[ OUR OPINION ]
Origin of political
sleaze needs exposureSLANDEROUS whisper campaigns have long been an unfortunate part of politics in Hawaii and across the country. They hounded Republican Cecil Heftel in his 1986 campaign for governor, and Lingle Lingle had to contend with them in her bid for governor four years ago. Lingle has publicly denounced the recurrence of surreptitious mudslinging in this year's campaign and has blamed Democrats for "conducting this underground smear campaign."
THE ISSUE Republican Linda Lingle has accused Democrats of engaging in a smear campaign against her candidacy for governor.
Such slander generally is ignored by targeted candidates and by the mainstream news media. Lingle's decision to publicly challenge the sleaze and hate mail she has received is unusual, carrying the risk that it will broaden awareness of the allegations, however baseless.
Her accusation that "Democrats" are responsible implies that the Democratic Party has played some role in this skullduggery. If she has evidence of the party's involvement in underhanded campaigning, she should make that information public or clarify her placement of blame.
Lingle maintains that the tactics are like those "that the Democrats have relied on heavily in Hawaii in the past," an apparent allusion to the Heftel smear. Several weeks before the 1986 general election, a five-page confidential report of an informant's 1983 hearsay statement to a state drug-enforcement agent accusing Heftel of involvement in drugs and sexual relations with "young males and females" was mailed to more than 20 people, including news reporters.
The Heftel document's accusations were not reported by the media until Heftel publicly complained about it after the election. A subsequent state investigation was unable to determine how the confidential report had been obtained by the person who made the mailing or who had mailed it.
Lingle has properly turned over death threats she has received in the mail to postal inspectors. Distribution of other scurrilous material, while possibly libelous, probably does not constitute a crime. That includes anonymous newsletters with fabricated quotes from political figures and references to an underground rumor that Lingle is homosexual, an accusation she has denied.
Lingle's willingness to make public the distribution of this vicious material should lend it no credence. Mazie Hirono, the Democratic nominee for governor, has said her campaign would not tolerate "derogatory statements based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion."
The Democratic Party has posted a Web site critical of Lingle, but they pertain to Lingle's record as a public official. Lingle has alleged that the Web site violates a new state law that forbids the posting of an Internet site that is "confusingly similar" to another person's name. The site, while called "Linglefacts.com," creates no confusion about its Democratic Party sponsorship, which is prominently included. That's fair, hardball politics.
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