White and An Open Letter to John

Back in the day...

rs Union PRP / The Carpente

Back in the day...

getting organized and it was an industr y in the 1960s, the unions were just When I was working in the construction exciting time for all of us. second entrance to Honolulu Harbor) Island Bascule (Draw) Bridge (spanning the I remember working as a laborer on the Sand $3.30 per hour because not too ers on that job were elated to be earning and getting paid $2.30 per hour. Union carpent per hour and laborers even less. only $1.80 before that (I was told), carpenters were earning long very seldom purchased their own to follow, carpenters (and other tradesmen) ts. I also recall that in those days and in the years could a ord to maintain the mortgage paymen because they were not con dent that they homes Kai subdivisions, laying water and sewer I worked on the rst of Henry Kaisers Hawaii A er the Bascule Bridge project, homes, no shops, no people; In 1962, there was nothing out there, no lines down what is todays Kawaihae Street. devour your lunch and you mice. If you were not careful, the mice would nothing except heat, dust and hoards of eld y out of lunch. be literally out to lunch, or more correctl would $2.70 per hour. (Tuition at ant but I didnt mind since I was now earning e working environment was very unpleas $250 for engineering books). semester plus $15 for lab fees and another Manoa during that time was only $93 per UH also enrolled in the College of Hilton Hotel Project literally full-time while ers and supervising the site A er Hawaii Kai, I worked on the Kahala $4.85 per hour laying out for the carpent ring at UH Manoa. is time I was earning Enginee work and heavy equipment crews. as an entry-level Structural Engineer; when I nally graduated and went to work I really got to appreciate the unions pay scale as a Carpenter Foreman. less than half the wage I previously earned my starting salary was $350 per month, l bene ts, and even 401Ks. They hour plus retirement, vacation and medica Today, union carpenters earn about $40/per orts of their union leaders. In my just like everyone else, largely due to the e other trades can now afford to purchase their own homes the quality of life of their carpenters and years to improve , the union leaders did much throughout the opinion the general contractors. by leading the way during negotiations with

Skip forward to 2012...

fortune on ads and negative messages e very same union that I have respected and admired has spent a John White. He has even attacked me full of lies and smears under the leadership of Executive Director since January provocation. It was reported that the union has spent over $1,000,000 personally without attack campaign and related services 2012 and perhaps $500,000 alone in the past few months on this D.C., the $1M being spent out-of-state with firms in Virginia, Washington with the majority of the money in Hawaii using Connecticut and San Francisco to do the work (instead of keeping Paci c Business News. local rms), according to column both debunked the work of Civil Beat and the Honolulu Star Advertiser in David Shapiros lies in their ad campaigns to John White and PRPs methods of messaging half-truths and outright and their lies and distorted perspectives. But the public knows better try to fool the public into believing one bit. In fact it seems to be back- ring these negative messages are not helping them or their members on them for good reason. they have paid into the system? So is this a good use of the union members hard earned money not justi cation for this type of personal I understand John Whites attack is politically motivated, but it is d. Over the years I have been friends with political gures attack that is unprovoked, and unwarrante di erences, we always treated each on both sides of the fence and while we may have had our political other with respect and aloha. politics? Perhaps this migrant from So what has recently happened to the respect and aloha in Hawaii the ways of aloha and our culture. Arkansas has not been in the islands long enough to understand lies, smears and even name calling perpetrated by Regardless, there is no excuse for the outright John White of PRP. is is not the way to behave in Hawaii. members work for their wages, Looking back to my younger days, and knowing how hard the to attack others and me so I feel sorry for them knowing that PRP has spent so much money blatant lies and vicious smears. foolishly. They spent that hard-earned money to attack me with PRP could have better used the money to truly And for what purpose? I am not even a candidate! to provide additional benefits help the union and its members. They could have used the money such as scholarships and long-term health care. to you and question why you allow I would like to ask all the union members to express their feelings union. Perhaps you can nd a new John White to waste their dues and damage the reputation of their your integrity. e members deserve someone Executive Director who has some aloha and who can restore better than John White!

Aloha,

Dennis Mitsunaga

DENNIS MITSUNAGA CHALLENGES JOHN WHITE TO TAKE POLYGRAPH TEST

is is in response to John Whites attacks against me personally. accuses me of making illegal contributions.
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE !
I have never made any illegal contributions or ever asked anyone to make illegal contributions. I even took a polygraph test to put this issue to rest years ago (the examiner said that I passed with ying colors). e test result is on le in the Honolulu Advertiser archives. John White blatantly makes these false accusations against me personally while he is the very one who is guilty of soliciting and accepting contributions from the very people who were convicted and ned (for making illegal contributions in the past) when he ran for city council and lost in 2010. FOR UNDENIABLE PROOF, see list of individuals who were convicted and ned. Rick Daysog, Firms Land Contracts Despite Donation Fines, HONOLULU ADVERTISER, Dec. 18, 2006 at;
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Dec/18/ln/FP612180352.html

e most recent TV AD by JOHN WHITE of PRP

While there is no law against being a hypocrite, John White now appears to have more serious issues with the Campaign Spending Commission over undocumented expenditures in his 2010 Campaign Spending Report. His Campaign Spending Report (Schedule B Expenditures made between 10/19/10-11/2/10) shows that he cashed out $21,090 without any receipts or documentation. See http://nc.csc.hawaii.gov/Report/ RPT2010/20101202223339CC10556SB.html. I hereby challenge John White to take a polygraph test to prove that the money was used for legitimate purposes and that he did not simply pocket the money for his personal use. I also o er to pay for the test. Dennis Mitsunaga
Paid for by Dennis Mitsunaga

and compare against the list of donors on John Whites Campaign Spending Report. See http://nc.csc.hawaii.gov/CFSPublic/ReportDetail. php?RNO=CC10556.