HONOLULU -- Two candidates for the open Windward seat on the Honolulu City Council, formerly held by the late Barbara Marshall, are accusing each other of inflating their resumes.

Candidate Steve Holmes questions opponent Ikaika Anderson's claim that he was Marshall's senior aide for six years.

But Anderson said Holmes is the one with a resume-inflating problem. The two are among the 11 candidates running for Marshall's seat.

Holmes questions claims in Anderson's commercial. And two former senior advisers to Marshall agree with Holmes that Anderson was Marshall's most senior aide for only two years, not six.

In an e-mail to KITV, Holmes raised the possibility that Anderson is padding his resume.

But Anderson said that Marshall called him her "Senior Legislative Aide" and that's what he means in the commercial, not that he was the boss of Marshall's office for six years.

"I find it quite ironic that Steve Holmes of all people is going to question my resume and my credentials," Anderson said. "I would say to Steve Holmes, look in the mirror, my friend. He is the one with problems on his resume, not myself. Steve Holmes hasn't been able to find his college degrees and his college credentials, whatever college he went to. Apparently, they say those degrees don't exist."

Holmes did not return KITV's repeated calls for comment.

In 1999, when Holmes was a Honolulu council member, he was unable to explain questions about his college records.

The University of Iowa said Holmes was a student there for three semesters, but he did not earn a graduate or undergraduate degree, as Holmes claims.

Here's what Holmes said to KITV's Keoki Kerr then: "I have both a bachelors and a masters degree in botany and geology, a double major."

"What year did you graduate?" Kerr asked Holmes then.

"I graduated, and I will give you an approximate date. Umm, I graduated in the mid-70s," Holmes said.

Holmes said he didn't have his college diplomas because his father inadvertently threw them out years ago.

Ballots went out this weekend to Windward residents for the special mail-in election to fill the council vacancy.

The winner of the election is expected to be announced the evening of April 23.