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Unions and special interest groups are feeding the campaign coffers of the leading candidates for the three open Honolulu City Council seats.

That’s according to reports filed Monday with the state .

But big campaign treasuries were hardly the norm among the 20 candidates who are running, 16 of whom are competing in a special election to fill U.S. congressional candidate Tulsi Gabbard’s vacant seat.

The top earner was former Council Chair Jon Yoshimura, candidate for Gabbard’s District 6 seat who as of Oct. 22 had brought in nearly $84,000. But the reports also reveal that many of the hopefuls raised relatively little, with basic supplies such as signs and postage making up the bulk of their expenditures.

The spending reports reflect how much money candidates raised and spent during the most recent reporting period. (The period covered Aug. 12 through Oct. 22 for most, but special election candidates had to report all campaign activity since January.)

The documents were due at midnight Monday. As of Wednesday afternoon, six of the candidates running in the special District 6 election had yet to submit reports.

Districts 1 and 5

The filings indicate that half of the candidates running to represent District 6 — encompassing downtown, Nuuanu, Kalihi Valley and neighboring areas — had to contend with modest resources.

Meantime, differences in fundraising capacity were most pronounced in the other two races — those for Districts 1 and 5.

The first has set incumbent Tom Berg, an anti-rail Tea Party Republican who in 2010 was elected to the seat in a special election, against his former employer, Republican state Rep. Kymberly Pine. District 1 includes parts of West Oahu and the Leeward Coast.

Personality clashes and hostile disagreements over major issues such as the Honolulu rail project have drawn much attention to the race, already singled out because of growing concern among Berg’s colleagues over .

Pine, an experienced politician, far exceeded Berg in spending and fundraising.

Between Aug. 12 and Oct. 22 she on items such as signs and a digital camera. She also paid for web design services and a luncheon hosted by the Oahu League of Republican Women.

Pine drew in more than $43,000 in contributions during that time. More than half of that money came from organized labor including the Operating Engineers Local Union 3, the Painters Union Local 1791 and the Masons Local 630. She also received donations from the Hawaii Association of Realtors PAC, Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board member Don Horner and Monsanto.

Berg in the past has criticized Pine for accepting money from special interest groups such as Monsanto.

“Kym Pine takes the money,” he told Civil Beat in mid-October. “She’s taken money from chemical companies that are promoting GMOs on our ag land… She’s taken rail money, taken PRP’s money.”

But Pine said that much of her contributions have come from individuals, including those who donated $100 or less.

“There are hundreds of people that have donated to my campaign,” she said. “They’re the ‘special interests’ that I value much more, and I’m proud of that. The fact that I’ve gotten donations from people who I didn’t ask means a lot — it shows how much people believe that you’re going to win.”

The Campaign Spending Commission doesn’t require candidates to report the details of individual donations valued at $100 or less.

“I’ve had more people give me $10 than all my donors,” said Pine, pointing to Berg’s empty campaign coffers. “To me, that’s very special, because it comes from people in my district … me winning this race is crucial to the people of the Leeward Coast.”

Between Aug. 12 and Oct. 22 Berg on campaign items. Most of that money bought banners and food for a meet-and-greet held in early October.

He raised about $2,000 in contributions during that period — all but one of which came from individuals. Olomana Gardens, an organic farm in Waimanalo, gave him $100.

Berg reported a , including $21,000-worth of outstanding loans, according to his filing.

Pine got the most votes in the primary election but that would’ve given her a win in August.

The race for District 5 also featured major spending differences between the candidates.

That contest involves Ann Kobayashi, who is wary of the $5.26 billion rail project, and Jim Hayes, who supports it. The district includes Kaimuki, Manoa and Kakaako.

Between Aug. 12 and Oct. 22, Kobayashi, seen as the race’s strong incumbent, in donations from community members and PACs such as the Hawaii Telcom Good Government Club and the American Resort Development Association. That was on top of the $47,000 she had in cash-on-hand at the beginning of the reporting period.

About $10,000 came from individual contributions amounting to $100 or less, suggesting that she enjoys strong grassroots support. Kobayashi has served on the City Council for about eight years.

