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THE CARROLL COX SHOW NEWS AND COMMENTARY |
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EMAILS REGARDING DJOU’S BUSINESS TRIP TO JAPAN Following are emails I sent to Mr. Djou
requesting information regarding his business trip to Japan for the city, accompanied by his
son, and his responses to those emails. Mr.
Djou would not answer the questions and referred the matter to his
attorney. Mr. Chuck Totto of the Ethics Commission
worked at break neck speed to give an opinion regarding my complaint but did not
produce any documents. He was only able to conclude that “Also,
it appears that Councilmember Djou personally paid for his son's air fare
before the start date of the trip and paid for his son's other expenses as they
arose during the trip.“ I smell a cover up on the part of the ethics
commission and will only change my mind when Mr.Totto produces documents and
other records regarding this matter. Mr.
Djou was eager to present the letter to me and claimed that the matter was resolved
with no findings of wrong doings. He
failed to mention that I had requested the Ethics Commission review Totto’s
decision. Therefore this matter is not
resolved as Djou claims. Also, note Djou’s claim that he was not wrong in posting photographs
of himself in military uniform on his campaign website. Djou did
not have the disclaimer that is required when using military photographs in
campaign materials when I made my original query some months ago. It was only recently added to his website. _______________________________________________________________________ -----
Original Message ----- _______________________________________________________________________ Subject:
Re: Questions Mr. Djou, Thank you for your response. First I would like to respond
to your continued concerns about statements I made regarding you using your
uniform on your congressional campaign website. You, your staff and supporters have ignored my original remarks
about your picture in your Military Uniform on your web site for
Congress. For the record I will kindly repeat that Lt. Col Edwards of the
Army Inspector General's office advised me that "campaigning in uniform is
against Department of Defense Regulations". You may call the
Inspector General's office and make the same inquiry. Regarding your threatening comments and lack of response to my
questions: Like you, I also spoke with Mr. Harumi
"Danny" Oshita. Mr. Oshita told me that you reimbursed
him for your son's expenses after the trip to Japan. You acknowledge that
your son did accompany you to Japan and you also stated "All of the
expenses for this trip related to my son, however, including the airfare, were
paid for by myself out of my personal bank account. The only expenses I
accepted were done in accordance with the City gift rules and fully disclosed
four years ago ''. You also indicated that you referred my
questions about your taking your son on an offical city business trip to Japan
to your attorney. Just out of curiousity, why did you call Mr. Oshita
after I sent you the questions, particularly when this matter was resolved two
years ago and you could just refer to your checking account to answer my
questions. Was it to get your story straight? Let me remind you that this trip was a gift to the City and County
of Honolulu for official business. The gift was donated to the city by
IES Hawaii Inc. at a value of $15,000.00. My questions serve only
one purpose, and that is to maintain transparency in our government, ensuring
that ethics and other rules are obeyed by our public officials. I
find it ironic that you, City Councilman Charles Djou, who are repeatedly
before the cameras talking about ethics and transparency in government, improper
use of government funds, and calling into question your fellow councilmen, are
now threatening legal action against a citizen who bothered to ask you
questions regarding your son's accompanying you on an official business trip to
Japan. I believe that the public has a right to ask questions. This is an
opportunity for you to provide accurate responses so we don't go away
distorting or misrepresenting your record. You acknowledge that you paid your son's expenses from your
personal bank account. Again, I am asking when, why and who did you
reimburse for your son's expenses. As I stated earlier, Mr. Oshita told
me that you reimbursed him after you returned from Japan. If that is the
case, then you used money belonging to the City and County of Honolulu for
personal matters. Once again, I would appreciate your providing specific answers and
comments to my questions so that I can accurately inform the public about your
actions regarding this trip. I am planning on discussing this matter in a
future radio show, but would first like to give you an opportunity to
respond to my questions and concerns. If you are not going to respond,
please let me know. Thank you. Carroll Cox _______________________________________________________________________ From: Charles Djou To: Carroll Cox Mr. Cox, again, this trip to Japan
in 2006 taken by my son was personal and was prepaid with personal funds prior
to the trip being taken. Aloha. From: carroll@carrollcox.com
[mailto:carroll@carrollcox.com]
Dear Mr. Totto, Please accept this letter as my formal complaint against City and
County of Honolulu's Councilmember Charles Djou.
