Larry Mehau, a Waimea rancher and businessman, died Tuesday. He was 86.
Larry Mehau, a Waimea rancher and businessman, died Tuesday. He was 86.
“He’ll be missed,” Mehau’s daughter, Anela, told the Tribune-Herald on Wednesday morning.
Mehau was an influential and controversial political power-broker. A former Honolulu police officer, he was a close associate to Democrat governors John A. Burns and George Ariyoshi.
Burns appointed Mehau to the state Board of Land and Natural Resources in 1970. Ariyoshi appointed Mehau to a second term in 1974, and he became the powerful panel’s chairman.
Mehau also owned Hawaii Protective Association, a private security company. The company made news in the late 1990s when a private consulting firm reviewing Kamehameha Schools’ operations questioned a $470,000-a-year contract for HPA to guard the Kapalama campus’ gates while in-house guards provided security for the rest of the campus.
In 1985, Rick Reed, a special assistant for then-Honolulu City Prosecutor Charles Marsland who was running for Congress, referred to Mehau as “the godfather of organized crime in Hawaii” and “the most powerful person in Hawaii” whose “influence permeates our government, our criminal justice system and even our business community.”
Mehau strongly disputed Reed’s allegations and sued Reed, Marsland and Donald Carstensen, a former Honolulu police officer who led Marsland’s organized crime unit, for libel and invasion of privacy.
A Honolulu Circuit Court jury ruled in Reed’s favor in 1992, but Judge Wilfred K. Watanabe vacated the verdict, ruling Mehau was entitled to a new trial.
The judge said the jury reached its verdict despite the “great weight of credible evidence” to the contrary.
The state Supreme Court affirmed Watanabe’s ruling, and the lawsuit was settled in 1996.
Although primarily known for backing Democrats, Mehau occasionally broke ranks, supporting GOP candidates D.G. “Andy” Anderson and Pat Saiki in their unsuccessful bids for governor.
Mehau also wielded influence in the entertainment industry and at one time was business manager for the late Hawaii superstar Don Ho.
In later years, Mehau became less of a public figure, but remained politically active, using his Waimea ranch to host a 2006 campaign fundraiser for former U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.