Lingle offers
explanation for
breaking limit
She says some money
By Richard Borreca
listed in her spending report
was for costs not
yet incurred
Star-BulletinRepublican candidate for governor Linda Lingle says a portion of the money she reported in her last campaign spending report was for costs not yet incurred.
Those advance payments are one of the reasons she exceeded a voluntary campaign spending limit for the Sept. 19 primary election, she said.
In a meeting yesterday with Honolulu Star-Bulletin editors, Maui Mayor Lingle said she would not exceed the state spending limit for the entire election, $2.8 million, even though she is not now legally obligated to do so.
At the meeting, Lingle also said she favored some form of rail transit for Honolulu.
Also, if she becomes governor, she would study the potential costs of a lawsuit against the state's petroleum producers.
The state earlier this month sued Hawaii refineries and major gasoline wholesalers, claiming
Lingle said she wouldn't raise taxes to pay for a rail transit system. that they have been overcharging local consumers.
Lingle said all the costs to the state of the lawsuit haven't been explored and she would not automatically continue the legal action if elected.
She did say, however, that Honolulu's traffic is serious enough to warrant some form of rail transit. If elected, Lingle said, she would work with both the city and the University of Hawaii to come up with ways of moving commuters through town.
She wouldn't, however, raise taxes to provide rail transit.
Previous rail-transit plans sponsored by the city and state failed, when the City Council refused to approve an excise tax increase.
On Friday, Lingle returned $136,000 in state campaign public funds after her campaign discovered she had gone over a spending limit she had pledged to remain under.
State Democrats have filed a complaint with the state Campaign Spending Commission, saying Lingle is liable for violating the law and should be prosecuted.
"A lot of those expenditures were for things we don't enjoy until the general election period," she said.
"I could pick out checks written to television stations that were paid before Sept. 19 that were for a time beyond Sept. 19."
"The spirit of the law is clear, you are not supposed to go beyond the limit, we wrote checks beyond the limit, we didn't go in and quibble about it, we simply returned the money. We think it was the right thing to do," Lingle said.
