Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s trail of debt on Oahu rail is strewn with loose words and broken promises.
Like when he pledged in 2012 to “build rail better” and said: “The current $5.2 billion budget includes a very large contingency and adequate reserves for short-term financing. Reports that it will cost $7 billion or more are only scare tactics unsupported by anyone except tea party-style rail critics.”
Or when he promised that “100 percent of costs will be collected by the time the system is completed. There will be no ‘mortgage’ to pay in 2022 when the (excise tax) surcharge for the rail project ends.”
Now, after the Legislature voted $2.4 billion last week to bail out Caldwell’s lousy math for the second time, the rail tab is $8.14 billion, the half-percent excise tax surcharge is extended until 2030 and the hotel tax is up a percentage point for 13 years to fund the train.
Astonishingly, the mayor is already saying it’s not enough and he’ll likely be back for more — possibly soon.
If credibility is the best political currency, Caldwell is flat broke.
Legislators and congressional delegates shredded him like cuttlefish when he tried on the eve of the special session to switch cost numbers and increase his take $600 million by falsely claiming the Federal Transit Administration was demanding a “stress test.”
U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, once his rail ally, accused Caldwell of “pick(ing) numbers out of the air” and padding his cost figure to “cover up for something else.”
A meeting including the mayor, House and Senate leaders, Hanabusa and U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz devolved into a shouting match until Caldwell stomped out.
“I think everybody in the room yelled at him that night,” said House Speaker Scott Saiki.
Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke, architect of the bailout, was heard referring to Caldwell as “this idiot.”
Legislators on both sides of the bailout vote castigated the mayor’s honesty.
“I felt like I was lied to,” Rep. Matthew LoPresti told Caldwell. “I don’t believe you anymore with costs.”
Rep. Joy San Buenaventura added, “Nobody trusts your figures.”
Many of us thought the Legislature was unwise to commit more money to rail while the city’s numbers are so shaky.
But we should give legislators credit — Saiki and Luke especially — for at least standing firm on meaningful new accountability measures.
House and Senate members will sit on the city board that oversees rail, project expenses will need state approval and an extensive state audit will scrutinize rail management, overhead, payments to contractors and subcontractors, change orders and discarded cost-saving options.
And the city will finally have to explain how it’ll pay some $140 million in annual rail operating costs.
These are tough and long-needed discussions that hopefully won’t end with Caldwell stomping out again.
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
