From: WEWoodsMPH Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 21:53:19 EDT Subject: HI Investigation - Kauai Ethics Believes Fraud calls for Criminal Investigation! Please redistribute - This is where we need all your help and insight! Aloha Folks, Kauai Board of Ethics believe HFT-STM98 fundraiser was fraudulent and asks for State Attorney General action and investigation This represents the first government agency/body to specifically notes the alleged criminal activity and requests criminal investigation of these parties. I have made the request for the Campaign Spending Commission to do the same. I have also met with the Criminal Justice Division of the AG office and submitted materials related to the request. Additionally I have submitted all related materials to the FBI because of alleged federal violations. Please see letter sent yesterday to the Campaign Spending Commission requesting their making a similar request to the State AG. (Some material omitted where not sure if information is in the public domain, yet.) Please resubmit directly to all community organization leaders and request their taking action. Please submit directly to reporters and information sharers you know and request they do what they can to get this important development into the hands of the general public who is very much in the dark on this matter and how extensive the problem seem to be. Here the Honolulu Star-Bulletin has done a fairly good job to date, with the Pacific Business News doing a grand job on the initial review of the situation. KHNL - NBC affiliate is only TV coverage so far and there was no follow-up of that event which was the filing of the extensive report and finding identifying numerous violations and alleged violations and requested criminal investigation in late March. Addresses for your help and communications: Hawaii State Attorney General Ms. Margery S. Bronster, Attorney General, 425 Queen Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 (808) 586-1500 FAX (808) 586-1239 Kauai Board of Ethics Kauai Board of Ethics, Harold Shimizu Vice-Chair, c/o Office of County Attorney, 4444 Rice Street, Suite 220, Lihue, Kauai 96766 (808) 241-6315 FAX (808) 241-6319 Campaign Spending Commission Campaign Spending Commission, 235 S. Beretania Street, Room 300, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 (808) 586-0285 FAX (808) 586-0288 Federal Bureau of Investigation - Hawaii Office FBI, 300 Ala Moana Boulevard, Room 4-220, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 (808) 521-1411 FAX: (808) 566-4470 Email: Honolulu@FBI.GOV The following is the text of a letter dated 4-29-98 from the Kauai Board of Ethics to Margery S. Bronster, Hawaii State Attorney General, re: Hawaii's Future Today and Save Traditional Marriage [98]. Dear Ms. Bronster: On November 22 [20] , 1997, the County of Kauai sent its Director of Finance, Wallace Rezentes, Jr.., to the Covey Seminar, "Seven Habits of Highly Successful People," offered by Hawaii's Future Today. No one in the County Administration knew that the seminar was actually a fund raiser for a political action committee known as "Save Traditional Marriage [98]." We have attached a copy of the October 22, 1997, letter which the County received and to which it responded by signing Mr. Rezentes up for the seminar. As you can see, this letter does not indicate that the money collected for the seminar was to be donated directly to Save Traditional Marriage [98]. This situation has caused the Mayor and her administration a great deal of embarrassment. The County Attorney has demanded and received a refund from Save Traditional Marriage[98]; however we fell that is insufficient. We feel that the actions of Hawaii's Future Today were fraudulent. They solicited money fro Save Traditional Marriage under false pretenses. Mr. Rezentes would not have attended the seminar, if he had any inkling of the destination of the County's funds. The Board of Ethics feels very strongly that Hawaii's Future Today and Save Traditional Marriage acted with an intent to mislead and to obtain funds from parties who might not otherwise have supported their cause. Therefore, we are requesting your assistance in ensuring that this type of behavior does not happen again. Please initiate an investigation into the conduct of these organizations. If you need any further information, please contact Mr. Rezentes or the Office of the County Attorney. Thank you in advance for your assistance. Sincerely, Signatures Do good, William E. Woods, MPH **** Mr. Robert Watada April 30, 1998 Campaign Spending Commission Aloha Mr. Watada, Please find that the attached copy of letter dated April 21, 1998 from the Department of Attorney General, Criminal Justice Division. Please refer to the last sentence in that communication: "I will remind the Commission that we are available for such a referral." I humbly request the Campaign Spending Commission refer all the violations and alleged violations presented by myself and any others regarding Hawaii's Future Today, Save Traditional Marriage, their principals and agents that have come your way since the first complaint was filed. The limitations of your office and review mandates along with the complexity of the intertwining issues really necessitates an investigation exceeding your own. As stated at the April 7, 1998 meeting of the commission by your attorney regarding at least one "actionable" issue was the misleading and apparently fraudulent solicitation of one of the activities of these parties. That in and of itself speaks to one issue that exceeds the statutory scope of your office and function. The second part of this communication is to request that upon referring the list of violations and allegations to the State Attorney General, that the commission put on hold all outstanding complaints in these matters until the status of the AG is ascertainable. The reason being in this request is that there is linking evidence based upon formal responses by the various parties and confirmation of statements of various alleged contributors that were communicated to me during my investigation that would demonstrate a much more coordinated effort which resulted in the solicitation, manipulation of resources, and conducting of a number of activities. Although there were many such statement one that comes to mind is the statement by . . . Since there are many legal issues involved in these transactions and interactions, many of which exceed legal issues under general review by the Commission, all the parties of these complaints need to remain parties until the precise information is garnered through formal investigative procedures and actions that can only be done with AG or a federal investigation. I sincerely request your immediate attention to these issues and request your action to make the necessary referral to the State Attorney General and the placing on hold of all complaints until full and substantial investigation occurs. Do good, William E. Woods, MPH P.O. Box 37083 Honolulu, Hawaii 96837 (808) 537-2000 Email: WEWoodsMPH@AOL.COM