State campaign finance regulators would be given more time to investigate the case of an unnamed lawmaker who accepted $35,000 in a paper bag from a man involved in a federal bribery investigation in 2022 under a proposal expected to go before lawmakers in the upcoming session.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has stated that the transaction wasn’t related to the bribery investigation. However, it could still be a violation of state campaign spending law.
According to the federal investigators, the money was to be used for an existing campaign at the time. However, no lawmaker reported receiving that exact amount — from one source or multiple sources — in the weeks after the meeting. Public disclosure of campaign donations is required under state law.
Rep. David Tarnas plans to introduce a bill to extend the timeline for the state Campaign Spending Commission to look into the incident that has rattled the Legislature. The statute of limitations to bring campaign finance charges related to the incident currently expires in a year.
“We need to do everything we can to try to rebuild the public’s trust in the Legislature,” Tarnas said. “This is another strategy for me to achieve that goal.”
A lawmaker in 2022 took $35,000 in a paper bag. Time is running out to investigate the incident. (Blaze Lovell/CivilBeat/2022)
Right now, the clock to prosecute instances of campaign spending fraud begins on the date of the violation. Alexander Silvert, a retired federal public defender who has petitioned lawmakers to investigate the incident, said that doesn’t make sense. He’s also behind the push to extend the statute of limitations.
“Fraudsters are giving money illegally and covering what they are doing,” Silvert said. “The better the fraudsters are, the less likely they are to be found out.”
Tarnas’ bill would mirror a 2017 proposal that starts the timeline from the date the spending commission discovers a violation. That would bring it in line with other time limitations for prosecuting criminal fraud.
A proposal by Rep. David Tarnas would extend the statute of limitations for investigating campaign spending violations. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2025)
That earlier measure passed the Senate unanimously but died in the House without ever getting a hearing.
“I want to give it a better chance,” said Tarnas, who is in charge of the committee that would hear the bill.
A companion bill is being introduced in the Senate by Sen. Karl Rhoads.
The measure is not part of the Campaign Spending Commission’s bill package this year, which is focused on ending campaign donations from companies and people who win government work, and increasing pay for commission staff.
Tarnas said he would seek the commission’s input when hearings begin in the coming weeks. The measure would need to win the approval of both chambers and be signed by Gov. Josh Green before becoming law.
Whether the state commission will pursue charges is yet to be seen. In a letter to two House members in July, Executive Director Krisitn Izumi-Nitao said that the agency did not want to jeopardize criminal investigations but would continue to monitor the situation “until it is feasible to pursue civil campaign finance law violations.”
No State Prosecution
Hawaiʻi’s top law enforcement officer said the state won’t look into the incident while a federal investigation continues.
Attorney General Anne Lopez made the announcement in a press release on Wednesday after consulting with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which has declined to provide the state with any evidence related to the incident.
The federal investigation stems from 2022 bribery-related charges against former Rep. Ty Cullen and former Sen. J. Kalani English, who took cash and other gifts from wastewater executive and prominent campaign donor Milton Choy.
Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez is deferring any investigation into a lawmaker who took $35,000 in 2022. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2024
Cullen agreed to be an informant after his arrest in late 2021 and recorded meetings and phone calls to assist federal investigators. In mid-January 2021, he met with an “investigative subject” who gave him $3,000 and asked for a favor. That same person handed an influential state lawmaker $35,000 in a paper bag just days later. The identities of that subject and of the lawmaker have not yet been made public.
“I have spoken directly with the United States Attorney, who affirmed that a parallel investigation by state authorities would potentially interfere with their federal investigation,” Lopez said in the press release.
She continued: “The United States Attorney is a highly respected prosecutor who has served in Hawaiʻi for years, and there was no ambiguity in our conversation that a parallel state investigation would disrupt his ongoing investigation.”
The AG’s press release said that the “fruits of an investigation” must often be withheld from the public to avoid compromising evidence and witnesses. A secondary investigation while another is still ongoing could have “catastrophic consequences for both,” the release said.
“A subject not alerted to the first investigation may be alerted by the second — evidence may be destroyed, statements coordinated, witnesses intimidated,” the press release said, despite details of $35,000 transaction being public for more than 10 months and the existence of a large-scale bribery case, and the identity of Cullen as an informant, being known for four years.
In a written response to Lopez’s press release, Silvert argued that the cat’s already out of the bag because the subject, or suspect, in the investigation already knows who he gave the money to and knows Cullen was there listening.
“It is difficult to understand … how finding out the name of that legislator and why they took the money would jeopardize the federal investigation,” he wrote.
Silvert’s petition calling on lawmakers to investigate the transaction has been signed by more than 900 residents. A legislative inquiry would not have to be a broad-ranging investigation paralleling the federal bribery case, he said.
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