i L i n d . n e t

Remember my prediction made here on Wednesday that the State Ethics Commission would likely take no action against Hawaii Superferry, Inc. for its blatant failure to fully disclose the cost of its lobbying efforts?

I wrote that the commission:

…concentrates on obtaining voluntary compliance, even if after the fact. This means that there will likely be no consequences, apart from being mentioned here and on other blogs, even as a result of this glaring example of failing to report.

This has proved to be quite accurate.

Christie Wilson, writing in today’s Honolulu Advertiser, quotes commission Executive Director Dan Mollway:

“They (Superferry officials) were totally willing to comply, and I didn’t get any sense it was done intentionally or that they were trying to hide anything,” he said.

Mollway went on:

“Concerns have been raised whether we should take further enforcement action, but so far I don’t think we’re going to do that because they were very cooperative in talking to us and very quick in amending their reports, which they should get points for and is kind of rare,” Mollway said.

So the ethics commission, which is supposed to enforce full reporting requirements, not only isn’t going to impose any sanctions for the Superferry’s gross under-reporting, Mollway wants to give them points for quickly apologizing when caught.

I have known Dan for as long as he has been director of the commission, which is a long time, and we’ve argued about lots of issues over the years. I can understand his reluctance to use scarce commission resources in largely symbolic enforcement actions, but I can’t understand the “oh, we should just give them Brownie points for being so nice when they were busted” attitude.

Imagine reporting the same thing with a different underlying offense.

Police said they went to a Kaaawa home after receiving a tip from a concerned citizen.

“We were welcomed at the front door by the suspect, who invited us inside the house. We found several rooms filled with electronic equipment, computers, jewelry, and other items taken in a string of recent burglaries,” a police department spokesman said.

However, no charges are being considered because the suspect was so cooperative when police arrived.

“He was totally willing to help and wasn’t trying to hide anything, and immediately took responsibility for the thefts, which he should get points for and is kind of rare,” the police spokesman said.

The ethics commission logic just doesn’t work for me on this.

But it is, I suppose, another lesson in white collar crime, although violations of the lobbyist law are not considered criminal. Only administrative sanctions are available. Perhaps that is something that needs to change. In any case, white collar criminals often get away with their offenses because their appearance and demeanor does not fit our stereotypes of “real” criminals.

And friendly executives who quickly correct the paperwork when gross deficiencies are pointed out are apparently just as easily forgiven.

Mollway told Derrick DePledge a couple of days ago that he didn’t know how the reporting requirements were missed by Superferry officials.

That’s a very good question, and I think Dan should have given it a bit more thought before doling out those Brownie points to Superferry officials.

This isn’t rocket science. The categories are plainly set out on the reporting form and clearly include far more than fees paid to lobbyists.

Line #1: Preparation and distribution of lobbying materials
Line #2: Media advertising
Line #3: Telegraph, telephone and other forms of telecommunication
Line #4: Postage
Line #5: Compensation paid to lobbyists
Line #6: Fees (other than to lobbyists)
and so on.

So how did then Superferry CEO John Garibaldi fail to notice all the blank categories when he signed off on the obviously incomplete reports to the commission?

As I said to Wilson yesterday, if the information wasn’t intentionally withheld, then the company was clearly negligent. And in most types of civil or administrative liability, you can’t escape penalties if you were negligent in your performance of your legal responsibilities.

Okay, that’s enough for one morning.

Here’s the scene on the beach in Kaaawa yesterday morning at 6:47 a.m.

Although the sun had already been up for more than half an hour, it was a very gray morning. Just click for a better view.