A line has been crossed.

Political campaigning in Hawaii has had moments of shameful mudslinging and dirty tricks over the years, and this latest effort ranks among the lowest.

Last week a super PAC (political action committee) set up a website on which it posted documents from gubernatorial candidate Clayton Hee’s 1989 divorce. The PAC self-importantly named itself Women Against Domestic Violence Hawaii, though there is no indication that the shadows behind this effort are against anything other than Clayton Hee.

They have gone so far as to post images of yellow warning signs that say “Caution: Stop Clayton Hee, stop domestic violence,” as though one man could be responsible for all the terrible things that happen in Hawaii households. Yes, the site is that overblown and hyperbolic.

But that’s not new — not in politics and not even in Hawaii.

Perhaps all’s fair in campaign warfare these days, and Hee can certainly handle himself in a rough-and-tumble bid for elected office. But posting the divorce papers of a candidate whose marriage ended nearly 30 years ago comes with collateral damage that outweighs any sense of righteousness:

It runs right over the spouse’s right to privacy.

It was her story to tell if she wanted to tell it. She didn’t. Imagine details of your painful breakup from 30 years ago being published online. Tell me that’s not abusive. Tell me that’s not victimizing a woman. Tell me that’s not exploitation.

There is a larger discussion here about why divorce documents are open records that any busybody can access for any reason, including mudslinging and troublemaking. Marriage is a private matter between two people. Divorce should be, too. Maybe we should set aside some time and energy to debate that idea in the Legislature and in the courts and in upper-level ethics classes. Regardless, what is stated by parties in divorce papers does not carry nearly the same weight as a police investigation or a criminal court case, and in this instance there wasn’t an arrest.

None of this should be construed as sticking up for Hee or a testimonial to his good behavior. Clayton Hee is Clayton Hee, brash, crude and unapologetic. You can Google news stories about him that will bring up plenty of on-the-record stuff to discuss.

A line has been crossed and it’s an important line. People in Hawaii still like to think of themselves as good folks who play fair. If we’re going to follow the tone and tricks of national politics with its constant parade of smears and embarrassments, we have to admit that Hawaii is no longer separate and special, but is just as pilau as the worst of it.

The #MeToo movement is about empowering women to fight back at abusers and harassers. It should not be misused as a political bludgeon to take down opponents, and it should never override a woman’s right to privacy or her ability to move past a messy relationship that happened a long time ago.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.