$175K granted for Keith Kaneshiro’s attorney in 2 cases

One day after Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro announced he was taking paid leave, the City Council on Friday passed a resolution allowing up to $75,000 for a private law firm to defend him in an impeachment proceeding.

Resolution 19-22 provides payment to McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon LLP for representing Kaneshiro in the case brought by a group of Oahu residents led by businessman Tracy Yoshimura. Council members Kymberly Pine and Heidi Tsuneyoshi voted against the payment while five other Council members voiced support for the resolution “with reservations.” Council members Ikaika Anderson and Ron Menor were excused from the meeting.

Also Friday, the Council approved Resolution 19-46 granting $100,000 in legal fees for McCorriston to represent Kaneshiro in a separate malicious-prosecution case brought by Yoshimura. The Council had approved an initial $20,000 payment in June.

Yoshimura, whose impeachment petition has more than 1,000 signatures, brought the impeachment action in response to news reports that Kaneshiro received a “target letter” from federal authorities that is believed to be tied to the public corruption case that has resulted in the indictments of former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha and his wife, former Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha, who worked under Kaneshiro.

Kaneshiro has served 16 years as city prosecutor and last won re-election to a four-year term in 2016.

The Council members who supported the resolution explained that while they’re uncomfortable paying his legal fees, attorneys with the Department of Corporation Counsel say the City Charter requires the city to provide employees with representation in legal matters tied to their official powers and duties.

Because the department is already representing the city in the malicious-prosecution lawsuit filed by Yoshimura against Kaneshiro, Katherine Kealoha and others, outside “special counsel” is necessary, according to the resolution. That lawsuit is tied to cases, which were eventually dropped, that involved so-called sweepstakes machines.

“It’s very hard for us to vote for this … but it’s even more difficult to shirk our responsibilities, especially at the request of Corp Counsel,” Council Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said.

Keith Kiuchi, Yoshimura’s attorney, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Thursday that even though Kaneshiro decided to step down temporarily, his client believes the city prosecutor should be removed permanently from office.

A status conference on the impeachment petition is scheduled Monday before Circuit Judge Jeffrey Crabtree.

Kaneshiro announced Thursday he was going on administrative leave after state Attorney General Clare Connors called for him to step down. Connors last month filed a petition urging the Hawaii Supreme Court to suspend Kaneshiro based on the allegations against him since he had not left on his own.

Like Kaneshiro, former Police Chief Louis Kealoha and city Corporation Counsel Donna Leong also went on paid leave after receiving target letters from federal authorities.

When asked which city employees are eligible for paid leave and about the process involved in granting it, city spokesman Andrew Pereira told the Star-Advertiser that “an appointing authority has the authority to take all personnel actions, including placing a City and County of Honolulu officer or employee on unpaid or paid leave for various reasons, including when an employee is under investigation for an alleged work-related offense, or when the employee’s presence at the work site is deemed to be detrimental to the operations of the workplace.”

The appointing authority determines on a case-by-case basis to place an employee on such unpaid or paid leave, and when the employee returns to work, Pereira said.

Leong’s paid leave, announced in January, was approved by Mayor Kirk Caldwell, who appointed her, Pereira said. He said he did not know who approved paid leave for Louis Kealoha or Kaneshiro.

Information on who approved Kaneshiro’s leave was not immediately available from the prosecutor’s office, and Kaneshiro was unavailable for comment.

The Honolulu Police Commission hires and fires the police chief. When Kealoha went on paid administrative leave in December 2016, then-Commission Chairman Max Sword made the announcement that the chief had gone on paid leave.

The Department of Corporation Counsel, in an email response to questions from the Star-Advertiser last week, said Kaneshiro had no say in McCorriston’s hiring as special counsel in either case.

The email said the selection was made through the Hawaii Public Procurement Code process, which calls for professional services by any state or county entity to be awarded by a review committee from a list of interested entities “on the basis of demonstrated competence and qualification for the type of services required, and at fair and reasonable prices.”

Asked whether there were legal or ethical issues with the firm being selected to represent Kaneshiro in two separate lawsuits brought by the same party, the department said “no legal or ethical issues were identified to preclude representation.”