Mayor begins campaign with most money on hand

Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle, seeking to retain the job for a full four-year term, enters the 2012 race with a sizable lead in funds as his challengers begin mounting their campaigns against him.

Kirk Caldwell, the former city managing director and former acting mayor, along with former two-term Gov. Ben Caye­tano, are expected to compete heavily for votes and money. Both announced their candidacies in mid-January.

Carlisle raised $53,000 in the last half of 2011, according to reports filed Monday with the state Campaign Spending Commission. He raised $340,000 in the current election cycle and still had $89,000 from his 2010 campaign, giving him $428,000 for the race.

"I’m happy that we’re at the level we’re at," Carlisle said Tuesday. "Obviously, we didn’t raise as much money in the second half as we did at the front, because we weren’t sure who was going to be the competition and we wanted to know what the need for fundraising was."

Carlisle raised about $600,000 in 2010 and said he expects to need about that much "and maybe a little bit more" this year. He has about $297,000 in cash on hand.

Caldwell reported raising $72,000 in the last half of 2011, virtually all of it in the final six weeks of the year, he said.

"I think this is a good first step — a good amount of seed money to launch a strong campaign," Caldwell said.

Caldwell declared for the race on Jan. 12 but had held a November fundraiser with an eye on a mayoral run. He has raised $90,000 for this year’s race, which includes a carryover of $1,000 from 2010, and has about $73,000 in cash on hand.

Two years ago Carlisle won a special election with a plurality among four main contenders, capturing 38.8 percent of the vote. Caldwell finished second with 34.6 percent, despite outspending Carlisle by a 2-1 margin.

In 2012, a regular election year, one candidate can win with 50 percent plus one vote in the Aug. 11 primary. Otherwise, the top two finishers advance to a runoff in the November general election.

Cayetano entered the race a week after Caldwell but had not previously been raising funds and had nothing to report from the six-month period ending Dec. 31.

"We’re just beginning the fundraising process, and we’re very optimistic because we have a lot of momentum and support from the people of Oahu," Caye­tano said through a spokes­woman. "I’ve never seen such a high level of enthusiasm for a campaign."

Cayetano is the only one of the three opposed to the city’s $5.27 billion rail transit project.

Both challengers criticized Carlisle’s handling of the rail project, saying missteps have put the project — and any federal money — in jeopardy.

Caldwell has criticized Carlisle as singularly focused on getting rail completed at any cost, citing as a specific example the city’s awarding of key contracts before the official formation of the Hono­lulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, which was billed as a body that was needed to remove politics from decisions regarding rail.

Cayetano has similarly tried to paint Carlisle as a one-issue candidate, adding that the city cannot afford the rail while it also must abide by terms of a $3.5 billion federal consent decree to upgrade its aging waste-water treatment systems.

Carlisle called the criticisms "completely predictable" and "fairly unimaginative."

"That’s expected from people who aren’t in an office who want to get that office that somebody else occupies, so it’s nothing unusual," Carlisle said.

Carlisle said he expects to tout accomplishments in his adminstration, such as the progress made by the rail project and the city’s performance during November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Carlisle opened his campaign headquarters last week but otherwise has been low key in the campaign.

"Everything is a matter of timing," Carlisle said. "What’s essential about this is ultimately, I’m still running the city and plan to continue to do so.

"We’re not going to go into an election year paralysis, which some people tend to do, and worry about decisions being made during the campaign season."