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Former Congressman Neil Abercrombie spent the most of any gubernatorial campaign during the first half of this year, with Mufi Hannemann coming in second and James “Duke” Aiona third, according to finance reports filed with the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission Monday. In the period from Jan. 1 to June 30, Abercrombie spent $1,012,474, Hannemann spent $852,400 and Aiona spent $521,235.

It’s a different picture from spending for the entire election period, in which Aiona spent the most with $1,883,350, Abercrombie spent the second most with $1,589,669 and Hannemann spent the least with $1,152,838.

But how did they spend it all, aside from TV and radio ads?

Neil Abercrombie

, a Honolulu-based firm, was the biggest recipient of Abercrombie funds, receiving $158,815 for various advertising services.

The single largest transaction by Abercrombie was $36,880 to Kyo-Ya Hotel for a catered fundraising event.

Other big recipients included:

• Creative Design Hawaii, a Honolulu-based company: $28,151 for banners, T-shirts, postage and other promotional work
• Data Farm Consulting, a Wisconsin-based company: $18,600 for data and voter files
• Hawaii-based Hoakea Communications: $12,565 for communications and media management
• inter-media, inc., a Hawaii-based advertising consultant: $12,173 for media planning and buying services

In addition to these payments, Abercrombie also carries $117,175 in unpaid expenditures, which contributes to a debt of $127,175, as of June 30. Some of the biggest unpaid expenditures include:

• Hoakea Communications: $62,884
• Endo and Company, LLC: $40,646
• Perkins Coie LLP: $30,269

The Abercrombie campaign did pay off a portion of these unpaid expenditures during this reporting period, meaning the campaign has the following amounts still outstanding with each company:

• Hoakea Communications: $25,187.35
• Endo and Company, LLC: $22,094.23
• Perkins Coie LLP: $300

Mufi Hannemann

, a Honolulu-based firm, was the biggest recipient of Hannemann funds, receiving $105,241 for various advertising services.

The biggest single transaction was for a June 21 fundraiser, for which the campaign paid the Hilton Hawaii Village $58,113 for food and beverages. It also paid Roy’s Restaurant $2,750 for a fundraiser that day.

Other big recipients included:

• Politico, a Texas political consulting firm: $37,830
• Q Mark, a Honolulu-based pollster: $25,969 for polling
• Harvey Harlowe Hukari Political Communications, a San Francisco-based public relations company: $22,500 for consulting
• McNeil-Wilson Communications, Inc., a Honolulu-based public relations agency: $5,388 for consulting (Anthology is the parent company of McNeil-Wilson.)
• Goat Island, a Laie-based company: $19,314 for T-shirts.

James “Duke” Aiona

The biggest recipient of Aiona’s spending was , a California-based company that specializes in campaign management, media production, and direct mail, among other areas. In 18 transactions, the campaign paid Meridian Pacific $148,717.

The Aiona campaign’s biggest single transaction was with The Tarrance Group Inc., a national Republican polling firm based in Virginia. In June, the company received $31,039 for surveying voter attitudes in Hawaii.

Aiona didn’t have other major recipients, except for payroll.

DISCUSSION: Share your thoughts on how the campaigns are spending their money and what it tells us about the kind of governor the candidates would make at our Hawaii governor’s race discussion.