Campaign Cash Flowing To Hawaii’s Congresswomen
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has amassed $2 million, while Rep. Colleen Hanabusa has about an eighth of that.
Should U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard choose to run for re-election next year 鈥 or for some other federal office听鈥斕齭he鈥檚 already got $2 million to spend.
That鈥檚 according to the latest filings with the , which cover听the first three months of 2017.
Gabbard, who has long been talked about as a candidate for higher office, spent tens of thousands of dollars on audio and video equipment during the reporting period.听The 2nd Congressional District representative also spent $12,000 on a Texas-based political consultant with ties to Bernie Sanders.
U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who represents the 1st District, reported having $256,000 on hand.
Hanabusa’s biggest expense was repaying a $200,000 loan she made to herself during her 2016 campaign, when she ran for a seat left vacant by the death of U.S. Rep. Mark Takai. Her late entry did not give her much tine to raise money for the race, which she won handily.
According to the first-quarter filings, , and .
Most of Gabbard鈥檚 money came from individuals, mostly small contributions from people living on the mainland. Most of Hanabusa鈥檚 came from political action committees, and in larger amounts.
Cameras, Video And Advertising
Gabbard鈥檚 campaign spent a lot on video and audio companies.
They include Hawaii Camera of Honolulu, B&H Photo Customer Service and Adorama Inc. of New York City, Gotham Sound and Communications of Long Island, DC Camera of Fairfax, Virginia; and Prompter People of Campbell, California.
The money paid for things like “camera equipment rental to film multiple day campaign events,” according to the filing.
Revolution Messaging of Washington, D.C., was paid $38,000 for听internet advertising and services, while Campaign Finance Group of D.C. received $7,000 for fundraising consultation.
And Batrice & Associates of Dallas received $12,000 in just two months for strategic political consulting.
A company executive, Rania Batrice, . Prior to that she worked for former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat听 as his Iowa coordinator in the same election.
Gabbard鈥檚 other notable expenses include air travel and hotel rooms.
Her husband, Abraham Williams, was paid $694 for 鈥渧ideo equipment rental for filming campaign event,鈥 $211 for 鈥渂atteries, tools and other miscellaneous video accessories鈥; $2,428 for 鈥渧ideo, audio and computer storage equipment鈥; and $2,262 for 鈥渃amera equipment rental and travel expenses.鈥
That last payment appears to be reimbursement for the couple鈥檚 controversial trip to Syria in January.
Hanabusa spent money on fundraising consultation, too 鈥 $9,000 to Fiorello Consulting of Falls Church, Virginia.
Her other big expenses were $28,000 to Honolulu鈥檚 Anthology Marketing Group and $43,750 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for 2018 races.
Hanabusa鈥檚 name has been mentioned in some political circles as a possible challenger to Hawaii Gov. David Ige.
If she were to run for state office, she could not use federal campaign funds.
