Woo vs. Harmon - Witness Mark Recktenwald

James B. Nicholson, Trustee vs. Harmon

(Formerly Woo vs. Harmon)

CV05-00030 DAE KSC

U.S. District Court For the District of Hawaii

Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang

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HEARING ON MOTIONS FOR ABATEMENT, DAMAGES, ETC.

DATE: Non Hearing, per Theresa Lam, 2-12-7

JUDGE: David A. Ezra, per Theresa Lam, 2-12-7

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DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

MARK RECKTENWALD

Director Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
335 Merchant Street
Honolulu, HI 96813

Email: Mark.E.Recktenwald@dcca.hawaii.gov )

Mark Recktenwald is the Director, Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; formerly an attorney with Marr, Hipp, Jones & Pepper; Chairperson, Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund.

Mark Recktenwald was a prosecutor in the white-collar crime section of the U.S. attorney's office and was one of the lead prosecutors in the federal case against real estate developer Sukamto Sia. .

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December 13, 2002

2 more Lingle appointees named

By Gordon Y.K. Pang, Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Gov. Linda Lingle has appointed two Honolulu attorneys to join her Cabinet as department directors.

Mark Recktenwald, an assistant U.S. attorney based in Honolulu for most of the last decade, was named director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

Nelson B. Befitel, a labor attorney and family friend to Lingle, was named director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Both appointments require confirmation from the state Senate.

To date, Lingle has chosen five of 16 directors. Earlier, she announced her choice of Mark Bennett as attorney general, Georgina Kawamura as director of budget and finance, and Micah Kane as director of Hawaiian home lands.

Recktenwald, 47, is a prosecutor in the white-collar crime section of the U.S. attorney's office and was one of the lead prosecutors in the federal case against real estate developer Sukamto Sia. He also negotiated healthcare fraud settlements including a $3.4 million settlement with Kapi'olani Health, $1.5 million with Wilcox Memorial Hospital and $2.1 million with physician Dr. Sze Ming Suen.

"Gov. Lingle's election gives us a historic opportunity to encourage the growth and diversification of Hawai'i's economy," he said. "The eyes of the business community in the world will be on Hawai'i over the next few years to see if we can make the changes that we need to make in order to make Hawai'i a place where business can prosper and not just get by."

Recktenwald said he will ensure that the agency's enforcement actions are "firm, swift, but also fair."

Recktenwald also was a prosecutor in the criminal division, including the smuggling of illegal aliens via fishing boats to Hawai'i from China.

He is the only one of Lingle's Cabinet, to date, to have been chosen from an advisory transition team designed to make recommendations on leadership posts to the governor. Attorney Shelton Jim On, who headed a committee that reviewed applications for the commerce and consumer affairs post, said more than 100 people submitted resumés.

Befitel, 37, unlike Recktenwald, is a known entity to Lingle. The governor, as a new resident of Moloka'i 27 years ago, rented a room from Befitel's family for 10 years. He also served as her campaign's attorney.

A former deputy corporation counsel for Maui County, Befitel has spent the last few years as a litigation attorney with the law firm Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert practicing mainly in labor and employment law.

"We need to make Hawai'i more business-friendly, we need eliminate our antibusiness reputation," Befitel said. "And at the same time, we need to ensure that the rights and the interests of our working families are protected. I can assure you that both the labor unions and the business community will be heard in this administration. Both will have a voice."

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February 15, 2007

Recktenwald, Kim up for judgeships

A senator promised tough questioning of
two appointees to the Judiciary

By B.J. Reyes, Star-Bulletin

Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Director Mark Recktenwald can expect a fair but thorough hearing on his nomination to become the next chief judge of the Intermediate Court of Appeals, a key state senator said.

Recktenwald was nominated to the post yesterday by Gov. Linda Lingle. Lingle also nominated Honolulu Deputy Prosecutor Glenn J. Kim as a judge to Oahu Circuit Court.

Both are subject to Senate confirmation.

"They can expect a fair hearing -- a hearing that will go into great detail on their abilities to engage themselves as judges and (one that) will try to do as thorough a job as possible," said Senate Judiciary Chairman Clayton Hee (D, Kahuku-Kaneohe).

Hee said he expects to delve into the nominees' "experience as lawyers and their experience as administrators."

Recktenwald, 51, was nominated to replace Judge James Burns, who is approaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. Kim, 57, would succeed Judge Marcia Waldorf, who is retiring of her own accord.

"I'm deeply honored and grateful to the governor for her faith in me, selecting me for this position and for the chance to further serve the people of this community," Kim said.

Recktenwald has gone through the Senate confirmation process before, when appointed by Lingle four years ago to his current job.

