ACLU files suit
against prosecutorIt says Peter Carlisle
should not have used city
resources to push for
an amendment
City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle's use of taxpayers' money and resources to successfully campaign last November for the passage of a constitutional amendment was improper, the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii alleges.
The ACLU, one of several groups that opposed the "information-charging" amendment, filed suit yesterday in Circuit Court against Carlisle on behalf of Honolulu freelance writer Robert Rees.
The complaint asks the court to declare that Carlisle's use of public resources violated the state and federal constitutions and a city ordinance.
It also asks that Carlisle compensate the city for all taxpayer resources used by his office to promote the amendment and a portion of the salaries paid to his deputies for their time spent campaigning.
Carlisle should also be prohibited from campaigning or requesting that his employees campaign on city time or using taxpayer resources in the future, the suit said. Carlisle was not available for comment. In the past, he has denied he and his office did anything wrong and had sought the opinions of the city and state ethics commissions before proceeding.
Carlisle said he believed his authority is derived from the state attorney general, who has the authority to advocate for laws, and that his office could campaign for the amendment as long as employees were not forced to do so.
Amendment 3 was ratified by nearly 60 percent of voters in November's general election. The amendment gives prosecutors a third method of bringing felony charges by presenting written information to a judge, who decides whether there is probable cause to charge an individual.