Save Our Honolulu

By Gerald Suzawa, Kapolei

SaveOurHonolulu.com, a new independent expenditure committee dedicated to stopping the possibly ten billion dollar Honolulu rail project, has begun airing two commercials that bash the pro-rail mayoral candidate Kirk Caldwell. Both show pictures of a beaming Caldwell in a hard hat and denounce his support of the project against a backdrop of ominous music.

"No matter how low the dollar will fall, it will never fall

as low as some people will stoop to get it."

One ad points to an environmental impact statement and the city's official traffic forecast, both of which suggested that traffic congestion would worsen despite the rail. "If Kirk Caldwell can't be trusted to say the truth about something as costly as rail, how can he be trusted to say the truth about anything?," the narrator asks.

Another ad criticizes Caldwell for his involvement in rail planning, particularly in light of the Hawaii Supreme Court's ruling that the city violated state law in starting construction before completing archaeological surveys of Native Hawaiian burial sites. They had to push it through before the public got wind of it. The  public is now waking up to how they got rooked.

Walter Heen, Randy Roth and Cliff Slater, terrific bunch of guys are behind Save Our Honolulu, which was formed largely in response to the Pacific Resource Partnership's smear campaign against former Hawaii gov. Ben Cayetano. Cayetano's own campaign coffers have dwindled, but this group is now collecting donations in a last-ditch effort to prevail over PRP's mudslinging.

Contracts available in the public files show that Save Our Honolulu spent at least $77,000 on about 150 spots that are airing on KHON, KITV, KGMB and KHNL through early November. Most of the spots are airing during evening news programming.

On the Waianae Coast we have been praying for something like this. These last few months the Department of Transportation has punished the users of Public Transportation and this the worst that it have ever been. Little old ladies standing from Waianae to town. That is criminal!

For its part, PRP has spent approximately $2.2 million on TV ads this election season. No new contracts showed up in the stations' political files this week. And there has been undisclosed amounts of "dark money" coming in. The Universities are getting some good knowledge on their methods, and we are beginning to see how these gangsters operate. Caldwell has tried to distance himself but he is in up to his ears, and now losing ground. He is another lying crook just like them.