The Hawaii Carpenters Union spent more than $50,531 last month to convince residents to vote for rail, according to filings with the Hawai'i Campaign Spending Commission. That exceeded the $43,400 spent by Stop Rail Now and one other anti-rail group.

Most of the Carpenters money — $42,569 — was spent on pro-rail ad production and air time for the Sept. 6 through Sept. 20 period. The Hawaii Carpenters Union, with 7,800 members, is one of seven political action committees, or PACs, that have registered with the state to advocate on a rail-related Charter amendment that's on the Nov. 4 General Election ballot.

Stop Rail Now spent $43,295 from Sept. 6 through Sept. 20 advocating against the amendment, according to documents filed yesterday. That amount includes advertising and attorney and printing fees. Stop Rail Now was joined by another anti-rail PAC called Hope For Hawaii, which spent $106.

Political action committees that raised or spent a minimum of $1,000 from Sept. 6 to Sept. 20 advocating a position on the rail question were required to file a spending report with the state yesterday.

The wording of the ballot issue is as follows:

"Shall the powers, duties and functions of the city, through its director of transportation services, include establishment of a steel wheel on steel rail transit system?"

Spending by PACs excludes ads paid for by the city to promote rail and educate residents. The city spent $1.4 million in taxpayer money from August 2005 through February 2008 on public relations and outreach efforts. In addition, the city paid about $120,000 from March to June, primarily for radio advertisements.

Separately, Mayor Mufi Hannemann's re-election campaign also has purchased pro-rail ads.