StarBulletin.com

Hanabusa gets most cash as election day approaches


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POSTED: Friday, May 21, 2010

Democrat Colleen Hanabusa received the most in campaign contributions during the last three weeks in the special election to fill Hawaii's vacant congressional seat, according to federal campaign contribution data analyzed yesterday by the Associated Press.

Almost half of the $76,400 the state Senate president collected between May 3 and Wednesday came from labor unions, the data showed.

Nearly a quarter of the $68,700 Democrat Ed Case picked up in the same period came from family members, including his cousin, AOL co-founder Steve Case, and tech industry leaders.

And more than a third of the $41,200 in donations to Republican Charles Djou came from GOP members of the U.S. House.

The candidates previously filed two sets of reports that detailed their campaign contributions and expenditures during the first quarter of the year and from April 1 through May 2. After that they are required to report individual donations exceeding $1,000 within 48 hours.

Reports since then show a modest number of contributions — 40 for Case, 36 for Hanabusa and 25 for Djou.

Hanabusa's collections included $1,000 each from military contractors General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman, and $5,000 from a trial lawyers group.

Contributions to Case from people associated with the technology industry included $1,000 from Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, and $2,400 each from California venture capitalists Timothy Draper and Robert Rees.

Case also picked up $10,000 from the Blue Dog PAC, a coalition of moderate House Democrats he belonged to when he represented Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District from late 2002 through 2006.

Djou received contributions from PACs representing McDonald's, Valero Energy Corp., the Bank of Hawaii and Home Depot. The Republican Majority for Choice PAC, which backs GOP candidates who support abortion rights, also gave Djou $2,000.