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The Pacific Resource Partnership PAC, a pro-rail group being sued by former Gov. Ben Cayetano over its ads attacking him in the Honolulu mayor’s race, spent more than $3.2 million during the high-stakes mayoral campaign — more than the two mayoral campaigns combined.
That total included $819,000 spent in the final weeks of the campaign, according to its most recent report filed late Thursday with the state Campaign Spending Commission.
By comparison, Cayetano’s anti-rail campaign spent about $1.4 million, while Mayor-elect Kirk Caldwell, who vowed to "do rail better," spent about $1.7 million.
Some of PRP’s ads advocated for rail or for Caldwell, but the most high-profile ads targeted Cayetano. Ads centered on illegal donations to Cayetano’s last gubernatorial campaign and his pardons as governor, and included a mailer trying to link him to the state Republican Party.
Cayetano has called the ads character assassination and part of a smear campaign that was intended to discredit his candidacy. He sued PRP for defamation, alleging that some of its advertisements were false and defamatory.
PRP is a trade name for the Carpenters Market Recovery Fund, which is an alliance between the Hawaii Carpenters Union and contractors that use unionized workers. Neither its members nor its donors have been made public by PRP and its executive director, John White.
All of the money for the PAC is listed as coming from the Recovery Fund.
White did not immediately return a message seeking comment Friday.
He previously has defended PRP’s ad campaign as simply pointing out unflattering parts of Cayetano’s record that have been documented publicly.