Specifically, I am asking your office to investigate Mr. Djou's possible use of
funds donated to the City and County of Honolulu by Mr. Harumi
"Danny" Oshita of IES Hawaii Inc. for three Councilmembers to travel
to Japan in 2006 . In a March 19, 2010, telephone
conversation with Mr. Oshita, he told me he believed that Mr. Djou reimbursed
him for travel expenses incurred by his son on the trip but does not recall
specifically when that may have occurred or the exact circumstances. In
Mr. Djou's March 19, 2010, email to me (attached), Mr. Djou confirmed that
he allowed his son to travel with him on this official trip. If Mr.
Oshita's recollection is accurate or true, this would suggest that Mr. Djou's
use of some of the donated money for his son's expense to Japan would
constitute a loan of City and County of Honolulu's monies. In response to the questions I posed to Mr. Djou regarding this
matter, Mr. Djou did not provided specific answers relating to the method of
payment for expenses incurred for his son's travel with him to Japan.
I appeal to your office to investigate this matter to determine if
Mr. Djou's actions are consistent with City ethics rules and laws. The
matter could be easily and quickly resolved if Mr. Djou would simply provide me
with specific answers to my questions and produce copies of receipts and
records in this matter. Instead, he threatens me with possible legal
actions and carbon copied you and his attorney regarding my inquiry. Thank you, Carroll Cox 808-782-6627
_______________________________________________________________________ -------- Original Message -------- Subject:
RE: Complaint, Djou, EC No. 10-081 Hi
Carroll, Thank
you for bringing your concerns to the attention of the Honolulu Ethics
Commission. You
raised the issue whether Councilmember Charles Djou used city funds, that had
been donated in 2006 to the city from IES Hawaii, Inc., to sponsor
Councilmember Djou's and two other councilmembers' site visit to Japan to
review municipal solid waste management and disposal systems, to pay for his
son's travel as he accompanied Councilmember Djou on the trip. If
Councilmember Djou had used city funds in this manner it could be a violation
of RCH Sec. 11-104, which prohibits the use of city resources for non-city or
personal purposes. In
investigating this matter, I interviewed Councilmember Djou and
Harumi "Danny" Oshita of IES Hawaii, Inc., as well as reviewing
the information you submitted and relevant personal financial records. It
appears that no funds were actually transferred from IES, Hawaii, Inc., to the
city. IES, Hawaii, Inc., covered the costs of the councilmembers' trip as
those costs arose. Also, it appears that Councilmember Djou personally paid
for his son's air fare before the start date of the trip and paid for his son's
other expenses as they arose during the trip. Based on the
information obtained, there is insufficient evidence to find probable cause
that Councilmember Djou violated RCH Sec. 11-104 or any other ethics law.
Therefore, the Commission will be closing its investigation. My
conclusion is based on my experience and my understanding of the
relevant law and Commission precedent as they apply to the facts of the case.
