This article is a big nothing burger. Ask critics what they think of the mayor and (surprise!) you get criticism. There was overwhelming public support, as gauged by several polls taken between the end of the the 2017 Session and the beginning of Special Session, to finish the project all the way to Ala Moana. 
The mayor, HART and the Council all, quite rightly, advocated for what the voters said they wanted in these polls. In the article, Speaker Saiki says the same thing. The reasons for not cutting back on the number of stations and truncating the project were clearly stated at the beginning of the article: 
"The move might lead to more construction delays, cut ridership in half and leave the state’s largest-ever public works project with virtually no contingency cash in case of problems." That's what was said repeatedly during the hearings by those with expertise in rail financing or operations. After-the-fact spin is just that.