39% of Hawaii Hawaii Democrats have attacked Republican Linda Lingle for getting campaign money from the mainland, but more than one-third of the state Democratic Party's funds raised this year have come from the mainland, according to filings with the state Campaign Spending Commission.
Democrats’ funds come
from mainland
Lingle fights back after attacks
on her mainland fundingBy Richard Borreca
rborreca@starbulletin.comDemocrats raised $168,500 from mainland sources this year, which represents nearly 39 percent of the $433,480 raised during the January-to-September reporting period.
Democrats launched an attack ad over the weekend claiming that Lingle has gotten "more than a million dollars" from mainland donors. "Ms. Lingle, Hawaii is not for sale," the ad says.
The Democrats' ad does not explain that they added up money collected by Lingle over two campaigns -- during her 1998 campaign for governor and the current campaign.
Lingle and Micah Kane, GOP chairman, called the Democrats' ad "deceitful and hypocritical."
"This shows the high tolerance they have for unethical behavior, and it is what has led them to have so many problems with their officials being arrested and indicted," Lingle said.
Kane said the GOP launched its counterattack television ads last night.
Andy Winer, director of the Hawaii Democrats' coordinated campaign, defended the Democrats' ad, saying it did not matter that they were adding two campaign periods together.
"This is when she started getting money from the mainland; it is the same candidate," Winer said.
"We basically have publicized the sources of Lingle's money since she has been a candidate for governor. In order to understand which special interests are supporting her, there is a pattern from 1997," Winer said.
Winer declined to comment on the $168,500 that mainland sources have donated to the local Democratic Party.
"That is not the story; the story is the money Lingle is getting," he said. "The story is Lingle's money; it is not the Democratic Party's money."
The Hawaii GOP calculates Lingle has received $682,341 in mainland money. That figure counts only contributions of more than $100, which is the minimum amount that must be reported to the Campaign Spending Commission.
Figures prepared by the commission show that between Nov. 4, 1998, and Sept. 6, 2002, Lingle raised 27 percent of her money on the mainland, $721,986. During the same period, she raised $1,953,466 in Hawaii.
The most out-of-state money came from California donors, who gave $371,281. Firms and residents in New York contributed $61,325, and New Jersey donors gave $35,150, according to commission figures.
In comparison, Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono has raised $60,945 in mainland funds during roughly the same period, according to the commission.
Hirono has held a series of mainland fund-raisers, but she has not been able to raise as much money as Lingle. Hirono reports holding a $500-a-ticket fund-raiser at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles on Aug. 11, 2000; a $100-per-person fund-raiser at a private residence in Maryland on Sept. 16, 2000; a $25-a-ticket fund-raiser on April, 22, 2001; and a $150-per-person fund-raiser at the Madison Restaurant in Long Beach, Calif., on Aug. 25.
In March, Lingle took a 10-day trip across the mainland, raising funds in New York, Washington, Arizona and California.
Kane complained that the Democrats criticize Lingle for raising money on the mainland but accept without criticism the money raised by Hawaii's Democratic congressional delegation.
"It's so hypocritical for the Democrat Party to raise this issue, knowing that Democrat Congressman Neil Abercrombie raised 62 percent and Democrat Sen. Dan Inouye raised 73 percent of their contributions from the mainland," Kane said.
