At the heart of an ongoing dispute between state Rep. Kymberly Pine and a web designer is a disagreement over money.

Eric Ryan, the former chief of staff for Councilman Tom Berg, altered the content of Pine’s website this spring, calling Pine “a crook” and alleging that she owed him “thousands of dollars” for website work. He also altered an email sent from her account.

(Ryan was fired by Berg last week, triggering a war of words Monday.)

Pine — like Berg, an Ewa Beach Republican — says she has paid Ryan for his work and has the paperwork to prove it. She gave Civil Beat a copy of a check for $3,150 to Studio Ryan, the graphic design company run by Ryan.

The check, which was cashed, is dated Sept, 4, 2010. Pine’s campaign spending report for the period of Sept. 4 to Sept. 18 also shows that she paid Studio Ryan $3,150 for “media work.”

It’s unclear, however, whether that settles the dispute. Ryan certainly feels otherwise. And another web designer, Daniel Brackins, said he, too, is still owed money, although he says he’s not pursuing payment.

Ryan’s Response

On Monday, Civil Beat asked Ryan about the payment and whether he could produce invoices showing that Pine still owed him money.

He did not produce any paperwork, instead saying: “Other media will receive the info tomorrow morning. Civil Beat and KITV will receive the info later tomorrow.”

He criticized Civil Beat for its “erroneous reporting,” without citing any specifics.

Ryan said he feels he’s being unfairly portrayed as “the perpetrator rather than the victim.”

Pine’s Response

In an email Monday to Civil Beat, Pine wrote, “It’s unfortunate that a single person can so easily attempt to extort money through constant threats, lies and harassment. I will not stand by and allow Mr. Ryan continue to try to hurt my family and my family name in order to make money he is not owed.”

Pine continued: “Mr. Ryan did some basic website work for me in the past and I have all of my documentation showing I paid him in full. When I refused to keep him on as my web designer until 2012 or endorse him so he could get more clients, he demanded more money, hijacked my campaign and legislative websites and launched his campaign of harassment.”

Reached by phone Monday afternoon, Pine said she received an invoice in April for $2,000 from Ryan for work done in 2010. Pine said she didn’t know what to make of the invoice, which she hasn’t paid.

“I do not owe Eric any money,” Pine told Civil Beat.

Brackins’ Response

Ryan is not the only one who says Pine owes him money for Internet work.

Daniel Brackins, a web graphic designer who has worked with both Ryan and Pine, says that he too has been shortchanged by Pine. But he’s not making a fuss about it.

He told Civil Beat in a June 24 email, “Pine only paid me once for my services and that was for the campaign website. She failed to pay me for any work I did on her official website including domain renewal fees. In 9/09 her website was inadvertently damaged by her staff and I had to rebuild it from scratch, but I was never paid. She did pay me $1000 for creative and social media work for her campaign website.”

State Campaign Spending Commission records show that Pine paid Brackins $1,000 for “website and social media management” during the July 1 to Sept. 3, 2010, reporting period.

Pine showed Civil Beat an invoice from Brackins for $510 in January 2010 for “website development and consulting.”

Reached by email Monday, Brackins said:

The invoice for $510 you have is in relation to work for her official representative website but also includes $10 for domain renewal of kymperlypine.com. We had a verbal agreement that she would pay me $500 per month for the legislative session starting in January of 2010 for consulting work on her official house page… She never paid for my services in March or website renewal for kymberlypine.org. As a result of this and her two previous very late payments I voluntarily stopped working for her, and I was glad that Eric Ryan took over her campaign account so I wouldn’t have to worry about it any longer. I took this as a loss and didn’t want to deal with collecting $510.

Pine told Civil Beat Monday that she paid about $2,000 to Brackins — not the $1,000 amount Brackins cites — for campaign website work. She has asked her campaign treasurer to produce copies of those payments.

‘Kim Pine Is A Crook’

Visitors to kymberlypine.org are currently automatically directed to http://www.kymberlypine.com/, where the site says, “Websites removed from service due to non-payment by former client.”

Kymberlypine.com, controlled by Ryan, directs visitors to http://www.kympineisacrook.com/.

Among many other allegations, that site says the following:

I still plan to reveal the evidence which Tom Berg and Kym Pine have been trying to keep secret this week. Evidence which clearly puts Ms. Pine-Ryglowski on the wrong side of the law, and which will refute each of the many public lies she has told about me through media stories over the past six weeks. Oahu residents will soon learn what Kym Pine, with Tom Berg’s help, has been trying to keep secret and why.

Ryan alleges that Pine has tried to have the website “pulled down” by writing to the site’s host. Pine denied the allegation. She told Civil Beat she had not looked at the site herself but had been informed by others about its content.