David Shapiro: Hawaii Carpenters Union wields oversize political hammer

Since the local Carpenters Union super PAC spent $3 million smearing former Gov. Ben Caye­tano in his 2012 anti-rail mayoral race against Kirk Caldwell — for which it apologized after attaining its goal — politicians have tread lightly around the carpenters and rail lest they be next in the crosshairs.

An exception is Rep. Sylvia Luke, who’s bluntly called out excessive spending and shady tactics by the carpenters’ political action committee.

We’ll see what it costs her as the union zeroes in on her campaign for lieutenant governor.

In 2018, Luke said the union’s PAC, Be Change Now, was “out of control” after it spent $3 million in that election, including $1 million on behalf of Josh Green’s campaign for lieutenant governor, with little accountability under election laws. Green made the union’s lobbyist his chief of staff and is now front-runner for governor with the carpenters’ support.

Luke, the House finance chairwoman who was skeptical of rail bailouts, described $62,000 the PAC spent on attack mailers against Honolulu City Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga as “just clear-out mudslinging,” and another time accused the union of a “thuggish approach.”

Now comes the payback.

Be Change Now recently endorsed and began running TV ads for one of Luke’s opponents, former City Council member Ikaika Anderson, in the tight Democratic primary for LG that also includes former prep sports director Keith Amemiya and Chamber of Commerce CEO Sherry Menor-McNamara.

The first carpenters’ ad praised Anderson; it remains to be seen whether future spots will subject Luke or the others to the kind of attacks aimed at Cayetano and Fukunaga.

The Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters has only 6,200 members, but wields outsize influence for two reasons:

>> Big bucks. Be Change Now (formerly Pacific Resource Partnership) is financed from the Carpenters Market Recovery Program Fund, which receives nearly $1 from unionized contractors for every hour a carpenter works. As of February the PAC had $7.8 million on hand.

>> The U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which allows PACs associated with corporations, labor unions and other special interests to spend virtually unlimited amounts on behalf of candidates.

The carpenters have lost a few — Fukunaga beat their ally Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, and they couldn’t help Colleen Hanabusa oust Gov. David Ige — but their campaign cash has paid big dividends.

The rail-loving Caldwell may well have lost to Cayetano without their PAC’s massive outlay, and the PAC spent more than $600,000 to help install Rick Blangiardi as Caldwell’s successor.

Their money was critical to putting Green in position to succeed Ige, and they’re trying to do Anderson the same favor in the current LG contest.

Luke has called for legislation to rein in super PACs, but admitted it would have to be “something creative” because of the Citizens United case.

For now the only defense candidates targeted by these PACs have is to make known where the special-interest money subverting our elections is coming from and hope voters aren’t too siloed to care — or attract their own super PAC support.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.