Column: Ethics Commission acted properly in handling Kealoha investigation

I have served on the Honolulu Ethics Commission since April 2017. My experience tells me that the commission, and especially the commissioners who were appointed before me by Mayor Kirk Caldwell and still serve, have been subjected to unwarranted smears based on the accounts of parties who are no longer subject (as are serving commissioners and staff) to requirements of confidentiality, plus a web of innuendo without supporting evidence. I speak only for myself here, not authorized by the commission nor in coordination with other commissioners.

Here is what I know of events before I joined the commission. Before the filing of federal criminal charges against Louis and Katherine Kealoha, the fact that they were subject to Ethics Commission investigations, not known to the commissioners, became public through leaks. The Kealohas filed ethics complaints and civil lawsuits against the Ethics Commission, its executive director Chuck Totto, and investigator Letha DeCaires. The appearance of conflict this created made it necessary to recuse Totto and DeCaires from investigation of the Kealohas and turn those matters over to outside counsel. This did not limit them in carrying out other responsibilities. I see no reason to doubt Commission Chairwoman Victoria Marks’ statement that Totto was not fired or forced to resign as a result of his investigations of the Kealohas. DeCaires left after the city managing director determined that her long series of short-term contracts violated city hiring policy and ordered that no further renewals be granted. Had she been on the commission’s permanent staff, no such issue would have arisen.

The insinuation that the three retired judges appointed to the commission by Caldwell were doing his bidding by inhibiting the Kealoha investigations or by pressuring Totto to quit is supported by no facts that I have seen or heard. Personally, since before my appointment, I have never heard word one from the mayor or anyone on his staff about these matters.

All the commissioners — unpaid volunteers — are focused on the commission’s responsibilities set forth under the City Charter, and I have never detected any sign of bias or a hidden agenda on the part of any of them.

Complaints of lack of transparency are similarly meritless. Commission meetings are open to the public except when executive session is properly invoked to maintain legally required confidentiality. The commission’s website and Twitter feed provide information on meetings, agendas, procedures, decisions, laws and rules, as well as instructions on how to report an ethics concern or request guidance. Public comments and suggestions are explicitly invited.

Both commission investigations and personnel matters within city agencies are subject to legally mandated confidentiality requirements. While the commission has been hampered by these legal constraints in its ability to respond officially to the news media’s repetition of slanted stories, reputations of good public servants have been needlessly damaged. That’s why I needed to speak out.

David Monk was appointed to the Honolulu Ethics Commission in 2017. These comments are his own, not solicited or endorsed by the Commission.