Editorial: Corrupt Kealohas betrayed public

Honolulu’s long nightmare with the Kealoha case has come to an end — or at least to a new crossroads.

Plea deals signed on Tuesday mean that much of the circus swirling around former deputy city prosecutor Katherine Kealoha and her husband, former police chief Louis Kealoha, will wind down.

In U.S. District Court, they pleaded guilty, respectively, to three felony counts linked to a bank fraud scheme and a separate drug case, and to a single count of bank fraud. Katherine Kealoha’s felony counts are bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and failing to report a felony as a law enforcement officer.

This will end three separate cases that had been slated for additional trials, in exchange for the Kealohas’ agreement to cooperate with investigators. And that serves to remind the community that the FBI probe of more Honolulu officials — not the least of which is Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro — is not yet over.

Witnessing the prosecution of the Kealohas, convicted in June on charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice, has been a sad, exhausting ordeal with its sideshows, twists and turns. Its bizarre elements turned it into a trainwreck one couldn’t help watching.

There was a mailbox stolen as part of an attempt to frame a family member, involvement of high-ranking police in the scheme, and the various fixtures of scandal: plotting around money, drugs and sex.

It has been dispiriting to see how the agencies of city governance had failed to provide oversight, leaning on the FBI probe to do the due diligence that should have happened on the local level, all along.

Perhaps the ultimate closure of this case sounds a hopeful note: Corruption can be rooted out, even if it required the feds’ help.

First, though, justice requires strict sentencing. Federal Judge J. Michael Seabright will begin the process of weighing those decisions on Oct. 31. Among the complexities of merging the cases under the plea agreements is determining the federal standard to use.

The strictest available standard should apply. The guiding principle Seabright should use should be: These are people who have done great damage to the public trust in city enforcement institutions, so the sentences should reflect that.

To be clear: The top agencies tasked with upholding law and order have been tarred by the scandal. The Kealohas — their latter-day expressions of regret notwithstanding — fought ferociously against critics, filing suit against the city Ethics Commission to squelch its own probe into their behavior.

The Honolulu Police Commission has since made some needed changes, but early on was happy to wave the police chief through a contract renewal — despite concerns about Kealoha’s Honolulu Police Department already bubbling to the surface.

And, of course, Honolulu may not be done with courtroom proceedings; the Kealohas will be cooperating, under the deal, with the feds’ ongoing criminal investigations. “Target” letters were sent to Honolulu’s top criminal and civil attorneys: Kaneshiro and Corporation Counsel Donna Leong. Both are on paid leave, and further details are pending.

A bit of positive news: Kaneshiro has announced that he will not campaign for re-election, so the voters at least will have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to select his successor. The commitment among the candidates for that office must be to integrity and transparency, enabling the public trust to be rebuilt.

Painful as this has been, the public needs to know the full extent of the corruption, so the work of excising it has a chance at success. Honolulu has a long way to go, but it’s at least moved on from the low point where it’s languished for so long.