Mr. Yonamine — who has a sure renown as a result of his uncle Wally Yonamine was a well-known athlete — is a determine in native sports activities. In 2018, one 12 months after he was named varsity baseball coach at Pearl Metropolis Excessive College, state lawmakers, a few of whom obtained marketing campaign contributions from his events, permitted $3 million in funding to transform the sphere from grass to synthetic turf.
As Mr. Yonamine spoke from the refurbished subject at a gap ceremony in 2022, a Hawaiian priest sprinkled rainwater on house plate.
“Thanks to all who helped make our goals come true,” Mr. Yonamine stated.
This text was reported in partnership with Large Native Information at Stanford College.
How the Numbers Have been Calculated
The Instances and Civil Beat examined tons of of hundreds of marketing campaign contributions and greater than 70,000 state contracts to attract connections between distributors and their donations to political races. The evaluation revealed that just about 20 % of all marketing campaign contributions since 2006 have come from folks tied to corporations doing enterprise with the state and native governments.
This quantity is probably going an underestimate as a result of the information is incomplete. Information had been obtained from the Hawaii Awards & Notices Information System, which tracks who received state contracts, however a 2021 audit discovered that solely 40 % of all state contracts awarded that 12 months had been posted. It’s not clear if the issue applies to different years.
Reporters requested and reviewed examine registers to confirm the entire funds to distributors from departments. Some departments didn’t reply to public information requests, together with these with giant numbers of high-value contracts, such because the Training and Transportation Departments.
The gaps in state and county contracting information and examine registers made it troublesome to find out simply how a lot cash distributors truly obtained. Printed quantities had been confirmed with supply paperwork or contracting departments.
Contractors had been matched in opposition to the names of corporations, their executives and workers in a database of marketing campaign contributions maintained by the Hawaii Marketing campaign Spending Fee. Donations from spouses and kinfolk of contractor executives had been additionally included within the depend when doable. Spouses and kinfolk had been decided based mostly on individuals who shared the identical final title and deal with as the primary contributor. In some instances spouses had been collectively listed as contributors.
The evaluation centered on distributors who present authorized, consulting, engineering and development companies. Contracts and contributions for subsidiaries had been attributed to their guardian corporations. Universities and different public businesses with authorities contracts had been excluded from the evaluation. Organizations which will produce other lobbying pursuits — such because the Hawaii Affiliation of Realtors — had been additionally excluded.
Contributions made at occasions hosted by Mr. Yonamine had been recognized by looking for all contributions made to collaborating candidates inside one week of the events. The Hawaii Marketing campaign Spending Fee requires that contributions be deposited inside seven days of receipt.
