In his column, Richard Borreca discussed the influence unions have in our elections and specifically cites the recent special election for Honolulu City Council District 4 (“Pro-development forces, related labor industries flex muscle in Hawaii politics,” Star-Advertiser, On Politics, April 21).

Borreca noted that Tommy Waters outspent Trevor Ozawa by $40,000 in the special election and that an additional $163,000 was spent by labor-related unions in opposition to Ozawa.

It’s not really fair to just include expenditures made during the special election, so let’s look at the total amount on both sides.

Waters spent a total of approximately $435,500 for the primary, general and special elections while Ozawa spent about $722,000. When non-candidate committee money is added, Waters’ total comes to about $637,000.

Overall, expenditures for Ozawa’s campaign were about $85,000 more than Waters.

The contributions side of the equation is similar, with Ozawa outraising Waters by just over $85,000, including late contributions and non-candidate committee funds.

I don’t like non-candidate PAC money in our races, but if it’s going to be discussed, we should at least have the complete picture presented.

Natalie Iwasa

Hawaii Kai

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