Another Side of the Story
Another Side of the Story
Lingle fends off
lies, whispersA recent editorial points out that "slanderous whisper campaigns have long been an unfortunate part of politics in Hawaii" ("Origin of political sleaze needs exposure," Star-Bulletin editorial, Oct. 13). Readers are reminded of the infamous "Heftel smear," and that Linda Lingle had to contend with such tactics four years ago. Now, just weeks before the election, Lingle is on the receiving end of antics ranging from questionable to despicable.
>> Smut and threats of violence: This group of letters, faxes and e-mails presumably comes from deranged people, and is not worthy of comment.
>> Unsubstantiated rumors: Anyone who has been the victim of a malicious rumor knows that it can put the targeted person in an impossible position.
For example, when Lingle denied the rumor that she is gay, Governor Cayetano accused her of "denigrating gays." According to Cayetano, by denying that she was gay, Lingle was suggesting it was "something to be ashamed of." ("Cayetano is not fading away quietly," On Politics, Star-Bulletin, Oct. 13).
>> Fraudulent fliers and newsletters: A widely circulated flier tells blue-collar union members to be ready to "lose your jobs" and for Honolulu to be "turned into another city like San Francisco" if Lingle is elected.
Slick newsletters anonymously mailed, faxed and e-mailed to members of carefully targeted groups throughout the state are even more outrageous. One newsletter sent to environmentalists quotes the executive director of a well-known environmental organization as saying that Lingle would be bad for the environment and that his organization "will be doing everything we can to prevent Linda Lingle from becoming governor."
But the executive director says these and other quotes attributed to him in the newsletter are fabrications.
Another anonymously distributed newsletter attributes to Big Island Mayor Harry Kim a host of derogatory statements about Lingle.
But Kim never said any of it. According to him, the quotes are "out-and-out lies."
Since these bogus newsletters, e-mails, faxes and fliers are obviously not the work of Lingle supporters or of people who don't care about the outcome of the election, who does that leave?
The phony newsletters are filled with praise for Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono and her running mate, Sen. Matt Matsunaga.
A strongly worded public condemnation of such activities by Hirono and Matsunaga might not go unheeded.
Thus far, they have said nothing.
>> The anti-Lingle Web site: The Star-Bulletin's editorial is wrong to describe the anti-Lingle Web site as "fair, hardball politics." The deceptive site is flat-out illegal.
The editorial does not fully explain that a relatively new law prohibits the bad-faith use of a person's name in a Web site address without that person's permission.
Hirono proposed this law, testified in its favor and signed it into law as acting governor.
According to news reports at the time, she wanted a law that would protect public figures like her from people who might disparage her reputation on a Web site bearing her name: "(P)ublic and private citizens are vulnerable to attack by those who in bad faith choose and use our names as a domain name" (Star-Bulletin, Feb. 10, 2001).
Now, in response to accusations that she is violating this law, Hirono asserts that (1) she has a constitutional right to free political speech, and (2) Lingle would file a lawsuit if she really thought the new law was being violated.
The issue here isn't a candidate's right to say something negative about her opponent. Political speech in this country is virtually unrestricted, and thankfully so.
The question that Hirono needs to answer is, why is she not obeying the very law that she introduced, championed and signed into law?
Hirono and her running mate are being a little sly when they claim now that Lingle's not filing a lawsuit proves that the new law has not been violated. As lawyers, they both know that any such lawsuit would not be resolved in time to prevent the damage that their Web site is intended to do.
Oh, I forgot. It's not their Web site. It's the Democratic Party's Web site. According to Hirono and her running mate, this is a relevant distinction in determining whether they are violating the law.
Hirono and Matsunaga both should stop splitting hairs long enough to (1) condemn fraudulent activities that apparently are being carried out by their supporters, and (2) stop violating the law.
The latter can be accomplished simply by taking Lingle's name out of the domain address of their deceptive Web site.
Randall W. Roth, a law professor at the University of Hawaii, is a volunteer in Linda Lingle's gubernatorial campaign. The opinions expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his employer.