I am disappointed that the Hawaii Republican Party and Rep. George Fontaine have stooped to the type of clearly false, negative attacks that big money special interests are using all over the country (The Maui News, Aug. 26). This has no place on Maui.
My team reported no fundraisers because we held no fundraisers so far. South Maui residents know this. If the Honolulu GOP officials were here, they would too. This is not a campaign where the candidate invites developer and lobbyist friends to a restaurant for $500 donations. This is a new kind of campaign. My contributions came from everyday people writing checks while I was out knocking on doors.
Every penny of every campaign contribution and expenditure was publicly filed and is available online on the Campaign Spending Commission website.
I will meet Rep. Fontaine at any time and place of his choosing so the public can see and hear the truth directly from him and me, instead of mudslinging from either of our parties.
My campaign has been a 100 percent clean and positive discussion on my fresh vision for Maui's future. I will continue to never engage in negative attacks, nor will I tolerate my supporters doing so. It's called aloha.
I call on Rep. Fontaine to disavow these smears by his party and to pledge to run a clean, honest campaign on the issues - not an attack campaign like last election.
Let's keep this one positive. The people of South Maui deserve no less.
Kaniela Ing
Kihei
