BY KEKOA MCCLELLAN – In two recent Hawaii Reporter articles submitted by the Richard Turbin Campaign, claims of threats, overt partisanship and negative tactics were made against me and the Friends of Stanley Chang campaign – nothing could be further from the truth.
See the reports here:
City Council Candidate Rich Turbin Receives Djou, Hirono Endorsements
For nearly two years now, Stanley Chang and I have made a commitment to being the most positive, transparent, and grassroots campaign in Honolulu.
Both Stanley and I resigned from our jobs to make this campaign our full-time commitment, putting our limited life savings and careers on the line to offer the residents of East Honolulu a positive choice for their City Council representative.
I believe that the residents of East Honolulu are intelligent voters who deserve the respect of positive messaging from every candidate and their campaign.
The context of the text message that I sent to Ava Cavaco – who introduced herself to me as Richard Turbin’s Campaign Manager many months ago and with whom I have been in regular communication – has been completely misconstrued.
For months now, Ava and I have had many conversations about this race and our respective campaigns in person and on the phone, and had developed what I believe to be a mutual respect for and healthy banter with one another. This text message was taken completely out of the context of this peer-to-peer relationship.
Whatever the outcome of Tuesday’s election, Stanley and I and the entire Friends of Stanley Chang campaign are committed to working with every stakeholder in East Honolulu, including Ava, Rich, and their team. I have always and will continue to manage the Friends of Stanley Chang campaign with the belief that now is the time for open and honest politics, and that East Honolulu demands positive change and believes that our future can be better than our past.
Over the course of this campaign, Stanley Chang has been fortunate to have received support from an amazingly diverse group of individuals and organizations.
Stanley and I have always been and will continue to be bridge builders, able to garner support from Republicans and Democrats, business of every size and labor, community and special interest groups — all who have different opinions on many issues but who are excited about Stanley’s fresh vision for a responsible and responsive City government.
In return, Stanley’s support base expects him to bring fresh ideas, fresh energy, and fresh solutions to Honolulu Hale so that we can move our great city forward. This is Stanley’s commitment to all of his supporters, and it is my commitment as well.
I am honored and humbled to be serving as Manager of the Friends of Stanley Chang Campaign, which is, in my opinion, the best collection of open-minded professionals working together for positive change in the State today.
Kekoa McClellan is the campaign manager for Stanley Chang for city council
I do not see how an email with the title, “Turbin in Bed with Djou,” can be miscontrued as being anything but negative campaigning and overt partisanship in a non-partisan race. Clearly, the email the Chang camp sent out was to trigger negative reaction of a candidate receiving support from both sides of aisle as the previous Hawaii Reporter article stated. Sounds like more lies and spin coming from Stanley’s camp. As Kekoa said, both him and Chang have invested their full-time into this camaign. Perhaps with so much on the line for them, they are doing anything to make their investment worth it.
The problem with full-time politicians like them is that when they are caught with their hands in the cookie jar, instead of taking responsibility and saying they were wrong… they just lie more. They say that East Honolulu deserves positive messaging and yet they both fail to address the attack-filled email sent out to the residents of East Honolulu.
I think like Ava Cavaco, instead of calling her text out of context, Kekoa should then hand over the texts Ava sent Kekoa in this conversation to show that it is, in fact, out of context. Factal evidence is always better than claims. Although I don’t see how, “brave yourselves” is seen as friendly banter..
Comments are closed.