The County of Hawai’i Board of Ethics is the latest agency to step away from an investigation into thousands of dollars of spending by Mayor Billy Kenoi on his county-issued p-Card.
County Corporation Counsel Molly Stebbins announced in an e-mail late Wednesday that the Maui Office of the Corporation Counsel will take the place of the Board of Ethics in handling any complaints filed against Kenoi or any other official related to the reports of Kenoi’s spending. Stebbins cited that the board wanted to “avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.”
Big Island Now’s efforts to get in touch with Maui Deputy Corporation Counsel Gary Murai went unanswered as of press time.
Earlier this week, County Prosecuting Attorney Mitch Roth told Big Island Now that his office also wanted to avoid any hint of impropriety by not carrying out the investigation. Roth said that the office of State Attorney General Douglas Chin is handling the investigation.
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Kenoi’s questionable spending with his county issued p-Card has been in question in recent weeks as hundreds of pages of credit card statements have been released to media outlets. A $400 charge at Oahu hostess bar Camelot on Sept. 23, 2009 and an $892 charge on Dec. 4, 2013 at another Oahu hostess bar, Club Evergreen are among the charges in question.
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