Mayor Mufi Hannemann's political chickens are coming home to roost as the city deals with a possible $500 million funding shortfall for the city's $5.3 billion commuter train from Kapolei to Honolulu.

The mayor has been in frequent squabbles with his perceived political rivals such as Gov. Linda Lingle and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, and now he's getting no love as he scrambles to cover revenues from the half-cent excise tax for transit that are falling short in the recession.

Some of the options the city has floated would have the state kick in money for rail, extend the 20-year life of the transit tax or return the 10-percent surcharge it robs from the pot as a kickback for collecting the tax for the city.

"Good luck," Hanabusa said in rejecting any possibility that the state would give the city more money for the train. "I can't imagine that they're serious about asking the state for money. Are you kidding?"

Could her dismissive tone reflect a little payback for the nastiness city people have directed at her in their dispute over the Waimanalo Gulch landfill?

Lingle opposed any extension of the excise tax and said she doesn't see how the state could provide the city financial aid for transit given its own budget woes.

It's the city's problem, she said, and the mayor and council are "going to have some soul-searching ... in making a decision on what direction to take."

Did anybody really expect the governor to help them out after Hannemann curried favor with public worker unions by rallying his fellow mayors against Lingle in the current contract talks?

With little likelihood of new revenues for rail, Hannemann is pressing the argument that the recession will bring down construction costs, which will make up for any shortfall in tax collections.

That's a tough sell; costs may come down in the short term, but in the long run, experience tells us that costs on big government public works projects are far more likely to go up than down.

City Council members, who hold the purse strings on $1 billion for the initial phase of rail construction that Hannemann wants to start this year, are unhappy that the administration didn't share with them the downcast financial information it sent to federal regulators. Administrators said the data are preliminary.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, a rail supporter who is running against Hannemann in next year's Democratic primary for governor, criticized the lack of transparency and expressed concern that "the project is going to be Superferried" because of poor management that gives opponents an opening to file legal challenges.

In addition to questions about the financing, the administration is being challenged by groups as diverse as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Kamehameha Schools and the American Institute of Architects on whether it has adequately studied options other than the all-elevated train system the administration locked in on from the start.

Critics claim trains capable of operating at least part of the way at ground level would be far cheaper and less of a visual blight. A lawsuit to stop the project will likely be filed as soon as the city releases its environmental impact statement in the fall.

Opponents are circulating allegations on the Internet that the city's lead consultant on rail is pressuring architects to break with AIA and get in line behind the administration's plan or risk losing future work.

Hannemann has always liked his politics bare-knuckled. It looks like folks he's taken swings at are leaping at an opportunity to hit back.