Hayes during that time period received just : a $200 donation from a man named Michael Kliks. Hayes also reported $305-worth of individual contributions amounting to $100 or less. He already had $1,400 in cash on hand at the beginning of the reporting period.

Between Aug. 12 and Oct. 22 he spent about $1,500, most of which went towards t-shirts, yard signs and fliers.

Hayes is a former Sierra Club Hawaii chairman who currently works as a planner for Parsons Brinckerhoff.

District 6

Only 10 of the 16 District 6 candidates filed spending reports on time. The candidates’ treasuries range from $0 to $84,000.

Coming in first for fundraising was Yoshimura, whose donors include state Rep. Jerry Chang and state Sen. Ronald Kouchi, both Democrats. He also received $500 from HART’s Horner. Yoshimura supports the rail project.

Yoshimura, who served on the council between 1995 and 2002, collected from PACs and unions such as the Ironworkers Local 625 and Hawaii Operating Engineers.

“When I decided to run I made courtesy calls to a lot of the organizations and people that I worked with in the past,” he said. “I was really pleasantly surprised and honored that a lot of these folks stepped up to the plate … I’m sure that the rail is a very, very important issue for all of the construction trade unions, but I want to believe that in me they know they have someone that they can work with.”

Yoshimura has stayed out of politics since he was last elected to the council and said that campaigning is in many ways very different than how it used to be.

For one, he said he used far more signs than he had ever done in the past.

“I think that people have put a real big emphasis on political signs much more so this year than any other election I’ve been involved in,” he said.

Yoshimura said he didn’t quite anticipate how much campaigning had changed, particularly with regard to cost.

On October 24 he sent an email to fellow candidates notifying them that his committee had exceeded its voluntary spending cap of about $63,000 as mandated by an affidavit he signed in August.

By agreeing to the spending cap with the Campaign Spending Commission, Yoshimura could have paid just $25 instead of $250 to file his organizational report. Now that he’s exceeded the limit, he owes the spending commission an additional $225.

“Unfortunately, not having done a campaign for 10 years, I underestimated the cost of running for council,” he said. “Costs went up, particularly for printing and mailing, as did the number of registered voters.”

As of Oct. 22, Yoshimura had spent about $64,000, most of it on food and beverages and basic supplies such as signs, postage and posters.

Democratic state Sen. Carol Fukunaga came in second, with including $6,000 from unions such as the Hawaii State Teachers Association, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 126.

But she also reported some of the largest debt. As of Oct. 22, Fukunaga was in debt by about $13,000, particularly because she spent about $67,000 — more than any other District 6 candidate — on campaigning supplies and activities. Her expenditures were more varied than Yoshimura’s and included a subscription to Environment Hawaii, Inc., a donation to the Pacific American Foundation for their Children and Youth Fundraiser and doughnuts for signholders.

The race’s leading anti-rail candidate, former Republican state Rep. Sam Aiona, on Tuesday sent out denouncing the pro-rail Fukunaga for the alleged campaign support she’s received from the Pacific Resource Partnership.

“I took offense to the fact that they’re doing that,” he said. “In all of their brochures not one piece of mail says that Carol Fukunaga supports the rail. It’s egregious offense to the voters of District 6.”

Aiona for his part . Most of that money came from individuals, including $250 from Republican state Rep. Barbara Marumoto. He also collected $350 from the Realtors PAC of Hawaii and $250 from the Hawaii Dental PAC. Nearly $6,000 came from individual contributions valued at $100 or less.

“I’m proud to say that I’m not beholden to anyone,” he said. “All of the PACs and special interests are going to expect something if the candidate gets elected.”

According to Aiona, nearly 25 percent of his contributions came in the form of online donations.

“This is the first election that I’ve been through where I’ve seen so many contributions coming from online,” he said.

Though he had nearly $2,000 cash on hand as of October 22, unpaid expenditures and loans put him in debt by about $10,000.

Other District 6 Candidates

Click on each name to see the candidate’s spending reports. (As of Wednesday afternoon, Jim Brewer, C. Kaui Jochanan Amsterdam, Inam Rahman, Christopher Smith, Bob Vieira and Arvid Youngquist had not submitted their reports.)