HONOLULU -- Officials for Mayor Mufi Hannemann's campaign said someone is trying to link the mayor with a distasteful and racial e-mail and Web site that disparages his opponents.

It is not clear just who is behind this latest dirty campaign trick. It may take time to get to the bottom of who's smearing whom in this race.

There is less than a week before the primary election.

The Hannemann campaign claimed it is a victim of a phony e-mail.

The mayor's campaign spokesman said the e-mail appears to be written by Hannemann's campaign media advisor Keith Rollman.

"Neither Mayor Hannemann or anyone with the campaign had anything to do with circulating this e-mail or anything to do with publishing this Web site," Hannemann campaign spokesman AJ Halagao said.

The e-mail makes racial reference to the mayor's opponents Ann Kobayashi and Panos Prevedouros who is Greek. Rollman said he complained to the city Ethics Commission since the e-mail went to city employees. He said he also plans to sue for defamation.

"I'm taking it as defamation and I am going to sue the individual that's responsible?" Rollman said.

"Have you ever been involved in any smear tactics in any previous campaigns?" KITV reporter Catherine Cruz asked.

"No," Rollman said.

Rollman, who has some information technology expertise, said he traced the e-mail to a machine at 345 Queen Street. The Internet provider address belongs to Honolulu attorney John Carroll, Rollman said.

Carroll, who was initially involved with the group Stop Rail Now, denied any involvement.

"I'd be surprised it didn't come from me or anybody working for me that's all I can tell you," Carroll said.

He is subleasing space to Eric Ryan, who also used to work with Stop Rail Now. Ryan also denied that he had anything to do with it.

"I don't know why anyone would do anything to promote this awful site. It's disgusting," Ryan said. "I watched this Web site get nasty, very sexist, very racist and homophobic and other things."

Ryan believes someone manipulated the e-mail to make it seem that it originated from an IP address when it is in fact "phony."

Both sides are claiming to be victims in the e-mail smear.

The Kobayashi and Prevedouros camps said they have seen the site, but have nothing to do with it and that it has no business in Hawaii politics.

"This is Hawaii and we never campaign that way before. I know the Internet is a whole another medium that's added to campaigns. There doesn't have to be smears, dirty tactics," Kobayashi said.

"This town has issues with solid trash, waste trash, but also political trash. This is the kind of trash I cannot solve. My camp is clean. We've seen the site. It's filthy. We just don't pay attention to it," Prevedouros said.

Kobayashi and Prevedouros joined fellow candidates George Nitta and Donovan Campbell in a mayoral forum Tuesday night at the Ala Wai Golf Course Clubhouse.