TRANSMITTED VIA E-MAIL
Mr. Reince Priebus
Chairman
Republican National Committee
310 First Street SE
Washington, DC 20003
Dear Chairman Priebus:
From one card-carrying Republican to another, I believe we share a crucial belief that our party holds the moral high ground in rooting out corruption and exposing corrupt officials. Sadly, the Republican Party of Hawaii (aka
the Hawaii Republican Party
) forfeited all pretense of being a relevant organization that is governed with integrity.
The Hawaii Republican Assembly (HIRA), comprised of card-carrying Republicans, has been threatened with frivolous yet costly legal action by your Republican Party of Hawaii (RPH). In response to our valid questioning of the operation of RPH, the liberal state party leaders teamed with a Democrat union law firm in order to shut down conservative Republicans of HIRA.
HIRA believes that you deserve to hear
directly from Republicans
in Hawaii; the Republicans who support our national Republican Platform, about
the climate of corruption, inaction and malfeasance which has plagued the Hawaii GOP for many years
. Most notable are recent revelations of rule breaking and illegality; that in the past few weeks state chair Fritz Rohlfing engaged in acts of embezzlement while national committeewoman Miriam Hellreich, past state chair Pat Saiki and party vice chair Barbara Marumoto perpetrated fraud-based fundraising activities. And, we have their central committee audio confession.
Contrary to their promises to donors and party members that ALL proceeds from last month's fundraiser with Governor Martinez would be 'firewalled' in the mortgage account
, they supervised the fraudulent expending of those funds to make up for shortcomings in their financial management of the party.
It's clear that this scandal contributed to
the ousting of the state party's treasurer
and
the sudden resignation of the party's accountant
. These people were simply
serving the corrupt party leaders
Hellreich, Rohlfing, Saiki, Liu and Marumoto.
That is a snapshot of
the corruption which taints our state party.
That no elected Republican seeks accountability, makes ALL Republicans appear
unfit to hold public office
. Scandals change how voters view political parties and their candidates.
The cavalier embrace of embezzlement and fraud and financial mismanagement by party leaders will keep Hawaii's GOP in the political wilderness for another sixty years
. The moral authority of Republicans in Hawaii is being killed by corrupt party officers and their supporters. Acquiescence and defense of party corruption by local perennial candidates such as 'Duke' Aiona and Charles Djou taints all Republicans in the eyes of voters. Additionally, the absolute refusal to provide any data to the contrary and the reliance on the "trust me" response erodes any residual confidence that remains.
The evidence of this corruption was on display two weekends ago at the state central committee meeting while Rohlfing, Hellreich, Saiki and Marumoto revealed their collusion in foul play. Saiki's phony public reassurances of honesty and integrity with party bookkeeping and ticket selling were exposed. Rohlfing was scolded for stealing party funds, but not held accountable by equally-dishonest members such as national committeeman Ted Liu. Elected Republicans and party leaders shamed themselves by not speaking out against corruption. Party members who look to them for leadership see hushed acceptance of cover up and the status quo.
Mr. Chairman,
your leadership is desperately needed right now
. These corrupt party officials must resign or be removed. When the RNC condones their behavior it reflects poorly on all Republicans, and affects fundraising, recruiting and voter engagement.
Following the revelations that state chair Rohlfing embezzled thousands of dollars in party funds to pursue a frivolous lawsuit, and the revelations that Hellreich, Saiki and Marumoto lied to donors through false advertising to sell them fraudulent fundraiser tickets,
I hereby request
:
-
Stop sending RNC funds
to Hawaii until new, non-corrupt leaders are in place from top to bottom. You can't justify wasting funds here when you say the 2016 Presidential and US Senate races are 'the most important in our lifetime." Funds to Hawaii violates RNC's fiduciary responsibility.
-
Use RNC's influence to urge corrupt leaders to
resign immediately
for the well-being of the party.
-
Use RNC's influence to urge the state central committee to
censure and/or remove these officers
for cause.
-
Use RNC's influence to urge the undertaking of a comprehensive
independent audit of party finances
to head off the class action lawsuit by party members aggrieved by these and other party financial transgressions.
-
Use RNC's influence to urge our state party to halt five years of official neutrality on all issues by
adopting a platform which reflects bold Republican solutions and reforms for Hawaii and supports the national platform
.
Chairman Priebus, much of the culture of corruption in our state party comes from the abuse of party resources by Hellreich, Rohlfing, Saiki and others to manipulate our party's operation, its rules, its conventions, and our platform. This culture of corruption breeds embezzlement, fraud, financial malfeasance, and other conduct unbecoming of being Republican leaders.
In the year since the last election, our state and county party committees have done nothing to affect the outcome of 2016. 95%+ positions in the party organization are unfilled. No voter ID or even canvassing has begun. Party coffers are in the red for the year. We spend more money a MONTH ($2,700) on our headquarters maintenance fee than we've spent all year on political advertising ($0).
Our state party's crooked, inept, self-serving leaders reflect on you. Major changes are needed. As their corruption has turned the Hawaii GOP into a feckless enterprise which mimics Obama's unauthorized spending, these faux Republican party leaders have cost us our moral authority relative to Democrats. You cannot condone surrendering the moral high ground because the irrefutable evidence shows corruption is acceptable at the highest levels of our party. Democrats are celebrating while corrupt party leaders circle the wagons.
Thanks in advance for your swift action on our requests
. There's a very bright future for Hawaii's GOP if and when our state party cleans up its act and really takes the fight to the ruling Democrats 24/7/365. Please help us to realize this future.
Respectfully,
