Partly with the help of the Grassroots Institute of Hawaii, a group opposed to the Akaka Bill, the opinion piece was e-mailed and drew national attention, including commentators such as Rush Limbaugh, who read it and railed against the bill on his national radio show.

In an online request to the Wall Street Journal to reprint the piece, the Star-Bulletin was told that the author must be asked for permission. The Wall Street Journal identified the author as Dick Rowland with the Grassroots Institute of Hawaii.

"Well, I'll be damned," said Rowland when asked about authorship. "No, I didn't write it."

Rowland, a co-founder of Grassroots, is a retired military officer and two-time Libertarian candidate for the U.S. Senate. In addition to Rowland, Grassroots includes local real estate executive Walt Harvey, State Sen. Sam Slom (R, Hawaii Kai-Aina Hina-Kahala-Diamond Head) and Malia Zimmerman, a Grassroots co-founder and close associate of Slom's who also runs and frequently writes for the Hawaii Reporter, an online news operation.

Zimmerman said yesterday, "I know that no one in Grassroots wrote it."

Last week, Zimmerman's Hawaii Reporter promptly hosted both the Wall Street Journal opinion piece and a transcript of Rush Limbaugh's radio show criticizing the Akaka Bill.

Grassroots also has hired Bruce Fein as a spokesman and general counsel who is scheduled to speak as an opponent of the Akaka Bill in forums that will be televised tonight and tomorrow night.