Puna Councilman Danny Paleka recently paid a $1,250 fine and filed amended campaign finance reports for 2014, following a state Campaign Spending Commission investigation that found he failed to report numerous contributions and expenditures. ADVERTISING Puna Councilman Danny Paleka recently
Puna Councilman Danny Paleka recently paid a $1,250 fine and filed amended campaign finance reports for 2014, following a state Campaign Spending Commission investigation that found he failed to report numerous contributions and expenditures.
There were a number of items not reported in several separate reports prior to the primary and general elections in 2014, Kristin E. Izumi-Nitao, executive director of the commission, said Thursday.
Each of seven amended reports includes six separate schedules that also had to be amended. Amendments were filed June 26.
Izumi-Nitao said the maximum fine for a violation is $250.
“When we researched it, we noticed a number of contributions not reported, as well as expenditures,” she said.
Izumi-Nitao said Paleka’s campaign was “very cooperative.” The fine was paid and amended reports were filed after the campaign was notified.
“The bottom line is, they have to make it right,” she said.
Paleka, who had never run for public office before, said the early days of his campaign were hectic and some things fell through the cracks. His sister, Kaui Paleka-Kama, was his campaign treasurer, and she couldn’t keep up with the process and the software required to report campaign finances, he said.
He’s since turned the job over to his wife, Susanne.
“Basically, it’s my responsibility and I should have had more oversight,” Paleka said.
The amended reports show he failed to report more than $24,000 in expenditures and almost $10,000 in contributions.
“It was a mistake. It was a big mistake,” Paleka added. “It’s not (Paleka-Kama’s) fault; I should have been more on top of it.”
Paleka-Kama was upset about the errors.
“It was kind of crazy. … It was a big thing that we took up in a very short time. It was all ohana. We just took great joy in helping Danny make it happen,” she said. “We never intended for hurt anybody or be deceptive.”
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.
