WAILUKU - The Hawaii Republican Party has enlisted the help of a nationally known child safety advocate for radio ads against South Maui state Rep. Joe Bertram III.
The GOP ads come a week after Bertram, a Democrat, urged leniency in 2nd Circuit Court for a friend who was sentenced for using the Internet to arrange sexual contact with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl. Bertram told the court his friend, Makawao resident Mark Marcantonio, who was caught in a police Internet sex enticement sting, should not be sent to prison for an "imaginary crime."
The state GOP called on Democrats to denounce Bertram, and Hawaii Democratic Party Chairman Brian Schatz did so on Tuesday, saying: "Representative Bertram's comments in court do not in any way represent the views of the Democratic party or Democrats in general. . . . The law he was objecting to was in fact passed by a Democratic Legislature. We stand strongly for protecting victims."
Bertram said his comments as a private citizen during Marcantonio's sentencing were misunderstood. (A Viewpoint by Bertram on the matter can be seen on Page A10.) And he said the GOP apparently wants to go after his House seat and is getting an early start. He called the Republican Party's actions "sad and reprehensible."
Meanwhile, the GOP's 60-second ad began airing Tuesday. It is voiced by Marc Klass, whose 12-year-old daughter, Polly, was abducted and killed in 1993.
''No parent should feel that pain,'' Klass states in the ad. "I have devoted my life to passing child protection laws. In this fight, I've seen some bad politicians. But state Representative Joe Bertram stands out.''
Marcantonio, 52, was arrested in November 2007 when he went to the Maui Mall in Kahului to meet a girl, who was actually an undercover police detective. Marcantonio pleaded no contest to a charge of second-degree electronic enticement of a child and was sentenced to nine months in jail.
Bertram elaborated on the case, ad and his comments when reached at the Capitol by phone on Tuesday. Bertram questioned how anyone can fairly compare Marcantonio to the Klass case, which he called horrific.
"I do not defend his actions," Bertram said of Marcantonio. "And I do not believe what he did is not a crime, but I did have personal opinions on the sentencing and other issues."
Bertram said he's been getting calls this week from Republican radio listeners who think the only options for convicted sex offenders are castration and death.
"Human beings are human beings," Bertram said. "There are no throw-away people."
Bertram said he only meant to say that the incident was "imaginary" since it did not involve an actual 14-year-old, especially since so many defendants in cases with real victims receive lesser sentences than what he mistakenly believed Marcantonio would get.
Bertram also said enticement online could lead to "a slippery slope with Internet" sting operations.
Further, he said he feels strongly against any mandatory-minimum sentences for nonviolent offenders, especially drug offenders, which he said clog up America's prisons at an unprecedented rate worldwide.
Bertram was the only representative who voted against changing the law last year to make a 10-year prison term mandatory for someone convicted of first-degree electronic enticement of a child.
Bertram said he erroneously believed that Marcantonio would be sentenced under that new law. Instead, Marcantonio pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of second-degree electronic enticement of a child.
At the sentencing hearing last week, 2nd Circuit Judge Joel August asked if anyone wanted to appear on Marcantonio's behalf, and Bertram said he wanted to speak for him. He said he never identified himself as a public official.
''This is a bad law,'' Bertram told the court. ''It's an imaginary crime. I feel very strongly that people should not be put into prison for an imaginary crime, especially when you have somebody who's so committed to correcting this mistake.''
Police said Marcantonio had arranged a meeting with a girl after numerous contacts, including e-mails, a telephone call and a sexual demonstration through a Webcam. In an October 2007 online chat, Marcantonio also talked about how "he had done this before" with a 15-year-old Oahu girl, Deputy Prosecutor Andrew Martin said last week.
Bertram won re-election for his second, two-year term in November by defeating Republican challenger George Fontaine. Bertram won with 4,282 votes to Fontaine's 3,188.
The GOP-sponsored ad can be found online at youtube.com/watch?v=4moCQO1_Frk.
* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.
