Candidates’ activity with pro-union ads is legal but ethically vague, analyst says

Two Honolulu City Council members running for Congress have put their faces on TV spots to bolster the position of the union battling over pension benefits with Kaiser Permanente Hawaii.

Unite Here Local 5, representing 1,900 Kaiser health care workers, said it spent between $30,000 and $40,000 to run several weeks of ads featuring Stanley Chang and Joey Mana­han, both in the running for the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Colleen Hana­busa.

"I’m not surprised (the ads have) raised some eyebrows, but they are legal. It’s allowed under campaign law," said John Hart, chairman and professor of the Department of Communication at Hawaii Pacific University. "It’s not considered an advertisement for the campaign, but obviously these two people are running for office, so it gives them media exposure. It’s functionally an ad the campaign doesn’t have to buy."

This type of deal is a win-win for the candidates and union, since Local 5 gets spokes­men and the elected officials allegiance from the union and free media coverage during election season, he said.

Ethically, "it’s a gray area, similar to differentiating an incumbent running for office and an incumbent carrying out the duties of their office," Hart said. "At the end of the day, this is political free speech, which is protected by the First Amendment. People who aren’t comfortable with it can certainly show their ethical concerns by voting against candidates that do these kinds of things."

Chang and Manahan didn’t return calls for comment.

In one spot, Chang says Kaiser wants to end guaranteed pensions for its local workers.

"Kaiser shouldn’t hurt our people as they get older," Chang says in the ad, appealing to Kaiser to "do the right thing."

In another, Manahan says "getting old shouldn’t hurt. Ending guaranteed pensions hurts our people as we get older. I say no to ending guaranteed pensions."

Kaiser spokeswoman Laura Lott said the commercials are misleading and unclear.

She said Kaiser gave Local 5 a last, best and final offer in January which included pay raises and a different kind of retirement benefit for new workers hired after Jan. 1, not existing employees.

"They did not take that offer to a vote with their membership," she said. "There are no changes to any current employees’ pension benefits within this new offer."

But Eric Gill, Local 5’s financial secretary and treasurer, said the state’s largest health maintenance organization is really trying to eliminate pension benefits for all employees in a move that would ultimately hurt the community, even though the company amended its proposal to only new hires. The union claims workers would lose at least $1,200 a month in pension benefits under Kaiser’s proposal.

The ads were a strategic move by the union, also representing the bulk of the state’s hospitality workers, which offered a select group of Council members the chance to be featured in the prime-time commercials.

"We wanted a way to make it clear to the public that Kaiser’s attacking our members and the community in general," Gill said. "We focused on the City Council for a variety of reasons. Our political attention is focused on the Council, where many of the decisions are made that affect the future of tourism. We basically asked the Council people to weigh in on behalf of our members and the general community against Kaiser trying to take money out of the elderly’s pocket."

Gill says there are no ethical problems in his mind for political candidates taking a stance on issues affecting the community.

"I can’t imagine what any ethical issue might be," he said. "Politicians, like anyone else, have the right of freedom of speech. We’re going to criticize elected officials who do their jobs? Kaiser may not like this, but we don’t like what they’re doing, either."

Local 5 said it endorsed Mana­han in 2012 and "put a fair amount of effort into getting him elected, and he’s been responsive to us."

The union hasn’t previously endorsed Chang, though "candidates that are willing to assist us gives them more points in any consideration we make," Gill said.