A campaign commercial trumpeting her move to cut legislative salaries backfired so badly that Senate President Colleen Hanabusa was forced yesterday to pull the spot and double-check all her campaign ads.

In a late Friday afternoon e-mail to supporters, Hanabusa insisted that the ad was accurate, but said: “;I understand that there are those out there who have been concerned with the commercial's content. I hear you loud and clear.

“;In listening to you and in consultation with members of my campaign, I have decided to discontinue running the ad.

“;Brochures and other materials prepared for the campaign that deal with similar issues are also in the process of being carefully reviewed,”; Hanabusa said.

She was not available for comment.

Today, Hanabusa's campaign started mailing brochures also bragging that she “;slashed legislative pay.”;

Hanabusa and fellow Democrat Ed Case, along with Republican Charles Djou, are running for the 1st Congressional District seat vacated by Neil Abercrombie, who is running for governor. The special election will be held May 22.

Case, a former congressman, declined to comment. Djou, a Honolulu city councilman, blasted Hanabusa, saying the commercial has hurt her.

“;She was being less than honest—a 36 percent raise followed by a 5 percent pay cut—most people would like a pay cut like that,”; Djou said. ”;I think Hanabusa's campaign has been damaged by this.

“;Clearly, because she is pulling that commercial and felt the need to release a statement, (it shows) there were problems with it,”; he said.

University of Hawaii political scientist Neal Milner called the commercial “;an incredibly dumb ad to run in the first place.”;

Milner speculated that Hanabusa must have taken a lot of heat in the last couple of days from supporters “;who were saying, 'What are you doing?'”;

“;It is a nice try on her part, and it shows how bad a mistake she thinks it was,”; Milner said.

A salary commission, which was created by a state constitutional amendment supported by Hanabusa, recommended in 2006 that legislators, state executives and judges receive pay raises. Legislators, who are paid a part-time salary, saw their pay climb 36 percent to $48,708 from $35,900.

Last year, legislators cut their salary 5 percent, and this year they are recommending another 3 percent decrease to reflect cuts taken by public employees.

The issue became con- troversial because the salary commission's recommendations were slipped into law without any legislative hearings or public comment.

Hanabusa defended the actions, while House Speaker Calvin Say had said the public would resent the raises.

Then the state budget crisis hit, and, as Milner says, “;pay raises became a hot-button issue.”;

Hanabusa, meanwhile, is planning to hold a major fundraiser April 20 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye's political apparatus is helping to sell tickets.

The last-minute fundraiser is privately upsetting Abercrombie's gubernatorial campaign because he had been planning for several weeks to hold his own fundraiser at the Royal Hawaiian on the same night.

Abercrombie's campaign would not comment on the Hanabusa fundraiser, which had originally been scheduled for March 13, but supporters worry that because Inouye is pushing for Hanabusa, it will detract from the Abercrombie event.

The Abercrombie campaign mailed out 5,000 invitations to Democratic supporters two weeks ago. The Inouye invitation to the Hanabusa event came out Thursday.