The top election official for Honolulu said yesterday the issue of whether to build a $3.7-billion rail system will not be on the November ballot regardless of how many signatures are collected in a petition drive.

City Clerk Denise De Costa said in a letter to Stop Rail Now — the group collecting signatures to put the issue to voters — that its petition needed to be submitted before May to make it on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.

"The city clerk is prohibited by charter from taking any action on a petition ... unless the petition is filed 180 days before a scheduled election," De Costa wrote in the letter.

The city "is trying to boot us off the ballot," said Stop Rail Now campaign manager Eric Ryan.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann hopes to build a 20-mile elevated commuter rail line from East Kapolei to Ala Moana by 2018. Stop Rail Now launched a petition drive in April to try to kill the project and said last week it had collected more than 40,000 signatures to put the question to voters.

Hannemann spokesman Bill Brennan said, "The mayor respects this independent determination by the city clerk's office."

Ryan suggested that the city clerk may not be independent on this issue.

"I believe the clerk knows she works at City Hall and works for Hannemann," Ryan said. "We think the city clerk is misreading the law."

Stop Rail Now officials say their reading of the law led them to believe the petition needed to be submitted 90 days prior to the Nov. 4 election, or on Aug. 4.

SPECIAL VS. GENERAL

The different interpretations are based on whether Stop Rail Now was intending for the issue to be decided in a special election or in the general election.

The city charter states that to be on the general election ballot, a petition must be submitted 90 days before the election. Stop Rail Now says they always intended for the issue to be placed on the November general election ballot.

But the Stop Rail Now petition includes the phrase, "to be voted upon at a special election."

City elections administrator Glen Takahashi said because the petition being circulated by Stop Rail Now specifically calls for a special election, it can't be held in conjunction with the general election.

Takahashi said all special elections must be held on their own.

A special-election petition cannot be submitted within 180 days of a scheduled election, according to the city charter.

Stop Rail Now officials said they will consult with the group's attorney, John Carroll, about their next step.

"We do not wish to litigate this matter, but if it is necessary we will," Carroll said in a July 7 letter to De Costa.

The city clerk and Stop Rail Now had earlier disagreed on how many signatures were needed to place the issue on the ballot. The city clerk's office maintained it would take 44,500 valid signatures from registered voters. Stop Rail Now said it needed only 30,000.

If the rail issue is not on the November ballot, it could be placed on a special-election ballot. A special election must be called within 90 days of the submission of a petition with the correct number of valid signatures.

Hannemann spokesman Brennan said, "If the initiative should qualify for a special election later, (Hannemann) remains confident that O'ahu voters will remain strongly in favor of rail because it is our best transportation alternative."

RAIL GROUPS SPAR

Also yesterday, Stop Rail Now held a news conference in which it accused pro-rail transit group Go Rail Go of promoting the interests of developers and transportation companies while hiding its true intentions.

"They're acting like they're just regular folks who woke up one day and wanted a multibillion-dollar heavy rail project, plus all the real-estate development opportunities, which rail opens up. Yeah right," said Ryan in a news release.

"Financial beneficiaries of the rail project are hiding behind a secretly funded, make-believe created for the sole purpose of pushing the multibillion, get-rich-quick rail project at the expense of the taxpayers."

According to its Web site, Go Rail Go is a trade name for Committee for Balanced Transportation, a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organization.

An IRS 990 form filed in 2005 lists Honolulu engineer Jim Lyon; Darrilyn Bunda; Wes Frysztacki; and J. Roger Morton, president of O'ahu Transit Services, as officers of the Committee for Balanced Transportation.

On Saturday, engineers from 22 firms, including Lyon and others who have rail contracts with the city, held a news conference promoting the project.

"We came together to ensure that the voice of rail supporters is heard," said Maeda Timson, president of Go Rail Go, in a news release issued last week. "This is exactly why we took the step to start Go Rail Go, so that people could find a place for their voice to be heard."

Organizers said last week that Go Rail Go seeks to promote the benefits of rail transit, including potential economic benefits, and never hid the fact that some members are involved in building the rail project.

"Many people don't know this but this project will bring at least 9,000 new jobs to our island. Last time I checked, we really need these jobs," said Timson, in the statement.

Ryan said one of Hannemann's advisers, Keith Rollman, organized the group, which he said is made up of city subcontractors and city employees.

Rollman, a senior Hannemann adviser who is on vacation from the city and working on Hannemann's re-election campaign, said the accusations are unfounded.

He said he registered an Internet domain name for the group that was never used and that action concluded his involvement.

"I categorically deny that I'm organizing Go Rail Go; it's just not happening," said Rollman. "It's no more fraudulent than a conservative think tank, passing themselves off as any number of the causes that they propose to represent, from smokers' rights to stop rail.

"It's all the same guys with different T-shirts on. It's the pot calling the kettle black."

Hannemann yesterday said the public should "focus on the merits of rail."