Investigations and complaints are piling up in a case involving a Keauhou Bay charter captain, a state Department of Land and Natural Resources official and Hawaii County Prosecutor Mitch Roth.
In the latest chapter, a county Board of Ethics member vowed Tuesday to file a complaint with the state Ethics Commission against DLNR’s Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation Administrator Ed Underwood for using state time and resources to pursue a personal vendetta against Roth by filing a complaint against him with the county Ethics Board.
It all started when Capt. William Murtaugh requested a contested case hearing last fall after DOBOR refused to renew his commercial boat ramp permit. Roth testified during the Land Board hearing about his concerns of corruption and favoritism within the office.
Murtaugh, meanwhile, said Tuesday that he was subpoenaed and questioned by a criminal investigator and an administrative agent for the state attorney general. He declined to specify details.
“We discussed events that have taken place with me and that were already public,” Murtaugh said. “We also discussed other things that were not public.”
A spokesman for the attorney general said the office generally does not comment about investigations or even confirm if one is ongoing.
County Ethics Board member Rick Robinson, after being informed by the board during its meeting Tuesday that it didn’t have jurisdiction to complain to the state commission, said he will file his own complaint.
He said he’s especially bothered that Underwood used his state email, state telephone and state office to file the complaint, and even called in to the meeting from his state office, saying he was able to work it out with DLNR chairwoman Suzanne Case.
“Does it mean that DLNR’s condoning actions of Ed Underwood to what appeared to be (to) intimidate people as well as intimidate Mr. Roth?” Robinson asked during a May 9 meeting of the board.
He added Tuesday it especially rankled him that “they just think they’re immune,” from state ethics laws.
“He attempted to use the Ethics Board to punish Mr. Roth,” Robinson said. “For me, someone having a concern and expressing it to a state board should be listened to, not have an ethics complaint filed against them.”
Underwood did not return a voicemail left on his personal phone by press time Tuesday.
A spokesman for Case said in an email response, “the chair clearly does not condone any staff using state time or resources to conduct personal business.”
A quote attributed to Case further stated, “Mr. Underwood initiated this action on his own. We subsequently informed him that since it wasn’t the state’s position he needed to make clear that he was pursuing it in his personal capacity. I also want to say that Mr. Underwood has the right as a citizen to make the complaint. I find it surprising that Mr. Robinson characterizes Mr. Underwood’s exercise of his First Amendment and Hawaii Constitutional rights as an attempt to intimidate Mr. Roth.”
Roth’s suspicions appear to have been justified, at least to some extent. In February, a DLNR harbor agent overseeing the Kailua-Kona and Keauhou Bay harbors was fined $1,000 in a settlement agreement with the state Ethics Commission for soliciting and accepting free parasailing trips from a company he regulated.
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.
