Carlisle declares candidacy for mayor
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Peter Carlisle announced his candidacy for Honolulu mayor at a press conference downtown today.
Citing a void in leadership in city government, former Mayor Peter Carlisle announced today that he will again seek the top job at Honolulu Hale.
Carlisle, 63, will be challenging current Mayor Kirk Caldwell, who unseated him in 2012.
“Leadership, it’s that simple,” he said when asked why he is throwing his hat into the ring. Caldwell has not made tough decisions, instead relying on popular sentiment to guide policies, he said.
“A leader doesn’t put his finger up to the wind and figure out which way the wind is blowing, and then make a decision,” he said. “They make a decision dramatically, appropriately and forcefully, and then you follow up on it.”
Carlisle reaffirmed his support for the city’s $6.9 billion rail project. “Rail, while it has had many problems in terms of cost, there is no doubt that rail is the future for Honolulu, Hawaii,” he said. “It will be finished, it must be finished.”
He criticized the City Council for trying to exert more influence on the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s management of the project.
Carlisle first became mayor in 2010 after Mufi Hannemann resigned mid-term in order to run for governor.
Two years later, he finished third in the August 2012 special election to former Gov. Ben Cayetano and Caldwell, eliminating him from contention. In the second special election in November 2012, Caldwell defeated Cayetano.
He pointed out that the day after he lost, he received a letter from U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye urging him to continue to support rail. Carlisle subsequently endorsed Caldwell, who also is pro-rail, against the anti-rail Cayetano.
“I owe it to Sen. Inouye to do everything I can to get the rail project completed without hesitation and to make sure it’s done to its entirety,” he said.
Carlisle said he will seek only one, four-year term and, if elected, not run for reelection. It’s a promise he made to his wife, he said. “I do not want to have to wave signs anymore … I don’t want to … raise funds.”
Before becoming mayor, Carlisle was city prosecutor from 1997 to 2010.
Also expected to enter the mayor’s race this year is Council Chairman Ernie Martin.
114 responses to “Carlisle declares candidacy for mayor”
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May as well.
The $26.4 Billion Dollar TITANIC RAIL SCAM will eventually Bankrupt the City & County and every taxpayer in it!!!
A New Day in Hawai’i begins when CALDWELL resigns!!!
I’m pretty sure a new day in Hawaii begins literally everyday.
Corruption – Please think of something original to write. We are tired of you coming on here, typing with your feet, and saying the same thing over and over again.
The $26.4 Billion Dollar TITANIC RAIL SCAM will eventually Bankrupt the City & County and every taxpayer in it!!!
A New Day in Hawai’i begins when CALDWELL resigns!!!
Obviously a product of Hawaii public schools–nothing intelligent to say
Tomcorey: LOL.
He’s for rail…I’m not voting for him.
Vote for Cayetano! Ben, we need you!
He placed in 3rd when he was the incumbent. I just can’t see this campaign going well.
“3rd when he was the incumbent” What race are you mistakenly talking about?
Isn’t Carlisle also a rail shill? If he can get rail to stop at Middle Street, I’d vote for him in a heartbeat.
So we can have a train that does nothing? The rail needs to go to UH and then on the other end to Makaha. The people on the west / central parts of Oahu are suffering sitting hours in traffic every day.
Stopping the rail short only does one thing really well: it solidifies the rail as a bad idea.
i agree with both points
The rail should go from Makaha to Hawaii Kai with offshoots to Waikiki and UH. I remember when they made the freeway from behind Beretania Foodland to the Varsity theater.
Big mistake.
Fine, then the People in West Oahu should pay for it. Should only cost you a couple thousand a year for the rest of your life. I’m sick and tired of paying for this toy train that my kids will have to pay for too while no one on this side of the Island uses it.
the people from the west side PAID for your roads and infrastucture near your home, wherever that is…..
Is this the best choices we have? This is almost as bad as our choices for president.
Sad that for some it is only me, me, me.
Well a lot of us Central Oahu and had to pay fot H3 that we never use. Deal with it!
We also paid for their freeways.
I’m afraid Carlisle wants to build it all. He thinks we are hiding money.
Unfortunately, Carlisle is a rail supporter. However, at this point, ANYBODY would seem to be an improvement over Caldwell, pretty much THE worst mayor we’ve ever had.
agree..he is a good guy but that rail will haunt him.
That is a questionable statement. The apple does not fall to far from the tree. From the Punaho grad adult daughter’s stoned out episode of toking a bong, committing a serious crime of setting fire to Cayetano’s political campaign sign and then posting it on the Internet for all to see is a reflection of a snotty, arrogant, disdain for the ‘little people’ compared to the connected ‘power brokers’ like her parents. Cayetano should have pressed charges on the ADULT daughter and that was serious error on his part because Kirk’s attack dog PRP was willing and did go into the sewer to smear Cayetano so Kirk could win.
yikes! I think I recall reading about that….
