The State Department of Health announced its intention last month to award a $25,040 no-bid contract to the Healthy Hawaii Coalition, a nonprofit group founded and controlled by Senator Mike Gabbard and his daughter, Honolulu City Councilmember Tulsi Gabbard.
The two-year contract from the Clean Water Branch, Environmental Management Division, is “to develop and
present an educational program for elementary school children to encourage behavior changes that will result in healthier watersheds.” It is funded by an EPA Clean Water Act grant.
The contract was disclosed in a February 13, 2012 notice posted in a section of the State Ethics Commission’s web site, required whenever a state agency wants to award a contract valued at more than $10,000 to a state officer or employee without competitive bidding.
Senator Gabbard, who is president of Healthy Hawaii Coalition, also chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment, which appears to have jurisdiction over at least some DOH programs and interests.
Does the no-bid contract create a conflict of interest for Senator Gabbard? There is no indication that it raised red flags at the State Ethics Commission.
HHC previously developed a curriculum dealing with watershed issues with several grants beginning in 2002, according to information posted on its web site.
Neither Gabbard is paid by the coalition, according to their personal financial disclosures, but the contract notice says both have an “active role in the organization’s education and outreach efforts.”
Those seeking additional information about the nonprofit program are directed to an email address at MikeGabbard.com, which mixes personal and legislative information with at least one campaign video, and also solicits campaign contributions. The overlapping of campaign efforts and nonprofit activities has previously drawn criticism.
Healthy Hawaii Coalition was registered to do business in Hawaii in 2001, but is not registered to solicit funds from the public, according to a search of the charitable organization database maintained by the Attorney General’s office.
The group is also absent from the list of Health Department contractors in the State Procurement Office database.
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I am sure a thousand stories could be done looking at tax money going to non-profits from the state and city level.
I suspect this one is run clean.
Nonetheless, I would love to see more investigation to look for the mud in the water.
See, switching parties paid off for daddy!
Right on, Hugh! Unfortunately, when daddy switched parties not enough members went public with their problems about ‘daddy.’ After the fact, some told me that they resigned over ‘daddy’ switching parties. We could have had a great press conference with some of those who saw the writing on the wall, but they told me that they felt it was a personal thing to object when ‘daddy’ switched parties. I was stuck out on a limb and told by others that I had an axe to grind. LOL
Thank you for keeping us up to date on so many issues. One would think that the Sen. could use his office staff and his pay check to promote environmental issues instead of bilking the taxpayer again. This really is a campaign issue as he runs on a strong environmental effort. What a crock! Those of us who objected to her daddy switching parties tried to tell the powers that be but for myself, I was told that I had issues. Who has issues now. Just yesterday, daddy voted with GOP Slom against the clean up Bill HB2569 on Civil Unions. We can’t win for all the games the leg plays. They pass a flawed bill in 2011; ?try? to clean it up only to tack on church benefits that give ‘special treatment’ to the Hawaii Family Forum Ex. Dir. What a crock!
HHC may not be required to register with the state AG’s office.
I almost always think that no-bid contracts are a bad way to do business. We have so much accepted bribery in our political system already, such as the high-dollar ‘contract’ jobs so many politicians get when they retire.
I think it says a lot that this sort of thing can squeak through without ringing any warning bells!
While the stated purpose of the non-profit is certainly nice, that is a ton of money and there is a lot of ways you can still profit from a non-profit.
To complete the picture, Ian, I suggest asking the Ethcs Commission if they view this as a problem.
I’d love to see the reply you get, and it could clarify some of the questions too.