Former Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s abrupt abandonment of his gubernatorial ambitions is sure to energize the local rumor mills, coming against the backdrop of pending federal conspiracy charges against three of his administration’s key members.
Just over a week ago, the Caldwell was touting his affordable housing ideas in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, and had been running detailed newspaper ads spelling out a constructive program.
But his campaign raised a total of only $347,000 in six fundraisers held between July 1, 2021 and the end of the year, a pretty minimal take for the veteran lawmaker, perhaps an early indication that his candidacy was in trouble. He had not yet scheduled any fundraising events this year, which could have indicated internal questions about the viability of his candidacy.
Meanwhile, three of his administration’s most visible players—former corporation counsel Donna Leong, former managing director Roy Amemiya, and former police commission chair Max Sword—are facing federal conspiracy charges stemming from what prosecutors allege was their effort to fund a payout to former Honolulu’s former police chief Louis Kealoha without obtaining required City Council approval. Leong has also been hit with additional charges of lying to the FBI.
Caldwell has repeatedly said he has confidence in all three and believes they will be proved innocent.
But after failing to win dismissasl of the charges, those three are presumably jockeying for plea deals which would require coming clean about any knowledge they might have about other questionable activities within the administration.
So could a Caldwell target letter be somewhere in the mix? I’ll be watching to see how he responds if the question is put to him directly in the aftermath of his unexpected withdrawal from the governor’s race.
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Is there more behind Caldwell’s dropout from governor’s race?
How much more do you need? https://www.pritchettcartoons.com/caldwell-bags.htm
Perfect. I guess I didn’t even have to write all I did when everyone can just click on this link! 😉
It’s noteworthy that Caldwell dropped out of the race via press release and made no public comments, thus eliminating any opportunity for reporters to ask the obvious question: Have you received a target letter or otherwise been contacted by investigators or received a subpoena?
And maybe he hasn’t. But it’s a fair and logical question, given all that’s happened.
But Caldwell’s failure to even acknowledge any of the corruption scandals that plagued the city during his reign, and insistence that his lack of popularity is due only to his “tough decisions” regarding covid and rail, are illustrative of why he was such a slippery mayor and should never be trusted for anything higher.
So what will he do with the campaign money he raised?
There is NO WAY in Hell Caldwell was an innocent angel floating above the riff raff of the stinking activities of the three mentioned above. And that’s not even including the sour taste citizens of HNL got from his handling of the Waimanalo Beach park situation and the optics of that richie rich campaign donor group that wanted to build their “inclusive” kiddy playground inside Ala Moana Beach Park, located conveniently across the street from their multi million $$ apartments. (Wonder if any progress has moved forth on the consolation location they agreed upon? I doubt it.)
Naturally the above were just icing on the cake of an administration heavy on hubris (having a grudge against the city ethics office and eventually forcing the director out) and not willing to absorb the anger of the people after the biggest corruption scandal in city history (the convictions of the police chief and his prosecutor wife). We need to “move on”, Caldwell said so confidently then. Wonder what’s going on with disgraced ex prosecutor Kaneshiro these days?
Oh yeah…I didn’t even mention his white elephant baby from his city managing director days: the RAIL FAIL. On Time, On Budget.
Time will tell. Further indictments coming soon.
I’m hoping that any plea agreements will lead to Caldwell who, in turn, will participate in his own plea deal that leads to Mufi.
Probably trying to save as much campaign funding as possible to be used in any future legal defense. Top dollar White collar defense attorney.
He probably wishes so but I doubt he could use campaign donations for a legal defense unless it’s directly related to his campaign. His potential legal troubles are more likely related to his actions as mayor.
Aside from what level Caldwell participated in corruption, his administrations vendetta against the ethics commission and his “Let’s move on quote” regarding the corruption were what he will be remembered for. It always felt like he had a moral compass but lost it to development interests.
A cynic might suspect that Caldwell’s puppet masters decided many months ago that he wouldn’t actually run but made him go through the motions to deter other potential candidates while Kahele got his ducks in a row and eeked out a little more time in Congress. Unfortunately, political journalism in Hawaii is so pathetically anemic that we’ll probably never know the truth about this or so many other scenarios.
HNN reports Friday evening that Caldwell’s former chief of staff testified before the grand jury the day after Caldwell withdrew. Connection? Maybe, maybe not. But the report was squishy regarding two points: Caldwell “has maintained” that he did not receive a subject or target letter, and a campaign spokesperson said his former chief of staff informed Caldwell “after his testimony” before the grand jury.
The obvious problem is that it’s unclear when Caldwell last “maintained” he received no letter. He might have said so weeks or months ago, but what does that matter now?
And since his former top aid likely received a grand jury subpoena weeks or even months ago, it seems highly unlikely that Caldwell only learned of the testimony after the fact, as was suggested.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that Caldwell or his spokesperson were pushed for clarity on either point.
So we’re left to keep speculating and doubting Caldwell’s credibility.
What Caldwell might have learned after his former chief of staff testified is exactly what the grand jury’s line of questioning was focusing in on.
Yes, and SA now reports that Caldwell knew a full month ago that his former chief had been subpoenaed. Yet just a week ago Caldwell was claiming he had a path to victory and gave no indication he would soon drop out of the race. Does anybody really believe he just made that decision recently and that it wasn’t connected to the grand jury testimony that had been scheduled for the very next day? He acts as if the corruption scandals on his watch are so insignificant that they aren’t worthy of mention. Utter contempt for voters and former constituents. So what does Caldwell know now that he’s not telling us?
There’s also an interesting individual that everyone has been missing from the mix, try to figure out who was the campaign chairman for Jeremy Harris, Mufi Hannemann and Kirk Caldwell? This person is also the personal attorney for Kirk Caldwell (and Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, Albert Hee/Sandwich Isle Communications/). This person just so happens to have a lucrative contract to represent HART in civil court?