Tag Archives: Mufi Hannemann

Where in the world is Larry Harmon?

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Who is Larry Harmon and where in the world is he?

Those are questions that are going to be asked at a hearing scheduled early next month on a complaint filed by the Hawaii Venture Capital Association, which is asking the state to reject the business name of the “Venture Capital Association of Hawaii.” The latter group was hastily formed during the campaign season to endorse Mufi Hannemann’s run for governor.

The well-established Hawaii Venture Capital Association, which has been around since 1988, objected to the use of such a similar name and filed a complaint with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

The whole flap arose after the HVCA endorsed Neil Abercrombie for governor, and shortly afterwards the new group was formed to endorse Hannemann.

Questions were raised at the time about the new group, which had no track record. No one had ever heard of the new Venture Capital Association of Hawaii or Larry Harmon, the person listed as its incorporator on the articles of incorporation submitted to the state.

Harmon did not provide a personal or business address, only the address of Incorp Services, Inc., a Nevada-based firm that specializes in processing paperwork for others.

HVCA immediately sent a “cease and desist” letter to the new VCAH organization demanding that it stop using the name, and issued a press release alleging the new group was linked to the Hannemann campaign.

According to HVCA, the new group used an address of a company linked to a key Hannemann campaign supporter.

In addition, Harmon’s group is represented by attorney Mark Mukai, who happen’s to be on the board of directors of Mufi Hannemann’s Fund for the Pacific Century, which sponsors the Pacific Century Fellows.

Harmon seemed to surface briefly the next day with a response that was emailed to dozens of reporters. The letter was modeled after Neil Abercrombie’s somewhat infamous F-You letter of 30 years ago, and included digital links back to a copy of that letter.

But since then, no further information about the mysterious Larry Harmon has been turned up. In documents filed in the complaint pending before DCCA, attorneys for the Hawaii Venture Capital Association say no one in the organization has heard of or met Mr. Harmon.

A search of public records failed to turn up any record of Harmon owning property in Hawaii, being an officer of any other business or registered organization in Hawaii, or holding any professional or vocational license. Harmon hasn’t been cited for a traffic violation, and doesn’t appear as plaintiff or defendant in any lawsuits.

It’s as if he doesn’t really exist.

Yesterday I noticed this interesting factoid in Wikipedia:

Lawrence Weiss (January 2, 1925 – July 3, 2008), better known by the stage name Larry Harmon and as his alter-ego Bozo the Clown, was a Jewish American entertainer.

Maybe the joke’s on us??

If so, this case will lead to further and perhaps more serious questions for the former mayor and his campaign.

Which description fits: “campaign volunteer and advisor” or “Hannemann appointee and paid campaign consultant”?

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Interesting to watch the deft spin by the Hannemann campaign as it deflected the issue of the “Atomic Monkey” blog, a “no holds barred” web site that had been pounding Neil Abercrombie from various directions. Abercrombie, of course, is Hannemann’s main opponent for governor in the Democratic primary and a political adversary for at least 25 years.

Derrick DePledge linked the site to Keith Rollman, a “campaign volunteer and city advisor.” From the Star-Advertiser story:

The Hannemann campaign also confirmed yesterday that a campaign volunteer, who works as a special adviser attached to the city Department of Information Technology, was responsible for a parody website that savagely mocked Abercrombie.

Tanaka said Keith Rollman, the campaign volunteer and city adviser, created the “Atomic Monkey” website on his own time and without the campaign’s approval. The website, which has been taken down, included a disclaimer stating that it was not operated or financed by Hannemann or any other candidate for public office.

“Given his volunteer status with the campaign, it was pointed out to him that this type of website could be misconstrued,” Tanaka said.

Well, the “just a volunteer and advisor” schtick was a spin meant to minimize Rollman’s ties to the campaign. If the story described Rollman as a Hannemann appointee and campaign consultant, that would give a very different and more accurate sense of Rollman’s position.

It looks like the only reason Rollman is a campaign “volunteer” is that he was given a day job as “senior advisor” in the Dept. of Information Technology once Mufi was elected mayor.

Keith Rollman

Until recently, Rollman’s name appeared after the director’s in the listing of city departments, a slot usually reserved for the deputy director. But sometime after the “Atomic Monkey” flap surfaced, his name was removed.

Then there’s the other little role as campaign consultant.

Rollman was a consultant to Hannemann’s 2004 campaign, before being rewarded with his appointment as senior advisor. During the successful campaign, he was paid just over $75,000, according to reports filed with the Campaign Spending Commission.

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Nothing nefarious here, but his ties to the Hannemann campaign are considerably more substantive and active than the phrase “campaign volunteer and advisor” conveys.

Carroll Cox gets Mufi fundraiser story

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Credit to KHON’s Ron Mizutani for his story last night about a fundraiser by Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s campaign held in Pittsburgh while the mayor was on a city-paid trip to Washington, and to watchdog Carroll Cox for raising the issue.

Watching the video, it seemed that Hannemann campaign spokesman Dean Okimoto implied that this was a fundraiser done by some people in Pennsylvania that the campaign didn’t really know much about.

