UPDATE: This story has been updated with comments from state police union officials.

Under pressure from attorneys representing Civil Beat and Hawaiʻi News Now, the City and County of Honolulu on Tuesday released a letter sent by former police chief Joe Logan in June demanding more than $780,000 in payment for what he says was a wrongful termination. 

Logan announced his retirement in June under pressure from Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and filed a lawsuit against the mayor and city last week for whistleblower retaliation and infliction of emotional distress.

The city initially refused to release the demand letter Logan sent on June 25 despite public records requests from the two news outlets. The city’s Corporation Counsel shared it with the news organizations late Monday night after the Public First Law Center objected in a letter stating that settlement proposals involving government agencies are public records under state law and threatening legal action if the city did not comply by Aug. 4. 

In his demand letter, Logan requests $534,000 in wages he would have earned in the final two years of what was supposed to be a five-year term as chief. Logan was appointed chief in 2022. He also demands $250,000 in compensatory damages for “emotional distress, harm to reputation, other special damages and money for his attorneys’ fees.” 

In addition, he is seeking a written apology from Blangiardi.

Jonathan Frye, Honolulu chapter chair of the state police union, said he was “absolutely disgusted” by Logan’s lawsuit and demand letter. 

“His whole time here in this department, Chief Logan would continuously say, ‘It’s not about the money,’” Frye said, speaking during an editorial board meeting at Civil Beat’s office on Tuesday. “You choose this profession because it’s a calling, and he abandoned his calling, and now he’s asking for $780,000.”

Nicholas Schlapak, treasurer of the union, who was also at the editorial board, called Logan’s actions “silly and unbecoming” of a former chief. 

“It underscores his ineptitude when it came to his performance as the chief of police,” he said, “and I think it is absolutely the wrong way for him to leave given the circumstances as this is playing out.” 

Logan’s letter says that if he and his attorney, Joseph Rosenbaum, didn’t receive a response within 14 days, they would file a lawsuit against the city and county. 

“If this matter cannot be resolved short of litigation, we are also looking into pursuing claims of Constitutional violations and false light/defamation,” the letter says. 

The lawsuit that followed, which details the same claims laid out in his demand letter, says Blangiardi threatened him by saying he would “make it very difficult for you and your family” if Logan did not step down.

The correspondence released by the city Tuesday also includes a resignation letter from Hawaiʻi Police Chief Ben Moszkowicz, who will step down as chief of the Big Island at the end of this month. Moszkowicz’s letter, dated June 2, says Blangiardi called him three days before then to say that Logan “unexpectedly” planned to announce his retirement. 

“He asked me that I consider returning to Honolulu as the Interim Police Chief to help the department there through a difficult time,” Moszkowicz’s letter says. 

Logan, who did not announce his resignation until June 2, claims the fact that Blangiardi contacted Moszkowicz on May 30 shows he had already predetermined Logan’s exit.

But under the City Charter it is the Honolulu Police Commission, not the mayor, that has the power to hire and fire chiefs and select the interim chief. When the commission selected Honolulu Police Deputy Chief Rade Vanic to serve as interim instead of Moszkowicz, the Big Island chief tried to withdraw his resignation from his own department. The Hawaiʻi Police Commission narrowly voted last month not to allow him to withdraw and to force him out. 

In the city’s response to Logan on July 11, Honolulu Deputy Corporation Counsel Maria Cook said Logan resigned voluntarily, and that his wife supported his decision. 

“More importantly, at no time did he state or imply that he was reluctant to resign or that his decision was in any way coerced or against his will,” the city’s letter says. 

Cook also says Logan’s claims that the mayor violated the state Whistleblower Protection Act do not apply because the mayor doesn’t employ the police chief, the Police Commission does.

“Additionally, expressions of disagreement or frustration with performance cannot amount to retaliation or wrongful discharge when the Mayor has no authority to remove the Chief,” the letter says. 

Blangiardi has a First Amendment right to criticize the police chief as well as police department policy and leadership, the letter says. Blangiardi also denies the allegations in Logan’s letter, calling them “absurd and categorically false.”

Logan filed his lawsuit Thursday. He and his wife appeared at a press conference at their attorney’s office the following day but did not speak.