{"id":2394,"date":"2026-07-09T07:05:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T07:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2394"},"modified":"2026-07-09T07:05:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T07:05:22","slug":"commission-refers-luke-campaign-finance-complaint-to-attorney-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2394","title":{"rendered":"Commission refers Luke campaign finance complaint to attorney general"},"content":{"rendered":"
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – In a \u201csignificant escalation,\u201d the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission chose to refer its civil complaint against Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke\u2019s campaign spending to the Hawaii Department of the Attorney General for further investigation and possible criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n

Read more Falling construction debris prompts road closure in Honolulu<\/a><\/p>\n

The complaint alleges eight counts of false reports and four counts of mishandling campaign funds in 2021 and 2022 by \u201cFriends of Sylvia Luke\u201d during her run for lieutenant governor. <\/p>\n

The complaint also claimed people who were not the campaign treasurer handled funds and wrote more than 200 checks. <\/p>\n

\u201cReviewed as a whole, these are not minor technical errors, they occurred in the campaign for lieutenant governor, run by a candidate who was then the House Finance chair, and who had more than 24 years of legislative and political campaign experience. That candidate went on to win the race, and had the ample opportunity to correct these violations,\u201d commission general counsel Eunice Park said while justifying the decision. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Commissioners spent about 45 minutes behind closed doors during a meeting Wednesday morning before choosing the referral over an alternative, a $28,300 fine. <\/p>\n

Three commission members unanimously agreed on the referral. <\/p>\n

Commissioner Danton Wong recused himself because of his contributions to Luke\u2019s campaign, \u201cjust to avoid any kind of appearance of impropriety,\u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n

Luke is on unpaid leave and withdrew her bid for re-election. <\/p>\n

Her attorney, former attorney general David Louie, was present at Wednesday\u2019s commission meeting, and said, \u201cAt this time, I take no position, and I have no further comment.\u201d<\/p>\n

HNN political analyst Colin Moore said a referral of this kind is rare. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a significant escalation. This has happened before, but it\u2019s certainly not common. And I mean, what it indicates is that the commission thinks these are more than just a series of mistakes or careless errors, that there\u2019s a pattern here that they think might end up being criminally prosecuted,\u201d Moore explained. <\/p>\n

A separate criminal investigation is already underway at the attorney general\u2019s office over bribery allegations, examining whether an influential lawmaker accepted a $35,000 bribe.<\/p>\n

Read more Man arrested in Ala Moana Beach attempted murder investigation<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Luke received a target letter as part of the bribery case.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The civil complaint) continues, of course, the political damage to Lt. Gov. Luke\u2019s reputation,\u201d Moore said. <\/p>\n

At Wednesday\u2019s meeting, Randy Hironaka, the attorney for three of five others listed in the complaint, asked that his clients be dismissed. <\/p>\n

Hironaka said for two of his clients, former campaign treasurers Michael Luke and Kalowena Komeiji, the complaint \u201cdoesn\u2019t allege criminal conduct on behalf of my clients. There\u2019s no allegation that they filed any reports.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Hironaka added his third client, Matt Sasaki, filed a series of amended reports to audit the campaign in 2023. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the common thread, though, between all three of my clients, is that there\u2019s also no allegation of any criminal state of mind,\u201d Hironaka argued. <\/p>\n

Park responded by saying, \u201cThe (commission) staff\u2019s general position is that it should be up to the attorney general\u2019s office to determine any criminal liability for any individual actors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attorney general\u2019s office told HNN it did not receive the referral and reserved comment. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

In the past, Luke repeatedly said the campaign spending mistakes were just human errors, with no criminal intent. <\/p>\n

Read more \u2018A dream come true for all of us\u2019: Hawaii Pacific welcomes first flag football coach<\/a><\/p>\n

Previous coverage<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The complaint alleges eight counts of false reports and four counts of mishandling campaign funds in 2021 and 2022 by \u201cFriends of Sylvia Luke\u201d during her run for lieutenant governor. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nCommission refers Luke campaign finance complaint to attorney general - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2394\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Commission refers Luke campaign finance complaint to attorney general - 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