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Last updated June 24, 2008 5:56 p.m. PT
Honolulu mayor uses campaign funds for ads against group
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HONOLULU -- Mayor Mufi Hannemann has used campaign funds to pay for advertisements attacking a group opposed to the city's planned $4 billion rail transit system.
The three-quarter-page ad claims that Stop Rail Now is made up of "ultraconservative groups" that support the auto and oil industries, and very few residents. The advertisement has appeared in both Honolulu daily newspapers.
"Anti-rail protesters want us to remain dependent on things that are no longer working," the ad reads.
Stop Rail Now says Hannemann should not be using his campaign funds to attack the group, which is working to put the rail project on the November ballot. They say contrary to statements in the ad, the city has not accepted public input.
"It is wrong for this mayor to be using his huge campaign treasury to attack a citizen group ... especially when his ad is full of lies," said Dennis Callan, co-chairman of Stop Rail Now.
Barbara Wong, executive director of state Campaign Spending Commission, said Hannemann's use of the funds is legal. Candidates can use campaign funds for issues related to the office they are seeking, she said.
The ad is entitled, "Getting Real on Rail: Setting the record straight on anti-rail misinformation," and includes a note from Hannemann that lists potential benefits of the system.
The mayor's administration was criticized earlier this year by members of the city council for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of city funds on public relations for the project.
The administration argued that federal guidelines require that spending.
Hannemann has raised more than $2 million in campaign funds although no other major candidate has emerged to challenge his re-election bid.
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Information from: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, http://www.starbulletin.com
Do not let me down. If it gets built, please call it "The Rail."