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The chief of staff to Honolulu City Council member Tom Berg hacked Rep. Kymberly Pine’s website and government email account and is responsible for putting up postings and sending out an email calling her “a crook.”

This according to an that was linked in an unsolicited email sent to Civil Beat by Eric Ryan on June 3. It arrived just hours after we published an article about the hacking.

Ryan appears to have taken down Pine’s in late April and altered the content of her official email account on June 2.

He helped with Pine’s 2010 re-election campaign for her District 43 seat representing Ewa Beach, Iroquois Point and Puuloa.

The work included producing Internet templates including graphics for which Ryan alleges Pine is seven months delinquent in paying him “thousands of dollars.”

The June 3 mailing on Pine’s reppine@capitol.hawaii.gov account charges that Pine “is a crook.” She has reported the hacking incidents to the authorities.

‘Offensive’ Postings

Among other things, the mailing engineered by Ryan states:

She refuses to pay her invoices from the 2010 Election after an Ewa resident designed virtually all of her campaign materials … Not-so-sweet and not-so-innocent Kymberly Pine Ryglowski is stealing food right from the mouths of Ewa Beach residents tonight.

Pine’s full name as reported on a 2011 with the State Ethics Commission is Kymberly Neaulani Pine Ryglowski.

The mailing also states:

Stay tuned for a new website dedicated to Kym Pine’s refusal to pay, along with documentation of her illegal deeds. it’s time that Ewa Beach and all of Hawaii learned who Kym Pine really is. And it’s not pretty.

The mailing urges readers to “do the right thing and pay her bills.”

Pine’s staff sent out a follow-up email from a different account to explain that Pine had been hacked.

Civil Beat had been in contact with Ryan after he sent his June 3 email and sought to interview him on the record. But we have been unable to do so, despite repeated requests.

We also asked Pine about the alleged dispute with Ryan, but Pine did not answer our inquiry.

On June 3, the day after the email was sent, Pine did tell Civil Beat the mailing was “offensive, false, misleading information — and we can prove it in court.”

Ryan: Civil Beat Was ‘Punked’

In his June 3 email to Civil Beat, Ryan writes, “I’m afraid you got punked today by Kym Pine … more details to follow.”

He continues:

In the meantime, NO hacking. NO “hackers briefly seizing control” and then “back in the control of Pine”. No “identity theft”. No “new safety measures.” No “shutting down” of state government. Most of all, no “crazy” “false” “misleading” thinks. All true. Civil Beat was punked.

Pine was still using a private system she refused to pay for — 7 months after the election — 7 months after being invoiced, for the e-mail system and for dozens of other design projects. It’s a perfect case of bringing trouble onto herself.

After violating copyright law over and over, and refusing to pay her invoices, Pine learned the hard way that if you break into someone’s house and steal the food, you can’t complain if the milk is sour.

And this:

Her linked graphics designed by the still unpaid designer were still on the system in question. That’s how the new, less flattering graphics showed up. Check the properties on the graphic in her e-mail and see where those graphics are hosted. She was told to stop using what she didn’t pay for.

And:

Anyhoo, if you want the exclusive, let me know. It’s juicy. You might even get the next exclusive of a state rep. being arrested for filing false reports to authorities. :-)

Otherwise, I’ll have to offer it to DePledge . . .(referring to the political reporter for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser).

Payment for Web Services

Ryan’s web business is called StudioRyan. He is also the chief of staff for Council member Berg, whose District 1 includes portions of Pine’s legislative district.

It is not clear whether Ryan alleges to have designed a website used by Pine as a lawmaker — — or the one she appears to have used during her re-election last year — .

The latter website was designed by Daniel Brackins, according to the site. The most recent posting advertises a “talk story” for Aug. 25, 2010, featuring Pine, Berg and then-U.S. Rep. Charles Djou.

State Campaign Spending Commission records show that Pine paid Brackins $1,000 for “website and social media management” during the July 1 to Sept. 3, 2010, .

Pine’s active lawmaker website, , is registered with Brackins and BlueHost.com.

During the Sept. 4 to Sept. 18 shows $3,150 in “media work” were paid to Studio Ryan.

Ryan and Politics

This is not the first time that Eric Ryan has had trouble with his clients.

In 2010, he filed a complaint with the Campaign Spending Commission against John Carroll, a Republican candidate for governor. Ryan was hired to manage the campaign and later fired by Carroll for misuse of campaign funds, Carroll told Civil Beat.

According to from the commission’s May 12 meeting on the complaint, Ryan alleged 19 violations of the campaign financing law — including that Carroll failed to disclose some payments to Ryan.

The commission dismissed all of the counts but two; Carroll was fined $50 for a late filing of his organizational report and $50 for failing “to deposit contributions in a depository institution.”

Carroll described Ryan as “very bright, imaginative, talented, very charming,” but that he “totally screwed up my campaign.”