A Waipahu state representative, fearing the perception of a conflict of interest, asked her House colleagues to hold a bill yesterday that could have helped her campaign treasurer get a new nursing home opened.

State Rep. Rida Cabanilla, D-42nd (Waipahu, Honouliuli, 'Ewa), introduced the bill and voted last Thursday on a recommendation that it pass the House Human Services and Housing Committee. Cabanilla asked the committee's chairwoman, state Rep. Maile Shimabukuro, D-45th (Wai'anae, Makaha, Makua), to hold the bill yesterday but did not disclose the potential conflict.

The bill would have invalidated a Honolulu ordinance that prohibits nursing homes from being within 1,000 feet of another group home. Cabanilla's campaign treasurer, Priscila Zampaga, wants to open a nursing home in Waipahu near the Victory Ohana Prison Fellowship, which helps people who have been released from prison transition back into society and also works with the homeless.

Cabanilla told The Advertiser last night she did not believe she had a conflict but, if she had to do it over, she said she would have had another lawmaker introduce the bill. "Looking back, I shouldn't have," she said.

But Cabanilla also said the bill was a worthy idea that could improve access to elder care. "You know how it is in this building. Anything that is controversial, they just can it," she said.

Shimabukuro said Cabanilla asked her to hold the bill because of concerns about county home rule and never mentioned any potential conflict. "None of that was told to me," she said.

State Rep. John Mizuno, D-30th (Kamehameha Heights, Kalihi Valley, Fort Shafter), a co-sponsor of the bill, also was surprised when informed of the potential conflict. "She never told me," he said. "The rationale behind the bill, for me, is that we have an aging population and we need more care home facilities."

Competition between the proposed nursing home — called Mandalay by the Park — and Victory Ohana has been stewing in Waipahu for several months.

The nursing home is seen by some as a threat to Victory Ohana, which was founded in 1992 and has been operating separate men's and women's programs for years without county permits or state licenses. The nursing home would be near the women's program.

Cabanilla, a nurse and lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, appeared before the Waipahu Neighborhood Board on behalf of Zampaga in September and said she would work at the nursing home. Some board members were appalled and told Cabanilla she had a conflict of interest.

Cabanilla said last night that the board had misunderstood her. She said what she meant was that as a nurse, she could work at a nursing home, not that she was going to work for Zampaga at Mandalay by the Park.

Martin Burke, a retired Air Force colonel who serves on the board, said he recalls Cabanilla describing herself as a future employee of the nursing home. The board's minutes for the meeting note that Cabanilla was speaking as a future employee, not as a state legislator.

"You have a state legislator coming in and trying to use her power in a way that many people think is inappropriate," said Burke, who added that some were offended when they learned about Cabanilla's bill.

Despite its lack of permits and licenses, Victory Ohana has some strong backing in the community, and the neighborhood board voted to support Victory Ohana and urge the county to approve permits for the programs. Since the law prevents Victory Ohana and Mandalay by the Park from existing so close together, unless the county were to grant an exception, the board vote was basically in favor of Victory Ohana over the new nursing home.

Cabanilla and her staff said her bill was about elder care, not Victory Ohana. But Cabanilla has opposed county permits for Victory Ohana because the neighborhoods where its programs are located have gone through a "revitalization process making the area respectable, durable and clean once again."

Cabanilla, in a letter to the county Department of Planning and Permitting in January, said the fellowship should be in a more isolated environment such as Kalaeloa.

Gary Shields, the founder of Victory Ohana, said Cabanilla is not the first state lawmaker to challenge the faith-based fellowship. State Rep. Alex Sonson, D-35th (Pearl City, Waipahu), also has been critical of the lack of permits and licenses.

"We live on an island, and I don't want to punch her or anyone else in the nose," Shields said. "But I think what she's doing is wrong."

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.