Ethics Watchdog Calls for Investigation into Hawaii Democrat Rep. Kai Kahele for Ignoring House Ethics Laws

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a non-partisan ethics watchdog organization, demanded an investigation into Hawaii Democrat Rep. Kai Kahele for “presenting conflict of interest concerns and abuse of proxy voting.”

The watchdog filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) requesting an investigation into Kahele for allegedly presenting a conflict of interest and abusing the proxy voting rule.

Members of Congress are required not to take official actions when there is a present conflict of interest, which he has allegedly done by moonlighting as a pilot for an airline that he and his wife earn an income from and are still affiliated with. At the same time, he serves on a committee in Congress and has co-sponsored bulls that have directly affected his outside employer, Hawaiian Airlines.

The complaint outlines that Kahele has co-sponsored four bills that would have directly affected the aviation industry. Additionally, the airline itself has lobbied for a specific bill that provided a tax credit to the airline industry.

Additionally, in 2020, House ethics rules allowed members the ability to cast a vote by proxy as long as the Speaker of the House was notified by the Sergeant-At-Arms that a “public health emergency due to a novel coronavirus” was preventing them from showing up in person. But, the poxy voting was only in the case of a “public health emergency” and nothing else.

Breitbart News previously noted:

Kahele has only voted in-person in the House of Representatives five times this year, which all happened during a three-day period in January. The Honolulu Civil Beat reported that the other 120 votes that occurred were done by proxy, including “his” vote on April 2 to decriminalize marijuana which he later touted in a press release.

Civil Beat’s analysis of the congressman’s voting record revealed that he also skipped President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address in February. He was also reportedly the only member of the delegation that was absent when Hawaii city officials were at the capitol to talk about Honolulu’s $10 billion rail project with the Federal Transit Administration. And Civil Beat noted that he was a “no-show” during last week’s House Armed Services Committee hearing to talk about the Department of Defense’s budget request.

…

Interestingly enough, his office “refused” to give Civil Beat a copy of the congressman’s schedule for the last four months to show how much time he has spent in the district or to show he has been in DC — despite his voting record — since his social media has shown him traveling around the various Hawaii islands.

“It has become increasingly clear that this may not be the reason Rep. Kahele did not vote in person for approximately three months as he was attending other public and political events during this same period,” FACT acknowledged.

Last week, Kahele’s office told Punchbowl News that the Ethics office  “cleared” his arrangement to “moonlight” for the airline and be a member of Congress. But, Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman noted, “They have not produced a shred of evidence that is the case.”

The Democrat’s August 2021 financial disclosure report also showed that the Congress and his wife have 401(k)s associated with Hawaiian Airlines valued between $250,001 and $500,000, and Kahele’s wife’s 401(k) between $100,000 and $250,000.

Interestingly enough, many of Kahele’s top donors come from the airline industry. Breitbart News wrote that he received in June 2021 a $2,500 donation from the Hawaiian Airlines Inc. PAC, the same company for which he allegedly moonlights as a pilot while serving in Congress. In total, Kahele has received $5,500 from the Hawaiian Airlines PAC.

Executive Director of FACT Kendra Arnold said in a statement:

The ethics rules function to maintain the integrity of government action, and the Office of Congressional Ethics is responsible for ensuring each Representative fulfills the public trust inherent in the office and that they comply with the House’s ethical standards. Therefore, we urge the Board to immediately investigate Representative Kahele for taking official action in violation of the conflict of interest rules and for abusing the proxy vote.

A full copy of the FACT’s complaint against Suozzi can be found here.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.