Investigative Committee’s Work Necessary to Protect Landowners
By Hawaii State Senator Jill Tokuda
The Star-Bulletin’s recent editorial, “Lawmakers’ inquiry is of dubious value” (July 13, 2007) missed some important points regarding the work of the Joint Senate-House Investigative Committee looking into operations at the Hawai‘i Bureau of Conveyance, and presented an inaccurate picture of both the committee’s work and the planned end-product of the committee’s inquiry.
While the Office of the Attorney General and the State Ethics Commission are continuing to investigate claims of certain illegal
or unethical practices at the Bureau, the legislative committee has a broader focus. Our charge is to look at the Bureau’s operations as a whole. Each of the investigations relates to the specific jurisdiction of the office or entity conducting the respective inquiry. The Attorney General investigates alleged criminal activity. The Ethics Commissions looks for violations of the state Ethics Code. Our committee is exercising our power and duty to provide legislative oversight with regard to the operations of a state office.
Take, for example, the specific concern over a considerable backlog of documents filed with the Bureau but that await processing; some have said that final recordation can take as long as a year. It has been alleged that some Bureau clients receive preferential treatment, and have their documents recorded faster. The Attorney General’s investigation asks if there has been a violation of the criminal law, such as bribery. The Ethics Commission investigates to see if there has been a breach of the Ethics Code, such as clients giving Bureau workers gifts; those gifts may not rise to the level of bribery, but may still represent a violation of Hawai‘i’s ethics laws. Finally, our committee will inquire whether the backlog is the result of such concerns as poor management, ineffective policies and procedures, or staffing problems.
Of the three investigations, the purview of our committee’s legislative oversight is clearly the broadest. We are charged with looking at the big picture of the Bureau’s operations, and not just violations of the specific penal or ethics codes. As a result, we are likely to consider more evidence than either the Attorney General or the Ethics Commission, and must be prepared to receive the evidence as presented.
The materials gathered by investigator Hilton Lui may contain important information. However, it is important to note that at the time he delivered the documents to the committee, Ethics Commission Executive Director Daniel Mollway admitted that he had not fully reviewed the material. He simply expressed his opinion that the documents were “unreliable” because he suspected that Mr. Lui was biased.
Our committee cannot deem the documents unreliable based solely on Mr. Mollway’s opinion. Moreover, when we consider the nature of the materials—all of which will be available on our committee’s web site shortly, if they are not already posted by the time of publication—it becomes difficult to comprehend how bias could play any role in their preparation. There is no “report” containing Mr. Lui’s impressions or conclusions. Rather, the materials consist of witness statements, documents provided by the witnesses, and photos.
The committee will hear from many, if not all, of the witnesses represented in Mr. Lui’s materials. If there are discrepancies between the testimony and the statements, those will come to light and the committee will be able to inquire further. Still, by receiving the documents and reviewing them, the committee members will be better prepared to examine the witnesses, reach meaningful conclusions, and make effective recommendations.
What is critical at this point is to view the committee’s work as part of a thorough, multi-pronged assessment of the Bureau of Conveyances and its operations, and to keep in mind that no single opinion—be it that of the director of the Ethics Commission or of an individual witness—should divert us from the vital work we hope to perform on behalf of Hawai‘i’s people.
Senator Tokuda represents the 24th Senatorial District (Kane’ohe, Kane’ohe MCAB, Kailua, Enchanted Lake) on the Island of Oahu. She chairs the Joint Senate-House Investigative Committee on the Bureau of Conveyances.