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Contender beats the
incumbent by only 39 votes

Star-Bulletin staff

Eric Gill beat incumbent Tony Rutledge by 39 votes in a bitter, unprecedented election to lead the 10,000-member hotel workers' Local 5 union in Hawaii, it was announced today.

Of 4,967 votes, Gill received 2,093, or 42.1 percent, to Rutledge's 2,054, or 41.4 percent. A third candidate, Estan "E.T." Reynon, had 820 votes, or 16.5 percent. There were 5,000 valid mail-in ballots counted, but 33 were blank or voided, according to the League of Women Voters which conducted the tally over two days under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Neither Gill nor Rutledge could be reached for immediate comment but Rutledge was expected to challenge the results.

Photos By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Challenger Eric Gill, left, and incumbent Tony Rutledge were
in a heated race for leadership of the hotel union.

The contentious showdown between Rutledge and Gill followed a federal judge's ruling in December that Gill was illegally prevented from running in a 1998 union election.

Gill, a kitchen worker at Sheraton Waikiki, tried to run against Rutledge in January 1998 but was left off the ballot because he supposedly had not paid his union dues, a charge Gill denied. Rutledge ran unopposed and received 75 percent of the vote.

The Labor Department challenged the election, and U.S. District Judge Sam King eventually threw out the results, ordering the current election.

The campaign has been heated with Rutledge and Gill trading barbs in the media and in newsletters and fliers. Both sides also have used television commercials, an unusual move for a union campaign.

Gill had complained that Rutledge was holding current contract negotiations hostage to the election. Rutledge criticized his challenger as unexperienced and said management would rather negotiate a contract with Gill because he would be a weaker union leader.

Each candidate ran with a slate of candidates for other union offices.

Although Rutledge lost, his running mate for the union presidency, Orlando Soriano, beat Gill's candidate, Hernando R. Tan, by a 2,067 to 2,031 margin.

Reynon's running mate for president, Leo Tolentino, received 786 votes.

The vote count, at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii at 2454 S. Beretania St., started yesterday afternoon, was stopped at 11 p.m., and continued this morning. The winners were announced this afternoon.

Gill, who led by a slim margin through much of the count, said last night that he was pleased with the high participation by Local 5 members in the mail-in vote. "We think that's a first good step to restoring democracy in our union which is what we're looking to do."

About 10,000 ballots were sent out on March 16 to union workers from major hotels throughout Hawaii.

Several returns were invalid because they didn't include a ballot or because union members scratched their name off the ballot to remain anonymous.

Overall participation was greater than past elections, union officials said.