Pat Tummons, editor, publisher, and senior reporter for Environment Hawaii, a monthly newsletter focused on land use and environmental issues, scored a big coup by being the only reporter to have been on the trail of the series of deals that have now led to Hawaii’s latest public corruption prosecution.
The case, which allegedly involved $2 million dollars in kickbacks to a Hawaii County housing official over a number of years, became public more than a week ago when charges were filed against Alan Scot Rudo. He pleaded guilty in Honolulu’s federal court yesterday, and his plea agreement was filed in the public record.
The charges have been national news, as the reported $2 million in kickbacks ranks this in the big leagues of corruption.
Two things to note. First, the state’s largest newspaper, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, has yet to report on the case.
You would expect this to be big news, but the state’s largest newspaper, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, has yet to report on the case, although it has made national news.
But Tummons did the real pick-and-shovel journalism which was published in the June 2022 issue of the newletter, which is in its 32nd year of publication. She spent several years poring over county records, following county and Land Use Commission actions, and bit by bit, piecing the story together
Here’s the lede of her story, published well over a month ahead of the federal charges.
How did a newly minted company get the County of Hawai‘i to purchase 13 acres of land for it? With only $1,000 in out-of-pocket expenses the company was able to acquire land valued by the county at $948,200.
It later sold off more than half of that acreage for $950,000 and it still owns the remaining six acres. That land has now been leased for $84,000 a year to a developer that is proposing to build 112 affordable rental units on the site in Kealakehe, near the village of Kona, at a per-unit average cost of more than $400,000.
Not a bad return for an initial investment of less than a month’s rent for a two- bedroom apartment in Hilo.
So how did West View Developments, LLC, pull it off?
Now, thanks to the federal charges and the public plea deal, we know how it was done, with large amounts of money changing hands.
But if you want to know how the complex fraud was pulled off, Environment Hawaii is your go-to source.
If you don’t already subscribe, you should! This is real independent journalism in action.
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Hooray for Pat Tummons!
Way to go Pat!
So, why didn’t the SA cover the story?
Not sure which event is more ominous and concerning: that this story almost went un-reported, or that it took a lucky anonymous tip to uncover this scheme. In any event, it sure seems like two important tenets of a functioning democracy are being stretched thin these days: good government and an informed citizenry.
Tips have been the single-most often used source (40% or more of the time) for the discovery of fraud, waste and abuse for many years. This is why it’s so important to have whistleblower hotlines at every level of government. They should be available 24/7 with multiple options for reporting.
Amen on that!
Hi Ian,
Interesting that you mention twice that the SA “failed” to report it. But what about your Civil Beat? Why didn’t they report it? What about the other 3 TV stations and their reporters? CB has about 28 on their news staff and there are dozens more at the tv stations. Why not take the Hilo newspaper to task? Just curious.
@Uncle Ben: In defense of Ian for singling out the SA, television news reports are short and focused on visuals and production. Newspaper reports are more detailed. Television reporters basically gather newspaper headline material (or police scanner reports) and newspaper reporters must (supposed) to dig deeper.
In 2010, the SA went to great lengths to become the sole daily newspaper in the state, applying hard-core business and legal tactics in the process. The SA also argued that consolidating both newspapers would improve the overall delivery of quality local journalism, news, and information.
Well, he we are twelve years later living in our one daily newspaper town, and a small independently run environmental newsletter on the Big Island scoops the big bad daily. Regarding Civil Beat or the other news outlets, it’s unrealistic to hold them to the same standard as the SA which is much larger in scope and size.
Ian is right–this is a bad look for the SA. And to be fair, if given the opportunity, no doubt SA staff could provide an endless list of reasons and examples of being over-worked and under-paid (I’m assuming). But in the end, the concerns voiced in 2010 are still true today: the bottom line about the merger between the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star Bulletin was always about the bottom line $.
Sorry, not Ian but curious what you’re implying here?
Indeed the S-A dropped the ball but it’s semi understandable in that news rooms nationwide have been gutted and resources are little. Especially if this is a “Big Island story” and getting someone there full time is not cheap.
Civil Beat is a non profit that has a small core number of reporters and several interns and a few regular opinion contributors. They cover an amazing amount of Oahu centric stories in addition to devoting much to the upcoming election. They have a person based on the big island but I’d be surprised if that’s full time work.
Perhaps Pat Tummons needs to be on a retainer basis for the S-A or CB? But Pat has her own publication to think about. And maybe can sell to AP or a larger service first?
Again…back to the first question…
Cheers.
Right! “ominous” Michael Form….
Pat Tummons has been a story breaker for years. Acknowledgment here is applauded. StarAd no longer supports investigative reporters. They publish legacy media news feeds.
YAY Pat Tummons !
Thanks Ian, I’ll check that publication out.
Thank you kindly for your tribute to Pat Tummons/Environment Hawaii. We are lucky to have her doing what she does so well.