CHRIS LETHEM SAYS BRICKWOOD GALUTERIA SHOULD RESIGN FROM SENATE
News Release from Lethem Campaign September 29, 2014
Chris Lethem, Republican candidate for Senate District 12, today called on his opponent Brickwood Galuteria to resign from his Senate seat and cease his campaign for re-election. Lethem acted after finding Galuteria pushed Kaka’ako legislation this year financially benefitting OHA at the expense of his own community and the public, while simultaneously holding down a $50-100,000 position in a firm headed by OHA trustee Robert K. Lindsay.
Lethem stated, “Such conduct constitutes a transparent conflict of interest and an outrageous breach both of ethics and of the trust that must exist between a representative and that representative’s community.”
Lethem added that at minimum, the State Ethics Commission should take action against Galuteria, noting that Galuteria’s position, “Director, Community and Civic Engagement,” means “Lobbyist,” yet Galuteria has yet to register as a lobbyist.
“Today I filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission calling for the earliest and most thorough possible investigation of this apparent, serious violation.”
Lethem will address Galuteria’s blatant conflict of interest at their next joint public appearance, an October 2 Forum sponsored by Neighborhood Board #8.
Lethem noted that Galuteria had not acknowledged his conflict and had not excused himself from voting on the OHA bill, as Senate rules require. “What really disturbs me,” he added, “is that Galuteria’s private--and privately paid for--agenda is so at odds with the expressed views of the community he represents, which has repeatedly told the legislature to keep residential high rises off of our last band of oceanfront property in urban Honolulu.”
Galuteria’s current position – that OHA didn’t get enough from its 2012 settlement with the state – reverses his statement at the time that the OHA settlement “brings closure to a long-standing dispute.” One obvious thing that changed between the two dates is Galuteria’s $50-$100,000 position as “Director, Community and Civic Engagement” with the “Pelatron Center for Economic Development.”
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Reference: Galuteria Pushed Kakaako Makai Bill While on Payroll of OHA Trustee