Consider Caldwell ‘Consulted’
Former Honolulu City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle and Acting Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell are at the front of the pack when it comes to raising money this mayoral election season.
But it appears that Caldwell stands alone in his ability to spend that money.
According to published by the , Caldwell spent $284,728 from Jan. 12, 2010 until June 30. By comparison, his rival, Carlisle, has managed to spend only $39,301 in the same amount of time.
So why has one major candidate spent so much and the other so relatively little? The answer:
Consultants.
Where Carlisle’s largest expense so far has been the $13,386 he paid to Hagadone Printing Company, Inc., Caldwell has spent $93,309 on “consultant fees” alone.
And not just to one consultant, but to several.
Caldwell paid Kimberly Hall a total of $50,857 between January and May, citing “consultant fees,” “professional services” and “airfare.” He added another $21,574 to CM Group LLC in 15 separate payments. His other consultant fees included $6,282 to Strategic Advantage LLC, $8,845 to Ember Shinn and $5,751 to Sherry Boyles.
Caldwell also paid $31,599 to Stanford Campaigns for research purposes and another $37,644 for advertising on KHON, KITV, KGMB and KHNL.
Carlisle chipped in to the advertising economy as well, paying $4,900 to Clear Channel Broadcasting for time on KSSK and KHVH. Some of his other payments included $3,988 to IMS, Inc. for “campaign spending reports,” and $7,030 to Creative Design Hawaii for banners, printers and signs.
On the income front, both Caldwell and Carlisle fared far better than the other mayoral competition. Even after his expenses, Caldwell still has the most cash on hand with $294,729. Carlisle trails with $248,473.
In terms of major donations, Carlisle and Caldwell are running neck-and-neck. Carlisle had seven individuals donate $4,000 to his campaign and Caldwell had eight donate the same amount.
Donating $4,000 to Caldwell were:
Donna Tanoue, his wife
Sherry Boyles
Leonard Leong
Joyce Furukawa
Bill Mills
Ann Kadowaki
Stanley Sato
Thomas Kosasa
Donating $4,000 to Carlisle were:
Nicole Kobayashi
Ronald Kobayashi
Sandra Kobayashi
Bert Kobayashi
Dawn MacNaughton
Sandra Hartley
* Mike Hartley
Two of the individuals who donated $4,000 to the Caldwell campaign — Boyles and Kosasa — were also paid for services by Caldwell. Boyles made $5,751 in “consultant fees” and Kosasa received two payments of $3,420 and $579, totaling $4,000 from Caldwell.
In terms of grass-roots fundraising, between Jan. 1 and June 30, Carlisle received $35,377 from contributions of $100 or less, bringing his total in small donations to $52,492 over the entire campaign period. Caldwell brought in fewer small donations, a total of $17,004 between January and June, and $30,778 for his whole campaign.
Honolulu City Councilman Rod Tam and University of Hawaii engineering professor Panos Prevedouros both have a good deal of catching up to do with the front-runners, financially. Tam currently has $16,379 on hand and Prevedouros has $18,766. Both candidates trail Carlisle and Caldwell by at least $220,000.
The candidates will find out if their financial efforts have paid off after a Sept. 18 special election. The winner of the election will serve the final two years of former Mayor Mufi Hannemann‘s second term.
