STAR-BULLETIN
These are three of the 10 anonymous newsletters that Linda Lingle displayed yesterday. They feature fabricated quotes.
Lingle hit by GOP candidate for governor Linda Lingle said she is the victim of a wide-ranging smear campaign and called for her Democratic opponents to disavow the attack.
smears, threats
Mazie Hirono denies that Democrats
are behind the bigoted statements and faxesBy Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.comIn response, Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono said her campaign has "zero tolerance" for racism or hate-mongering.
Lingle and James Aiona, the GOP lieutenant governor candidate, stopped short of saying the Democrats were responsible, but their news release accused Democrats of being behind it.
"The reason the Democrats are conducting this underground smear campaign is to disgust and confuse people so that they won't get out and vote," Lingle's release said. "These are the kind of voter suppression tactics that the Democrats have relied on heavily in Hawaii in the past. If enough voters stay home, the Democrats win."
Included in the hate mail were death threats saying, "If you win you will have short life."
A postcard addressed to Lingle said: "Go Back Home! Haole Jew! Your Evil!" with a swastika and "SS."
Hirono said her campaign would not tolerate "derogatory statements based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion."
"I think it is really unfortunate that these kind of tactics are employed by reprehensible people," Hirono said. "Both Democrats and Republicans have been targets in the past. We do not engage in it in any way shape or form, and the people who do so should be prosecuted."
Lingle said her campaign has turned over the death threats and other hate letters to federal postal inspectors.
Lingle provided copies yesterday of 10 anonymous newsletters that have been mailed, faxed and e-mailed around the state. The newsletters purport to have inside information on the Lingle campaign but feature fake quotes from local political figures, such as Big Island Mayor Harry Kim. Kim denied making a statement telling Lingle "good riddance."
Another phony newsletter quoted Jeff Mikulina, Hawaii Sierra Club executive director, as saying, "Lingle has some nerve saying she supports the environment."
Mikulina said he was "shocked" to hear about the newsletters.
"The quotes are fabrications," he said.
Another newsletter features a quote claiming to be from a GOP member that says the Republican Party has become too liberal under Lingle.
"So much emphasis is placed on the homosexuals in the party. It makes me wonder if the rumors in the '98 race are true," the newsletter says.
Lingle was asked in the 1998 governor's race if she were gay, a charge that was denied, but one that triggered a controversy when Lingle supporters said that Democrats were spreading the rumor.
To counter the disinformation campaign, Lingle has included a "Truth Box" section on her Web page to answer the rumors.
Attorney Randy Roth, the former president of the Hawaii Bar Association and a Lingle supporter, said that homophobic and anti-Semitic attacks on Lingle were also part of the 1998 campaign, but they were not publicized.
"This stuff never has a face or name. Hawaii is the only place I have witnessed it," he said. "I saw campaigns where candidates would call each other liars, but I have never seen anything like the Heftel smear or what happened four years ago or now."
Former U.S. Rep. Cecil Heftel was a victim of a last-minute smear campaign when he ran for governor against John Waihee.
But others, such as retired University of Hawaii political scientist James Wang, said the smear campaign is not part of Hawaii's politics.
"I just can't remember this sort of thing happening. This may be frequent on the mainland, but I personally condemn it. It is stupid to do and we shouldn't tolerate it," Wang said.
Lingle also charged that the Democrats were violating a new law on cybersquatting that forbids someone from registering another person's name for an Internet site that is "identical or confusingly similar to a personal name, another living person or decreased personality."
Lingle said the Democrats have started a Web site called "Linglefacts.com" that contains "half-truths, innuendoes and lies" about her record and background.
Lingle, however, despite charging that the Democrats were violating the law, said she would not file suit because she was too busy running her campaign for governor.
Hirono, however, shot back that Lingle knew the Web site was not a violation.
"If there was a violation, you can bet that Ms. Lingle's team would be filing a lawsuit right now. They know it doesn't violate the law," Hirono said.
