In Kenoi Case, Don’t Confuse ‘Not Guilty’ With ‘Innocent’
The Hawaii County mayor was repeatedly warned about his misuse of a government credit card.
After more than a year and a half of troubling revelations, investigations and finally a criminal trial regarding Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi鈥檚 misuse of a government credit card for personal purposes, the drama concluded Tuesday with jurors finding him not guilty.
But make no mistake: 鈥淣ot guilty鈥 only means the jury couldn’t find criminal intent on Kenoi’s part on four counts of theft and one count of making a false statement under oath. It should not be confused with 鈥渋nnocent,鈥 which Kenoi certainly is not.
Let鈥檚 review the facts, which are not in dispute.
Kenoi received both direction on how his government purchase card or pCard was and was not to be used and repeated admonitions from the county鈥檚 finance director on his misuse of the card in 2013.
But Kenoi, who is an attorney, ran amok with the card anyway. The tales of his outrageous personal use of the card are practically legendary 鈥斅爃efty bar bills, a tab at a hostess bar, even a $1,200 surfboard.
County policy dictates that pCards should not be used for personal expenses, period. When they are 鈥斅爌erhaps by mistake, for instance, by an official who mistakenly pulled the wrong card from a wallet to cover a charge 鈥斅爎eimbursement should be made quickly.
Hawaii County鈥檚 top elected official not only flagrantly misused his authority and position, there is no evidence that he would have ever repaid those personal charges if聽he hadn鈥檛 been caught in the act.
Kenoi followed neither the directive not to use the card for personal charges nor its requirement for rapid repayment. Even as West Hawaii Today repeatedly sought his pCard statements over several years dating to 2010, Kenoi blocked their release and continued to misuse his spending privileges.
When West Hawaii Today finally obtained proof of misspending in March 2015 鈥斅 in December 2013 鈥斅爄t eventually prompted a year-long state investigation and the criminal trial that concluded Tuesday.
In all, Kenoi repaid a whopping $32,000 in personal charges
Civil Beat was among many calling over the past year for Kenoi to step down. We continue to believe that would have been the most appropriate course of action.
After all, Kenoi acknowledged in the earliest coverage of the matter that he 鈥渦sed my pCard when I shouldn鈥檛 have鈥 and that he 鈥渃ould have exercised better judgment.鈥
But that egregiously soft pedals what was involved in this case. The county鈥檚 top elected official not only misused his authority and position, there is little reason to believe that he would have ever repaid some of those personal charges if聽he hadn鈥檛 been caught in the act.
The criminal trial didn鈥檛 disprove that. What it did prove is that jurors were willing to give a likable public official, whose love for Hawaii County and its people has never been in question, another chance by determining that no criminal intent was at play in Kenoi鈥檚 actions.
In just a few weeks, Kenoi will have finished two four-year terms and will leave the mayor’s office. In January, Harry Kim will officially replace him.
Kenoi will leave with a significant blemish on the final two years of his service and significant baggage to carry, should he seek public office again.
But Kenoi isn鈥檛 the only one who suffers in this. The whole affair 鈥 including the verdict 鈥 erodes citizens’ faith in government, which is a pretty lousy legacy for any public official.
