In the interest of fairness, we finally heard back from Linda Lingle‘s campaign regarding an item we ran last week in which the Democratic Party of Hawaii lambasted the GOP Senate candidate for, among others things, welcoming GOP Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma to Hawaii.

Linlge campaign manager Bob Lee had this to say.

Excerpt:

Congressman Cole has been an outspoken proponent of the goals shared by the people of Hawaii, including growing our economy, supporting private sector job growth and aggressively working for federal support of native Hawaiian self-determination. As the only Native American (enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation) in the House of Representatives, Rep. Cole cares deeply about the unique needs of the native Hawaiian people and he has advocated tirelessly for the passage of legislation that would benefit our native Hawaiian community.

Lee added that Cole had received praise from Mazie Hirono and other notable Democrats.

More from Gen. Lee:

And now, Mazie — with an eye only to her own political gain — is again allowing her state party operatives to falsely attack her colleague and someone who she knows well as a friend of Hawaii