More of what’s behind the federal charges against former state senator Kalani English, who represented a Maui district before stepping down last year, and Rep. Ty Cullen, who resigned from his Ewa House seat yesterday, is slowly emerging.
In case you missed it, Hawaii News Now reported Wednesday night that the company tied to the allegations of bribery against two state legislators, former Maui Senator Kalani English and Ewa Rep. Ty Cullen, was a major campaign donor, and has received number of state and county contracts, including one for sanitizing Honolulu buses during the Covid-19 pandemic (“Records: Company at center of legislative bribery scandal a big political donor“).
HNN did not name the company or its owner “because they are not identified in the bribery case documents or charged with a crime.”
The charging documents identify the company owner only as “Person A.”
At all times relevant to this Information, Person A was the owner and operator of a Hawaii-based business that conducted industrial service business throughout the State of Hawaii. Among other things, Person A’s business regularly entered into contracts with county govemments to provide services and products in the area of wastewater management. Person A’s business was well positioned to avail itself of publicly financed cesspool conversion projects.
But based on those details, it appears the HNN story was referring to H2O Process Systems, LLC and its owner, Milton Choy.
No charges have been filed against Choy or the company, and he appears to be a cooperating witness in the investigation. Beyond that, his status is unknown at this time.
H2O Process Systems was first registered with the state in 2005, state business registration records show. In 2007, it was again registered, this time as an out-of-state company based in the state of Washington and doing business in Hawaii.
According to campaign finance reports filed with the Campaign Spending Commission, Choy, along with several related companies and individuals, including employees and relatives, gave a total of $356,295 to state and local candidates, most between 2014 and 2019. In addition, numerous press accounts touted the contract to H2O Process Systems for daily cleaning of vehicles in Honolulu’s TheBus fleet.
The latest contribution made by Milton Choy was $4,000 to gubernatorial candidate Kirk Caldwell’s campaign on November 9, 2021, bringing his total to the maximum $6,000 allowed by law.
Choy was the largest individual contributor to the campaign of former Maui Senator Kalani English, although several political committees contributed larger amounts. Choy combined with employees and related individuals to give a total of $19,000 between 2014 and 2019 to the former English’s campaign committee.
If federal allegations are true, Kalani English reaped far more in cash or in-kind bribes than in legal campaign support.
Court records show English pleaded guilty to charges of promoting a dangerous drug back in 1988, when he was apparently a student at Hawaii Loa College. The charge was a Class C felony. After pleading guilty, English was granted a 2-year deferred acceptance of guilty plea. He completed the two years without getting into further trouble, and the conviction was removed from his record.
At the same time as English was facing the drug charges, his photo was featured in a newspaper advertisement by Hawaii Loa College, which ran several times in both Honolulu daily newspapers between June and November of 1988.
Here’s one more item. According to the federal charging document filed on Wednesday, English filed a gift disclosure report with the State Ethics Commission that failed to include payments English received in cash and lodging that prosecutors allege were bribes. The disclosure is the basis for the federal charge of honest services wire fraud as the result of being submitted electronically.
On or around June 30, 2020, within the District of Hawaii and elsewhere, and for the purpose of executing the aforesaid scheme and artifice to defraud, and attempting to do so, ENGLISH did knowingly transmit, and cause to be transmitted, a writing, sign, signal, and sound in interstate commerce, namely, ENGLISH electronically submitted his annual Gift Disclosure Statement with the Hawaii State Ethics Commission.
As a friend commented after the charges were made public:
Here’s the gift disclosure filed by Kalani English.
Gift disclosure filed by then-Senator Kalani English with the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, June 2020 by Ian Lind on Scribd
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Excellent Not for Profit investigative Journalism. The further a corrupt Society drifts away from truth, it will hate those who write & speak it.
The Politics of Corruption. Mahalo Nui Ian.
When I was a very young boy in the late 1940s and into the early 1950s I enjoyed listening to a radio program titled the “The Shadow,” starring the unmistakable voice of Orson Welles. Each week the show opened with a deep voice (not Welles) intoning the signature introduction: “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!”
From now on I am calling Ian “The Shadow.”
Some obvious questions to ponder:
Assuming Choy is indeed Person A, why did Choy apparently wear a wire for the feds to catch English implicating himself? Was Choy already facing charges from similar but separate circumstances, and could others be implicated in those charges?
How long has English been cooperating with the feds, as seems to be required, and who could he implicate?
How long has Cullen known he was also facing charges, and how long did he know English was facing charges?
Why did Cullen wait until the charges were filed before resigning? Was he just shamelessly padding his nest until the last minute, or was he collecting dirt for the feds in hopes of leniency?
Why were English and Cullen so nonchalant in allegedly accepting the bribes, never protesting or expressing a hint of squeamishness, according to the charging documents that recount the conversations? Had they done this sort of thing before? Often? Did they know that Person A had done it before, and perhaps quite often? Are they now required to admit taking any previous bribes, and could they face additional charges if they fail to do so?
Was this all really a complete shock to all other lawmakers, or were some aware of the pending charges?
Have any other lawmakers been questioned by the feds about any of this? If any get questioned, will they be transparent about that?
Should we tag this fetid affair Cesspoolgate, Punchbowl Payola, the Capitol Cesspool Scandal, or something more catchy?
And, of course, who’s next?
I vote for Capitol Crapola Scandal.
How’s about Sewagegraft Scandal, Sludge Graft, Punchbowl Sludge, Punchbowl Payoff, Punchbowl Laxative, Cesspool Sweetener, or Cesspool Runoff?
Personally, I like Crap-for-Cash Bribery Scandal but it might be a bit forward for family audiences.
Ian should run a contest here and give away a money-green toilet plunger to the winner.
It’s been a while so my memory may not be serving me well but wasn’t English one of the first to be part of a cohort in on the very limited medical marijuana licensing grab RIGHT AFTER THE LEGISLATURE APPROVED MEDICINAL MARIJUANA here??? (pardon the CAPS, please).
What an upstanding guy, that English.
It gets even more tricky. I have no proof but the coconut wireless here on Maui has it that Sen English informed a number of Democratic Party officials in his district: Maui districts 12 and 13 that he was planning to retire and did it well in advance of his public announcement in 2021. This allowed those in the “know” to hold special District council zoom meetings to appoint people to empty positions in each precinct that had openings ( and numerous positions were empty because the 2020 precinct caucuses were not well attended due to the rise of Covid infections). These voting positions were then quietly filled by individuals loyal to certain people who became the leading candidates to fill the vacant Senate seat. Once again, I have no proof that anyone knew anything in advance of Sen English’s announcement, but it is obvious that the zoom meeting was held and that a certain slate of folks were appointed and at the Precinct meeting that was convened shortly after Sen English’s public announcement ( which I did attend as a voting delegate for my precinct, having been duly elected in the 2020 precinct caucus) it was apparent that this voting bloc existed and that it was effective because of the many precinct positions that had been filled during the earlier zoom call, who were all entitled to vote for the three candidates to succeed Sen English.
A coincidence? Perhaps. Perhaps not.