If you believe that I have erred in my conclusion, you have the right to
request that the Commission review the case and makes its own determination of
probable cause. If you decide to do so, please make your request in
writing and provide your reasons for requesting a Commission review. Feel
free to contact me if you have any questions. Chuck CHARLES W. TOTTO ___________________________________________________________
Subject: RE: Complaint, Djou, EC No. 10-081
Secondly, I understood that this gift of $15,000.00 never entered City coffer, and this money was a gift and would not be governed by the normal City and County accounting requirments. Moreover,I have been informed that the Honolulu Ethics Commission received an anonymous complaint about this matter around the time this trip was taken, and your office allowed Mr. Djou to take care of the matter because it was a gift by IES Hawaii, Inc. to the City and County of Honolulu and did not require the matter to be reported to the City and County of Honolulu or the Ethics Commission. There
are more disturbing allegations surrounding this matter, i.e., that you
personally extended this courtesy to Mr. Djou because Mr. Djou would accommodate you by introducing future legislation on behalf of your office. I would greatly appreciate it if you would provide me with a formal statement detailing the specific date Mr. Djou paid for the trip, the parties to whom the payment was made, and the method of payment that was used. I prefer to rely on rely on facts as opposed to speculation and "appearence".
Dear Mr. Cox: I am a
contract attorney for the Honolulu Ethics Commission. I
am writing to you for several reasons. First, I
will be handling the investigation into your complaint against
Councilmember Charles Djou regarding his trip to Japan in 2006. I understand that Mr. Totto informed you that he had
made an initial determination that there was no probable cause to find
that Mr. Councilmember Djou violated a city ethics law, and on that
basis the investigation was being closed. Mr.
Totto has determined that the case will be reopened and the Ethics
Commission concurs with the decision to reopen the investigation,
reassess whether there is probable cause of a violation, and to assign
me to handle the investigation.
Second,
in your March 25 and March 30, 2010 emails to Mr. Totto, you requested
that the Ethics Commission review his determination that there was no
probable cause and his handling of the investigation. As
noted above, the investigation into your complaint and the assessment
of whether there is probable cause of a violation is ongoing. Once I am finished with my investigation, I will make
a recommendation to the Commission as to whether or not there is
probable cause of a violation. At that point, I
will inform you of my recommendation and I will submit my recommendation
to the Ethics Commission for its review.
At
its meeting yesterday, the Commission considered the statements you made
in your email questioning Mr. Totto’s impartiality and your
dissatisfaction with his investigation. The
Commission has asked me to inform you that it finds no basis to question
Mr. Totto’s impartiality or his handling of the investigation into this
matter. The Commission did, however, agree with
Mr. Totto’s voluntary decision to remove himself from the investigation
and to assign the case to me. Further, the
Commission asked me to inform you that if you wish to make a complaint
against Mr. Totto, it requests that you submit a detailed written
statement setting forth the factual basis of the complaint.
Please contact the me if you have any questions
regarding this matter. I plan to be in contact
with you as I conduct my investigation.
Sincerely,
Matthew J. Viola Attorney
for the Honolulu Ethics Commission
Re: Ethics
Commission Complaint
EC No. 10-081(w)
Dear
Mr. Cox:
This
is in response to the request for records from the Honolulu Ethics
Commission that you made in your March 30, 2010 email to Charles Totto,
Executive Director and Legal Counsel. In your email, you requested
“copies of all documents submitted by Mr. Charles Djou to the Ethics
Commission regarding his travel to Japan on official business.”
In
its investigative file, the Commission has copies of pages from Mr.
Djou’s check register from July 2006. Pursuant
to the Uniform Information Practices Act, Hawai`i (UIPA), Hawai`i
Revised Statutes (HRS) Chapter 92F, these records are not disclosable
for the following reasons:
(1) disclosure of the records would constitute a
clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy (HRS §§ 92F-13(1);
92F-14(b(6)); and
(2) disclosure of the records at this time would
frustrate a legitimate government function, insofar as the Commission’s
investigation into your complaint against Mr. Djou is ongoing and the
disclosure of records could interfere with the investigation and impede
the Commission’s ability to obtain additional information and documents
in its investigation. (HRS §§ 92F-13(3).
In
addition, Revised Ordinances of Honolulu § 3-6.3(j) restricts the
Commission members and its staff from divulging information related to
your allegations.
Please contact me if
you have any questions regarding this matter.
Sincerely,
Matthew
J. Viola
Attorney
for the Honolulu Ethics Commission
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