Tax collections earmarked for the city’s $5.27 billion rail project would be better spent propping up the city’s aging sewers and waste-water systems, mayoral candidate and former Gov. Ben Cayetano said, adding that he believes Gov. Neil Abercrombie would be receptive to discussing his plans for those funds.
Cayetano is running against incumbent Mayor Peter Carlisle and former city Managing Director Kirk Caldwell. The former two-term governor is the only one opposed to the rail project.
Speaking Monday to a supportive crowd at a Downtown Exchange Club of Honolulu luncheon, Cayetano said he "had a little talk" with Abercrombie about his proposal for the money from the half-percent general excise tax surcharge on Oahu.
The surcharge dedicated for the rail project is expected to raise $3.15 billion before it expires in 2022, although an estimated $278 million already has been spent.
If elected, Cayetano said he would approach the governor and the Legislature about using some of the GET surcharge funds for city projects.
"I would say to them … ‘I would like you to consider, let me use $1 billion, maybe less, to improve the buses and the bus system,’" Cayetano said. "‘Give me a half-billion for sewers, a half-billion for water systems and you keep the rest.’
"That’s a bill they’re going to go for because they want that money. They need that money."
Afterward, Cayetano declined to divulge details of his talk with the governor, calling them "private conversations."
"Put it this way: I know him, and I know he’ll be open to listening," Cayetano said.
Abercrombie’s office did not immediately comment.
Cayetano and Abercrombie are friends and political allies dating back to their days in the Legislature in the 1970s and ’80s. Abercrombie, who supports rail, has said he will not make an endorsement in the mayor’s race.
The campaign is expected to heat up in coming months as Cayetano begins fundraising to catch up with Carlisle, who began 2012 with about $300,000 in campaign cash. Caldwell has about $73,000.
Although Thursday’s luncheon, attended by about 100 people, was not a fundraiser, that did not stop Honolulu attorney Brad Coates from making good on a promise he made last month upon running into Cayetano at a function.
"I said, ‘Ben, please run, and if you do, I’ll give you $1,000 right off the bat,’" Coates said, approaching Cayetano with check in hand. "I’m here to fulfill that promise."