Once the rail is completed and running, people will be asking why did it take so long. Shame this wasn’t built when Fasi first proposed it.
I disagree. He is the best mayor since Fasi. I really like the future direction he is taking us to. unfortunately I don’t like that the rail favors developers and not current developments, but a rail is better than no rail
No, we don’t agree about rail and cannot vote for him. Otherwise, he is a good and decent man.He has a strong law and order record and would fire Kealoha for his poor leadership of HPD. Our current mayor can’t seem to move on it.
Dude – “good and descent men” don’t hit on married women while in a drunken stupor at the Bradley Coats anniversary party. You should really interview the women that worked under him in the prosecutors office…
hit on women? I never heard that..geesh. Rumors?
He hit on my x-wife at a Securitas Party when he was mayor. I corrected him immediately.
Its not a rumor, guy and don’t even suggest that! I was at the Bradley Coats anniversary party at the Ocean Club in the early 90’s. He had way too many green bottles to drink and kept hitting on my two MARRIED guests.
“livinginhawaii says:
Its not a rumor, guy and don’t even suggest that! I was at the Bradley Coats anniversary party at the Ocean Club in the early 90’s. He had way too many green bottles to drink and kept hitting on my two MARRIED guests.”
Easy to make accusations. Names? Date of event? Complaints filed anywhere? Any other witnesses? This event happened more than twenty years ago? Is that the best you can do?
Why I won’t vote Caldwell:
Rail.
Bike Lanes on King Street that removed a full lane of car traffic (with more bike lanes to come).
Pothole “repairs” that really aren’t but are touted as major improvements.
An inability to stand the heat when things go bad but take credit for everything under the sun otherwise (he’s always in front of the camera, but when things like a sewage spill come up it’s some city department head).
Too great a willingness to “develop” without taking into account the long-term financial costs that will be passed down the line.
Too many ties to special interest groups that have swelled his campaign war chest.
Those are my reasons.
Why I will vote for Kirk:
Rail.
Bike Lanes on King Street that makes it a bit safer to bike through town. Hopefully he will expand it so that Honolulu will be a bike friendly city.
His emphasis on infrastructure which has been ignored in this state for far too long.
Caldwell or Carlisle – both are bought and paid for by PRP, neither will do anything to stem the rail cost overruns so it really makes no difference which one you choose. We may not be able to stop rail but we can at least elect a mayor that will ensure it’s done in a cost effective and timely manner, too bad someone like that isn’t running for mayor.
Hawaii has the most corrupt politicians and one sided state and city government in the country.There’s no possibility that rail ends well, at least not for taxpayers.
Never again. Cayetano should give it another go.
Cayetano can be like a Bernie Sanders in generating excitement with Hawaii voters but he needs a better campaign manager and campaign strategy He needs to channel Trump, just a little bit, and not let PRP drag him into the sewer like they did in the last mayoral election. PRP wrote the pathetic apology in the newspaper but that means nothing when Kirk won as mayor and voter suppression was allowed with no consequence to those who allowed it, which is unacceptable in the United States.
Would be one million times better than current “mayor”. Would be even better if the beast was halted at Middle street.
Pro rail and a do nothing mayor in his short stint. Knows how to talk. Door to door salesman. Enough said.
Wow! Exactly my thoughts. Blunt and to the point.
Ditto 10000 x’s
Dumb & dumber. Hey Dems…there must be somebody better qualified than these two imbeciles.
I suppose that would be you? Feel free to run.
Duke Aiona? LOL!!
Yes. I wish he would run for mayor.
Me also! Run Duke!
Glad to see recycling is alive and well on the Island.
Good one!
Oh no…Mufi is having thoughts of running again! Yikes! Must be tired of being a DJ every Saturday at 12 noon on 107.9.
Being a DJ is the only thing Mufi is good at, and he should stick to it. The people have spoken — we don’t want him in ANY public office, ever again.
No need to worry about Mufi doing any more damage beyond the crooked Rail. He is now the President and CEO of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association. Much cushier job than Mayor.
agree…just a horrible mayor
Is Bu La’ia still around?
…so he can finish the mess that he started? No thank you.
What a choice Carlier and Lyin’ Kirk. Will Goofy Mufi join the party? “Build rail right and on time and on budget”. Latest estimate up 25% from estimates of 2014.
For once, I may actually consider Djou! IS he even running?? He should…
agree…Carlisle was an excellent prosecutor
Why doesn’t he go back to being prosecutor? Nobody is happy with Kaneshiro, we want him OUT. Carlisle would be a shoe-in.
