United States Senator Daniel Inouye has announced that he will support either current Mayor Peter Carlise or Kirk Caldwell in the upcoming Honolulu mayor race. Both Carlise and Caldwell support the building of the $5.27 billion rail transit project, while former Governor Ben Cayetano, the third major candidate in the mayor’s race, does not. Senator Inouye stated, “If asked to say anything, I would be in favor of rail. To be honest, I suppose I would support a candidate who supports rail.” Senator Inouye added that, “If Gov. Cayetano wins it would make the rail proposal a bit more difficult. Right now the federal government is in support.”
Former Governor Ben Cayetano replied to the lack of Senator Inouye’s support by stating, “Apparently, he (Inouye) sees nothing wrong with the city awarding multimillion-dollar rail contracts and starting construction even though there is no Full Funding Agreement or congressional approval for the $1.5 billion federal grant. The city is taking these risks mainly because the senator says he is ‘confident’ he will get congressional approval for the $1.5 billion. Not only is such conduct irresponsible, but it is high-stakes gambling with the public’s money.”
According to a recent poll conducted by the Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now, Cayetano leads the race for mayor with 44 percent. Carlisle had 35 percent of the vote and Caldwell had 16 percent.
Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 2-21-2012, www.staradvertiser.com
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