The race for state House District 28 took an ugly turn yesterday as the leading Democratic candidates traded barbs over past legal entanglements.

Incumbent Bev Harbin questioned challenger Karl Rhoads' role in a City Hall bribery scandal in which Rhoads' wife, Cindy McMillan, was a key prosecution witness against former Councilman Andy Mirikitani.

Harbin sent Rhoads and others a letter that alleged Rhoads and McMillan had been targeted for prosecution in the case, and had cooperated with investigators only after they were granted immunity from prosecution.

Rhoads said Harbin's move "shows desperation," and he issued a statement reiterating Harbin's much-publicized legal and financial problems, which include unpaid state taxes and misdemeanor convictions for writing bad checks.

Rhoads characterized himself and McMillan as whistleblowers who helped convict Mirikitani, and said neither he nor McMillan had been threatened with prosecution in the case if they refused to testify.

"We have nothing to hide, and even if we wanted to, it's all out there, anyway," Rhoads said.

The investigation centered on $26,000 in year-end bonuses Mirikitani provided to McMillan and another staff member in 1999 in exchange for $6,880 in kickbacks to Mirikitani and his campaign committee.

Harbin said a transcript of McMillan's testimony in the case shows that McMillan had consulted Rhoads, an attorney, before she accepted the money from Mirikitani. Harbin charged that the couple were not true whistleblowers because McMillan later hired another attorney, who contacted investigators, only after McMillan learned from another City Hall worker that the corruption probe was already under way.

Rhoads provided information to investigators but was not called as a witness in the trial. He declined to comment on details of the case, but said it was accurate to characterize himself and McMillan as whistleblowers.

Mirikitani became the highest-ranking elected official in Hawai'i to be convicted of a federal felony while in office, and was sentenced in 2002 to more than four years in a federal prison.

Gov. Linda Lingle appointed Harbin last year to fill the seat vacated by former Democratic state Rep. Ken Hiraki, and a firestorm of controversy soon erupted when news reports detailed Harbin's tax and legal problems. Lingle asked Harbin to resign, but Harbin refused, and later announced that she would seek election to the seat for a full term.

The House district stretches from Iwilei to Makiki, and includes Chinatown and downtown. The Democrat who wins the Sept. 23 primary election will face off against Republican challenger Collin Wong in the Nov. 7 general election.