Ethics board to look at Elections Division

By NANCY COOK LAUER

Stephens Media

The county Board of Ethics is poised to wade into the morass of accusations and recriminations surrounding the county Elections Division.

The Ethics Board next week will consider a complaint against County Council Chairman Dominic Yagong that was forwarded by state Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago. It’s not known who filed the complaint. State Elections Office spokesman Rex Quidilla declined to name the individual, as complainants can be kept private under the law.

Yagong says the whole issue is without merit and is a “silly distraction” from more important issues, such as preparing for the Nov. 6 general election.

In an Aug. 31 letter to Ethics Board Chairman John Dill that was copied to the council members, Nago says the complainant alleges Yagong’s involvement in the county Elections Division is a conflict because his daughter, Chelsea Yagong, is running for County Council. Nago cites a local radio station website as background for the complaint.

“We take no position as to the accuracy of this story or as to whether Council Chairman Yagong said or did not say he would take a more active role in helping lead the Hawaii County Elections Office, whether at one point in time he said he would focus his time on getting his daughter elected, or whether this may or may not impact your county ethics laws,” Nago said in the letter.

Dill told Stephens Media he needed to meet with Corporation Counsel before sharing his views on the topic. But he said he’s adding it to the Sept. 12 agenda.

“This whole elections process is a concern of mine and a concern of the board’s,” Dill said. “It’s definitely come to our attention.”

Yagong, after losing his own race for mayor in the Aug. 11 primary, had said he planned to take a more active role in the county Elections Division to ensure there would be no repeat of problems that surfaced in the primary election. A staff shortage and communication breakdown that day caused many polling places to open late and the governor to declare an emergency in order to extend the hours another 90 minutes for Hawaii Island only.

Yagong said he and his council staff went into a conference room Wednesday adjacent to the Elections Division office and sorted through election “cans” and polling place supply boxes, taking an inventory of which supplies needed to be replenished for the general election. He said at no time was he in the locked basement area, where ballots, election machines and confidential documents are housed in locked cages.

Yagong said he also held a meeting Aug. 28 with election staff, to recognize their hard work on the election and ask them for feedback to help make the next election run more smoothly.

Now, however, he’s changed his mind about trying to help County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi and her elections staff prepare for the election, he said. Kawauchi was hired by Yagong, with concurrence of a council majority.

He noted some had urged the council to get involved in election preparation because of short-staffing and lack of experienced administrators. Kawauchi had fired the administrator and three other employees in January, after evidence surfaced of alcohol at the county elections warehouse and storage of private sign-making equipment. The county has a zero tolerance policy to alcohol at jobsites.

“It’s obviously a no-win situation. The last thing I want is to have a sideshow prior to the general election,” Yagong said. “This is a silly distraction that has no merit. … It’s politics.”

Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.