Hit parade: One of the more bizarre stories in recent times surfaced during the 2024 bribery trial of former Honolulu County Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro and a raft of other defendants, including local businessman Dennis Mitsunaga, who were accused of funneling $50,000 in campaign contributions to Kaneshiro in exchange for him prosecuting a woman who worked for Mitsunaga. Let’s just say right up top here that they were all acquitted, including Kaneshiro and Mitsunaga.
Yes, that whole story was weird in and of itself. But even crazier was the secondary plot line where one of the defendants, an attorney named Sheri Tanaka, was alleged to have hired a hitman to knock off U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright, who originally had the case, and the main federal prosecutor, Michael Wheat. Seabright ended up recusing himself along with every other federal judge in Hawaiʻi and the case was handed over to Timothy Burgess, a judge who came down from Alaska to preside.
Civil Beat is focusing on transparency, accountability and ethics in government and other institutions. Help us by sending ideas and anecdotes to sunshine@civilbeat.org.
For a few weeks, the legal paperwork over this startling turn of events was flying. Unfortunately for The Sunshine Blog and everyone else waiting to see what would happen, pretty much everything was filed under seal and any hearings, including one before a grand jury, were conducted in secret. Fortunately for us all, someone tipped off Hawaii News Now which did the story and, as Burgess would later say in deciding to finally hold an open hearing in the case, “You know, cat’s out of the bag at this point as far (as) the fact there is another investigation.”
Tanaka’s attorney denied his client had hired a hitman, who reportedly was already a federal informant and ratted her out to the government. He insisted the hitman was really an extortionist threatening Tanaka and her family and any money given to him was a payoff to end the extortion attempt not a payment on a murder-for-hire scheme.
The whole investigation was turned over to the FBI in Arizona and then was never heard about again.
But now, the Public First Law Center has filed a motion in the original case against Kaneshiro and Mitsunaga et al to unseal about two dozen motions and other court filings pertaining to the hitman allegations. The law center argues that there is no longer any reason to keep them secret — including grand jury transcripts — since all the defendants were acquitted of the bribery charges.
Sheri Tanaka was acquitted of bribery related charges in a criminal case in 2024. But allegations she hired a hitman to kill the judge and prosecutor in the case have never been publicly resolved. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2024)
“To the extent a sufficient showing of irreparable harm to a compelling interest was made to justify sealing initially, there is nothing in the record to suggest total secrecy remains necessary today,” the law center wrote in a motion filed last week. “Fair trial concerns vanished with the Defendants’ acquittal. And the basic underlying facts — an alleged murder-for-hire conspiracy that Tanaka claims was actually an attempt to extort her — have been reported publicly, as the presiding judge subsequently acknowledged.”
No public explanations were ever given for sealing the records and many were sealed without written motions and findings, something that is normally the case, the law center noted.
U.S. District Court Judge Shanlyn Park has given anyone who wants to object to the request to unseal 30 days to do so. The Blog is eagerly awaiting the outcome of this one. Pass the popcorn.
Read the full motion:
Eyes wide shut: And speaking of bribery, Rep. Kim Coco Iwamoto has come up with a novel way to try to put a stop to that illegal activity by public officials. She wants to make it a crime for public servants (that would be any elected or appointed government official) to look the other way if they see or know a bribe has been offered and accepted.
Iwamoto has drafted a bill that would require public servants to report to the attorney general or county prosecutor if they know of any offering, solicitation or acceptance of a bribe. Otherwise they could be charged with a misdemeanor.
Rep. Kim Coco Iwamoto wants to make it a misdemeanor if a public servant doesn’t report a bribe they have knowledge of. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2026)
Iwamoto tells The Blog she looks at it like any other duty to report — like if you work with children and see child abuse, you owe it to the child to report, she says.
Same concept here. “In this case, the public servant has a duty to the public to report,” she says.
The Blog is thinking about how every lawmaker at the State Capitol this year and even a few who aren’t there any more swear they did not take $35,000 in a paper bag while the FBI was watching. And wondering if the threat of a misdemeanor would make any difference.
Iwamoto is hopeful it would.
Read her bill here:
Sunshine season is here: The Blog is loving the helpful advice that is coming out of the Office of Information Practices these days. We recently published a long missive from the agency, which oversees public records and open meetings laws, that laid out the rules governing when a public board can go behind closed doors and when it can’t. It was very well received and even long-time public watchdogs commented that they’d learned a thing or two.
With the legislative session opening last week, OIP has some advice for boards and commission that are inclined to discussive legislative issues. A big reminder here: This guidance does not apply to the Legislature itself since lawmakers have exempted themselves from the Sunshine Law.
But for everyone else, OIP has this to say (republished here from an agency email):
Meeting notices and agendas
Before a board can discuss legislative matters at a meeting, the meeting notice must contain an agenda that clearly describes each legislative item by including: the bill number (if known), bill title, and a brief description of what the bill would do. These details help the public understand exactly what the board will be discussing, and it is important to remember that the purpose of the Sunshine Law is to open up the workings of government to the public.
For more guidance on how to prepare sufficiently detailed agendas and other Sunshine Law requirements, visit oip.hawaii.gov. and check the Training page.
Tracking bills or submitting testimony
Legislative deadlines move fast, but boards must still comply with the Sunshine Law. OIP’s detailed guide, “Quick Review: Sunshine Law Options to Address State Legislative Issues and Measures,” explains several options for boards to engage in legislative activity. These options include:
- Delegate staff to track bills and draft testimony based on the board’s previously adopted position.
- Delegate two board members to prepare legislative testimony, talk to legislators, and attend legislative hearings, following the board’s adopted position.
- Create a permitted interaction group under section 92-2.5(b)(2), HRS, of more than two members, but less than a quorum, to tend to legislative matters.
- Less than a quorum of board members may attend a legislative hearing if the hearing is not organized specifically for the board and other permitted interaction requirements under section 92-2.5(e), HRS, are met.
- Circulate draft testimony for approval among any number of members when the deadline is less than 6 calendar days away, if: (1) the board’s previously adopted position, drafts, comments, and testimony are in writing; and (2) those documents are posted on the board’s website within 48 hours of circulation. HRS § 92-2.5(h).
- Call an emergency meeting for urgent, unanticipated legislative issues if the requirements in section 92-8, HRS, are met.
Remember: each option may require adherence with other Sunshine Law requirements such as notice, public reporting, and avoiding serial use of permitted interactions. Please see the linked Quick Review for more information.
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