Money changers: The Sunshine Blog is still scratching its head at the taxpayer cash flow involving two former high-ranking city officials who ran afoul of the law when they arranged to give former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha a nice $250,000 payoff even as he was being forced out while under federal investigation for public corruption.

Former Corporation Counsel Donna Leong and former Honolulu Police Commission chair Max Sword pleaded guilty in March to misdemeanor conspiracy charges. They’re supposed to repay $100,000 each in restitution to the city. (Former managing director Roy Amemiya who got a different legal arrangement that lets him get his charges dismissed is supposed to repay $50,000.)

But now Honolulu City Council members are set to confirm final payments for the legal defense of Leong and Sword. Turns out the taxpayers are picking up the tab for their attorneys, which has amounted to $102,000 for Leong and $105,000 for Sword, according to council members Andria Tupola and Radiant Cordero.

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The city already expected to pay $100,000 for each of their legal bills but they ran a little over and a City Council committee last week approved the extra. The payout still needs to be confirmed at next month’s meeting of the full council.

So to recap: The corrupt police chief gets $250,000 to leave quietly and even though he was required to pay it back if he got convicted he still hasn’t. City officials who illegally funneled the money to the chief got caught and their punishment was to in essence repay the money that Kealoha owed. But now that cash is coming to them from the taxpayers by way of reimbursing their attorneys’ fees. And yes, they still have to pay their attorneys but the public is certainly giving them a huge financial head start on that one. So much for crime not paying.

A loop that needs closing: And speaking of police chiefs who might have screwed up, The Blog has to feel a little bit sorry for Hawaiʻi county Police Chief Ben Moszkowicz, who got sucked into the very public play by Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi to oust Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan (a maneuver that The Blog very much agrees with the mayor on, just to be clear.)

Where the whole thing went south was Blangiardi publicly announcing he wanted Moskowicz, a former HPD major and finalist for the chief position when it went to Logan, to return from the Big Island and be the interim chief with the idea being he’d also become the permanent chief. Moszkowicz formally applied for the interim job and submitted a resignation letter to the Hawaiʻi Police Commission.

But the City Charter gives the authority to hire the chief to the Honolulu Police Commission (you’d think Moskowicz would know that) which went a different direction and earlier this month named Deputy Chief Rade Vanic to be the interim once Logan retires in a couple weeks. Vanic says he will apply for the permanent position (but he’s said that before and then bailed so who knows.)

That left Chief Ben, as he is known on the Big Island, out on a pretty precarious and awkward limb. He tried to rescind his resignation letter but the Hawaiʻi Police Commission isn’t quite willing to believe he is fully committed to their department. Go figure.

Hawaiʻi County police commissioners have set a special meeting for July 10 to have a very public chat with Chief Ben and see where his head is at.

Meanwhile, Chief Ben has written a heartfelt mea culpa to his department and the citizenry renewing his vows and promising never-ending faithfulness if only they’ll take him back. Here’s what was posted this week on the Hawaiʻi Police Department’s Facebook page from Moskowicz:

“After careful reflection and consideration, I made some decisions earlier this month that I now realize were premature. For that, I am truly sorry. I deeply regret that my actions over the past few weeks have caused pain and confusion for so many people. I take full responsibility for my decisions and actions, and I hope to demonstrate through my actions that I remain fully committed to our shared future.

When I arrived in January 2023, the men and women of the Hawai‘i Police Department welcomed me with open arms, entertained my new ideas for running the department, and helped me to realize that the community policing model we have here is second to none. Together, we have achieved success on numerous fronts, modernized the department and found solutions to situations that benefit everyone. There have been challenges along the way, but no matter who has been involved, we have always found a way to move forward together.

Despite the events of the past few weeks, my heart and my long-term commitment remain here, in service to the Big Island. This community has given me the honor of leading a department filled with hardworking, dedicated professionals. I am committed to supporting our Big Island communities and to continuing to build trust, safety, and accountability with the residents of Hawai‘i County. The communities that we all serve deserve committed leadership.”

All of which is too bad. Moszkowicz, who was impressive during the last go-round for HPD’s top cop with his knowledge of and commitment to modern policing strategies and cutting-edge technology, would likely be a good pick to lead the Honolulu department.

The Blog can only hope the Honolulu Police Commission finally broadens its horizons past these longtime HPD stalwarts and brings in a fresh thinker who hasn’t already been leading the department down the same disastrous path it’s been on.

The gift that keeps on giving: The public owes a big mahalo to the State Ethics Commission, the special Commission to Improve Standards of Conduct and, last but not least, the Hawaiʻi Legislature for passing a bill in 2023 that is proving what government and political transparency should be all about. Of course, it took two of their own being convicted on federal bribery charges for lawmakers to act. But what’s a little corruption between friends?

The Blog is talking about the new-ish state law that requires lobbying organizations (the entities that hire lobbyists) to report much more detail about the specific bills they are seeking to influence. Last week, The Blog summarized a report researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization were able to pull together using the new info. Earlier, we noted some preliminary findings based on our own reporting, as well as a review by Ian Lind, the investigative journalist and blogger.

Now, the Ethics Commission has wrapped the new disclosures into some interesting charts that were shared at the commission’s meeting last week. We’ll let you see for yourself who the big lobbying organizations were in the 2025 session, what they paid their lobbyist and what bills were most important to them.

Because being able to see for yourself is the whole point, right? (Click the charts to make them pop out a little bit bigger.)

And finally tonight: The East-West Center has a new president. And she is Celeste Connors, a former U.S. Foreign Service Officer and most recently the CEO of Hawaiʻi Green Growth, an environmental organization.

Connors takes over the beleaguered 65-year-old center for international relations headquartered at the University of Hawaiʻi at a time when it’s been cutting back in response to Trump administration efforts to slash budgets wherever it can.

She assumes the presidency Tuesday, replacing interim President James Scott who had been holding down the fort since January following the departure of Suzy Vares-Lum.