Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm says city agencies should not have to rely on federal investigations to root out corruption within municipal agencies.
During a Monday afternoon telephone call, Alm said his department is prepared to pursue and investigate allegations of corruption involving city employees or officials. Without referring to his predecessor, he expressed regret that prior inaction had created an assumption that the city could not or would not tackle such cases, making federal intervention seem necessary in order to make inroads against corruption.
Alm, who was elected in November and sworn in on January 2, 2021, said the prosecutor’s office should be the first layer of protection against corruption, and said his office intends to take these cases seriously.
His comments came after federal prosecutors brought another round of federal criminal indictments involving long-rumored practices within city agencies, this time charging five current and former employees of the Department of Planning and Permitting who are alleged to have taken bribes in exchange for favorable action on permit applications or other administrative matters. Also named in the indictment is a Honolulu architect accused of paying bribes to expedite approval of his permit applications.
The DPP case follows the prior conviction of former police chief Louis Kealoha and his wife, Katherine Kealoha, formerly a high ranking deputy city prosecutor, along with several police officers, on corruption-related charges.
The latest federal charges brought stinging rebukes from two popular columnists. Dave Shapiro, writing in his “Volcanic Ash” column in Sunday’s Star-Advertiser, put it bluntly: “It’s infuriating to see federal prosecutors once again having to expose local public corruption that city and state authorities should have been on long ago.”
He criticized Blangiardi for choosing to defend the planning department’s “dedicated” employees rather than speaking out clearly against corruption.
“Why not a pledge to root out corruption wherever it occurs?” he asked of the mayor.
Civil Beat columnist Lee Cataluna also called out Blangiardi, who had responded to the indictments by expressing “disappointment” while issuing a general defense of the planning department.
Cataluna’s column, also published on Sunday, scored Blangiardi for failing to “even pretend to be a little outraged” by the charges.
“The department is disappointed by today’s events and we certainly do not condone the activities alleged in the indictments,” his spokesperson said.
“Disappointed?” “Do not condone the activities?” Seriously? That’s it? How about:
“We will not stand for this.”
“The days of pay-to-play and who-do-you-know are over.”
“I’m cleaning house.”
“Not on my watch.”
Now Alm has quietly staked out the political high ground, letting it be known that his office is not reluctant to take on these politically sensitive cases. During the 2020 campaign, Alm pledged to make restoring public trust in the prosecutor’s office a top priority. This seems to be another step in that direction.
Alm knows a thing or two about prosecuting public corruption cases, having served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii from November 1994 to April 2001.
During his term as U.S. Attorney, his office successfully prosecuted former House Speaker Danny Kihano and former Senate Vice-President Milton Holt, both on charges of misusing campaign funds for personal benefit, while then-Honolulu City Council member Andy Mirikitani was convicted of theft, extortion, bribery, witness tampering and wire fraud.
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It’s great to learn this. In order to mitigate the risk of fraud, there should be a strong set of internal controls and a strong ethics commission as well as leadership that sets the tone at the top that fraud, waste and abuse will not be tolerated. I’m not sure we have any of those things.
Seems in this town, with so many wink-wink stories of tacitly accepted dirty dealings going on in various governmental entities, all the prosecutor’s office has to do is actually give a little credence to the so-called stories and rumors to actually unearth some truth!
Blangiardi is not providing anything close to leadership, much less the kind of leadership Honolulu needs, and it’s quite telling that even Shapiro is starting to catch on.
It really doesn’t take much political courage to denounce public corruption that predates your term as mayor. He made leadership seem so simple on TV and presumed to have all the answers, or at least the skill to quickly find them.
But now that he’s actually taken office, he’s slow, clumsy, and the cat’s got his tongue.
In his rare public appearances, he has all the grace of a bewildered moose in the headlights.
His recent statement that he’s “dead set” against increased public health restrictions as the pandemic continues to kill constituents was jaw-dropping in its tone-deaf ineptitude.
This is going to be a long four years.
Holy cow he was on the news tonight with a weird and distracting light reflection in his glasses and looking for all the world like “a bewildered moose in the headlights!” ?
Based on Alm’s track record “Hope Springs Eternal”.
There is surely a Plethora of crime in Honolulu, within walking distance of the City Prosecutors Office.
Everything from Fireworks to Freaks!
Indictments and grand jury’s, should be convened by the dozen before years end.
Honolulu needs an automatic customer survey like the private sector where people can rate their interaction and report poor behavior.
Thank you for this corruption spotlight Ian. I look forward to watching Prosecutor Alm sumarily clean HCC’s house.
Typical BS. I’ll believe Alm when he actually indicts someone. He’s pretending to be blind to the corruption around him.
Prosecutors interested in finding corruption empanel a Grand Jury and investigate. Start with HPD.
Ian,
Any word on the Federal investigation on the previous Honolulu prosecutors office? This would mean everyone who was being investigated/target letter. And what of Donna Leong’s investigation?
I’m hoping since none of them are in office anymore that these do not go by the wayside.
Blangiardi believes business comes first, so his attitude toward corruption in the planning and permitting department is “boys will be boys”. Same attitude with not enforcing pandemic tiers. Liberals complain Blangiardi is a conservative, but he seems more like a small-business pro-Trump guy who doesn’t listen to experts. If you think about it, Frank Fasi would also be a Trump guy. Looking back, Fasi was a small-time mayor, but he was really something in his prime. Blangiardi is no Frank Fasi.
I sometimes wonder whether there’s a downside to having (almost) all our policing concentrated at the county level. I imagine we gain in professionalism. Do we lose anything in lack of redundancy? Or is policing even relevant to the issues of corruption that are being discussed?
Whose investigative work resulted in the catching the bribers and bribe takers? I don’t recall reading or hearing of anyone or any office taking credit.
If it wasn’t the feds, does that suggest that someone in the C&C, perhaps in the prosecutor’s office or HPD, was responsible?
These are federal charges.
When local authorities are unable or unwilling to deal with local corruption, the feds may step in. It’s an advantage of being glommed onto America.
Hi Ian,
A cursory review of news coverage about the 2020 election for mayor mentions virtually nothing about corruption within city government. All the major candidates, Blangiardi included, were campaigning on COVID and the economy. Like different brands of toothpaste that fight cavities and brighten teeth, each candidate promised to handle COVID and the economy the best.
In the 2020 election for city prosecutor, the top two candidates, Alm and Kau, talk about how they will improve the culture of the city prosecutors office. Neither candidates sounded-off like a corruption fighter.
So I have to wonder , why wasn’t the issue of corruption within city government a bigger election issue?
Did our local news media “drop the ball” by not asking more questions about corruption?
Were candidates purposely avoiding the issue?
Or do local voters only have themselves to blame for not making it a bigger election issue?
Whatever the reasons were it now seems that “corruption” has become an issue. Bribes for building permits and crooked cops might lead to more stories.