The spouses of top staff to both U.S. Senator Dan Inouye and Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie are employed by companies owned by politically-active local businessman, major campaign contributor, and government contractor, Joseph G. Pickard.
John Sabas, who is married to Inouye’s chief of staff, Jennifer Goto Sabas, has been a consultant to Commuity Planning and Engineering, Inc., since 2008, according to personal financial disclosures filed with the U.S. Senate by his wife. Senate rules do not require reporting of the amount he is paid, only that it is more than $1,000. Personal financial disclosures of congressional staff are available for public inspection via Legistorm.com.
Joe Pickard is the sole officer of Community Planning & Engineering, according to the company’s business registration filed with the State of Hawaii.
Charles Asselbaye, married to Gov. Abercrombie’s chief of staff, Amy Asselbaye, is an entry-level environmental scientist for Environet, Inc., a sister company of Community Planning also controlled by Pickard, according to her personal financial disclosure filed in January 2011.
Environet Inc., which has received tens of millions in federal contracts for locating and clearing old military explosives on public land, would be among the main beneficiaries of the governor’s recent emergency declaration suspending dozens of environmental, administrative, and land management laws, allowing for streamlining the process of surveying and clearing. The company and its federal contracts were profiled here yesterday.
Community Planning & Engineering has landed at least 15 nonbid contracts with state agencies worth over $10 millions since July 2008, all awarded during the Lingle administration.
John Sabas said he does not believe there is a conflict.
Never once did Jennifer, Joe or I talk about the emergency order, before it was issued or after. Only info I get is what I read or hear from the media.
Being fully aware of my wife’s position, we are both very sensitive to issues of conflict. So is Joe.
Sabas, director of Public and Governmental Affairs for the law firm of Carlsmith Ball LLP, then described his consulting work.
My contract is with Community Planning and Engineering. I started with them soon after Molokai Ranch closed. I am not involved with Environet.
I report directly to Joe and provide advice on an as-need-be basis. Some of the things I work with him involve Molokai (i.e. CPE has a contract with Molokai Ranch for water-related issues) and the Kuhio Park Terrace Park project. CPE has a subcontract for some of the engineering work.
Amy Asselbaye acknowledged that her husband was hired by Environet in August 2010 at a beginning salary of about $36,000 after completing a UH degree in environmental studies. She also confirmed he was previously assigned some work on the munitions clearing project.
“His employment has absolutely no influence on any work I do for the State of Hawaii, including what little involvement I had in this emergency proclamation,” Asselbaye said in her emailed response.
Both state and federal ethics laws and rules prohibit government employees from taking official action affecting a business in which they or their spouse have a financial interest, including an employment interest.
However, Asselbaye no conflict of interest is created by her husband’s employment.
The Attorney General’s office worked with the Army Corps and DLNR and recommended the emergency proclamation as the best available course of action. Neither I nor anyone else in the Governor’s office was involved in their problem solving efforts. When the Attorney General’s office came forward with the emergency proclamation, the Governor agreed. In this particular case, I offered no opinions, suggested no courses of action, and made no decisions with regard to the emergency proclamation.
The Army Corps of Engineers has a contract with Environet to do its munitions removal work in Hawaii. The State and the Governor had no part in that company’s selection or contracting. The contractual relationship between the Army Corps and Environet existed before the emergency proclamation was issued. I do not know how the Army Corps’ contracting process works or will unfold for future munitions removal.
Asselbaye added:
I became aware of the munitions issue because the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Land and Natural Resources were concerned that the munitions clearing work might not proceed as required by their schedules. This put the goal of clearing our lands of unexploded ordnance in jeopardy. Because of the nature of this federal expenditure, if a solution was not found, the Army Corps would have moved its efforts to some venue outside of Hawaii. Given what’s happening in Washington, DC, it also seemed possible that this opportunity might not come back to Hawaii if it were lost.
“Senator Inouye’s office was not involved in this State discussion,” Asselbaye added.
[Revised 9/30/2011]
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Amazing that at a time of high unemployment, the spouses of the connected few never have problem getting a job. Amazing. And pure coincidence, I’m sure.
Good investigative reporting, Mr. Lind.
So???? What??? Have you got besides innuendo.
This is all kind of interesting, but it sure seems like the kind of reporting you’ve aggressively criticized others for not long ago.
Sounds like Manoa Kahuna and Where’s the Beef are trying to distract from some very very interesting connections.
Actually, I’m not trying to distract at all from the interesting connections. I’m merely pointing out that others were criticized pretty harshly here for making connections that were equally interesting.
http://ilind.net/2011/03/15/abercrombie-hires-campaign-supporter-so-what/
And one of those connections just popped up elsewhere today in relation to the disaster fiasco.
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/the-long-history-behind-gov-abercrombies-latest-disaster-decree/123
So please, don’t let me distract you from anything, Taxpayers. Not then, and not now.
I first met John Sabas when he was on the Kane`ohe Neighborhood Board and a deputy director in the Jeremy Harris Administration. I think it was with the Department of Community Services, but I may be wrong. At that time, I was not involved in issues coming before that Department.
We quickly got into a major confrontation a decade ago about the Haiku Stairs. He used his political connections to make sure that the Stairs would never be opened even though we the taxpayers paid nearly $900K to repair it.
The reason both John & Jennifer Sabas oppose any use of the Stairs – and Haiku Valley itself – is that their house butts up again the makai side of the Valley.
This is a very powerful man who knows how to use his connections well. In fact, he is actively lobbying Doug Chinn, Peter Carlisle’s Managing Director, to support tearing down the Stairs. To do so would cost more than what it cost over a decade ago to rebuild the Stairs.
Now that earmarks are no longer used, it will require the City to find the funding from another $$$ source. However, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
CHANGE OF SUBJECT: Today I received a form letter from William Kaneko wearing his Transition Director hat for the Abercrombie Adninistration telling me that the application I’d submitted in mid-December to work on the policy staff as a researcher had been rejected.
Hello!!! That was over nine months ago. Anyone else have similar experience?
In this small and isolated state, isn’t it inevitable that appearances of conflict are going to arise?
I know the Asselbaye family casually, but not well. I would frankly be shocked if they were trying to take advantage of her position. I have never ever seen any sign that they are the kind of people to do such a thing.
So, Ian, though I generally appreciate your efforts, I ask that next time you find some fire before you start casting mud on good people.
Is it any wonder that people don’t want to serve the public when our society seems to assume that if you are in government you must be corrupt?
There appears to be a conflict of interest because the company is obtaining contracts with government while hiring spouses of government employees. This is not a question of companies hiring spouses whose business has nothing to do with government contracts.
In my view the entire concept of conflict of interest is not appreciated nor well understood.
In Congress there are members whose spouses work as lobbyists, yet it appears this is legal. Maybe the concept of “legalized corruption” is becoming the norm.