LIHUE — The Kauai County Council approved Wednesday an additional $10,000 for legal fees associated with a civil rights complaint filed by councilman Tim Bynum against former County Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho, county planner Sheila Miyake and the county of Kauai.
LIHUE — The Kauai County Council approved Wednesday an additional $10,000 for legal fees associated with a civil rights complaint filed by councilman Tim Bynum against former County Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho, county planner Sheila Miyake and the county of Kauai.
“My attorneys have informed me that in the first week of June they will be filing motions to dismiss this case,” Iseri-Carvalho said after the council emerged from an executive session on the matter. “Should these motions be granted, I hope this council will be proactive in seeking a reprimand against council member Bynum.”
The newly appropriated funds adds to at least $175,000 the council had previously approved for special counsel associated with the case. Bynum filed the civil rights complaint in U.S. District Court on Sept. 19, after a zoning violation against him went nowhere.
In May 2012, Fifth Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Watanabe — following an investigation by Attorney General Richard Minatoya — dismissed a zoning complaint in filed by the Office of Prosecuting Attorney alleging that Bynum was illegally renting a unit in his Wailua Homestead home. The office, at the time, was under Iseri-Carvalho’s leadership.
“This week, Ms. Iseri-Carvalho continues her practice of publicly ranting and making allegations of misconduct by virtually everyone but herself,” Bynum said in statement Thursday. “It is wrong in my opinion to attempt to try this case before the County Council or the media. A jury of Ms. Iseri-Carvalho’s peers will make their judgment in the proper forum, the courts.”
Iseri-Carvalho, who lost her job to County Prosecutor Justin Kollar in the November elections, said it’s clear that Bynum’s motive for filing the complaint was to affect the election results.
She said that when Bynum was prosecuted last year, she was never called to testify. Instead, First Deputy Prosecutor Jake Delaplane was the only one who publicly appeared in court to testify on Bynum’s case and filed hundreds of pages of court documents.
“Yet, noticeably, Mr. Delaplane’s name is absent from the Bynum’s lawsuit,” Iseri-Carvalho said.
Iseri-Carvalho said she wasn’t involved in Bynum’s case because it is a misdemeanor case that carries relatively “light” penalties compared to the murders, sex assaults, robberies and felony assaults that she routinely used to review.
Iseri-Carvalho said there were many accusations against her in Bynum’s complaint, and when confronted by county-hired attorneys, Bynum provided no evidence to support his claims.
“Yet, he took the opportunity to defame me right before the election by sending out a press release and appearing on television with his false allegations to millions to watch,” Iseri-Carvalho said.
Before the council took a vote to approve the funds, she asked them not to settle the lawsuit.
“To settle a lawsuit with no merit based on purely financial decisions, is immoral in a government setting,” Iseri-Carvalho said. “It destroys the public faith and encourages more filing of frivolous lawsuits.”
Earlier this year, eBossWatch chose Iseri-Carvalho as one of America’s Worst Bosses of 2012.
The online company tracks bosses who have cost their employers substantial financial losses because of lawsuits. The company ranked Iseri-Carvalho 39th in a list of 50 worst bosses in the nation.
Complaints against Iseri-Carvalho or the OPA resulted in at least $228,000 in settlements in 2012. Thounsands more were spent to secure special counsel.
Bynum published a statement on his website in September, saying that through his civil action, he looked forward to demonstrating how baseless and without merit the actions against him were.
But more importantly, he wrote, he hoped that holding “these individuals” responsible will help prevent mistreatment of others and ensure that this kind of “deliberate abuse and political vindictiveness” does not continue.
On Thursday, Bynum released a short statement, but declined to comment until depositions are finished “and the full extent of the abuse is disclosed.”
“In the meantime the civil rights complaint filed on my behalf by Margery Bronster, Andrew Pepper and Dan Hempey speaks for itself, as does both the long and short statements from myself that are available for anyone to review at www.timbynum.com.”
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0452 or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
