Mr. Yonamine – who has a certain reputation because his uncle Wally Yonamine was a famous athlete – is a figure in local sports. In 2018, a year after he was named Pearl City High School’s varsity baseball coach, state lawmakers, some of whom received campaign contributions from his parties, approved $3 million to convert the field from turf to artificial turf.
As Mr. Yonamine spoke from the renovated field at an opening ceremony in 2022, a Hawaiian priest sprinkled rainwater on the plate.
“Thank you to everyone who helped make our dreams come true,” said Mr. Yonamine.
This article was published in collaboration with Big Local News at Stanford University.
How the numbers were calculated
The Times and Civil Beat examined hundreds of thousands of campaign contributions and more than 70,000 government contracts to establish connections between vendors and their donations to political races. The analysis found that nearly 20 percent of all campaign contributions since 2006 have come from people affiliated with companies that do business with state and local governments.
This number is likely an underestimate because the data is incomplete. The records come from the Hawaii Awards & Notices Data System, which tracks who has won state contracts. However, a 2021 audit found that only 40 percent of all government contracts awarded that year were published. It is not clear whether the problem also applies to other years.
Reporters requested and reviewed check registers to verify departments’ total payments to vendors. Some departments did not respond to public records requests, including those with large numbers of high-value contracts, such as the education and transportation departments.
Gaps in state and county contract records and check registers made it difficult to determine how much money the sellers actually received. Published amounts have been confirmed with source documents or contract departments.
The contractors were matched with the names of companies, their officers and employees in a database of campaign donations maintained by the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission. Where possible, donations from spouses and relatives of contractor executives were also included in the count. Spouses and relatives were identified based on individuals who had the same last name and address as the primary contributor. In some cases, the spouses were listed jointly as contributors.
The analysis focused on providers offering legal, consulting, engineering and construction services. Contracts and contributions for subsidiaries were attributed to their parent companies. Universities and other public institutions with government contracts were excluded from the analysis. Organizations that may have other lobbying interests — such as the Hawaii Association of Realtors — were also excluded.
Contributions made to events hosted by Mr. Yonamine were identified by searching for all contributions made to participating candidates within a week of the parties. The Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission requires contributions to be made within seven days of receipt.
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2024-04-18 03:41:17
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