Mr. Charles Totto,

City and County of Honolulu

Honolulu, HI 96813

Dear Mr. Totto,    May 5, 2016

Please accept this letter as my formal complaint against City and County of Honolulu’s Mayor Kirk Caldwell and other city employees. Specifically, I am asking your office to investigate Mayor Kirk Caldwell for activities on May 4, 2016, appearing to unlawfully conduct campaign activities on property known as the Honolulu Hale and surrounding grounds owned by the City and County of Honolulu.

It is my understanding "RCH § 11-104 prohibits an officer or employee from using city resources, such as time, position or title, equipment, material, city seal or facilities, for campaign assistance or political activities. To do so is to give an unwarranted advantage to the candidate or political party benefitting from the activities at the taxpayers' expense. The Revised Guidelines on Campaign Activities is available at the Commission's office or our website".

On May 4, 2016, I observed Mayor Caldwell and a large number of his supporters wearing T-shirts and signs with the words "Mayor KIRK Caldwell" and signs with the words "Kirk Caldwell MAYOR" assembled on the grounds of Honolulu Hale to listen to Mayor Kirk Caldwell give his campaign speech and declare that he is now actively seeking a new term as mayor of Honolulu.

I also observed members of Mayor Caldwell's current Mayoral staff including Jesse Broder Van Dyke and Managing Director Roy Amemiya wearing T-shirts with the words "Mayor KIRK Caldwell". Mr. Andrew Pereira, a member of the mayor's current staff, was also in attendance. There appeared to be a number of other city employees in attendance but their names escape me.

I observed some of the above campaign activities between 2 and 3 o'clock p.m. I have attached a number of photographs of the campaign activities in support of my complaint.

If you have any questions please feel free to call me.

Thank you,

Carroll Cox 

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KHON: Complaint filed against Mayor Caldwell announcing reelection campaign on city property