Posted on: Wednesday, September 8, 2004

EDITORIAL
We endorse Carlisle for city prosecutor

For Honolulu prosecuting attorney, The Advertiser endorses incumbent Peter Carlisle for re-election.

The prosecutor's race will be decided in the Sept. 18 primary.

Carlisle's opponent (and predecessor as former city prosecutor), Keith Kaneshiro, has offered a strong and focused program that would serve him well if he is returned once again to office.

But Carlisle's overall energy, the professionalism he has brought to the office and his willingness to take on difficult and politically sensitive cases warrant another term.

A dominant theme of the Carlisle years in the Prosecutor's Office has been independence. He does not belong to any political or institutional faction and, indeed, has been willing to take on power players over the years.

While he has to work with the Honolulu Police Department, and indeed, has the support of several former chiefs of police, Carlisle has gone forward with prosecutions that brought no small measure of discomfort to the police.

Carlisle's office has also been active in the ongoing series of cases involving illegal campaign contributions. These are cases fraught with political difficulty.

While Carlisle has earned a reputation as a strong law-and-order advocate, pushing for swifter and more certain incarceration of serious offenders and for tools that would ease the burden of law enforcement and prosecution, his overall outlook is both nuanced and sensible.

For instance, Carlisle has joined with the rest of the law enforcement community in making the ice, or crystal methamphetamine, epidemic an issue of top community concern.

But he is clear that the solution to the ice problem involves more than prosecution and punishment. It also includes a sophisticated safety net that begins with early intervention.

In other words, he proposes a "long-term view of the world" that recognizes the solution to tomorrow's drug problem requires sustained effort today, before the criminal justice system gets involved.

Peter Carlisle is a forceful and effective voice for the law enforcement community. He deserves re-election.