"I respect the role the Senate has in reviewing the qualifications of judicial nominees and look forward to the confirmation process," he said...

Hee has already this year warned potential nominees that anything less than full disclosure could prompt a confirmation fight.

Hee said yesterday that he had heard some "bits and pieces" of complaints on Recktenwald's handling of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, but "I think he should be given the benefit of any doubt until something substantial might appear."

Recktenwald said he plans to work with Hee and the committee to "provide them with all the information they need to be able to make an informed decision about me."

http://starbulletin.com/2007/02/15/news/story02.html

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October 27, 2003

State weighs medical savings accounts

By Bruce Dunford Associated Press

The Lingle administration is exploring a possible remedy to soaring medical health coverage costs in Hawai'i — tax-exempt medical savings accounts, which give tax breaks to those who set aside money to pay for their own healthcare.

The plans would inject competition into a health insurance market dominated by two major players — the Hawaii Medical Services Association and Kaiser Permanente.

But state auditor Marion Higa says the proposal raises several legal, social and financial questions and likely would have little impact on healthcare costs.

If approved, Hawai'i residents would be able to establish savings accounts that would be used for routine medical costs, and would back up health-insurance policies with higher deductibles to cover catastrophic medical expenses.

Under a proposed state plan, and a federal model supported by President Bush and the Republican majority in Congress, the money put into the savings account is tax deductible and the interest tax-exempt if it is used for medical purposes.

In a recent report to the Legislature, Higa said that if Hawai'i's experience is similar to that of other states, "medical savings accounts should have little or no impact on healthcare costs or practices because of relatively low usage."

"We also found that, given the limited interest in medical savings accounts nationwide, and very likely in Hawai'i, the potential for any negative social and financial impacts ... appears to be minimal," she said.

However, proposed federal legislation that would broaden the scope and application of medical savings accounts (MSAs) "may result in substantial tax revenue loss to Hawai'i," Higa said.

Based on a federal projection, Hawai'i could lose $900,000 in tax revenue in 2004, with projected revenue losses rising to $5.5 million in 2005, $9.9 million in 2006, or a total of $208 million by 2013, her report said.

The state Senate earlier this year approved a bill that would allow private health insurers, mutual benefit societies and health maintenance organizations to offer the high-deductible policies in conjunction with MSAs already recognized in the state tax code but nowhere else in state law. That measure remains pending before the House.

Higa said the legislation allowing MSAs may face legal conflicts with the U.S. Employee Retirement Income Security Act because it may be considered as establishing employee benefit plans and therefore be superseded by the federal law.

Under the state's 1974 Hawai'i Prepaid Health Care Act, which guarantees employer-paid healthcare to employees who work 20 hours or more a week for four consecutive weeks, the MSAs may not meet the requirements for approval by the state's Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Higa said.

"If passed, enabling legislation only begins the process by which medical savings account health care packages become a reality," Higa said. "These packages require scrutiny by and approval from the insurance commissioner and the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, including review by the Prepaid Health Care Advisory Council."

The largely discretionary approval process may raise even more uncertainties, she said.

In response to Higa's findings, Mark Recktenwald, director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, disagreed that there would be negative impacts.

"The availability of MSAs would increase the options consumers have in financing their healthcare expenditures," he said. "Currently, consumers are limited in their options with one large preferred provider organization and a major health maintenance organization dominating the market."

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Mark Recktenwald is expected to testify regarding his business, professional and personal relationships with Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate; Dee Jay Mailer; Hamilton McCubbin; Kenneth Hipp, Marr Hipp Jones & Pepper; Linda Lingle; George Ariyoshi; Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund; Bob Awana; Shelton Jim On; Kitty Lagareta; Hill & Knowlton; Communications Pacific; Ted Liu; Mark Bennett; J.P. Schmidt; Robbie Alm, Lisa Ginoza, Robert Kihune; Gilbert Tam; Al Hee, Clayton Hee, Sandwich Isles Communications; Summit Communications; Guido Giacometti; Susan Tius; Earl Anzai; Lyn Anzai; Robert Katz, Matt Tsukazaki, Torkildson Katz Fonseca Moore & Hetherington; Colbert Matsumoto; Jeffrey Stone; Richard “Dickie” Wong; Ko Olina Partners; Akaku; Everett Dowling; Don E. Carroll; The Nature Conservancy; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Oceanic Time-Warner; Steve Case; Ed Case; Jeffrey Case; Elliott Sumida; DTRIC Insurance; Royal State Investment Corp; Steven Guttman; Mary Lou Woo; Carol Muranaka; Sabrina Toma; Ernest Hanaumi; Michael Nauyokas; Colleen Hanabusa; Stanley Hong; William McCorriston, Nelson Befitel, and others to be named upon discovery.