Editorial: Indictments dent good government

It’s a sadly common assumption by the voting public that a river of corruptive influence from money flows through our system of government. That doesn’t make it any easier to see that assumption bolstered, once again, by criminal investigators.

On Friday, voters learned that five people in the thick of Hawaii politics were indicted on political bribery charges linked to campaign contributions dating back to the pandemic years. The most prominent is Sylvia Luke, now the lieutenant governor, who back then was chair of the state House Finance Committee.

All are innocent until proven guilty, of course, but
Gov. Josh Green was right to call for Luke, on leave
without pay since April, to now step down.

As lieutenant governor, Luke had taken the helm of key state initiatives, most notably the Ready Keiki campaign to expand Hawaii’s public preschool capacity and Connect Kakou, the effort to expand digital infrastructure and affordable broadband access. But as she now works with her defense team on the corruption case, the distraction and notoriety would not be helpful in advancing these projects, nor any other duties in that state office.

The criminal probe led by the state Department of the Attorney General yielded indictments of Luke and four other defendants by a Circuit Court grand jury. Among them is Tobi Solidum, a lobbyist and businessman who was working on the state’s contract with the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii to provide community testing for COVID-19. A warrant has been issued for Solidum, believed to have fled to the Philippines.

Also swept up in the stunning investigation are top-ranking state officials: Ryan Yamane, the former state representative who had resigned as the Green administration’s Department of Human Services director; Ford Fuchigami, airports administrator at the state Department of Transportation; and Leo Asuncion Jr, Luke’s one-time campaign treasurer and former chair of the state Public Utilities Commission.

All of this happens in the context of a previous scandal that led to the bribery convictions of former Senate majority leader J. Kalani English and a former representative, Ty Cullen, who has been Luke’s Finance Committee vice chair. Cullen became an informant during the federal investigation that led to his conviction, providing evidence that would support the current state charges against Luke and the others.

All these head-spinning revelations illuminate the weaknesses in ethics and “pay to play” guardrails. True, those were lowered somewhat during the state’s emergency declaration to enable fast response to COVID-19. But it’s undeniable that elected and appointed leaders must be held accountable where corruptive influence from campaign donations can be proven, and personal enrichment from bribes emerges.

That proof could be elusive, said Alexander Silvert, the former federal public defender who led the petition for the state AG to launch this investigation.

Even so, onlookers can plainly see how the wheels of government can be greased with money to powerful people who can be persuaded by considerations other than the public interest.

It is good that lawmakers have taken incremental steps to keep such practices at bay. This year’s enactment of Senate Bill 2471, which becomes effective July 1 next year, won’t affect the current campaign season, unfortunately. But it basically bans corporations from donating to super PACs (political action committees) that are not bound by collecting or spending limits.

This was a positive move, but there’s so much more to do. Hawaii was slow to gather the evidence behind this latest scandal, and leaders often seem far too eager to wait for federal authorities to act first. Good government is a precious asset that is all too easily corrupted. It is Hawaii’s job, first and foremost, to clean up its own house, and to do so without a push.