Ing

Former Maui state lawmaker Kaniela Ing, who has run into trouble with the state Campaign Spending Commission in the past, is now facing prosecution for having “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly failed” to timely file a supplemental report with the commission last year.

An arraignment and plea on the misdemeanor charge for the former Maui resident is scheduled for March 14 in 1st Circuit Court on Oahu, according to court records. State campaign spending reports note an Ewa Beach, Oahu address for Ing. A misdemeanor in Hawaii is punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $2,000.

Ing, who was South Maui’s state House representative from 2012 to 2018, could also face other charges, as the commission at its February meeting decided to forward prosecutors another case involving Ing failing to keep records and failing to make records available for inspection, as well as the filing of 23 false amended reports, according to the commission’s agenda.

The commission’s general counsel, Gary Kam, said at a meeting in December that a commission referral is not a guarantee that it will lead to prosecution, as the law enforcement agency will do its own investigation and make its own determination.

Brooks Baehr, a spokesman for the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney’s office, said on Tuesday in response to the commission’s February referral that the department has a policy of neither confirming nor denying whether an individual is under investigation for possible charges, to prevent the office from prejudicing a person with bad publicity if that person is not charged.

Ing could not be reached for comment about the two cases.

In 2018, the former state lawmaker left his South Maui District 11 seat in an unsuccessful bid for Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District seat, which covers urban Oahu. He has not held political office since leaving the state Legislature.

Near the end of his time in office, Ing faced penalties from the Campaign Spending Commission, which levied fines of more than $15,000 for various complaints that Ing has since paid, Kam confirmed.

The fines were for issues that included a late filing of a report, false reports, commingling of campaign and personal funds, prohibited use of campaign funds/use of campaign funds for personal use and failure to timely deposit contributions.

Some of the specific violations included Ing using his campaign accounts to pay rent to landlords on Oahu and Maui, of $750 and $625, respectively, as well as a $219.55 transfer to pay a Visa bill for his domestic partner.

Ing back in 2018 told the commission that the errors were “inadvertent” and pointed to his grassroots campaign, which he had managed while working full time in his early years as a lawmaker. Along the way, he also became a new father, and with everything else going on, he ended up managing too much.

At the time, the commission also subpoenaed Ing’s bank records from May 2011 to December 2016 and found that he had failed to disclose $28,915.72 in contributions and $87,559.89 in expenditures. A staff review of the bank records and Ing’s reports to the commission found that 23 reports were inaccurate.

Kam said this week that the case forwarded to prosecutors in February involved inaccurate amendments to 23 reports Ing had already tried to fix.

Kam said the commission previously gave Ing his bank records that they had subpoenaed so he could correctly make the amendments.

“We could tell it still did not match up,” Kam said.

He added that Ing failed to keep records the commission needed to verify expenses, including for food and beverage and transportation.

Candidates need to keep records to back up their reporting five years after the report is made, Kam said.

The case that the commission voted to refer to prosecutors in December and that Ing is now facing a misdemeanor charge for involved his failure to file a timely supplemental report for the first half of 2022, Kam said. According to minutes of the meeting, Ing apologized for not filing the report on time. He stated at the meeting that there is no probable cause to send the matter for prosecution.

Ing characterized “recklessness” — as described in his charge for failing to file a supplemental report on time — “as a behavior that is so careless that it is considered an extreme departure from the care a reasonable person would exercise in similar circumstances such as recklessly driving a car,” according to the meeting minutes.

“He explained that there should be some type of harm involved to be reckless, and that similar circumstances applicable to this case would be for people who are not running for office and are submitting reports a couple of times a year,” the minutes said.

He said he would accept a fine and wanted to close his account as soon as possible.

Ing also said it was a mistake that he should have caught and that it was not done purposely, as there was no benefit to him.

Kam said at the December meeting that there is no heightened standard to show that there was physical harm to somebody else as Ing mentioned. Kam also clarified that any violation under state election laws would not lead to an injury to someone else like driving a car would.

Referring cases for prosecution is a rare move for the commission, which typically issues fines for campaign spending or filing violations. According to commission meeting minutes from November, Kam told an attorney who previously represented Ing that based on the number of past violations, commission staff would recommend that the complaint of not filing a supplemental report for the first half of 2022 be referred to prosecutors.

According to his LinkedIn page, Ing is currently the national director of the Green New Deal Network, which is described as a 50-state campaign with a national table of 15 organizations including Greenpeace, US Climate Action Network, Sierra Cub and MoveOn.

He is also owner and principal consultant of Native Strategies, which handles public affairs and communications strategies.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.