Dave Shapiro got the right of it in his Volcanic Ash column this week on former mayor Mufi Hannemann’s “hit-and-run” campaign tactics.
Win or lose, credit may go to Hannemann’s program of dirty tricks carried out with repeated less-than-plausible deniability.
The latest case involved Hannemann backer Ken Wong, who apparently was the moving force behind an attack from supposedly “independent” Christian group.
Shapiro rightly gives Associated Press writer Herbert Sample gets credit for tying the group back to Wong and the Hannemann campaign.
Just an aside–did Sample’s excellent story appear in the Star-Advertiser? If so, I missed it and had to find it in the Maui News. You can also see the response from the Abercrombie campaign at his web site.
According to Sample:
He (Wong) later issued a brief statement: ”I may be listed as a supporter of Mufi along with hundreds of others. But I have no official capacity in the Hannemann campaign.” He did not respond to requests for further comment.
AP also reported that Wong was one of those funding the “independent” group.
That phrase, “no official capacity in the Hannemann campaign”, is getting quite a workout this year. The creator of “Atomic Monkey” had no official capacity. Wong has no official capacity.
Of course, Wong has acted for the Hannemann campaign and been reimbursed for expenses he has incurred, campaign reports show, and, among other things, was the person in charge of a $500 per person fundraiser for Mufi on June 29 at the Royal Hawaiian. He has also been cited by the GOP as the Hannemann campaign spokesman reaching out to churches to arrange appearances by the former mayor.
I have a feeling Hannemann’s attempts to deny links to these “off the books” efforts are alienating voters, but only voters can make that decision.
By the way, did anybody else see anything funny about the television commercial about education that Hannemann’s running?
In it, Hannemann says:
“Furlough Friday’s were a disaster for our young people. We’ve got to help them make up that lost ground, and we can’t ever let such a thing happen again. That’s going to take more fiscal responsibility, sound management, and a stronger economy.”
Wait a minute. Didn’t Hannemann, as mayor, announce his own furlough plans back in a June press release?
City furloughs don’t impact students directly, but they do mean cuts in services for students and others who use city parks, those who participate in elderly programs, who need permits processed, etc., etc.
If furloughs are a disaster, it’s a disaster embraced by Hannemann’s administration as much as by the state. So I find the ad a distortion of the record.
Then there’s the environmental record. Hannemann’s campaign web site says: “Hannemann Builds Consensus Among EPA and Environmentalists“.
But a new web site created by the Sierra Club Hawaii PAC sees it differently:
Mufi Hannemann is spending tens of thousands of dollars trying to “green” his devastating environmental record. He’s banking on the hope that you have a short memory and don’t remember the environmental disasters, lack of planning, and poor policy that were hallmarks of his administration.
The purpose of this site is to hold Hannemann accountable for his record. Hannemann has failed O’ahu and future generations on four main areas of island sustainability: recycling, clean energy, safe water, and smart land use planning.
There must be an election coming up….
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http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20100904_hannemann_rejects_fliers_claims_against_opponent.html
from this past Saturday.
Sample did more reporting and his story provided many additional details of the tie back to Wong and the campaign.
Hannemann’s city furloughs twice a month are indeed a disaster for students and the seniors. They continue as an example of poor management by Hannemann as Mayor. I am not a fool to believe that management will be any better at the State level if Hannemann were to unfortunately be elected Governor.
yeah, i’d guess DD did a short rewrite of his piece. buy hey, they endorsed him, so you can’t expect front or full coverage of all the dirt under his rug.
The fruit does not fall far from the tree.
It’s very apparent that Mufi’s “Exploratory Committee for Mufi for Governor” is more than that.
The Hannemann Exploratory Committee
Ethan Abbott, Jr.
Dr. Danilo Ablan
John Aeto
Jr. Ah You
David Akina
Jeff Arce
Donn Ariyoshi
Kelvin M. Bloom
Wendell Brooks
Robin Campaniano
W. David Carey
Stanford S. Carr
Gifford Chang
Ming Chen
Sonny Ching
Debbie Ching Maiava
Herbert Chock
Sam Choy
Dave Chun
Jeff Coelho
Annie Corpuz
Wayne K. De Luz
W. Allen Doane
Walter A. Dods, Jr.
Maggie Domingo
Lee Donohue
John “Jack” Dwyer
Maria Etrata
Linda F. Fernandez
Scott Fernandez
Eddie Flores, Jr.
Andy D. Friedlander
David Fuertes
Wendell Fujii
Robert Fujimoto
Robyn Furuya
Lee David Gordon
Tim Guard
Anthony Guerrero
Warren Haruki
Denise Hayashi
David Heenan
Nery Heenan
Robert P. Hiam
Gwen Hiraga
Alan Ho
Peter S. Ho
Issac Hokama
Grant Howe
Rick Humphreys
Bobby Ichikawa
Robert Iinuma
Mike Irish
Mike Jokovich
Danny Kaleikini
Howard Kihune, Sr.
