Honolulu Ethics Watchdog Has New Leader

The Honolulu Ethics Commission selected attorney Sandy Ma as its next executive director on Thursday at a public meeting that followed a closed-door interview process.

The job is the top staff position at a commission tasked with being the city's ethics watchdog, responsible for upholding integrity in city government, investigating complaints about ethics violations and enforcing city ethics laws, including issuing fines.

Ma has extensive work experience in government policy and advocacy.

She previously served as a policy analyst for the Center for Progressive Reform and executive director of Common Cause Hawaii, a nonprofit group that advocates for government transparency and accountability.

Prior to Common Cause, she served in the Hawaiʻi planning office on coastal zone management, focused on climate change and sea level rise. Before that, she worked as an attorney for the ACLU in North Carolina and Hawaiʻi, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and in private practice.

Ma holds a bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University, a law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law, and a master's in environmental law from Vermont Law School, according to her biography.

On Thursday afternoon, Ma accepted the job, which comes with a $180,000 salary, pending a background check. Ma declined interview requests on Thursday, saying it would be premature to comment before her hiring is finalized.

Elmira K.L. Tsang, who has been serving as the acting ethics executive director, will step back into her previous position as assistant director, according to Associate Legal Counsel Laurie Wong-Nowinski.

The vice president of The League of Women Voters of Hawai’i, Judith Mills Wong, praised Ma for her dedication to rebuilding the Honolulu chapter after the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Wong worked closely with Ma and described her as brilliant and a hard worker. 

“She is an extremely ethical person herself, and she really believes in civic power and how government can do things for people that make life better,” Wong said. 

Ma Impressed Commission In Private Meetings

Ma was chosen over Tsang and two other attorneys, Melissa Wai Han Chee and Scott Spallina.

A subset of the Ethics Commission — called a permitted interaction group — interviewed the job candidates, and those who were not part of that group got to talk to the finalists last Friday. Those meetings were not open to the public, but the commissioners deliberated and voted publicly at their meeting on Thursday.

More: The Sunshine Blog: Honolulu Ethics Commission Is Still Dodging The Public

During the more than hour-long meeting, the commissioners discussed each candidate's qualities and conducted two rounds of voting, resulting in Ma's selection.

Commissioner Cynthia Lynch said Ma stood out from the other candidates for having a multi-point plan for the job.

"She came extraordinarily prepared, and she was, I think, the singular person who actually could express a vision, looking forward, for how this ethics commission is viewed in developing public trust," Lynch said.

Commissioner Tadia Rice was also impressed with Ma’s presentation. 

“Sandy brought a different level of experience and energy to the challenge that the Ethics Commission will now be facing, especially with understaffing, having to go and fight for more budget,” she said. 

Since the interview process took place behind closed doors, Ma's plan was not made available to the public. 

Brian Black, president and executive director of Public First Law Center, said Ma is an excellent fit for the role. However, he wished that the commission had conducted this process more openly so the public could better understand why she was selected.

A New Day For City Ethics  

Ma’s hiring could begin a new chapter for the ethics agency, which used to make headlines by cracking down on alleged ethics violators. 

In 2014, under the leadership of former director Chuck Totto, the commission fined then-state Rep. Romy Cachola $50,000 for what Totto called a “perfect storm of public corruption.”  

The commission accused Cachola, who had served on the Honolulu City Council, of accepting illegal gifts and so-called double-dipping by filing expenses for his city vehicle that had already been covered by his political campaign fund.  

Cachola said he did nothing wrong but settled to avoid a costly legal fight. 

Totto also investigated an inauguration gala held in honor of former Mayor Kirk Caldwell that was funded, in part, by entities with business before the city. The Ethics Commission alleged some of the donations violated ethics rules, while Caldwell was not accused of wrongdoing. 

Totto served as the ethics director for 16 years before being forced out.  

Under its next director, Jan Yamane, the Ethics Commission was much quieter. The agency did not issue any splashy fines and expressed an interest in focusing more on ethics training.