So we have three pro-rail, developer and construction lovin’ candidates?
How are these three guys in any way different from each other?
If Carlisle changed his position on Rail, I would vote for him. At one point, he seemed to oppose Rail but was soon won over by the power brokers in Hawaii.
So what’s your alternative for the west side sitting in the H1 parking lot? Anything built in Hawaii costs at least twice the cost of the mainland due to the unions and the overly bureaucratic process of getting anything built here. Its what we have to accept here as long as this state is run exclusively by democrats. Any modern city has a rail system to move its people efficiently and environmentally much cleaner than cars idling on the H1.
The rail doesn’t go to Ewa, Kapolei, or Waianae. It goes to a sprawling new development blocking those communities. Traffic will be much much worse when Hoopilli is finish and west side families will still be forgotten… Except when they need someone to pay for.
It also doesn’t go to Waikiki or UH. It goes to the luxury tourist mall instead. How many of those folks stuck in traffic at 8am are headed to Tiffany’s?
Mufi and Kirk and the boys simply got too greedy and this is the mess they left us with.
tomcorey…the whiners dont have an alternative, they just whine. they also don’t care about other people than themselves…don’t care about the leeward people sitting in traffic because maybe they dont have to sit in traffic……sad
Alternative Plan: Need to STOP the excuses for rising cost! It is time to start talking about freezing the rail cost to amount available by terminating rail at Aloha Stadium for less than $4 Billion TOTAL!!!
Eh banana – it’s been brought up many times = The rail is an outdated mode of transportation. The people here offered alternatives from changing the rail to maglev (much cheaper, much quieter, much faster) to buslanes (much cheaper, much quieter, much faster). So alternatives were offered – where were you? Musta been at the union hall sitting on the bench waiting for the rail guys to call. Sorry, the rail workers are from the mainland…
Here’s something that should be tried first. Penalized the single occupant drivers which comprise of maybe 90% of the cars on the H1. Put a toll on H1 and H2. That should at least cut the number of single occupant cars to half.
Also, eliminate on-street parking. It would force more people to carpool or use alternative transportation, as well as making the streets safer for bicyclists and pedestrians. But our backwards City is going in the opposite direction — like removing prohibitions against parking too close to driveways, so that EVEN MORE on-street parking can take place.
Enforce the required no-fault insurance laws and that takes another 20% of cars off the road.
You asked this exact question and I and others responded in great detail but you never replied. If I can find the response will cut and paste. However will post this short response: The Oahu rail will DOUBLE commute times with current West Oahu to town commuters and with 100% certainty will FAIL. What WILL improve traffic congestion on Oahu is improve the know CHOKEPOINTS on Oahu such as the H1/H2 merge, E bound H1 Middle St Merge and the worst of them all is the E bound H1 Vineyard/Ward/Piikoi onramp/ Punahou off ramp nightmare that is used to reach UH Manoa, Puahou, Maryknoll, Hanahauoli, Mid Pac, St Andrews, etc. Create a H1 bi-directional HOV lane starting from the Nimitz Viaduct all the way past Pearl City that does NOT require a Zip mobile to have to physically move a barrier. Create a contrflow lane that extends from the Nimitz viaduct past to Ala Moand blvd so that City Express! bus can travel all the way from Ewa Beach/ Kapolei to UH and Waikiki in about 40 minutes during the worst of morning and afternoon traffic and that would be 1000 times better than the current train to nowhere project. Also they are building lightweight buses made mostly of composite like the Boeing 787 dreamliner and such a lightweight bus can be powered by electricity which would give it much longer range that current electric buses. You contradict yourself as you admit the problems of building something on time, on budget and actually works well in Hawaii but then you want to continue the Oahu rail project that is a complete and utter failure except for rail special interest that is making a killing all at Hawaii taxpayer expense.
Thank God we have democrats. What do republicans do but restrict voting and give tax cuts to the rich? Shame the republican party has fallen so much.
Boots says: “What do republicans do but restrict voting and give tax cuts to the rich?”
You mean like voter suppression and not enough ballots in Ben’s Mayoral race? Or do you mean Kirk Caldwell’s property tax dodge and the tax free real estate trust that owns Ala Moana Mall?
I liked to see lots of candidates to run for mayor and other offices. More to choose from. I love the attack and negative ads because it works. The SuperPacs is already endorsing their candidate.
More of the same. Tweedle dee and tweedle dum. Anybody honest to oppose PRP candidates?
Maybe he is looking for more free trips on our dime. Can’t ever remember him being around during his stint. Always out of town.
That sums up his term as mayor right there.
yep martin should run too. need to get him out of the city council and he will definitely not be elected to mayor. then the city can get back to doing work for the people instead of martin’s friend, ie. new hope church and the Korean church which both he tried to help them without going through the process.
