A company that just signed a no-bid contract with Honolulu’s motor vehicle office is hoping to send the agency’s director on an all-expenses-paid trip to Gdańsk, Poland next month.

The contractor, Thales Group, has offered to cover the flight, hotel, meals and other related costs — a $5,000 value — for Department of Customer Services Director Kim Hashiro to visit their facility. Gdańsk is an ancient port city and tourist destination on the Baltic Sea known for building ships and as the amber capital of the world. 

Hashiro said the journey is necessary because she needs to sign off on the design of the state’s new licenses and ID cards, including aesthetic elements as well as counterfeit and fraud prevention features such as holographic images.

“It’s a color approval trip,” she said.

The city’s request to accept the gift of the trip will go before the Honolulu City Council on Wednesday, but the measure is already raising some eyebrows. 

Honolulu Ethics Commission guidelines prohibit officials with authority over contracts from accepting gifts from contractors, and a City Council resolution forbids them from accepting any gift that could, in fact or appearance, impair their judgment. 

Thales has been a city contractor for years but signed a no-bid extension in February that will earn the company $1.4 million in the next fiscal year, Honolulu customer services department spokesperson Harold Nedd said. Hashiro, who has administrative responsibility over the company’s contract, said Thales offered the trip after that extension was granted. 

The sequence of events risks creating the appearance of a gratuity, said Wesley Fong, a member of the Hawaiʻi State Ethics Commission.

“The perception is going to be there: ‘Thanks a lot for extending. Oh, here’s a free trip,’” said Fong, who teaches law and ethics at the University of Hawaiʻi. “How do you think Joe Public is going to look at that?”

The goals of the trip could be accomplished another way, said Camron Hurt, executive director of the government accountability group Common Cause Hawaiʻi. 

“It’s not necessary,” Hurt said. “I think the onus is on the council to explain how this is not a kickback because to the general public, it very well appears like one.” 

Hashiro denied any impropriety and said her department is following the rules by putting the matter before the City Council. 

“I am only doing this because there’s a legitimate business need for it,” Hashiro said, “and I want to be able to produce an updated, upgraded, highly secure card for the state.” 

City Says Trip Is Legitimate

Hashiro said she plans to spend five days in a factory reviewing different versions of IDs for her approval. The final approved cards will be used statewide in Hawaiʻi.  

The director said she will be joined by another motor vehicle official from the Big Island, Naomi O’Dell, who did not return a message left on Friday. 

“It is a legitimate government business trip,” Hashiro said. “It’s a 21-hour flight there, and 24-hour flight back. That is not something most people would consider to be a vacation, plus spending five days in a factory.” 

The trip was planned at the urging of the contractor, who told the city that its sign-off by mail would take eight to 12 weeks, according to Hashiro. 

“They’re saying that this is the most cost-effective and efficient way for them to get this color approval,” she said, “and it is part of their standard practice.”

In a statement, Thales media relations representative Jennifer Tumminio said it’s important to have the customer on-site during a production run to make sure the product meets expectations.

“A factory visit for approvals during initial production cuts down on the time needed for redesigns and approvals,” she said, “and gets identification documents into the hands of the people who need them quicker.”

The Hawaiʻi State Ethics Commission doesn’t have jurisdiction over county matters, but if such circumstances presented themselves at the state level, Fong would oppose it.  

“My recommendation would have been: Don’t take it,” he said. 

But city officials contacted by Civil Beat said they are not concerned. 

Jan Yamane, executive director of the Honolulu Ethics Commission, referred questions to the Corporation Counsel’s office. City spokesman Scott Humber said the Corporation Counsel deemed the arrangement “compliant with the applicable laws as well as the City Council’s gift policy.” 

And Managing Director Mike Formby signed off on the trip. 

Thales was granted an exemption from regular procurement rules because the county needed to get its license and ID cards up to national standards as soon as possible, Formby said. 

“So we’re sticking with the same company we have,” he said. 

City officials go on similar trips to manufacturing facilities for other major equipment, including fire trucks, ambulances and buses, Formby said. This time, instead of equipment, he said, the director will be assessing “intricate security design features.”

“They’re running templates, they’re showing it to you, you’re looking at it in the light where you all get all that angle of the hologram-type stuff, the colors,” he said. 

If the director’s in-person inspection is truly necessary, Fong said, the county should pick up the tab. 

“The governmental agency should be the one to pay so there is no appearance of undue influence,” he said. 

Hashiro disagrees.

“This is part of Thales’ project and part of their process for their upgrade,” she said. “It’s not something that the city would budget for and fund.”