Hawaiʻi Attorney General Anne Lopez reaffirmed her position Friday that there is no conflict of interest in her department’s investigation into an “influential lawmaker” who allegedly accepted $35,000 in a paper bag during a January 2022 meeting.
The claim came to light during the federal bribery investigation into former House Rep. Ty Cullen and Sen. Kalani English.
Lopez explained that the Special Investigation and Prosecution Division, which is handling the issue, was created by the Legislature in 2022 to investigate public corruption. She added that she will accept the division’s recommendations at the end of their investigation.
“There is no conflict because of my prosecutorial independence. I really want people to understand that I can't be influenced,” she said. “I am not going to substitute my judgment for their recommendations. They will come and they will make a recommendation to me, and I will follow that recommendation. I trust in their work and their integrity. So any decision I make will be based on their recommendation.”
Lopez told reporters that she has not shared, and will not share any information about the investigation with Gov. Josh Green that is not also presented to the public.
Although the attorney general is appointed by the governor, the Senate confirms the nomination. The governor does not have the power to unilaterally remove the attorney general without a majority vote by the Senate.
“This prosecutorial independence is really important, and it's one that [governor] and I have talked about since the very beginning and that we have both been committed to that,” Lopez said. “I promised I wouldn't be a politician, and he promised that prosecutorial independence is crucial to this department.”
Clean Elections Hawai‘i Coalition, a group of good government organizations, has called on Lopez to appoint an independent special prosecutor.
“The Executive Branch cannot investigate itself. Public trust in government has been severely impacted by recent revelations,” the coalition wrote in a statement. “Restoring public trust requires an appropriate arm’s length distance from the interested parties in the Executive Branch.”
This comes after Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke became the center of the story this week regarding missing campaign contribution entries around the same time of the alleged $35,000 exchange in 2022.
Lopez explained that Hawaiʻi law also does not allow her to appoint a “special prosecutor.” It does allow her to appoint a special deputy attorney general, but that person would still be accountable to her.
“In my mind, it doesn't provide the special prosecutor that people are looking for — somebody who can act completely independent of this department,” Lopez said.
In the state constitution, if the lieutenant governor position becomes vacant, the position is first offered to the Senate president, then the speaker of the House of Representatives, and then the attorney general. If it came to that, Lopez stated that she would decline the role.
“I will not accept that position,” she said. “If the Senate and the House don't want it, and it comes to me, I will say I don't want it either.”
Lopez committed to giving updates about the progress of the investigation every two weeks. So far, the Special Investigation and Prosecution Division has issued multiple subpoenas and conducted several interviews.
Lopez could not give a timeline for when the investigation would be completed, but added that the department is aware of the upcoming August primary elections.
“We fully recognize that the timeframe before the primary and then the ultimate investigation is not that far away,” she said. “We are working literally day and night to bring this investigation to a conclusion prior to that.”
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