Most Hawaii Campaign Spending Violators Never See Jail Time 2 Changes are coming for how those cases are handled going forward as a new law allows the commission to assess fines and refer a case to prosecutors concurrently.
It can be hard to get criminal charges to stick for some campaign finance scofflaws.
Of seven cases sent to prosecutors since 2015, only three ended up in court and those were settled with plea deals that only resulted in fines for the defendants.
The Attorney General’s Office declined to prosecute the others. Many times, there may be some difficulty in meeting the burden of proof necessary for criminal charges, so prosecutors or the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission, a board tasked with regulating money in politics, opt for fines instead.
On Friday, the commission will decide what to do with a case involving former state lawmaker Kaniela Ing. A complaint filed against Ing by the commission’s executive director alleges that the former Maui representative failed to file a routine campaign finance disclosure earlier this year.
