The former vice chair of the House Committee on Finance who pleaded guilty in February to accepting bribes in the form of cash and casino chips from a Honolulu wastewater systems executive is among 31 state and county lawmakers to return more than $142,000 in campaign contributions from the owner of H20 Process Systems, according to the state Campaign Spending Commission.
Ty J.K. Cullen, 41, pleaded guilty in federal court Feb. 15 to a single felony count of honest services wire fraud for failing to report the alleged bribes in his electronic legislative gift disclosure report.
On Monday, Cullen joined a list of current and former lawmakers by returning $9,000 in campaign contributions from Milton J. Choy, owner of H20 Process Systems and Fluid Technologies.
“The campaign contributions received from Mr. Choy were given over the course of multiple election cycles,” Jacob Aki, director of communications for the state Senate, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a statement. “Upon learning about the bribery scandal involving Mr. Choy, both Senate President Kouchi and Vice President Kidani felt that returning the contributions to the Campaign Spending Commission (CSC) was the best course of action. Those contributions were returned to the CSC in February 2022.”
State House leadership did not respond to a Star- Advertiser request for comment on current members who returned campaign contributions from Choy.
In all, 31 current or former lawmakers have returned $142,650 to the commission. House Finance Committee Chair Sylvia Luke returned the most money, $25,100, followed by Senate President Ron Kouchi, who gave $14,000 to the commission, and state Senate Vice President Michelle Kidani, who gave back $11,950, according to state records.
Current and former county mayors also returned money donated by Choy.
Former Mayor Kirk Caldwell returned $8,500 to the state Campaign Spending Commission, followed by Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, whose campaign gave back $7,500, and Maui Mayor Mike Victorino, who gave back $6,000.
Cullen allegedly received $22,000 in casino chips and access to the high-rollers room in a New Orleans casino from Choy, the wastewater treatment and industrial machinery executive at the center of a federal public corruption probe. Choy also allegedly paid Cullen $23,000 in cash on separate occasions from September 2019 through March 2020. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 20.
Cullen’s attorney, Birney B. Bervar, did not immediately reply to a Star-Advertiser request for comment.
Choy is identified as “Person A” in two felony charging documents filed in February by the U.S. Department of Justice that led to Cullen’s guilty plea and more than three years in federal prison for a longtime state senator.
On July 5 a federal judge sentenced former state Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English, 55, to 40 months in federal prison after he also entered a guilty plea to a single felony count of honest services wire fraud for failing to report cash, meals, hotel rooms and other gifts he got from Choy in exchange for introducing, monitoring and killing legislation to benefit Choy’s companies between 2014 and 2021.
English unwittingly hit up Choy for bribes after Choy had become a confidential government source, according to federal court documents. Choy began cooperating with the federal government after he was caught up in a separate public corruption investigation.
Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway gave English three years and four months in prison for accepting $18,305 in cash and ordered him to forfeit $13,305 in bribes from Choy.
English previously had turned over $5,000 he had received from Choy after FBI agents caught English in a traffic stop. Mollway also fined English $100,000 and levied a $100 special assessment. English is reporting to the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Ore., on Aug. 16 to serve his sentence.
English and Cullen looked to influence legislation to help Choy benefit financially from Act 125, which was approved by state lawmakers in 2017 and requires the conversion of all cesspools in Hawaii by 2050.
Since 2014, Choy has donated to dozens of lawmakers, including two governors, three mayors, Council members in each county and the chairs of the money committees in the state House and Senate. Choy gave $160,150 to state and county lawmakers since 2014 and received nearly $6 million in government contracts.
Milton Choy, Jarret Choy, two other family members and two business managers of wastewater and industrial equipment companies H2O Process Systems LLC and Fluid Technologies, owned by Choy, have donated $268,046 to candidates for Hawaii office since 2014.
Choy has been represented by Honolulu attorney Michael Green for several years. Green told the Star- Advertiser on Monday that there was “no question that he (Choy) was a major contributor” to candidates for county and state office.
“There is no evidence that they (the candidates Choy donated money to) did anything to assist him to get bids and contracts,” said Green.
Choy’s companies received $6 million in county and state contracts, including sanitization operations related to COVID-19, wastewater treatment and filtration, and the operation of temporary emergency shelters. According to county procurement records, at least two of the largest contracts, totaling a little more than $4 million, were sole-sourced, meaning Choy’s company, H2O Process, was identified as the only one that could meet the bid requirements.
State Campaign Spending Commission Associate Director Tony Baldomero told the Star-Advertiser the contributions returned by the lawmakers will be deposited into the Hawaii Election Campaign Fund, which was set up specifically for partial public funding of candidates’ campaigns.
“The money goes to public funding for qualified candidates,” said Baldomero.
There are five candidates approved to receive $22,690.05 in partial public funding this election cycle. Only one of the five who qualified is an incumbent: state Sen. Laura Acasio from Hawaii island’s 1st District of Hilo.
The Hawaii Election Campaign Fund was created during the 1978 Constitutional Convention as Article II, Section 5, of the state Constitution, and the state Legislature established the fund during the 1979 legislative session, according to the commission.
The fund is filled with revenue from the state income tax check-off system, which is similar to the federal income tax check-off for presidential campaigns, according to the commission. Tax filers can indicate on state tax forms whether they want $3 to go to the fund and are told that participation is voluntary and does not increase their tax or reduce their refund.
Additional revenue streams that benefit the fund come from interest, excess contributions, false-name contributions, surplus and “anonymous contributions that escheat to the fund,” according to the commission.
Milton Choy Contributions by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd
