Hawaii Lawmakers Have Big Money Advantages In This Year’s Election Campaigns
Members of the House have spread campaign cash around to newcomers in efforts aimed at coalition building.
The most recent filings of campaign spending reports for Hawaii legislative races show that money tends to flow to incumbents, especially if they are members of the dominant Democratic Party of Hawaii.
Name recognition helps, too, as do personal and professional connections. Less established candidates often have to resort to lending their campaigns thousands of dollars.
Those are some of the takeaways from the reports that were filed last week with the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission. They are for state House and Senate candidates whose names will appear on the Aug. 10 primary ballot.
While many legislative seats are uncontested, there are still about a dozen races that are deemed competitive. Here’s a summary.
Gates Ahead In Westside Senate Race
The early departure of Maile Shimabukuro from the state Senate opened up the District 22 seat (Ko Olina, Nanakuli, Maili, Waianae, Makaha, Makua).
State Rep. and former Rep. are competing in the Democratic primary, and Gates has a big financial advantage: He’s raised $106,000 compared to $19,000 for Eli. Gates also has over $30,000 in cash on hand, twice as much as Eli has.
Gates, who was endorsed by Shimabukuro, received donations over the past six months from major political and business players such as real estate developer Jeff Stone, Jennifer Sabas of the Daniel K. Inouye Institute (she’s also a lobbyist), Edward Schultz of Hawaiian Host, lobbyists Ann Chung and Nonie Toledo (aka Joanne Hamm), Ironworkers For Better Government Local 625 and Alexander & Baldwin HIPAC.
Eli has some labor support as well as contributions from two state representatives: Friends of Richard Onishi (who is retiring this year) and Friends of Linda Ichiyama.
Republican brought in $18,000 in the last reporting period and spent about two-thirds of it, while her GOP opponent reported about $13,000 in donations and $5,000 in expenditures.
The winners of the primary races will face off in the Nov. 5 general election.
Another hotly contested election is for Senate District 23 (Kaneohe, Kahaluu through Laie, Kahuku to Mokuleia, Schofield Barracks, Kunia Camp). It features a former incumbent, , against in the Democratic primary.
Hee took in more money (about $101,000) but most of it came from the candidate, who lent his campaign $75,000.
Contributors include attorney Michael Green and lobbyist Bob Toyofuku. Hee has been publicly endorsed by former Govs. John Waihee, Ben Cayetano and Neil Abercrombie.
Shafer raised $16,000 and has nearly half that amount left in cash on hand. Donors include another former incumbent, Gil Riviere, North Shore environmental activist Denise Antolini, former gubernatorial chief of staff Mike McCartney, former Honolulu City Council Chair Ernie Martin, former school superintendent Charlie Toguchi and current state Sens. Les Ihara and Glenn Wakai.
Shafer, a technician for Unite Here Local 5, has also spent $1,200 of his own money on his campaign.
, the GOP incumbent who has no primary contender, raised just $2,000 so far this year and spent $163 for online media and website editing.
Civil Beat recently reported on the fundraising in another Senate rematch, this one between incumbent Lorraine Inouye and former Sen. Laura Acasio.
House Speaker Leads In Cash
, the speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives, has raised far more money than any of the other candidates in competitive legislative races.
Saiki, a Democrat, received more than $300,000 in contributions from Jan. 1 to June 30. He spent $226,000 and still has $165,000 left in cash.
Saiki’s contributors are typical for the holder of a powerful elected office. They include developer Stanford Carr, landowner Castle & Cooke, banker Paul Yonamine, attorney David Louie, medical executive Ray Vara, tech executive Patrick Sullivan, business executive Paul Kosasa, automobile executive Mark Fukunaga, lobbyist Bruce Coppa, Andy Winer of Strategies 360 (a public affairs, research and strategic communications firm) and IBEW Local 1260, among others.
