http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060826/BUSINESS/608260313/1071The (Hawai'i) state Ethics Commission said it cannot legally comply with a request by the Legislature to probe possible ethics violations by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism related to funding of trade missions.
The Legislature had asked for the review following concerns generated by DBEDT's use of a nonprofit organization to handle $268,000 in private sponsorships raised for (Republican) Gov. Linda Lingle's trade mission to China and Korea in the summer of 2005. Lawmakers had said they were concerned about the appropriateness of state officials soliciting large contributions from the private sector and whether sponsors were promised special treatment.
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Concerns about the financing of state business development trade missions first surfaced after DBEDT asked a local business to become a "Title Sponsor" of trade missions this year by donating $50,000. The money would go to a nonprofit organization that would help finance the trade mission and in return the sponsor would get access to foreign government leaders and "VIP events (such as backstage or after-show parties)," according to the letter dated Dec. 5, 2005.
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