Former acting Mayor Kirk Caldwell, looking to reclaim the post permanently, wasted little time in criticizing the incumbent, characterizing Mayor Peter Carlisle’s first year in office as little more than photo opportunities and traveling with a singular focus on pushing the rail transit project at any cost.

"I believe you all know that this election is about much more," Caldwell said Thursday in formally declaring his candidacy. "You need someone who approaches this job seriously — the whole job, not just the ceremonies, not just the groundbreakings, not just the world travel and not just a stand on one controversial issue.

"It’s about the whole, whole job."

Carlisle is traveling on the mainland this week en route to Washington, D.C., for next week’s winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Through a campaign official he said he had anticipated Caldwell’s entry into the race and that he has made it "abundantly clear" that he is running for re-election.

The mayor remains focused on bringing down spending as he prepares the city’s next operating budget to present to the City Council in the coming months, said Cha Thompson, Carlisle’s campaign chairwoman.

"Everyone recognizes that the work done by the Carlisle city team has been energetic, transparent and honest," Thompson said in a statement. "As Mayor Carlisle promised when elected, he has brought the city’s fiscal house in order. He will continue to stress fiscal discipline."

Carlisle won a special election in September 2010 to fill the last two years of the term vacated by Mufi Hannemann, who ran for governor and was required by law to resign as mayor. Caldwell was city managing director at the time and served as acting mayor for three months.

The 2012 mayor’s race is expected to be a three-way campaign with the anticipated entry of two-term Gov. Ben Cayetano, who has been considering a mayoral run as an anti-rail candidate. Carlisle and Caldwell support rail. Cayetano said Wednesday he was not ready to declare his candidacy but said the prospect of him entering the race "looks pretty good."

"We’re going to have some very spirited debates if he jumps in, and I look forward to that," Caldwell said of Cayetano.

Caldwell said he has lined up support from some of the same groups that supported him in the 2010 campaign, but he declined to identify them Thursday.

Caldwell and Carlisle each received a good share of union endorsements two years ago. The Hawaii Carpenters Union was among Carlisle’s most prominent supporters, while Caldwell received backing from the city’s police and firefighters unions as well as International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142.

Caldwell said he hopes to court the same support and separate himself from Carlisle despite both being attorneys who strongly support the rail transit project.

"I think one distinction on rail is that I’ll manage it better than it’s being managed today and actually get it done," Caldwell said. "And that should give the community greater confidence."

Carlisle has sparred with the Council over which body — the Council or the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation — has control of the project’s budget, and has also faced criticism of fast-tracking the project without considering alternatives.

The Federal Transit Administration has accepted the city’s project into the final design phase, but the city still is awaiting a full-funding grant agreement with the FTA for $1.55 billion in federal New Starts money to help build the project. The city says the agreement is expected to come next fall.

"Quite frankly, I’m very worried about how rail has been handled," Caldwell said. "The way it’s been handled is that it’s in more trouble because of the lack of focus, lack of paying attention to detail, a lack of transparency and a lack of speaking to the people about the problems of rail and how you’re going to overcome them."

Hawaii News Now video: Caldwell enters Honolulu mayor’s race