Lingle travels to gain boosters

The governor's bid for re-election targets mainland donors in several fundraisers

If Christmas is the season for giving, Gov. Linda Lingle is finding that the mainland is the place for receiving.

Lingle returned this week from a transcontinental fundraising and politics trip, including stops in California for a Republican Governors Association meeting and fundraisers in Houston, Philadelphia and New York City.

LINGLE'S LIST OF MAXIMUM CONTRIBUTORS According to state law, candidates for governor can raise a maximum of $6,000 per donor. Here are the 2005 contributors to Lingle who have already given her the maximum: » Robert J. Creedon, Sacramento, Calif. » Keep Our Majority PAC, Alexandria, Va. » K12 Inc., McLean, Va. » Diversified Insurance Brokers, Salt Lake City, Utah » Vincent R. Cappucci, New York, N.Y. » 21st Century Freedom PAC, New York, N.Y. » Calvin Y. Wong, M.D., Honolulu » Unitek Solvent Services Inc., Kapolei » Lorraine P. Shin, Hilo » Maile V. O. Romanowski, Honolulu » Proservice Hawaii Business Develpment Corp., Honolulu » Mary Bea Porter King, Lihue » Eleni M. Pflueger, Honolulu » Pearl Harbor Visitors Center Inc, Honolulu » Pacific Waste Inc., Kailua-Kona » Pacific Lightnet Inc., Honolulu » Pacific Atelier International Inc., Honolulu » PBR Hawaii Noncandidate Committee, Honolulu » Okahara & Associates Inc., dba Consultant Engineers, Hilo » Ilsa M. Mitchell, Kula, Maui » Menehune Development Co., Kamuela, Hawaii » Karin D. McCorriston, Honolulu » Deborah L. Martin, Paia, Maui » Easton T. Manson, Kailua » Catherine Y. Lagareta, Kailua » Betty Kwong, Honolulu » Franklin T. Kudo, Honolulu » Marcia J. Klompus, Honolulu » Risa Keppel, Honolulu » Georgina K. Kawamura, Wailuku » Mona L. Kapaku, Aiea » Kajioka Yamachi Architects Inc., Honolulu » Francis L. Jung, Kailua-Kona » Joslin Service Corp., Kahului » Insurance Associates Inc., Honolulu » Sanne Higgins, Honolulu » Donna M. Hayashida, Kaneohe » Marlene M. Hapai, Honolulu » Archie Hapai III, Honolulu » Ken Fujiyama, Hilo » Robert M. Fujimoto, Hilo » Frank Coluccio Construction Co., Kapolei » Foundations Hawaii Inc., Waipahu » E.M. Rivers and Sons Inc., Kailua-Kona » Pamela Y. Dodson, Kihei » Delta Construction Corp., Kapolei » DEM Construction Inc., Kailua-Kona » Margaret B. Cole, Lahaina » Betsill Brothers Construction Inc., Kihei » Stephanie Aveiro, Aiea » Suzanne Passi Kahn, Miami, Fla. » Republican Jewish Coalition PAC, Washington, D.C. » ARDA ROC-PAC, Washington, D.C. » Larry A. Mizel, Denver, Colo. » Thomas F. Stephenson, Atherton, Calif. » Barbara J. Stephenson, Orangevale, Calif. » Safeway Inc. (SafePAC), Pleasanton, Calif. » Pier Management, Long Beach, Calif. » Kevin M. Nagle, El Dorado Hills, Calif. » Morgan Lewis & Blockius LLP, San Francisco, Calif. » Patricia A. Kotero, Beverly Hills, Calif. » Judith H. Koch, Palo Alto, Calif. » Flintridge Partners LLC, Irvine, Calif. » Michelle Falk, Beverly Hills, Calif. » Jim Falk, Beverly Hills, Calif. » Dorcy Laurence H., Los Altos Hills, Calif. » Isaac Applbaum, Oakland, Calif. » Red Hill 1250 Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz.

Packing a campaign checkbook that already boasts $2.4 million, Lingle has concentrated on raising more money for her 2006 re-election campaign.

"You have got to be fundraising throughout the year; you can't do it all at the last minute," Miriam Hellreich, Lingle campaign spokeswoman, said.

"We have been trying to do it all along with early fundraising so we can spread it out over time," Hellreich said.

According to reports filed with the state Campaign Spending Commission, Lingle has held 125 fundraising events in the last four years. Since becoming governor, Lingle has held 17 mainland fundraisers, with ticket prices ranging from $500 to $6,000.

According to Lingle's reports filed with the Campaign Spending Commission, Lingle took in $1.8 million from all donors this year. Of that, she has picked up $475,540, or more than 26 percent, from mainland contributors.

The most money, $290,000, came from California. New York and Washington, D.C., donors were the next most generous, giving a total of $34,000 each.

Campaign reformers say an influx of out-of-state money is worrisome because it is likely to be corporate money given to shape a politician's view on an issue.

"It is likely to be pharmaceutical or tobacco money or something of that sort," says Laure Dillon, the former executive director of Hawaii Clean Elections. "I think the contributions would be from corporations and not local families living on the mainland."

"Those are the kind of contributions that people in general are concerned about, because they say, 'That's not for a community agenda, it is for a corporation,'" Dillon said.

Hellreich, however, said Lingle is getting mainland money from a variety of sources.

"There are a lot of people who have an interest in Hawaii. They own homes in Hawaii or do business in Hawaii and they know the governor. A lot of people visit Hawaii a lot and they just care about the leadership and they like what the governor is doing," Hellreich said.

Some of Lingle's $6,000 contributions, the maximum donation for a governor's race, include mainland firms with Hawaii ties.

Safeway, for instance, gave $6,000 through its corporate offices in Pleasanton, Calif.

Lingle picked up another $6,000 from Flintridge Partners of Irvine, Calif., which is the construction manager for the developers of the new University of Hawaii-West Oahu campus.

Also giving $6,000 was K12, a company that runs virtual charter schools in at least eight states and the District of Columbia. It provides curriculum services to more than 70,000 students in a variety of learning environments, according to its Web site.

And Lingle took $6,000 from the political action committee, Keep Our Majority PAC, formed by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

On her last campaign swing, Hellreich said, Lingle was hosted by former Pennsylvania governor and Homeland Security director Tom Ridge in Philadelphia, and Republican Gov. George Pataki in New York. On previous trips, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani hosted receptions for Lingle.

There is an extra emphasis on getting the out-of-state campaign money before the new year because a new state law changes how politicians can raise money in 2006.

The law limits out-of-state donations to 20 percent of the total money raised for any single reporting period. There are also limits on who can give to a candidate.

"The idea was that people outside of the state should not really control the election process in Hawaii," said Rep. Sylvia Luke, House Judiciary Committee chairwoman.

"Citizens from Hawaii should be the ones involved in local politics as opposed to the mainland states," Luke (D, Pacific Heights-Punchbowl) said.

The campaign spending bill passed this year also requires candidates to file spending reports electronically, prohibits contributions from government contractors, and increases the criminal penalty for falsifying information in campaign spending reports.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa said the limitations on out-of-state political money are to make sure that "those with a vested interested in Hawaii" have the most say in a campaign.

Also, Hanabusa added, Bob Watada, the former campaign spending executive director, feared that mainland contributions would be too difficult to track and all the directors of a company could give the maximum candidate, thereby going over the spending limit.

"That would be a violation of the intent of the law," Hanabusa (D, Nanakuli-Makua) said.