a basis, I will personally be very upset. On the other hand, if he doesn’t have proof, we believe an apology is in order.”

As evidence that the agency is properly run, Fried cited reports by the state auditor last year that highlighted improvements in HTA’s operations in recent years, and a financial audit in December that did not identify any material weaknesses in the agency’s financial reporting.

Those reports directly contradict Wakai’s criticisms of HTA’s business practices and management decisions, Fried said.

“Not until Sunday’s article did Sen. Wakai ever bring up these accusations to HTA’s attention,” Fried said. “Not in the public hearings, not in the private meetings and not in the hundreds of emails that Sen. Wakai has sent to HTA.”

Wakai said he stands by his previous comments, adding, “I don’t have any incriminating evidence yet because I’m still in the fact-finding stage, which they delayed for weeks.

“I stand by my statements that they need to improve the management and decision-making process at HTA, and I’m still gathering information to provide me the actual evidence as to why did you spend the money in this way, what’s the return on investment for this particular program or campaign that you’ve embarked on,” Wakai said.

Wakai is chairman of the Senate’s Economic Development, Tourism and Technology Committee, which oversees HTA. The authority receives more than $108 million a year from state hotel tax revenue to market Hawaii and to operate the Hawai‘i Convention Center, and Wakai has strongly criticized the authority’s leadership and operations in hearings this year.

In recent months Wakai publicly confronted HTA leadership in a successful effort to force it to release authority budget records to him, and questioned HTA’s decisions on salaries and raises for some executives. He criticized the authority for allegedly failing to properly consult with its stakeholders, and promised to further probe authority spending.

At a public hearing Feb. 8, Wakai warned Fried and Chief Executive Officer George Szigeti that “your business practices and your management decisions are to me very much in question.”

Wakai denied that his public criticisms of HTA are retaliation for his wife’s unhappy departure from the agency.

Before Miki Wakai resigned, the authority offered her a new job under a contract for $85,000 per year, but Glenn Wakai said that contract included nondisclosure language that would have prevented his wife from ever disclosing what she knew about “questionable operations” at HTA.

He described the offer as essentially “hush money,” adding, “My wife declined to be bought.”

Fried said that Glenn Wakai “has tried to make this personal by saying that HTA made his wife feel uncomfortable and then tried to buy her silence after she resigned from her job there. That is absolutely false. He used inflammatory terms like ‘hush money’ and said that his wife pointed out things that were suspicious at HTA, but offers no proof whatsoever to back these accusations.”

“We don’t mind the tough questions or the scrutiny, but we don’t understand why Sen. Wakai has been so harsh in his comments toward HTA,” Fried said. He said HTA is proud of the work it has done to boost Hawaii tourism and pleased with the progress made by the agency.