The Honolulu City Council has gone from discussing a rail line of credit to…race-based lobbying. 

Nick Grube reports for Inside Honolulu:

Just learned something rather interesting during today’s lengthy discussion about whether the Honolulu City Council should extend a line of credit to HART.

Council member Romy Cachola revealed he was targeted in an ad campaign by a community group called Filipinos for Rail to get him to side with the $5.2 billion transit project.

In emails Cachola shared during the meeting, a woman by the name of Bennette Misalucha attempts to convince Filipinos for Rail members to contact the council member to tell him “he needs to support the Filipino community and vote for rail.”

Cachola, a potential swing vote on rail, is Filipino, and was upset with the new political tactic that specifically targeted him. He even insinuated that HART was behind the messaging.

We’ll look into the allegations.

— Nick Grube