Musings: Credibility and Accountability

As I viewed yesterday's County Council budget proceedings in a state of mind that ranged from troubled to aghast, it became quite evident that Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho is hiding improprieties at her office, most particularly with the POHAKU program, and certain Councilmen are helping her do it.

My assessment came in part from the Council discussion, which I'll get into in a minute, and Shay's own responses and body language. Just the day before I'd sat in the jury pool and listened to Deputy Prosecutor Lisa Arin ask jurors their opinions about accountability, and discuss ways to tell whether someone is lying. And as I watched Shay in action yesterday, I thought, how ironic — and tragic — that the island's top law enforcement official is neither credible nor accountable.

In regard to POHAKU, we did finally learn, from Finance Director Wally Rezentes, that the program “has ceased.” When that revelation caused a stir, he said, “maybe the more appropriate term is suspended.”

And Shay did finally admit that “there may be some operational issues as far as how it's being handled,” which presumably was a reference to her questionable arrangement with Strategic Justice Partners, a firm whose services were apparently secured outside the legal procurement process and that lists first deputy Jake Delaplane as its agent, creating what Councilwoman  JoAnn Yukimura termed "the appearance of double-dealing."

Shay also claimed “we have not spent on any funds on the operation of POHAKU,” which raises the question: so how, then, did she pay for the booth at the farm fair, and the tee-shirts, fans, bags, brochures and other POHAKU promotional materials done up in her orange campaign colors and emblazoned with her photo? Perhaps she meant she hasn't spent any money operating the program, just marketing it.

It's so hard to know for sure because Shay refuses to answer questions or provide key documents until she has a special counsel. Which is why JoAnn and Councilman Tim Bynum were reasonably expressing concern about signing off on her budget, especially the $10,000 for POHAKU, which is no longer operating, anyway. They also wanted to know how she had spent some of the money they'd allocated last year.

But once they started treading into the forbidden territory of the OPA's office, Councilmen Mel Rapozo and KipuKai Kualii quickly moved to stymie all discussion. KipuKai noted the Council had engaged in more "micromanagement" of  Shay's budget than any other.  Ummm, maybe that's because she requested special counsel and at least one of her programs is possibly illegal and potentially exposing the county to liability.

Chairman Jay Furfaro also tried to keep moving things along, telling Councilmembers they'd be getting a briefing on POHAKU in executive session on May 23. Which I understand, and  that's well and good, but what about the citizens who elected all these people and are funding the budget? How will we ever know if money and power are being misused if these matters aren't brought out in open Council discussions?

I had to agree with Tim when he stated, “We have to stop pretending like there's no problems at the prosecutor's office and we have to be able to speak about them.” Unfortunately, he was interrupted by KipuKai saying, “Not now.” Though I suppose the preferred time to bring this stuff would be never, or at least after the election, it does seem reasonable to discuss possible improprieties in expenditures during budget hearings.

County Attorney Al Castillo also abetted the shut up and stall game, claiming he would need to research Tim's question about whether the Council was entitled to know how Shay had spent last year's budget. He also said he couldn't answer Tim's query about whether a department head had to notify the Council before re-allocating budgeted funds.

Come on. You're working as a county attorney and you can't answer something like that off the top of your head? What, it's never come up before? Al did allow that it would be “fair game” to ask Shay how she had used last year's money, but as Tim noted, he wasn't given that opportunity because Shay “bascially pled the Fifth.”

Meanwhile, Al was also making like it would be illegal for the Council to restrict how county money could be used. Indeed, he went so far as to claim the Council had no say in whether department heads spent budget line items on the allocated purpose, or something entirely different, like travel. “It's a question of separation of powers,” Al said, “because you're trying to dictate what they're doing in the department.” 


If that's the case, why bother to make a budget at all? Why not just give each department a lump sum and let them do whatever? And if the Council can't specify how budgeted money is used, and isn't entitled to know how it was spent, who exactly is accountable to the public for the use of tax monies?

JoAnn then made a motion to cut $10,000 out of the prosecutor's budget since POHAKU is no longer operational. Councilwoman Nadine Nakamura, who has thus far been disappointingly mum on this topic, finally spoke up, saying “a lot of allegations have been thrown around” about POHAKU. “It's really important to me to get to the bottom of this. There may be funds that have been misused.”

Ultimately, only Mel and KipuKai voted to give Shay the ten grand, anyway. 

Then JoAnn and Tim turned their attention to a job currently held by Lianne Parangao, a woman who previously worked for Council Service before moving over to the prosecutor's office as a victim witness counselor. Thirty days later, her job title was changed to program assistant. Tim and JoAnn wanted to know what she was doing.

Well, aside from being the most active person working on Shay's campaign, Lianne supposedly is also handling all the diversion programs: teen court, drug court and POHAKU. At least, that's what Shay told the Council. Except she didn't mention that both teen court and drug court are actually run by outside agencies, and POHAKU is pau. And since there was no follow up, the question remains: what, exactly, is Lianne doing to justify her $55,000 annual salary?

But we'll never know, because all but Tim and JoAnn voted to keep the position status quo. Because status quo is what the county does best.