HONOLULU: AUGUST 7, 2012 – There are myriad reasons why Hawai`i Advocates For Consumer Rights proudly endorses Ben Cayetano for Mayor of Honolulu. Let’s start with Hawaii’s low car insurance premiums. Thanks to then-Governor Cayetano, Hawai`i today enjoys the third-most affordable rates in the nation.

The July 21, 2012, Honolulu Star-Bulletin article reads: “Hawaii’s good ranking ‘is the result of several factors,’ said State of Hawaii Insurance Commissioner Gordon Ito. One is a reduction in accidents and their severity. …It also can be attributed to motor vehicle insurance reforms that took place in the 1990s, which led to the highly competitive motor vehicle insurance market in Hawai`i” [EA)].

Without a doubt, the credit for Hawaii’s low car insurance rates and premiums goes to then-Governor Ben Cayetano.

Many will remember when Ralph Nader came to Honolulu in 1996 to meet with Governor Cayetano and address the state legislature regarding car insurance reform. Hawai`i then had the second-highest insurance rates in America, second only to New Jersey! Nader also met with community advocates to organize a local consumer rights group. Our 16-year old organization, Hawai`i Advocates For Consumer Rights was the result.

Ben Cayetano and Ralph Nader enjoy a close relationship. In fact, the first and perhaps only time Mr. Nader formally endorsed a political candidate was on October 24, 1998, during the Governor’s tight reelection campaign.

Nader wrote: “Governor Ben Cayetano stands first among the fifty state Governors in fighting for the just interests of workers, consumers and children against the monopolistic and polluting power of business wrongdoers. No other Governor in the United States even comes close.”

If Honolulu voters need more reasons to vote for Governor Cayetano, we are honored to quote Tom Coffman, Hawaii’s most-respected living writer. In his August 1, 2012, Honolulu Weekly article, War on the Environment: In its rush to fast-track development, Hawaii’s moneyed elite has gone too far, Coffman wrote: “… the election has become not only about the environment but about the distribution of political power. It is about whether money and muscle rule, and whether reputations made by long service can be destroyed overnight by ruthless attack.

“Cayetano’s most telling line of the televised debates was: ‘… a select few have been running things for a long time. They have their fingers in nearly everything that affects our lives and our children’s future. They influence or intimidate politicians to do their bidding, and they try to crush those who don’t go along. They have taken over the political power which rightfully belongs to you, the people.’”

Voters can watch Ben’s powerful closing remarks during the July 11, 2012, television debate between the three mayoral candidates HERE. Once again, Ben Cayetano “speaks truth to power” as Ralph Nader would say.

For these and many other reasons, we proudly support Ben Cayetano for Mayor of Honolulu. Based on his admirable record of accomplishment and his great character, we have no doubt Mayor Cayetano will immediately begin to change things for the better for the residents of Honolulu.

George Fox
Co-founder and President

Juliet Begley
Political Research

Scott Foster
Co-founder and Communications Director