Most of Saiki’s expenditures have gone to advertising, media, printing, postage and mailing. He also spent $16,830 for automated calls.
His rival is once again , who has come close to defeating Saiki in the previous two elections for the District 25 seat that currently represents Ala Moana, Kakaako and downtown Honolulu.
Iwamoto, a small business owner, has brought in $99,000 during her campaign and spent $109,000. Her donations to her campaign include $12,000 from the candidate herself but also contributions from former state Sen. Russell Ruderman, ACLU of Hawaii Policy Director Carrie Ann Shirota, Na Mea Hawaii founder and owner Maile Meyer and several labor unions.
Iwamoto has also spent most of her campaign money on printing, postage, mailing, advertising, media and related materials.
House District 29 (Kamehameha Heights, Kalihi Valley, portion of Kalihi) is held by an incumbent, too, but has only been in office for a short time. She was appointed by Gov. Josh Green to replace John Mizuno, who is May Mizuno’s husband (she was his office manager) and who now works for Green as his homeless czar.
Mizuno had $32,500 in campaign contributions and has spent two-thirds of it. It includes $1,000 for old banners and signs belonging to Friends of John Mizuno, the name of the former representative’s campaign committee.
Contributors include Friends of John Mizuno, Friends of Calvin Say (he will retire from the Honolulu City Council this year), Friends of Gil Keith-Agaran (he left the state Senate last year) and Friends of Nadine, which is the candidate committee for House Majority Leader Nadine Nakamura.
Mizuno’s Democratic primary challenger is , a community activist. His campaign patrons include Kim Coco Iwamoto, Randy Moore of the Hawaii Department of Education and Kauai political activist Gary Hooser.
Hussey reported raising $29,000, but $21,500 appears to have come from the candidate , Community Energy and Decarbonization Developer Shake Energy Collaborative PBC. The Campaign Spending Commission on Monday said it planned to contact Hussey to see if that’s a clerical error, as a candidate can only loan themselves that amount of money (the cap for the primary is $4,000) or report it as receipts from their own funds.
Hussey later filed an amended report showing that he gave his own campaign $12,000.
Other House races of note: , who is running against Rep. , has benefitted from donations from the Hawaii Carpenters Market Recovery Program Fund PAC, the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters PAF and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. That has helped Lee to out-raise Hussey-Burdick $51,000 to $28,000 in the District 50 contest (Kailua, portion of Kaneohe Bay).
And leads by a modest financial margin fellow Democrats and in the House District 23 seat (Moiliili, McCully), an open primary. Contributors to Ross include real estate developer Christine Camp, several legislative incumbents and Ross himself.
A fourth Democrat in that race, Paul Robotti, did not file a spending report.
Crowded Fields
James Logue spent the most money in the crowded Democratic race for House District 20, which includes parts of Kahala, Kapahulu and Kaimuki.
Logue, who reported earning , spent $26,000 of his own money on his campaign this year. His campaign had $3,100 on hand as of June 30.
Kevan Wong raised the most money in the race, $44,800 since Jan. 1. He had just under $35,000 on hand as of June 30. The campaign spent just under $10,000 in the first six months of the year.
Wong got a big boost from more than a dozen members of the House who donated a combined $14,250 either personally or through their campaigns.
They include Bert Kobayashi, who currently holds the District 20 seat but decided to retire this year, Nadine Nakamura, Andrew Garrett, Kirstin Kahaloa, Micah Aiu, Darius Kila, Sean Quinlan, Linda Ichiyama, Kyle Yamashita, Mark Nakashima, Jenna Takenouchi, Scot Matayoshi and Lisa Kitagawa.
Ironworkers for Better Government, the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters and the Hawaii Realtors PAC all contributed the maximum $2,000 to his campaign.
Tina Grandinetti raised $35,000 since in the first six months of the year, including more than $12,000 in small donations of $100 or less. Her campaign has spent $13,000.