Lisa Kim
Peter Kim
Taeyong Kim
Alan Kimi
Lynn Kinney
Fran Kirk
So Suk Ko
Bert A. Kobayashi
Bert T. Kobayashi
BJ Kobayashi
Patrick Kobayashi
Alton Kuioka
Martin Luna
Tenari Maafala
Stephen H. MacMillan
Duncan MacNaughton
Kalani Mahoe
Colbert Matsumoto
Aimoku McClellan
Bill McCorriston
Bill Mills
Tom Moffatt
Arnold Morgado
G.A. Red Morris
Colin Nishida
Dean Okimoto
Ray Ono
Ruth Ono
George Paris
Alyssa Park
John Reed
Jean E. Rolles
Karen Ryder
Len Ryder
Harry Saunders
Dustin Shindo
Russell Siu
You Soukasseum
Phil Tacbian
Leonard Tanaka
Robert Tanaka
Cha Thompson
Jack Thompson
Michael Tresler
Mary Thronas
Turk Tokita
Dr. Laurie Tom
Joanne Trask
Keith Vieira
Sharon Weiner
Shelly Wilson
Adam Wong
Ken Wong
Robert Wu
Gerald Yamada
Roy Yamaguchi
Russell Yamamoto
Leslie-Ann Yokouchi
Paul Yonamine
Wally Yonamine
I trust Mufi as far as I can throw him
Have you heard the Aiona radio spots where he invariably meanders through some platitudes and at the end the diclosure reading voice says that the ad was not endorsed by any candidate… uh really? Aiona sits there and records the voice spots yet does not endorse them?
Thank you for your interest in our work.
Along with our short story, which is all we had space for on Saturday, we have done three blog items on the Islands Values matter:
http://blogs.starbulletin.com/inpolitics/unacceptable/
http://blogs.starbulletin.com/inpolitics/disappeared/
http://blogs.starbulletin.com/inpolitics/values-voters/
More Juicy stuff from one of Mufi’s Exploratory
committee members.
Civil No: 10-1-0863-04 (RAN) Lies, deceit, bullying, overcharges, no transparency, no disclosure. Just plain vintage MUFI MO.
Mufi talks about his “private sector” and “executive” experience. He was with C. Brewer for six years heading their Punaluu, Kau, Hawaii Island Sea Mountain project. The Planning Director in 1987 rejected the EIS for the project because it did not analyze alternatives hotel sites. Eventually, C. Brewer got the EIS accepted, and sold the project to a Japanese developer who went bankrupt. C. Brewer also shut down their two Kau sugar mills and eventually sold off their Kau lands. In 2006, there was an attempt to revive the Sea Mountain project, and that effort ultimately failed. Mufi’s six years of experience with C. Brewer should be remembered for failure, closing two sugar plantations, and selling of the C. Brewer’s lands.
After he failed at C. Brewer, Mufi eventually became director of the State’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Under his leadership, the Hawaii Spaceport project was conceived of and pursued, with its site to be in Kau on land that included C. Brewer property. I worked on the EIS, and it was fraught with problems. One being that the project site included a geological feature known as “the great crack”. The Kau spaceport project died. Mufi does not talk about this multi-million dollar failure.
Then there is the Honolulu rail project. The Federal and State EIS on his signature project as mayor, is 99.5% completed and unaccepted. I voted for Mufi twice as mayor and supported the rail project, however sadly I anticipate that the EIS, if accepted, would not withstand a judicial challenge. A project that is need as a transportation system and for the jobs it would provide, is poised to fail.
Finally, the current economic crisis began in mid-2007, and as mayor Mufi had over three years to stimulate our economic recovery. He does not tout his accomplishments in stimulating our economic recovery over the past three years because he has no accomplishments. He was our mayor during the worst economic downturn since the great depression and did not do anything significant to lead the City and County of Honolulu to an economic recovery.
So much for Mufi being the man who gets the job done, so much for Mufi’s private sector experience, and so much for Mufi as god’s gift to Hawaii’s economic revival.
Yeah, say what you will about Mufi.
But meanwhile, naive and myopic “progressives” bask in self-righteousness and choose to remain blissfully ignorant of similar tactics employed against him by Abercrombie and some cohorts who are just total sleazebags.
Pathetic.
Any specifics?
Ian, I think your article didn’t really capture the severity of Mufi’s negative campaigning and dirty tricks, not just for the 2010 election but in every single campaign Mufi has run in for an elected position. Keith Rollman is a negative campaign assassin for hire and has been for a long time. What exactly does he do to earn around $85,000 from the City? I don’t want to know his job title but what does he actually do other than spreading misinformation and secretive negative campaigning strategies. In particular, I think your article should have mentioned Hannemann’s critical remarks about the Lingle Administration’s efforts to negotiate with the unions for furloughs or other budget reduction strategies. Hannemann was an obstructionist to Lingle’s negotiation efforts, bragging about the City not needing furloughs because it had a balanced budget due to Mufi’s magnificent management skills. Then, he left the City with a very dire budget situation now and for years in the future, with furloughs. program cuts and ever-rising taxes and fees. I could go on and on about Mufi’s poor management skills and lack of integrity and fairness in campaigning. How many more years do we have to put up with his arrogance, poor management, and negative campaigning with dirty tricks and outright lies. And he has obviously used taxpayer money to engage in his vast PR campaign to glorify himself and attack opponents in one way or another.