Stop, Again! Rail Now
October 8th, 2008 by Derrick DePledgeU.S. District Court Judge David Ezra has sent a letter to the attorney for Stop Rail Now expressing his concern about the use of his comment in a Honolulu sewage spill case in a brochure opposing rail transit.
Ezra’s comment and photo appear in the brochure under a heading “What O’ahu Leaders Are Saying About Rail.”
Here, according to the Star-Bulletin, is what Ezra said in the sewage spill case:
In terms of priority, this comes first. It's much more important to fix the sewers than to put in a light rail system. I'm not against the light rail, but we have a broken sewer system that needs to be repaired. I'd rather see the money that has to be paid by the taxpayers of the City and County of Honolulu put into the sewer system rather than go into the general fund of the U.S. government.
Ezra told us this afternoon that he was speaking from the bench and not taking a public position on the rail project.
“I don’t involve myself in public matters,” the federal judge said. “I don’t publicly comment on political matters, and I didn’t in this case. Whatever comments I made or might have made in the course of a proceeding were made for that proceeding and were not intended as an endorsement of any position with respect to the light rail.”
U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye yesterday complained about the use of his comment in a Honolulu wastewater treatment dispute in the same Stop Rail Now brochure.
Earle Partington, an attorney for Stop Rail Now, said he had not yet received Ezra’s letter.
“All I can say is I know nothing about it and had nothing to do with it,” he said of the brochure. “I’ve just represented Stop Rail in the court action and spoken at the press conferences, but I’ve had nothing to do with the public-relations effort.”
Cliff Slater, with Stop Rail Now, said he was also not aware of Ezra’s concerns. He said he believed the judge was quoted accurately in the brochure.
Slater said he would talk to Partington. “This is obviously getting very political,” he said.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
SRN obviously is light in the ethical department as well as the brain wattage department..
October 8th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Another prime example of SRN (slater) taking information ou of context and using it to support their idiotic position. Someone should sue this dude for spreading obviously false information, especially, he did not clear the use of them from the source - clearly libelous. And koba, djou, dela cruz, panos are supporting this kind of crap. A clear sign of desperation and complete lack of integrity.
October 8th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Surprise, Cliff is a lying sack of it, bought and paid for by the highway lobby that will throw out any stumbling block they can concoct to thwart public transportation. Oh yeah, and Panos is head of the Hawaii Highway Users Alliance, the lobby that represents these special interests.
What, the news media never told you that? Go figure.
The dwindling gaggle of fools who think Stop Rail Now is some bunch of civic do-gooders might be surprised to learn that there's no Santa Claus either.
October 9th, 2008 at 6:57 am
How many of these brochures have been distributed, and will SRN pull them out of circulation now that a US senator and a federal judge have publicly objected to the inappropriate and misleading statements? Will Cliff be held accountable?
October 9th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Absurdly Ezra has apparently made this into a political matter when it wasn’t before.
A statement from the bench is public record and despite the rabid Mufi partisans’ cries of “out of context” the statement is clear and stands on it’s own. But rather than shut up and keep it in his pants Ezra has now made it a political issue by speaking out on the subject. something most judges are usually loathe to do..
I’m not a “stop rail” supporter and living on Kaua`i have no real dog in these rail/mayoral fights but you pro-Mufi, pro-rail people are such blind rabid partisans I’m surprised more people aren’t turning against your candidate and project just in backlash to your silly prevarications and contrivances.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Talk about blind and rabid.
Andy, did you hear Ezra make those statements? No, because you're on Kauai.
Do you know what the context was? Was it a rhetorical statement tossed out for the sake of eliciting a response from a party in the case? You simply don't know, and you would be an utter fool to rely on the Star-Bulletin's chronically shoddy reporting.
So do you think Mufi's supporters somehow convinced Ezra to complain about using these statements inappropriately, or is it that you just can't accept that he would have a problem with someone doing so on a campaign brochure he had nothing to do with? So he should just "shut up and keep it in his pants" rather than clarify that SRN is way out of line?
Have you even seen the brochures in question, over there on Kauai?
Didn't think so.
Maybe you're the one who needs to just shut up and keep it in his pants since you don't have a dog in this fight, don't live on this island, and don't know what you're talking about.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
yeah, just another scheme for the elite or wanna-be elites to diss the SRN movement while in the process of getting their WEAK propoganda out. I'm glad that the choice of having this rail built is on the ballot. I mean, really... what good will a rail system do on this island when it's NOT EVEN GOING TO BE ACCESSABLE TO EVERYONE ON OAHU? HUH? HUH? HUH?
I mean, having to drive to use this transit system is like locking your car door and leaving the window open in a high crime area. What's worse is that the money used to build this disaster in the making will cost us tax payers big bucks. And just who will be hurting the most? THE MIDDLE CLASS. I'm just an average joe who has to work for a living. I not rich like those damn elite who come up with these brainstorm ideas just so that they can put a lil' more cash into their greedy ass pockets.
Yeah, this is a touchy subject due to the fact that, yes, it will create more jobs, but in the long run...where will those jobs go when the rail is complete? My guess is that the valet industry will be booming due to the fact that there will be so much congestion on our highways due to the rail that we'll need the valet dudes to park our cars while we the working class will have to WALK the rest of the way to work. That is all.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
The federal government is broke and can not afford rail. Is anyone paying attention out there to the global economy meltdown?
October 9th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Hey gestapo,
Think about this:
1-rail transit works great all over the world, and it rarely offers door to door service.
2- rail will be the backbone of a mass transit system that includes buses etc.
2-the "SNR movement" is the bunch elitists in this equation. They've got the cash and they want to keep it in their greedy ass pockets.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Slater is a amatuer propagandist who makes silly mistakes. He should go back to his primary skill and stick to being a pontificating gas bag.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:47 am
[...] Stop, Again! Rail Now [...]
October 11th, 2008 at 9:06 am
How is it that Stop Rail Now can spend $43,000 on advertising and lawyers without disclosing where any of the money came from?
Cliff must have money to burn. Does he have investments in taxi and tour bus companies?
It looks like SRN spent $18,000 on those fraudulent brochures that have been criticized by a US senator and a federal judge as being misleading. No wonder they don't want to admit their deceit and pull the brochures out of circulation.
October 20th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
WOW! How Naive' Judge Ezra must be...or wants us to believe. He opines in his court "In terms of priority, this comes first. It’s much more important to fix the sewers than to put in a light rail system." then tells us he those comments were made only in terms of proceedings of the court!
Rubbish. He certainly did involve himself in a public matter and very clearly spoke about his opinion that funding for our sewers/infrastructure should take precedence over funding for the much maligned rail transit system. My goodness your honor, you of all people should know better...anything you say in a court of law can and will be used!!!