What does your agency do when it’s spokesman, the one who deals with the media, is charged with taking part in a conspiracy to falsify election records of the union he was previously employed by?
Russell Yamanoha, spokesman for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, which is in charge of developing Honolulu’s troubled and vastly over budget rail system, is expected to enter a guilty plea next Tuesday to charges that he joined others in a conspiracy to falsify records of a union election in 2015. The federal charges can be found here.
The charges are part of a much larger fraud and money laundering case against the union’s former leader, Brian Ahakuelo, and members of his family.
The federal charges allege that in January 2015, while Yamanoha was director of communications and public relations for IBEW Local 1260, he and others prepared fraudulent ballots marked in favor of a proposed union dues increase. These fraudulent ballots were then allegedly switched with the real ballots cast by union members on Guam, in order to make it appear that the measure had been approved by the union’s members.
Yamanoha is a former journalist, who had been sports director and anchor for KHNL, but resigned in 2007 to pursue focus on real estate sales. In 2011, IBEW records show he was employed as a business representative, but was quickly promoted the following year to assistant business manager and director of communications. In 2015, named media director for the union.
In 2013, Yamanoha was appointed to a four-year term on the Honolulu Neighborhood Commission. He was selected by then-Council Chair Ernie Martin, and approved by the Honolulu City Council.
Yamanoha still holds an active real estate salesperson license. State licensing records show he has been employed by Primary Properties, Inc., doing business as Engel and Volkers.
So if Yamanoha indeed pleads guilty to the conspiracy charge as scheduled, does this scuttle his job as spokesman for the rail project, as well as his broader career as a public relations/communications specialist? Does taking part in stuffing the ballot box in a union election disqualify him from positions in which public trust is important?
It’s a sad moment for Hawaii’s journalism and PR professionals, or at least that’s how it looks from my seat.
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
If he pleads guilty, I would say anything coming from Yamanoha is tainted. Others are so fed up with HART I think it doesn’t really matter anymore who is speaking — they aren’t going to believe it anyway.
Another post-tv anchor Bill Brennan is role sharing with Russell at HART community meetings. Should we not be asking ourselves what kind of monetary deals the guys strike to take these spin positions?
If I had more say in how MY money was being spent, I’d out both of them as willing obstacles to transparency and fire ‘um.
If he pleads guilty, I would say anything coming from him is tainted. Others are so fed up with HART, however, that it doesn’t matter who says what — they just won’t believe it.
Apropos, perfect spokesperson for HART Rail Project. Perhaps He surely must have made a Plea Agreement in cooperation with U.S. Justice Department that would include His cooperate in the disclosure of HART’s unlawful deeds. And His cooperation in prosecution of IBEW officials. Rats always flee the sinking ship first. Yamanoha’s sentence will reflect his level of collaboration.
Note. Ahakuelo’s Grandfather was one of the four Hawaiian’s assaulted and kidnapped by Navy sailors in the famous Macy case, that included the murder of one of the four youths, Kahahawai.
I think it was the Massie case rather than the Macy case.
You are correct! Thank you. No parade for Xmas!
Corruption within unions or at the docks or in the police department appears to be an accepted practice…..until it’s not.
At this point NOTHING that happens with government agencies (HNL C&C especially), semi government agencies (HART), unions and developers/contractors, together with a one party domination of retread lifers ingrained in the system surprises me anymore. They’re ALL in cahoots and this banana republic “state” is dysfunctional in epic proportions.
Shaking my head is basically all I can do.
Chaz: Actually, shaking your head is not all you can do. All kinds of opportunities exist for you to become involved in public affairs and to offer solutions. You may have already done so – if so, thank you!
Just a passing thought: If people who cop a plea and agree to testify for the government about the wrong doing of themselves and others, i.e. the big fish, why do we characterize them as “rats” jumping off a sinking ship? Their testimony is valuable. We could say a little pressure merely caused them to “see the light?” It may be the only good thing someone does – yet they are a rat? And what do we call the big-time operators, the big fish in the game? Suspects? Rats who stay aboard the ship? Is there any honor in that? If everybody “jumped ship” and started talking, confessing, etc. they would save the government and taxpayers millions upon millions of dollars more than they already have. All I can say is, thank you Rats. May there be plenty of ye in these cases. Just me.
Can you smell what the Russell is cooking? How can anything moving forward be considered the truth or viable for HART or any other entity he is involved in? Also, wouldn’t his plea and conviction be an item of interest for DCCA for his professional license. Regarding his testimony, basically it is every man for himself at this point, but when you read the facts with the case you will realize that all of them were following orders but thought they were above the law. Like we said small kid time, ‘don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time’!