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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 6:49 p.m., Monday, March 12, 2007

Carlisle wrong to campaign with taxpayer money

By KEN KOBAYASHI
Advertiser Courts Writer

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle did not have the legal authority to use taxpayer money in urging voters to adopt a 2002 constitutional amendment, the Hawai'i Supreme Court unanimously ruled today.

The high court reversed a 2004 decision by a state judge who threw out a lawsuit by the late political commentator Robert Rees and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i.

The suit challenged Carlisle's use of city resources to push for the amendment that makes it easier for prosecutors to send certain felony cases to trial.

In its 29-page opinion, the high court ruled that Circuit Judge Robert Chang erred in not finding that Carlisle's actions violated the federal and state constitutions.

"It's a great victory for the people because it says elected officials cannot abuse their position by using public funds and public resources to promote constitutional amendments. This gives the government an unfair advantage," Earle Partington, a volunteer ACLU lawyer who argued the case, said.

"They get to use funds that belong to all of us to promote one side. "