Mufi in PittsburghBut KHON also had a flyer announcing the fundraiser, and if you click for a larger version, you can just make out the phrase in the lower right of the image, “Paid for by Friends of Mufi Hannemann”. The campaign’s logo is also prominently featured.

Another point that isn’t clear is whether Hannemann’s campaign complied with the state law requiring a notice of the fundraiser to be filed in advance with the Campaign Spending Commission. The notice of this fundraiser doesn’t appear on the commission’s web site as of this morning.

June 3 is the same day the campaign booked Mufi’s flight from Washington to Pittsburgh, according to a receipt obtained by KHON.

Section 11-203(b) HRS states:

(b) No fundraiser or fundraising activity shall be held unless a notice of intent to hold the function is filed by the person in charge of the function with the commission prior to the date of the function setting forth the name and address of the person in charge, the price per person, the date, hour, and place of the affair and the method thereof.

It is possible that the commission is responsible for the delay in posting the notice, although there is a notice for a Maui fundraiser which was prepared and signed on June 3, and filed on June 4 for an event held June 7.

Since the campaign provided and authorized use of campaign graphics, paid for the flyer, and booked flights for the mayor (and, likely, others), it certainly had plenty of advance knowledge of the event.

City Ethics Chair resigns to avoid violation of ban on political activities

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The chairman of the Honolulu Ethics Commission has resigned from the commission in order to avoid potential legal questions stemming from his participation in political campaigns.

Ethics commission members are permitted to vote and to make campaign contributions, but any further political activity or support for or against any candidate is strictly prohibited. The mayor is required to immediately remove any member of the commission who violates this prohibition.

Honolulu attorney Lex Smith said today he resigned as commission chair last month after being asked to assist Managing Director Kirk Caldwell’s mayoral campaign. Smith said he resigned “when the situation was reaching a point where I was likely to be in violation.”

Smith’s letter of resignation is dated April 22, 2010. The last advisory opinion posted at the commission’s web site that Smith signed as chair is dated April 8, 2010.

Smith said he does not believe his previous involvement in Caldwell’s campaign, as well as those of Mayor Mufi Hannemann and former mayor Jeremy Harris, have put him in violation.

Smith’s political activities appear to extend back to his initial appointment to the commission nearly a decade ago. Smith was first appointed to the ethics commission by then-Mayor Jeremy Harris in 2001. He was reappointed by Mayor Hannemann in 2007.

Records show Smith has been actively involved in the campaigns of both Mayor Mufi Hannemann and Managing Director Kirk Caldwell while serving as a member of the commission. He earlier took actions as a supporter of Harris.

• Smith personally represented Hannemann’s campaign before the State Campaign Spending Commission in proceedings last year seeking to block Neil Abercrombie from transferring money from his federal campaign fund to his campaign for governor, commission minutes show. Hannemann campaign records show Smith’s law firm (Kobayashi, Sugita & Goda) was paid $21,000 following the Campaign Spending Commission’s decision.

“In my mind, at least, although I acted as the lawyer for various politicians over the years, I did not participate in their campaigns,” Smith said. “I have represented them as their counsel. In my view, I don’t think that violates the ethics rules.”

• Records show Smith was reimbursed by the Hannemann campaign in June 2009 for two expenditures, $78.55 for “fundraiser food” and $750 for “fundraiser entertainment”.

A “Notice of intent to hold a fundraiser” filed by Hannemann’s campaign for a $1,000 per person fundraiser on June 27, 2009, lists the person in charge of the fundraiser as Bert T. Kobayashi, Jr., senior partner in Smith’s law firm.

Smith insists his involvement was proper.

“If I recall correctly, I think I bought a cake,” Smith said, “and I paid for the band at the same fundraiser.”

“I view that the same as making a campaign contribution,” Smith said.

• Earlier this year, Smith telephoned this writer on behalf of Managing Director Kirk Caldwell’s campaign to clarify something he had been told was reported here.

• In 2008, Smith, described in news reports as a supporter of then-City Council candidate Kirk Caldwell, filed a challenge with the City Clerk seeking to clarify the legality of Caldwell’s nomination papers.

• In 2002, Smith successfully sued the campaign spending commission seeking to reverse a ruling that limited fundraising by Harris.

“I was on the ethics commission when I sued Bob Watada,” Smith said. “In my view, although I was personally the plaintiff, that involved my right to give money, which the charter said was exempted.”

The relevant city ordinance provides:

Sec. 3-6.9 Prohibiting political management or activity or candidacy to an elective political office.

(a) Except for exercising the right to vote or making a campaign contribution to a candidate for elective public office, no member of the ethics commission shall support, advocate or aid in, or manage, the election or defeat of any candidate for public office. No member of the ethics commission shall be a candidate for any elective public office nor engage in campaigning for such office.

(b) Any member of the ethics commission who violates the provisions of this section shall be removed by the mayor forthwith since such person serves at the pleasure of the mayor. (Sec. 3-2.9, R.O. 1978 (1987 Supp. to 1983 Ed.); Am. Ord. 01-51)

Charles “Chuck” Totto, ethics commission executive director, declined to discuss the resignation, referring questions to Smith.

Totto said the restrictions on political activities are discussed with new commission appointees as part of their orientation, but rarely come up at other times.