Mayor Kirk Caldwell has collected significantly more contributions — and spent exponentially more — than either of his two major rivals, former Mayor Peter Carlisle and onetime U.S. Rep. Charles Djou.
Candidates for 2016 state and city elections had to submit campaign finance reports for the first six months of the year to the state Campaign Spending Commission by Thursday.
Caldwell for Mayor collected $426,479 from Jan. 1 to June 30 and had a cash balance of $1,229,399. Of the money received during the period, all but $1,840 came from contributions of more than $100.
Glenna Wong, Caldwell’s campaign spokeswoman, said that the contributions show he is doing a good job as mayor. “We are grateful and fortunate that our supporters feel the same,” she said.
Djou for Mayor, meanwhile, collected $259,386 during the same period and had a cash balance of $250,141. Of the contributions he received, all but $24,001 came from contributions of more than $100. Djou personally spent $2,500 on his campaign.
Mayor Peter Carlisle for Mayor showed receipts of $429 during the period, a zero cash balance and a deficit of $1,863. Of the amount collected, $83 came by way of contributions from supporters. The remaining $346 was from two loans Carlisle made to his campaign.
Djou and his staff pointed out that Djou did not file his nomination papers until June 7, meaning their reporting period covered only 23 days.
“Our campaign is happy with this strong campaign finance report that shows over a quarter (of a) a million dollars raised in just over three weeks,” said Jon Kunimura, Djou’s campaign spokesman. “This exceptionally strong fundraising total for such a short period of time reflects the clear desire by our community for new leadership at Honolulu Hale.”
Djou, after a mayoral forum at Neal S. Blaisdell Center on Thursday, said he expects fundraising to ramp up.
Carlisle, after the same forum, acknowledged he has not yet done much fundraising.
“It’s going to be surely but slowly … but, frankly, I don’t think you have to spend yourself to death,” said Car-lisle, who announced his candidacy May 13. He pointed out that former Gov. Neil Abercrombie had a significantly larger campaign treasury than challenger and now-Gov. David Ige before losing to the former senator in the 2014 Democratic primary.
“I will be hoping for something similar to that in the immediate future,” Carlisle said. “The message will be very clear: If you want rail done, if you want it finished, you’ve got one person who’s willing to do it.”
The differences in the campaigns are even more dramatic on the expenditures side of the ledger.
The Caldwell camp has spent $814,604 during the period. Included is $336,670 in payments to Honolulu- based Anthology Marketing Group for professional services, advertising and surveys. More than $250,000 has also gone to local television stations, multiple radio outlets and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser for advertising.
The Djou campaign has disbursed $9,246 to date. The largest of the expenditures is a $3,657 payment to Anedot Inc., a company based in Baton Rouge, La., for professional services described as “online fundraising application service fees.” The campaign began running television ads this week, which apparently aren’t reflected in the disclosure report.
Carlisle campaign reported $1,946 in disbursements.