August 17, 2008
A recent letter to the editor by supporters of Republican Ted Hong published in the Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald (Sun., 8/17/08) made conclusions based on inaccurate calculations. The statement by Rep. Takamine that “…more than 80% of this reporting period’s contributions were from people who gave $100 or less,” is correct.

-    846 total donors in this reporting period
-    703 of the 846 or 83% were $100 or less
-    78% of the contributions received from donors who gave over $100 came from non-unions, businesses and individuals
Click here to read the rest of the Campaign Treasurer's Response

August 6, 2008 Setting the Record Straight, Again
"And, while Ironworkers Local 625 contributed $5,500 to the 1st District state Senate campaign of Dwight Takamine, Takamine's campaign returned $1,500 to the union to stay within campaign spending limits. The Tribune-Herald regrets the errors." -- Hawai'i Tribune-Herald 8/6/08

• "Think the Trib has it in for Takamine?" -- From HunterBishop.com 8/6/08

June 22, 2008 Brian Schatz Support Letter
I am writing to correct the record. First of all, I served with Representative Dwight Takamine in the State House of Representatives for eight years, and I can tell you from first-hand knowledge that there is no one who is more effective, honest, and hard working on behalf of his district. Unfortunately, some baseless accusations recently made against Rep. Takamine are so far off base that they raise serious concerns about the health of the debate in the campaign for the First District Senate Seat. 
For the rest of Brian's letter click here.  

June 20, 2008 Stephens Media Coverage Misses the Mark
The Hawaii Reporter, Hunter Bishop, Aaron Stene and Ian Lind have all recently weighed in on the inaccurate coverage devoted to the campaign finance issue. 

Check out the links below:

• "Nowhere in any version of the Stephens stories does it make clear that Takamine did nothing wrong, ...That's the reporting equivalent of rolling your eyes when the newspaper won't acknowledge the fact that he did nothing wrong after publishing statements and headlines suggesting he did. " -- From HunterBishop.Com 6/18/08

•  "Stephens Media Cabal Twisted Dwight Takamine's Campaign Violation." -- From The Kona Blog 6/19/08

• "Unfortunately for the candidate, the reporting was incorrect."--Ian Lind 6/20/08
  

•  "Both Takamine and the Ironworkers realized the mistake and Takamine returned the money to the union, according to Barbara Wong, director of the Campaign Spending Commission." --Hawaii Reporter 6/18/08

June 13, 2008

From the Hawai'i Tribune-Herald, 6/11/08: "... LEGISLATOR FACES FINANCE VIOLATION."

THE FACTS:

•  The Friends of Dwight Takamine was never under investigation & did not violate any campaign spending laws when it returned an inadvertent campaign donation back to the Iron Workers Local 625 within thirty days as the campaign spending laws require.
  

• The Friends of Dwight Takamine strongly believes in both the spirit and the letter of campaign finance rules, including the transparency that the law seeks to promote.
  

• The Friends of Dwight Takamine remains committed to running a fair and positive campaign, putting the interests of the people first.