To use a phrase popular during the Watergate era, there appears to be no smoking gun.

That’s the result of a search by Hawaii Attorney General David Louie’s staff for an email to Gov. Neil Abercrombie that made allegations regarding sexual misconduct by Marc Alexander.

Alexander was vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu before taking the job of Abercrombie’s homeless coordinator in January 2011. He resigned suddenly on Jan. 5 of this year, just hours before similar allegations of sexual misconduct during his priesthood were made public by First Amendment activist Mitch Kahle.

Civil Beat requested the attorney general’s search after two former workers in the administration’s Office of Constituent Services — Carolyn Golojuch and Joe Woodward — said they saw the sexual misconduct email around the time of Alexander’s appointment.

They say that they promptly informed their supervisor, Renee Sambueno, who is said to have printed the email and taken it to Abercrombie’s then chief of staff, Amy Asselbaye.

In response to Civil Beat’s Jan. 6 open records request, the AG’s Office discovered just 15 emails to the governor in January and February 2011 regarding Alexander’s appointment. None mention sexual misconduct.

In a follow up we asked if there any hard copies of emails or letters were retained. The answer: Just four, including one from Golojuch. None mention sexual misconduct.

Standing By the Claim

Tracking emails to and from the Hawaii governor’s office — which are public records — is challenging, largely because the state automatically deletes emails after 60 days unless they are intentionally archived.

Golojuch and Woodard said all emails from constituents to the governor were routinely printed out so that staff could respond to the letter writers. That sent us on our request for hard copy.

But Joshua Wisch, special assistant to the Attorney General, told Civil Beat in a March 9 email, “A total of 10 hours and 40 minutes were spent sorting through files. Only 4 documents were found that may be related to or reference Marc Alexander.”

The documents, which can be viewed below, are as follows:

A Jan. 23, 2011, letter from Golojuch that raised concerns about how someone like Alexander with an “anti-social justice background” would be able to deal with gay and lesbian homeless youth.

A Feb. 17, 2011, letter from Peter Soares, Jr., who wanted answers from the governor on several subjects, including homelessness.

A Feb. 15, 2011, letter from Casey Conzett, who expressed concern for the homeless in Honolulu.

A March 18, 2011, letter from Fred Faustino, who works with homeless in downtown Los Angeles.

Told of what the AG’s search turned up, Golojuch and Woodward say they stand by their contention that they saw an email from an Oahu woman detailing Alexander’s alleged conduct.

“I can see myself walking in to Sambueno’s office with Joe and both of us telling her the different reasons why that letter was so volatile and that the fifth floor had to address it,” said Golojuch, referring to the governor’s office at the state Capitol. “We thought we were doing the governor a service, that they needed to understand the ramifications of such a letter.”

“I did see the email — I printed out the hard copy,” said Woodard. “When the Marc Alexander allegation came in from this lady, we said, ‘This is serious, it needs to go to fifth floor.’ We took it it Renee and said, ‘We are not touching this.'”

Sambueno previously referred inquiries about the Alexander allegations to governor spokeswoman, Donalyn Dela Cruz, who referred inquiries about Alexander to the AG’s office. We have been unsuccessful in getting comment from Asselbaye, who left the governor’s office in October 2011.

Woodard says he doesn’t believe there was any intentional effort to delete or mishandle emails.

“Constituent Services had limited resources,” he said. “When I worked there, the office was in just total disarray, confusion, lack of administrative support. I can certainly say that a hard copy document could easily have gotten lost or sidetracked.”

Woodard added, “I do not see it as something covert. We were getting 400 emails a week.”