The state Elections Commission is backing its embattled chief elections officer Kevin Cronin, with the panel’s chairman William Martson saying, “The commission feels that somebody has put a target on his back and has unfairly gone after him.”

Oh, really? Let’s look at some of the arrows that have pierced Cronin since he arrived here from Wisconsin last year with little experience running elections:

• He’s embroiled the Office of Elections in a still-unresolved dispute over the purchase of new voting machines that has left us precariously close to not having a reliable and transparent system in place for this year’s elections.

• Bewildering decision-making by his office and poor communication with the city clerk resulted in two candidates being disqualified after they had been certified as eligible at the filing deadline.

• He ignored state law and ordered potentially confusing primary election ballots printed without letting the political parties exercise their legal right to review them.

• He failed to personally register to vote in Hawai’i until prodded to do so seven months after he was hired, a clear violation of the conditions of his employment under state law.

It seems that if there’s a target on Cronin, the dripping paintbrush that put it there was wielded by his own hand.

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Kirk Caldwell is one of the big losers of this election after giving up his House seat and powerful position as majority leader to run for the City Council, only to be disqualified because of problems with the paperwork in his last-minute switch.

There’s little question that the city clerk made the right call under the law in ruling Caldwell ineligible, but it’s hard to feel good about it.

Caldwell was a decent majority leader, a straight-shooter with a sense of humor who was often the closet thing to a voice of reason in the endless squabbling between the House, Senate and Lingle administration.

His disqualification means that Duke Bainum will be unopposed in claiming the council seat being vacated by mayoral candidate Ann Kobayashi, which isn’t easy to take given that Bainum has spent most of his time on the Mainland licking his wounds since losing the 2004 mayor’s race to Mufi Hannemann.

I thought the aborted council showdown between Bainum and Caldwell was mostly about getting a leg up on succeeding Hannemann as mayor when he moves on.

That battle could still materialize if Hannemann, who recruited Caldwell to run for the council, offers him a role in the city administration from which to remain visible.

This week starts and ends with rail transit as we place tongue in cheek and “flASHback” on the news that amused and confused:

• After pledging to fight a voter initiative on transit by any legal means, Mayor Mufi Hannemann now says he’ll support putting the question on the ballot if it’s worded right. His preferred wording: Should we tie Charles Djou or Ann Kobayashi to the tracks for the train’s inaugural run?

• An Advertiser poll found that two-thirds of O’ahu voters polled support rail, but most say they won’t use the train themselves. Kind of like good manners — nice for other people to have.

• Hawai’i is spending up to three times the national average on our roads, but their condition is the 47th worst in the nation, a study says. Anybody heard if Chinatown bookies think we’ll do any better with rail?

• Duke Bainum, who’s lived mostly in Arkansas lately, rushed back to Honolulu and rented an apartment so he could run for the council when Kobayashi declared for mayor. Don’t they have city councils in Arkansas whose dysfunction he could contribute to?

• Gov. Linda Lingle test-drove fuel-efficient vehicles at a federal energy lab in Colorado. She must have been relieved to get home to the comfort of her new gas-guzzling Infiniti SUV.

• The state’s chief elections officer Kevin Cronin says he meant to register to vote as the law requires of him, but it kept slipping down his to-do list. Makes you curious what other parts of the election law he considers optional.

• Tesoro Corp., owner of Hawai’i’s largest gasoline refiner, said high oil prices and less demand cut its profits to a fraction of last year’s. All together now: Awwwwwwwww.

• Michelle Wie’s best LPGA showing this year is a DQ, but she’s still one of the five highest-paid female athletes at $12 million, according to Forbes. No wonder she didn’t sign her scorecard. She must have writer’s cramp from endorsing the checks she pulled from Nike’s clenched teeth.

• John McCain mocked Barack Obama by likening him to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. I guess a man McCain’s age is more into the Gabor sisters.

And the quote of the week …

… from Councilman Romy Cachola on the need to give voters a say on rail:

“I’m willing to hold hands, because if we don’t, the public will crucify this institution.”

I promise not to crucify him if he keeps his hands to himself.