The $500,000 for the Kosong Foundation is now in the budget, tying up money that could be used for other programs.
Another lawyer, oh my god!! God help us all! Please!! #Kaaihue4Mayor #Kaaihue4Congress #Kaaihue4Govenor
LET ME ANNOUNCE AND PRESENT TO YOU HAWAII . . . . . ( DRUM ROLL PLEASE) . . . . AULANI KAAIHUE TAKING THE OATH TO BE YOUR HONOLULU MAYOR. I MAY NOT BE A LAWYER, IM AN ENGINEER/ENTREPRENEUR . . . WATCH ON YOUTUBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o51oNbmAT6Q
I don’t know anything about you but , in this field of candidates, you have a pretty even chance!
What are your qualifications ?
Caldwell, Martin, and Carlisle are not good options for Mayuor but YOU Kaahui4Congress are even worse – you are a dim*wit with stu*pid ideas and thoughts.
Did you, by chance, stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night? Just asking…
Bring back Cayetano!!!
Charles Djou!!!!
I would love that choice!
SECOND that. Charles is a smart, articulate and sensible person who would be an excellent mayor.
If anyone can stop the concrete monster that no one seems to know where it will go to or start from and if there are going to bathrooms at different stations or even how much it is going to cost the people. What a about parking? There are so many things that need to be addressed to the public that no one seems to care about. I’m just on the rail and these mayor’s just want to run for governor to put us people more in dept then what we are already. We have so many different issue that need to be handled that are sweep under the carpet. Not sure who I will vote for this year. Duke where are you?
Is this the best choices we have? This is almost as bad as our choices for president.
Sounds like the pro-rail guys are deciding to hedge their bets so there is no way they can lose no matter who becomes Mayor.
Carlisle would be no better than Capt Kirk and possibly worse. Carlisle is a another joker who loves the limelight and the photo ops stuff but
loath to do any real work. Wish either Ben Cayetano or Charles Dijou would run. Oahu and those of us who live here are doomed if either Carlisle, Capt Kirk
or Ernie (Let me Wet My Beak) Martin becomes Mayor.
I think Honolulu will be stuck with Caldwell. The unions love him. We got Kenoi but his term is almost done.Kenoi was ok until he screwed up.
Me suspects this year’s election will be a referendum on rail.
Carlisle has my vote.
Doesn’t want to fundraise. Doesn’t want to wave signs. Didn’t work that hard. Only wants to serve one term. Only declared after his pot dispensary plans fell through.
Wow. Sounds like he’s really passionate about the job!
Carlisle is the guy who got the mariners ridge hike shut down because he didn’t like the hikers parking in front of his house… Please don’t vote for this a$$
He was a lousy mayor too. We need Ben back!
Peter has nothing to offer our city. He does not understand anything about rail. I showed him the Parsons data that showed traffic would be worse with rail and then he went out and told everyone rail was great and would remove 40,000 cars from our roads – which is a lie. He has nothing to offer tourism. He has nothing to offer our island culture. He is a misfit in politics. He should stick to being an attorney – which he is good at.
Finished 3rd in a 3 man race……spells, loser.
WAIT A COTTON PICKING MINUTE!! Didn’t Carlisle explicity tell us to vote for Kirk Caldwell??
I’ve got the video right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMcseYSRtXo
lol!
Another one in the crackpot. So rail is bankrupting the city and they don’t see it? End the rail at the Middle Street and move on already.
We have three losers in the race, the stupidest one without the most sense will win.
OMG.
I’m voting for Pete because our present Mayor is undoudtedly the worst Mayor of the city and country of Honolulu in history.
I always been against the Rail, but Peter Carlise is for the Rail. I can understand his support. You just can’t stop the project now after millions spent on it. When the rail is completed, who knows when, I really don’t think many people will utilize it. At the beginning, they will be a whole crowd of people just being on a fast rail. But after a few years, they will go back to their car for their personal reasons.
Rail sucks–bucks. Rail sucks bucks from Oahu taxpayers and will continue to perpetually suck dollars from us. 10 years from complete Rail–alone–will cost taxpayers a HALF BILLION DOLLARS in Operation & Maintenance (O&M) costs.
Looks like Pete is bored moping around home so he needs something to do. Too bad he can’t get a job from captain kirk.
Do we need another LAWYER?
Ben Cayetano, Charles Djou or Duke Aiona. Any of the three is better than what we have, including Carlyle.
Carliar is just like Crookwell except you probably wont see him riding on the bike lane in his pink smugglers
Where is Panos?? He’s against rail. Panos, Panos where are you????
Just another Caldwell.