Supporters of mayoral candidate Ben Cayetano are fighting back against the $1 million barrage of advertising by pro-business and pro-labor groups that favor the rail transit project and Kirk Caldwell, Cayetano’s opponent.
Defend Ben, a group that filed organizational papers as a political action committee with the state Campaign Spending Commission on Thursday, began running radio commercials the next day that support Cayetano.
The ads claim former city Managing Director Kirk Caldwell neglected basic city needs while prematurely pushing through the city’s $5.26 billion rail project, thus "costing taxpayers over $114 million to date and contractor delay damages."
The ads urge Oahu voters to support "a man with a proven track record of honesty, integrity and accomplishment" — Cayetano.
Earlier last week, three rail project opponents launched a group called SaveOurHonolulu.com to support Cayetano and put an end to what it calls the "destructive" rail project.
The principals of that group are University of Hawaii law professor Randal Roth, former federal Judge Walter Heen and Honolulu businessman Cliff Slater, who also have filed a lawsuit against the project. Heen resigned as chairman of the Cayetano campaign to become chairman of SaveOurHonolulu.com.
Heen said the group has not yet run any ads, but intends to do so in the coming weeks. It began putting up information on its website Friday afternoon.
Caldwell said Friday he had not yet heard Defend Ben’s radio commercial. However, during recent forums and debates, he has emphasized his experience managing the city and said that Cayetano, not he, is the single-issue candidate.
Defend Ben’s organizational report listed Milton Hirohata as its chairman and treasurer. Hirohata, reached at home by telephone, described himself as a retired teacher. He asked that other questions be sent by email. As of 8 p.m. Sunday, Hirohata had not responded to the questions.
One political action committee has already spent more than $1 million supporting Caldwell’s candidacy and informing Oahu voters that a win by Cayetano would spell the end of rail.
The Pacific Resource Partnership PAC reported in its Aug. 31 Campaign Spending Commission report that it had spent $1.2 million during the primary campaign, most of it related to the mayoral election.
PRP is a partnership between the Hawaii Carpenters Union, the state’s largest construction union, and the state’s unionized contractors. A 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision allows corporations and unions to spend an unlimited amount of money to support or oppose political candidates.
PRP’s ads have gone beyond pushing rail and heaping accolades on Caldwell. They charge that Cayetano has "a history of pay-to-play politics," accepting illegal campaign donations, then issuing nonbid contracts to the donors. A new series of TV and radio commercials repeating the accusation began Friday.
Cayetano has denied the charges vehemently. Former Campaign Spending Commission Executive Director Bob Watada has called Cayetano "one of the most honest persons I know" and appeared in Cayetano campaign commercials saying he is "appalled by the lies being spread about Ben Cayetano."
Meanwhile, a group known as Workers for a Better Hawaii has also begun to run a series of television ads that back Caldwell.
The Federal Election Commission website shows showed that Workers for a Better Hawaii’s agent is the Hawaii Government Employees Association’s comptroller, Maureen Wakuzawa.
FEC records also show that in 2010 the group spent more than $100,000 to oppose congressional candidates Charles Djou, a Republican, and Ed Case, a Democrat.
PACs are allowed to support or oppose candidates as long as the PACs have no contact with them, and both Cayetano and Caldwell said they have had no such contact.
Cayetano said he knows Defend Ben Chairman Hirohata but hasn’t seen or spoken to him in years. Cayetano said he did not know he had helped form Defend Ben until told by reporters Friday.
Caldwell has questioned Heen’s role as chairman of SaveOurHonolulu.com. As former chairman of the Cayetano campaign, Heen has intimate knowledge of that campaign and took it with him to the PAC, he said.
Cayetano said Heen decided to join the PAC without consulting with him, while Heen said he joined the PAC at the invitation of Roth and Slater.
Cayetano supporters, meanwhile, allege there is collusion between PRP and the Caldwell campaign, pointing to a PRP commercial that features a photo of Caldwell first used in a 2010 Caldwell ad. Caldwell said he has had no contact with PRP officials and that the photo is the property of a person hired by his 2010 campaign and that he has no control over its usage.
The candidates say they have come to accept the influence of independent PACs in the campaign.
Caldwell called it part of the "rough and tumble nature of politics," adding, "I’m not going to condone it. I’m not going to criticize it. It’s just part of the political process in our country."
Cayetano said he’s pleased people are coming to his aid.
"‘I’m happy that some people think I’ve been getting a raw deal," Cayetano said. "I’m happy that people think PRP is lying and trying to smear me."
The election is Nov. 6.
