Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said she will hire a professional campaign finance compliance firm to audit her past campaign finance reports and help ensure continued compliance.
Luke, who earlier this month acknowledged that she may be the unnamed legislator implicated in a previously sealed filing related to a federal bribery investigation, announced that she was hiring the firm in a video message posted to her social media platforms on Monday.
In the video, and in a corresponding written statement posted to her official website, Luke insisted that she has never personally enriched herself or any campaign supporter, granted special favors to a contributor, or purposely violated campaign finance rules.
“Throughout my time in public service, I have been honored to earn the support of thousands across our state,” Luke said. “Every campaign contribution I have received has come with the understanding that a donation to my campaign is not about advancing any individual agenda, but about supporting my vision of a more prosperous Hawaii for all of our ohana.”
For months, news media and the public have speculated on the identity of a local lawmaker, active during the 2022 Hawaii State Legislature, who allegedly accepted $35,000 in campaign contributions from individuals connected to late wastewater executive Milton Choy. Choy was at the center of a federal investigation that led to the prosecutions and convictions of former state Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English and former state Rep. Ty Cullen for honest services wire fraud. An unsealed filing in the case referenced a recording made by Cullen that documented a meeting in which the “influential state legislator” allegedly accepted $35,000 in a paper bag.
Last month, the state Department of the Attorney General’s Special Investigation and Prosecution Division, led by supervising deputy attorney general David Van Acker, launched a public corruption investigation into the matter. The action followed an agreement between Attorney General Anne Lopez and U.S. Attorney Ken Sorensen under which Sorensen’s office would share information from its own ongoing federal investigation as it directly pertained to the alleged bribe.
In her most extensive statement to date, Luke provided her own timeline of events.
Luke said she had dinner with Cullen, lobbyist Tobi Solidum and Solidum’s daughter Kristen Pae. At the dinner, Luke accepted campaign contributions of $5,000 each from Solidum and Pae.
The U.S. Department of Justice charged Cullen with honest services wire fraud the following month, and two days later, on Feb. 10, 2022, media reports identified Choy was identified as the person who allegedly bribed Cullen and English.
“After learning of Choy’s charges, I decided the most ethical course of action would be to donate all past donations to my campaign from him, his family, and his business associates to the Campaign Spending Commission’s Hawaii Election Fund,” Luke said.
Luke subsequently sent $25,100 representing 15 contributions from Choy, his family and his business associates made between Nov. 3, 2014 and March 1, 2019 to the commission.
Luke said she directed her campaign to refund the $5,000 contributions she received from Solidum and Pae “due to their friendship with Ty Cullen.”
“This month, I was made aware that those refunds appeared in the campaign spending reports, but the original contributions did not,” Luke continued. “I immediately instructed my team to review my past campaign spending reports, and that error was corrected on February 7th. I am now in the process of thoroughly auditing my past reports and will continue to make amendments to them as needed.”
Luke said she was embarrassed by the errors and took responsibility for them, but reiterated that she did not intentionally misreport her campaign’s finances.
The state investigation is ongoing. At a news briefing last week, Lopez confirmed subpoenas have been issued and interviews conducted but would not discuss specific aspects of the case or a time frame for completion.
Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.