BY JIM DOOLEY – State Deputy Attorney General Kevin Takata will formally announce his candidacy for Honolulu Prosecutor at a Sunday news conference.
Takata previously served as senior deputy in the prosecutor’s office but left after Keith Kaneshiro was elected to a two-year term in 2010.
Kaneshiro, who is seeking re-election, was not immediately available for comment today on Takata’s candidacy.
Last year, Kaneshiro accused Takata of filing an unfounded ethics complaint against Kaneshiro with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the agency that oversees attorney conduct in Hawaii.
Takata declined to discuss that allegation, saying ethics complaints are confidential matters.
The outcome of the complaint is unknown.
Kaneshiro said last year that Takata “has an axe to grind because I didn’t re-appoint him.”
Takata is a friend and longtime associate of Franklin “Don” Pacarro, another former deputy prosecutor who was defeated by Kaneshiro in the 2010 election.
According to papers filed with the state Campaign Spending Commission, Pacarro is chairman of Takata’s new campaign committee, Takata for Honolulu.
Former deputy prosecutor Megan Kau is listed as Takata’s campaign treasurer.
Takata was hired as a deputy attorney general within a week of leaving the prosecutor’s office.
His duties have included prosecution of internet crimes and the pending manslaughter case against car dealer and real estate developer James Pflueger.
He successfully prosecuted a former public school employee who pleaded guilty this week to stealing some $15,000 in school funds.
Takata said today he will remain on staff in the Attorney General’s office while he campaigns for prosecutor.
Takata seems to be an honorable and fair man who takes seriously the often abused standard that a prosecution must first of all be just. It is not the prosecutor’s primary job to convict, but rather to seek the truth.
Very pleased to see Kevin Takata in the race. He has a track record as a successful leader and prosecutor. He will be an asset to the community and an ethical defender of the people of Oahu. He has the endorsement of the Cyberspace Child Protection Campaign – a small on-line group that seeks to protect minors in cyberspace. Kevin is our man!
Looks like someone is running with a mouthful of sour grapes in their mouth.
I voted for Keith Kaneshiro in 2010, and I plan on voting for him again. The reason for that is because the previous administration did not take human trafficking seriously. As the Hawaii Reporter has shown numerous times, sex trafficking is a huge problem in our city, and Peter Carlisle, Kevin Takata and Franklin Pacarro did a horrible job addressing it. They didn’t want to work with anti-trafficking groups to pass new laws, and during the campaign, Franklin “Don” Pacarro repeated the company line in an interview with the media. It is clear that they were asleep at the wheel when it came to the issue of sex trafficking in Honolulu. I will whole-heartedly support Keith Kaneshiro again in this election.
-Kelly Johnson
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