Caldwell Caught with His Hand in ‘Pay to Play’ Cash Register

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Dr. Kioni Dudley
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Dr. Kioni Dudley

BY DR. KIONI DUDLEY – Kirk Caldwell’s claim to reforming “pay to play” is a farce. Yesterday’s report on campaign donations made to his Honolulu mayoral campaign reveals that he continues to accept great numbers of monetary contributions from government contractors, including Honolulu rail contractors.  His actions make a mockery of his repeated TV ads where he boasts of creating legislation to outlaw campaign contributions from those holding government contracts.

Caldwell’s previous filings with the Campaign Spending Commission list a minimum of 46 contributors with rail contracts.  These range from top executives of Kobayashi/Kiewit Joint Venture which has a contract for $195 million, and InfraConsult which has a Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation contract for $82 million. There are also the people holding  smaller but lavish public relations contracts, such as Gary Omori at $251,000 and Pat Lee who pulls in $348,000.

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Is it in any way conceivable that Caldwell doesn’t recognize these companies as “players,” those who receive pay-to-play contracts?

In the same report, executives of R.M. Towill gave him $16,000.  Those from Yogi Kwong Engineers gave him $14,500.  As he took these thousands of dollars from the players, how could he not see that these were “payments to play,” and that he is the central figure in the largest pay to play scheme of this election period?

Yesterday’s report of campaign contributions reveals additional money from rail contractors.  Fifteen separate people from Parsons Brinckerhoff paid him $28,150 to continue playing.  Eight more donations came in from Infra-consult, the company formed by three employees of Parsons Brinckerhoff to oversee the Parsons Brinckerhoff rail project for the city.

Why are there so many contributions from these companies?  To get around the law which limits pay-to-players to $4000 per election.  Caldwell knows all of these details.  He knows the contributors.  Many received their rail contracts or subcontracts from him, while he was Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s managing director and “primary point person” for rail transit.<

Caldwell’s television ads are the height of hypocrisy.  “He voted to bar contractors from making pay-to-play contributions to candidates, and made doing so a felony.”  How can he face himself knowing his ad is convincing people that he is a heroic figure fighting against “pay to play”, while he is raking in the pay from the players?   Shouldn’t he shudder each time it is shown?

Caldwell is not only comfortable with his own lies, he embraces the lies of others.  Like the ads by John White of Pacific Resource Partnership, which flood television and radio at all hours. These ads falsely and viciously attack former Governor Ben Cayetano, Caldwell’s opponent, for “accepting illegal campaign contributions.”

These ads benefit only one person in the world, Kirk Caldwell.The ads are character assassination at its best.  They are a lie – a lie repeated to a million people perhaps a hundred times a day.  What man of honor would not immediately repudiate them?  What man of honor would let them continue, day in and day out, destroying, destroying, and destroying his opponent with falsehoods?

Caldwell has been misrepresenting facts for years. During the Hannemann/Caldwell administration, the purpose of the rail project was changed from solving traffic problems to accommodating the thousands of people who will eventually move into homes to be built on irreplaceable, prime farmland in Kapolei.

Apparently it never occurred to Caldwell to be honest and tell people who are funding the rail with their taxes, that it is not being built for them.

As the project progressed, there was no parking planned to accommodate the hundred thousand Ewa and Ewa Beach residents who will commute up commuters they claimed would travel Fort Weaver Road.  Caldwell neglected to tell the public they were expected to walk to the bus stop, ride the bus to the train, take the train to town, and ride another bus to work, and do the same returning each evening.

Caldwell has repeatedly shown he is comfortable deceiving the public. Is this a quality we can afford in our mayor?

Dr. Kioni Dudley, a Makakilo resident stakes his reputation on the truthfulness of this article.

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22 COMMENTS

  1. This seems so compelling and absolutely newsworthy. Would we even know about this without Hawaii Reporter? Truth in journalism is alive, let's hope the readers will take it upon themselves to share this because somehow I doubt the Star Advertiser won't be picking up this story.

  2. Mr. Caldwell's excuse: "I don't really know who contributes to my campaign. I have a campaign manager and people working for me to take care of these things".

    • His Campaign Manager wants to be City Managing Director.
      The bottom line is: he is still responsible for the actions of his minions.

  3. How is this pay to play if the contracts were already issued before the contributions were made? Or is this really play to pay?

    • all you have to do is look at the public records the campaign filed themselves….Campaign Spending Commission.gov No secret….all there….just get out the adding machine and see for yourself.

    • You are so confused if you cannot see the pay to play. Inasmuch as some of the contracts were already awarded prematurely I might add, it is the continuance of the paying only to continue to play with Kirk. So shame, and I voted for him too. I was so wrong.

  4. Fail. "residents who will commute up commuters they claimed would" What?
    "Apparently it never occurred to Caldwell to be honest and tell people who are funding the rail with their taxes, that it is not being built for them." Of course it is being built for those who will have to move out West in order to find affordable housing but still need to commute into town.

    On Kionidudley.com where he is running for City Council it states "Who else is fighting to get the rail to serve ‘Ewa and ‘Ewa Beach?" WHy the anti-rail tripe then.

  5. This article sounds like it's written by an angry old man living at the top of the hill, looking down at the peasants with disgust…

  6. Dr. Dudley stakes his reputation on the "truthfulness" of this article? Well buddy, you might as well sign on the bottom line because everywhere in this article where the name Kirk Caldwell appears, you could replace it with Ben Cayetano and his groups and it would be just as "truthful".

  7. mahalo dudley! I thought that all of the idiots moved out of makakilo, but seems as if you're still here.

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