Graulty admitted that his campaign made the shells available to the teachers' union and he paid for the mailing. If this message is to "shock" us into realizing that the crime rate has risen in our community, it worked.

But, Graulty, as Judiciary chairman, is responsible for passing criminal laws and funding for prisons. He failed because the crime rate has gone up during his watch over our safety.

With the lack of judgment in sending the bullets, plus his record, Graulty should not be re-elected.

Janet A. Gilbert

What is mind-boggling, though, is that Kaneshiro feels Arakawa is the best qualified candidate.

Why then, hasn't Arakawa been working in Kaneshiro's office all these years, supervising and gaining administrative experience? Instead, his experience is a mere three years in the prosecutor's office and 12 years as a defense attorney.

Come on people, this man has been defending these criminals, and doing whatever it takes to keep them out of jail and on the streets. And only now, 12 years later, he wants to make a difference and become our prosecutor? I don't think so!

D.H. Kanetake

Some deputy prosecutors will have tried more jury trials after three years than most civil attorneys will in the course of their legal careers. Dave Arakawa has tried more than 20 felony cases in the career criminal unit and organized crime division.

The fact that he has experience on the defense side of the system and currently runs his own successful law practice should be considered a major plus and provides the kind of balanced background that can only benefit the prosecutor's office.

In addition to experience, the reasons I feel David Arakawa is the best candidate for prosecutor are his moral values, leadership qualities, integrity, professionalism and genuine concern for the people of Oahu.

Carole Landry Scott

Bren says the mayor worked with legislators to introduce bills to expand prison capacity in the 1995 Legislature. Isn't it rather odd that the mayor never approached me, the chairwoman of the primary committee?

Bren also wrote that "numerous community members such as ourselves, took an active role in testifying for these measures," and he referred to the city's "numerous bills. . .that were heard in both the House and the Senate to appropriate funds for increased prison capacity at Waiawa."

The truth? Sam Bren never once submitted any testimony to me or my committee on any subject, nor did he ever appear in person at any hearing held by my Public Safety Committee. Nor do I remember any other signer of this article testifying before us.

As for the Memorandum of Understanding for the expansion of the Waiawa facilities, the draft was sent to the city in June. To date, there has been no response, nor has the city followed through on any of its promises to secure a water tank, suitable tents and donated materials and labor. The promised empty city warehouse for a detention facility has not materialized.

The truth is not that the mayor singlehandedly got Waiawa funded. The real truth is that all of us saw a need for prison expansion - the House Public Safety, Judiciary and Finance committees, the Senate Judiciary and Ways and Means committees, the Department of Public Safety, all legislators and the governor.

The successful efforts of all combined, the numerous hearings before these committees as city and state officials and the public submitted testimony, and the heroic efforts by the two money committees to give Public Safety as much money as possible for prison expansion and for drug treatment programs and so forth, is a triumph of our democratic form of government. And that, Mr. Bren, is the way government really works.

Rep. Mary-Jane McMurdo