Supporters of Honolulu mayoral candidate Ben Cayetano have begun a round of radio ads defending themselves against "smears" and "attacks" by the pro-rail group Pacific Resources Partnership and its executive director, John White.
The radio spots began airing Thursday and feature Dennis Mitsunaga, president of Mitsunaga & Associates — an architectural, engineering and construction management firm with government and private contracts — and his daughter, Lois.
"We are so sick of listening to his lies and smears,we consider it our responsibility to expose him to the public for the hypocrite that he is," Lois Mitsunaga said in an email. She said the ads, scheduled to run until the Aug. 11 primary, cost $30,000 and were paid for by her father.
The 60-second radio spots aim to rebut an ad campaign by PRP, an advocacy group for contractors and unionized carpenters and construction workers that is behind the political action committee, "Read Ben’s Record." The PAC has been airing ads and undertaking an email campaign against Cayetano and his mayoral campaign, which is based on stopping the city’s rail project.
Cayetano is running against Mayor Peter Carlisle and former city Managing Director Kirk Caldwell, both strong rail supporters.
"I have great respect for our union, but I am very disappointed by John White and the outright lies he has used to smear former Gov. Ben Cayetano and myself in his recent ads," Dennis Mitsunaga says in one ad.
The PRP campaign alleges Mitsunaga benefited from a "pay-to-play" culture in the 1990s in which campaign donations were seen as a way to gain influence in receiving public contracts.
About the Mitsunagas’ counter-ads, White said, "Ben Cayetano’s campaign is getting defensive because they know voters don’t want to return to the pay-to-play system that flourished when he was governor."
White said Cayetano and Mitsunaga "are desperate to keep the pressure on contractors, and they will do whatever it takes to win because they need Cayetano to give them no-bid government contracts."
Mitsunaga, a member of the Hawaii Carpenters Union, has been a significant fundraiser for Democrats, including Cayetano, Gov. Neil Abercrombie and former Mayor Jeremy Harris.
Although he was investigated as part of a 2004 campaign finance probe of Harris, he was never charged with a crime.
White has claimed that illegal campaign donations made to Cayetano’s last gubernatorial campaign resulted in millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to Mitsunaga. The Campaign Spending Commission cleared Cayetano of wrongdoing, and its former executive director, Bob Watada, who initiated much of the reform of the pay-to-play system, has called Cayetano one of the most honest politicians in Hawaii.
The Mitsunagas say White is a hypocrite because his own 2010 City Council campaign is being investigated by the Campaign Spending Commission. Kristin Izumi-Nitao, commission executive director, said White has been asked to answer questions about his reports and has been cooperative. She said it is not a formal investigation.
