Less than 24 hours after Neil Abercrombie complained about a Mufi Hannemann campaign mailer in a televised gubernatorial debate, the notorious “Compare and Decide” flier could still be found on a Hannemann campaign website.
Hannemann’s Just the Facts , paid for by Hannemann Committee 2010, features a on its home page.
The home page excerpt reads as follows:
“Neil Abercrombie responds to any open discussion about his public record as if he is being smeared. He is quick to dismiss any reference to unflattering facts about his performance in the U.S. Congress as ‘negative campaigning.’ He doesn’t contest the accuracy of these charges, but simply throws up a smoke screen of false indignation. For your reference here is supporting information for everything presented about Abercrombie in Mufi’s latest direct mailer.”
Click on the link and — presto! — there’s the flier, the one that “compares” the candidates’ wives (e.g., Hannemann married a Japanese American), their schooling (Harvard versus UH) and their executive and business experience (zippo for Abercrombie) as well as Abercrombie’s winning a beard contest in Lahaina 40 years ago.
Why is Hannemann still promoting the flier?
The posting was made Aug. 16, four days after the “Compare and Decide” flier started popping up in state mailboxes. By Hannemann’s own admission during Monday’s TV debate, it’s still showing up in neighbor island homes due to slow postal service. But he blamed that on the U.S. Postal Service.
“That was not a mailer we sent out again. It was the U.S. Postal Service. That is why they are receiving it. It is bulk mailing,” Hannemann said.
Abercrombie responded: “As usual somebody else is at fault.”
Hannemann gave the impression that he would have put a stop to the brochure if he could have.
But his website continues to say: “The information in the mail out is all factual information, cited and sourced. Our opponent continues to quickly dismiss any unflattering fact about his record as negative campaigning yet he does not contest the accuracy of those facts. And he is doing it again.”
The website then sources its statements.
Abecrombie on Aug. 16 posted to the flier:
“This brochure is not information. It’s the latest example of Mufi Hannemann’s negative campaign style and there’s more coming. This is not what a Governor does; this is not what people want from a Governor; and you can send him a message that his negative campaigning is not going to work this time.”
Later that week, Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, Gov. Linda Lingle and former Congressman Ed Case also condemned Hannemann’s tactics. “Let’s keep it clean,” Inouye demanded.
Hannemann spokeswoman Carolyn Tanaka then released a statement: “We appreciate the wise words of our senior senator and agree fully with him. Our campaign looks forward to continuing to focus on the issues that are important to the people of our state.”
And yet, as of Aug. 31 at 1 p.m. — 18 days before the election — the “Compare and Decide” is still in the public realm.
FYI: The American Postal Workers Union Abercrombie for governor.
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About the Author
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Chad Blair is the politics editor for Civil Beat. You can reach him by email at cblair@civilbeat.org or follow him on X at .