Kenoi ethics saga drags on: Board further delays complaints against mayor

HILO — The county Board of Ethics moved Tuesday to defer a complaint that Mayor Billy Kenoi’s use of a county-issued credit card for personal expenses violated the Ethics Code until November, while a petition alleging the panel’s vice chairman is biased toward Kenoi and shouldn’t be allowed to hear the matter won’t be considered until next month’s hearing.

Both complaints were filed by Kapaau resident Lanric Hyland. The ethics complaint against the mayor, who faces an October trial on criminal charges, has been deferred since May 2015 for various reasons, including lack of quorum, scheduling issues and the criminal investigation into Kenoi’s alleged fiscal misdeeds.

Kenoi faces second-degree theft charges, three counts each of third-degree theft and tampering with a government record, and a single count of making a false statement under oath.

The mayor charged almost $130,000 on the card before it was revoked last year after West Hawaii Today reported of him using the card to cover two hostess bar tabs in Honolulu totaling almost $1,300. Other charges included $1,200 for a surfboard and a number of large tabs at other bars and restaurants.

The mayor reimbursed the county for $31,112.59, about $9,500 of it after the newspaper reports examining his use of the so-called pCard.

Richard Sing, one of Kenoi’s attorneys, asked the board to delay acting on the ethics complaint until the trial is over.

“The trial is set for Oct. 10. It’s relatively firm as you can get at this time,” Sing told the board. “We expect it to take awhile. We expect selecting a jury to be quite a task. The more media coverage, the more outside discussion of this in any kind of form makes this process harder.”

Hyland, testifying by videoconference from Kapaau, asked the board to take up his long-deferred complaint immediately, expressing concern that “it will just die when the mayor leaves office.”

“After a year, I’m just trying to get the matter heard. And I’m afraid if you continue it, it will not be heard, because Mr. Kenoi will no longer be mayor,” he said.

“… I would challenge anybody to point out any other ethics commission complaint that was continued until after a criminal trial was held. And the issue of poisoning the jury pool, they can ask for Mr. Kenoi’s case to be tried off-island, if they think that our jury pool is not pure.”

Another testifier, Cory Harden, also urged the panel to act on Hyland’s complaint.

“In this situation, we have something where taxpayer money was used to support the sex trade, in perhaps the biggest county scandal since the police promotion scandal back in 2003,” she said. “And if this doesn’t call for action by the Ethics Board, I’ve got to wonder what does ask for action.”

The vote was 4-1 to defer the matter, with Chairwoman Ku Kahakalau, Vice Chairman Kenneth Goodenow and members Rick Robinson and Darnel “Pili” Kalele all voting “aye.” The only “no” vote was Douglass Adams.

Hyland also filed a complaint July 6 against Goodenow, claiming an anonymous woman contacted him by phone to tell him she overheard a conversation last May in Honolulu in which Goodenow is alleged to have said the ethics complaint against Kenoi would be delayed “until the mayor is no longer in office.” The conversation allegedly took place outside a meeting of the state Campaign Spending Commission, on which Goodenow also serves.

Karen Martinez, testifying via videoconference from Kapaau on Hyland’s behalf, said Goodenow has broken the public’s trust “and we know it.”

“You contaminate this commission now. We cannot trust you. There’s no way ever to trust you. You need to rectify that,” she said, and asked that Goodenow “recuse himself from any voting that has to do with the mayor.”

“We know there’s a love-fest there,” she said. “And he needs to resign. … His arrogance is just really staggering.”

Goodenow said he wanted to resolve the issue Tuesday and asked fellow commissioners to vote on whether he has a conflict of interest concerning the mayor.

“The heart of the matter is Mr. Hyland claiming that I can’t be fair,” said Goodenow, who has denied making the alleged statement.

Special Deputy Corporation Counsel Gary Murai, a Maui attorney appointed to advise the board on the Kenoi ethics complaint, told Goodenow only he knows whether or not he has a conflict.

“Basically, my position has always been that we need to wait until the trial is done, if possible, and have the hearing,” Goodenow said. “It’s always been my intention that we have a hearing. … Why not have it in November when the trial is over?

“Even if I said those things, there would be no legal basis for a conflict.”

Murai, who was appointed because county Corporation Counsel Molly Stebbins answers directly to the mayor, said Hyland’s complaint wasn’t in accordance with board rules since it didn’t contain a signature. A second version of Hyland’s petition, with a signature, was received by the board — but later than required by the state’s Sunshine Law, which is six days prior to the meeting.

“My concern is the Sunshine Law,” said Adams, an attorney. “This did not meet Sunshine Law requirements, and, as a result, it’s not just the Ethics Code requirements.”

Added Robinson, “The other thing for me is … it’s based on hearsay from an anonymous source.”

“I … did not include the name (of the woman who allegedly made the statement) because I did not know if you were going to deal with it at all, and I didn’t see any point in getting that lady involved if nothing was going to come of it,” replied Hyland. “I don’t know the lady. … I still have never met the lady. I’ve only talked to her on the phone. But she did confirm what she heard.”

The panel voted 4-0 to not accept the petition as was originally submitted, with Goodenow abstaining. The board will consider the second version of Hyland’s petition during its next meeting, scheduled for 10 a.m. Aug. 9 at the County Council chambers.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.