Her top donors include Kim Coco Iwamoto and the Patsy T Mink PAC, with each donating $2,000. Grandinetti’s campaign got $1,000 from Senate spokesman Matt Prellberg as well as from advocate Ashley Lukens. Sen. Les Ihara, whose district overlaps with House District 20, also donated $500.
Lawyer John Choi raised $31,000 and has also spent $13,000.
His top donors who gave the campaign $2,000 include Choi’s wife, Michelle; Christine Camp, CEO of the Avalon development group; and real estate investor Yang Suh. Local attorneys donated a combined $8,500 to Choi’s campaign.
Candidate George Hooker raised $6,000 and spent $2,600. His campaign reported having just under $3,400 as of June 30.
Money from fellow legislators is also playing a role in the House District 37 race to represent parts of Mililani.
Incumbent Rep. Tricia La Chica raised just under $36,000 between Jan. 1 and June 30. Her campaign reported $2,000 donations from the campaigns of fellow Reps. Quinlan, Chris Todd and Nicole Lowen. Rep. Nakamura’s campaign also donated $300.
La Chica’s campaign also reported $2,000 donations from the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters; the Hawaii Carpenters Market Recovery Fund, which funds the union’s political activities and related super PACs; the Hawaii Laborers PAC and the union representing plumbers and pipefitters.
La Chica’s campaign spent $21,000 and has $36,000 on hand.
Her opponent Ken Inouye, son of the late Sen. Dan Inouye, reported raising $17,800 this year.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Ken Inouye’s relationship to Dan Inouye.
The campaign started off January with $37,000 already in the bank. After spending $28,000, it has $27,000 on hand as of June 30.
Inouye’s campaign got $1,000 donations from Denise Yamaguchi, executive director of the Hawaii Agricultural Foundation; the Island Insurance PAC and lobbyist George Morris.
Business owner Chris Muraoka raised the most money in a crowded pack trying to represent Waianae in the House with the departure of Rep. Cedric Gates to run for Senate.
Muraoka loaned his campaign $26,000 this year. It had $17,000 on hand as of June 1.
Besides himself, Muraoka’s top contributor was Georgette Silva, a vice president of West Oahu Aggregate, who donated $2,000. Muraoka’s campaign spent $15,000, including $2,300 in food from A&G for a fundraiser as well as $1,700 for entertainment from band Blessed Rythm.
His opponent, Tiana Wilbur, raised $905 in the first six months of this year. She spent $480 and had $930 on hand. Wilbur loaned her campaign $380.
Educator Desire DeSoto leads fundraising in the Democratic race for the Waianae seat.
DeSoto’s campaign raised $21,550 and spent $14,440. It has $7,000 on hand as of June 30.
Her top donors include the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters ($2,000), Malia Kaaihue ($2,000), founder of government consulting firm DTL and family members Bruce and Duane DeSoto ($2,000 each).
Cross Crabbe, Gates’ office manager, raised $8,800, with donations coming from the personal funds of Reps. Gates ($1,250), Quinlan ($1,000), Todd ($250) and Nakamura ($250).
Philip Ganaban is mostly self-funding his campaign. He spent $452 in June on text messaging and $515 for campaign flyers and T-shirts. His campaign had $967 on hand as of June 30.
Ranson Soares’ campaign reported raising $0.
Sue Lee Loy leads her opponent, Tanya Aynessazian, in fundraising in the race for an open House seat in Hilo.
Lee Loy raised $12,000 and spent about as much. Her top contributors include Rep. Gregg Takayama’s campaign ($2,000), the Hawaii Realtors PAC ($2,000), Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 675 ($2,000) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers ($2,000).
Aynessazian raised $4,200 and spent $2,800. Her top donation was $2,000 from Kim Coco Iwamoto.
This story was supported with funding from the Data-Driven Reporting Project. The Data-Driven Reporting Project is funded by the Google News Initiative in partnership with Northwestern University | Medill.
