Hawaii paroling administrator reassigned pending investigation

The state Department of Public Safety has temporarily reassigned longtime Paroles and Pardons Administrator Tommy Johnson pending the outcome of an internal investigation, according to Public Safety Director Nolan Espinda.

Johnson, who formerly served as deputy director of the Department of Public Safety for corrections, was reassigned on March 6, but a spokeswoman for the department declined to provide any additional information about the investigation.

Espinda said earlier this year that Johnson was reassigned temporarily at the request of Hawaii Paroling Authority Chairman Edmund “Fred” Hyun, who became chairman on Aug. 1, 2016.

“It’s a management and employee matter, and we hope to resolve that quickly,” Espinda said. He said the investigation is being handled by the department’s Internal Affairs unit.

People familiar with the situation said friction between Johnson and Hyun arose at least partly because of questions about Johnson’s use of overtime.

In response to a request from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Public Safety officials disclosed that Johnson worked more than 1,100 hours of overtime in the five fiscal years from July 2011 to June 2016.

That works out to the equivalent of about an extra eight weeks of regular pay per year for each of the five years, but the spokeswoman declined to say how much money Johnson received for overtime during that period.

Johnson received no overtime in the fiscal year that ended June 30, which was the year Hyun took over as chairman, according to Public Safety officials.

Annual base pay for the HPA administrator ranges from $99,276 to $165,216, not including overtime, according to the department.

Overtime pay among corrections officers and other public safety staff costs the state millions of dollars each year, and has been a concern within the state corrections system for decades. However, the debate about overtime has generally focused more on lower-ranking uniform staff members instead of upper-­level public safety managers.

In a telephone interview last week, Johnson said his temporary reassignment was not because of overtime.

“I can tell you this. I haven’t worked overtime in years, and I’ve never put in for overtime in years, so the issues that are going on have nothing to do with overtime, and I can assure you of that,” Johnson said.

After learning that public safety officials had already disclosed he was paid for more than 1,100 hours of overtime over five years, Johnson said the overtime was properly authorized.

“I don’t know how many hours I worked overtime, but I did work quite a bit of overtime, but all those overtime hours … were all approved by whoever the sitting chair was,” Johnson said. “An employee has to request to work overtime, and the overtime has to be approved by the appointing authority, and for me it was the chair.”

“I can tell you this, the issue that I have has nothing to do with overtime — nothing whatsoever to do with it,” he said. “I can tell you this, I have done nothing wrong, and I think in the end the truth will bear itself out.”

Johnson referred further questions to his lawyer, Eric Seitz, who also refused to say why Johnson was reassigned. Seitz said that he would be “very surprised,” given Johnson’s record and reputation, if the department pursues the matter.

“There is an administrative proceeding going on,” Seitz said. “We met with them. It’s at a very preliminary stage, and I don’t have any reason to believe that anything negative is going to happen to Tommy, because in my view, it’s not even worth the paper it’s written on.”

Hyun did not respond to a telephone message left with the paroling authority.

Johnson oversaw the Hawaii Paroling Authority as administrator from 2001 to 2007, and was named the Department of Public Safety’s manager of the year in 2003. As administrator, Johnson has been responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations on the parole units on all of the islands.

He was appointed deputy director for corrections by former Gov. Linda Lingle in 2007 and held that job for more than three years. He returned to his previous civil-service position as administrator of the Hawaii Paroling Authority in late 2010 after Gov. Neil Abercrombie was elected.

A spokeswoman for the department said Johnson is being paid his full salary while he is temporarily assigned to the department’s Training and Staff Development office in Pearl City.

That office is responsible for training new correctional officers and deputy sheriff recruits as well as running other training programs for staff.

Johnson is currently responsible for “assisting with policy development, critique of ongoing and proposed training regimens and assisting with ongoing (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies) accreditation efforts,” according to a public safety spokeswoman.

The spokeswoman said Andrew Morgan is now serving as acting administrator for the Hawaii Paroling Authority.