Musings: Honor Among Thieves

A former employee has filed a claim against Kauai County for $356,400, alleging corruption, misconduct, ethics violations, retaliation and a hostile work environment in the auditor's office.

Ron Rawls, a former staff internal auditor, contends that county Auditor Ernie Pasion and former Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho doctored a county fuel audit investigative report to make their political enemy, Mayor Bernard Carvalho, look bad. 

Rawls says he was harassed when he spoke up, prompting him to file a hostile workplace complaint in June 2012. After that, Rawls says, he was subjected to illegal retaliation and ultimately banished to a small, windowless office with no work assignments for five months. He resigned effective Jan. 7, 2013.

Rawls also maintains that Pasion refused to authorize an investigation into allegations that Iseri-Carvalho and her first deputy, Jake Delaplane, were misusing county vehicles and gas. 

Rawls outlines events surrounding a county fuel audit that eventually led to a failed bid to indict one of the mayor's administrators, Janine Rapozo, on theft charges in the waning days of Iseri-Carvalho's term. The indictment was thrown out because an insufficient number of grand jurors had found probable cause to charge her.

Rawls further contends that in “a number of instances” Pasion and audit manager Lani Nakazawa “violated government auditing standards (and hence violated legal requirements set forth in the county charter) relating to auditor independence, objectivity, impartiality, integrity and professional behavior in connection with the fuel costs audit investigations.”

Here's what happened, according to the declaration that accompanied Rawls' claim:

In August 2010, Rawls was assigned to conduct an audit of county fuel costs. After discovering that the mayor and other county employees were possibly misusing county fuel, he reported his findings to Pasion, who hired an Oahu law firm (McCorriston, etc.) to conduct an extended audit. The firm issued two reports: one on the mayor and another on a parks worker.

The McCorriston report stated that Carvalho was following a procedure started by previous mayors and may not have had criminal intent. It suggested the County Council refer the issue to the state Attorney General if it wanted to pursue the question of intent.

In a meeting that Rawls attended, Pasion and Iseri-Carvalho decided to withhold the part about mens rea (criminal intent) in a summary report submitted to the Council in order to make the mayor appear guilty and encourage a criminal prosecution. Rawls expressed his opposition at the meeting, and followed up with an email to Pasion, but the Council was not given the full report.

On Aug. 4, 2011, the Auditor's office received an anonymous complaint about Iseri-Carvalho and Delaplane misusing county vehicles and fuel. Rawls had previously become aware that other employees were taking county vehicles home, increasing the likelihood of improper personal use.

At a mid-August meeting with the McCorriston law firm, Rawls presented the information about the take home vehicles. Investigators “were unequivocal in their position” that all the fuel cases should be reviewed simultaneously to avoid the appearance of selective prosecution.

However, Pasion specifically directed McCorriston to investigate only the mayor and a parks worker, and none of the other employees. Rawls contends Pasion was trying to derail any investigation into Iseri-Carvalho because they are close political allies, whereas he has observed that Pasion “openly disdains and disparages Mayor Carvalho.”

After receiving the McCorriston reports in April 2012, Rawls confronted Pasion about his misconduct and suggested he recuse himself. In response, Pasion “lashed out” and removed Rawls from the take-home vehicle audit, then began excluding him from closed-door staff meetings. Pasion and Nakazawa also ridiculed him in front of another employee with false accusations about his work.

On June 25, 2012, Rawls filed a hostile workplace complaint and was offered a work space in a different building. Though Pasion initially gave him work, he began withdrawing the assignments in August and excluded Rawls from a staff training conference.

In August 2012, Rawls reported the retaliation to the County Attorney, Human Resources and County Council, which oversees the Auditor's office. The Council hired an investigator, who provided the Council with “substantial documentation” of the retaliation. However, “no discernible action was taken to stop the retaliation.”

“Consequently, I was left sitting in a small, windowless office with no audit work from mid-August 2012 through my last day of work on Jan. 7, 2013. These working conditions and the continuing retaliation and hostile work environment became so intolerable that I felt I had been constructively discharged from my employment.”

The value of his claim is based on projected lost earnings with Kauai County and expenses incurred due to the higher cost of living on Oahu, where he was able to secure another job.

In a follow-up to the McCorriston report, which also suggested the county clean up its act, I asked county spokeswoman Beth Tokioka what, if anything, had been done. She wrote:

Last fall, the Mayor discontinued fueling his personal vehicle via the County's automated fueling system and since that time has received no reimbursement for vehicle expenses of any kind, including mileage.

Beth also said that Public Works was researching a new system well before the report, and on May 17, 2013 installed a new dual-key FuelMaster system “for great accountability” at its gas pumps.

Under the new FuelMaster system, each employee will be assigned a “swipe card”, and Public Works will install in each of the County’s four hundred vehicles and equipment a module which will automatically communicate with the gas pump upon fueling to identify the vehicle being fueled; this will eliminate any need to manually enter information into the fueling system.

We are also developing a Motor Vehicle Policy, which is not yet final.  However, I can tell you that the following statement will be included in that policy: "Fuel available at County baseyards or through a County credit card shall only be used to fuel County owned vehicles and privately owned vehicles that are permitted through collective bargaining agreements, County ordinances or other agreements.  Fuel usage shall be monitored by each respective Department/Agency."