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Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona charged Wednesday that a senior member of the Neil Abercrombie campaign has brought “an extreme level of negative campaigning” into the governor election.

The attacks center on Aiona’s association with the religious group Transformation Hawaii and its alleged connection with Christian conservative groups linked to persecution of homosexuals in Uganda.

Aiona’s announcement, made at his Nimitz Highway campaign headquarters, came after stories about the candidate, (aka Hawaii Hee Nalu) and Uganda have circulated on the Internet for nearly a year.

It also came one day after the Associated Press that persecution of gays in Uganda had taken a new, dark twist. The AP reported on a front-page newspaper story that featured a list of Uganda’s 100 “top” homosexuals with a banner headline that read: “Hang Them.”

“A lawmaker in this conservative African country introduced a bill a year ago that would have imposed the death penalty for some homosexual acts and life in prison for others,” said the AP. “An international uproar ensued, and the bill was quietly shelved.”

The subject has been percolating below the surface of the campaign but has never been brought up directly by Abercrombie.

Aiona charged Wednesday that in a close race with less than two weeks before the election supporters of his opponent are engaged in “dirty politics.”

“He stood against negative campaigning in the primary, and now I ask him to do it again,” Aiona said of Abercrombie.

In a statement, Abercrombie campaign spokeswoman Laurie Au said, “The information re-broadcasted by members of the Abercrombie campaign was not produced or generated by our campaign. Our policy is to refrain from disseminating meritless and personal attacks.”

Sex, Lies, Videotape

Specifically, the Aiona campaign says Abercrombie’s social media director, L.P. “Neenz” Faleafine, has circulated a video that Aiona claims takes quotes out of context and splices video to give the appearance that he embraces the , a Christian group dedicated to the transformation of nations. is its local chapter.

In a press release, Aiona cited seven “facts” intended to rebut the alleged attack “being pushed by supporters of our opponent,” including:

• that Aiona is not a member of Transformation Hawaii or the International Transformation Network;

• that Aiona attended “select events” organized by Transformation Hawaii that promoted “core Christian values of aloha (love), ohana (family), malama (care) and lokahi (building bridges)”;

• that the video “manufactures” comments Aiona made in “his personal capacity” to welcome attendees to a Transformation Hawaii event;

• that Aiona never “starred” in an ad for International Transformation Network, although his appearance in a 2005 promotional video “was similar to the appearance in the same video” of several Hawaii lawmakers — again in his “personal capacity” and again “delivering a welcoming message based on shared, positive Christian values”;

• and that Aiona did not violate state ethics laws by attending a International Transformation Network conference in Argentina in 2006.

Aiona: Abercrombie “Desperate”

Aiona’s press release states that supporters of his opponent are “desperately” trying to link video of him “privately praying for widely-shared Christian values to actions and viewpoints of others in Uganda and Argentina that are not condoned in any way by Duke Aiona. These views put forward by supporters of our opponent include the incarceration of homosexuals which Duke Aiona has never condoned and has said is unconscionable.”

The Aiona campaign released about 20 pages of information to support their claim, including tweets from Faleafine under the Twitter handle NEENZ.

Faleafine’s Twitter stream shows that, since Monday, she has tweeted about a blog by Hawaii blogger Ian Lind that quotes Lind saying, “Is Lt. Gov. Aiona lying about his ties to the Transformation Network and Transformation Hawaii, or did he just misspeak again, and again, and again?”

The posting includes a 3:45-minute video clip made up of edited snippets from other videos on YouTube that refer directly either to Aiona and/or the Transformation “Network.”

Five of the eight tweets include a truncated excerpt of Lind’s quote.

Three tweets link to a blog called that bills itself as “Reclaiming citizenship history and faith.” The blog is one of several online sites that strongly assert there is a link between Aiona, Transformation Hawaii and Uganda.

Faleafine’s Facebook page, meanwhile, on Monday stated, “Over on my Twitter stream, Duke Aiona supporters are saying that just because he’s ‘a part of’ doesn’t mean he’s ‘a member of’ Transformation Network. Watch the video, it comes from the horse’s mouth himself.” She includes a link to the video.

She also commented about the video on her Facebook wall: “Even more disturbing are the denial of his supporters, if your candidate of choice lied, it’s better to acknowledge, apologize, and move forward. Instead, it’s ‘let’s shift focus’ but they underestimate the people of Hawaii.”

Faleafine also sent out a tweet Monday that says, “If your candidate of choice is caught in a lie on video, it’s better to just acknowledge, apologize, and move forward, It’s what leaders do.”

Abercrombie’s spokeswoman, Au, said, “Our social media team, by sharing this information, did not engage in negative campaigning.”

Asked if it was appropriate for Abercrombie’s social media director to cite the Aiona video on her personal Twitter and Facebook account, Abercrombie communications liaison Jim McCoy said late Thursday, “It was done on her own personal account.”

The Aiona video is not on the Abercrombie campaign’s official Twitter and Facebook account.

Aiona’s Ties to International Transformation Network

The lieutenant governor has repeatedly denied — including as recently as Oct. 8 to Civil Beat — that his involvement with Transformation Hawaii has been anything other than spiritual.

At his Wednesday press conference, Aiona said, “I guess you can watch the video and draw whatever interpretation that you want to draw, but when I talk about the movement in Hawaii, that is about prayer.”

However, an examination of Aiona’s involvement shows:

• Aiona claims that he’s part of the group on a July 20, 2008 , saying “I’m a part of a prayer evangelization program called Transformation Hawaii.”

• In promotional material for Transformation Hawaii and International Transformation Network, he is identified by his official title.

• In a promotional video for Transformation Hawaii on the , another name for International Transformation Network, Aiona can be heard and seen telling an audience “We declare that our school will become God’s school and our Hawaii will become God’s Hawaii.”

• It is also public that International Transformation Network has , met with the country’s first lady and business groups and held a conference there.