‘Super PAC’ spending riles candidates

Candidates in two Honolulu City Council races are complaining about large sums of money being spent to defeat them by independent expenditure committees, also known as "super PACs," that are not limited by traditional campaign laws.

AiKea UniteHere, established and funded by the UniteHereLocal 5 PAC Fund and Unite HereTIPState and Local, spent $159,249 from Jan. 1 to July 25 to support the campaign of hotel employee and temporary Local 5 employee Joli Tokusato in her effort to defeat incumbent Carol Fukunaga, Sam Aiona and Steve Miller.

Forward Progress, established and funded by the Hawaii Carpenters Market Recovery Program Fund, which also does business as the Pacific Resource Partnership, has disbursed $232,307 in support of five candidates, including Honolulu City Council candidate Brandon Elefante.

Russ Grunch, one of Elefante’s three opponents, questioned the amount being spent to support Elefante’s campaign by a group about which little is known.

Traditional noncandidate committees like the UniteHereLocal 5 PACFund and the Hawaii Carpenters Market Recovery Program Fund are limited to the amount of money they can contribute directly to a candidate for a state or county election: $6,000 per election for a statewide four-year seat, $4,000 for a nonstatewide four-year seat and $2,000 for a two-year seat.

But the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Citizens United v. FEC created a new form of noncandidate committee that the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission defines as independent expenditure committees. A super PAC like AiKea and Forward Progress is allowed to spend an unlimited amount to advocate election or defeat "of a clearly identified candidate" so long as there are no direct candidate contributions and there is no coordination between the super PAC and any candidate or party.

An independent expenditure committee can also receive an unlimited amount of money from donors as long as there is no coordination between them.

Kristin Izumi-Nitao, executive director of the state Campaign Spending Commission, said her staff is monitoring the finances of AiKea, Forward Progress and other super PACs to ensure there is no coordination with candidates or other noncandidate committees.

"One is subject to the contribution limit, and one is not," Izumi-Nitao said. "The problem is, what if it’s all coming from the same entity?"

Tokusato, to date, has raised $8,775 for her campaign, including $3,000 from the Unite HereLocal 5 PAC Fund. "Wow," she said when told of the $159,249 spent on her behalf by AiKea.

Both Tokusato and AiKea organizer Cade Watanabe said there is no coordination between their respective organizations.

Tokusato said she was a volunteer with AiKea but dropped out after becoming a candidate. AiKea, which supported Council and state legislative candidates in 2012, operates out of rented office space in Liliha.

Watanabe said the amount being spent represents not just its investment in Tokusato, but in the Council 6th District (Makiki-Downtown-Kalihi Valley), where she’s running, as well as all of Oahu.

"The people in our community should be very aware of the decisions that are being made by our City Council and how that affects us,"said Watanabe, who is also a Local 5 organizer.

Fukunaga said she personally has received six fliers that call her political history into question and tout the qualities of Tokusato.

"It was a well-funded political campaign to spread a lot of misinformation about me,"Fukunaga said.

Looming over Tokusato’s campaign, AiKea’s support and the opposition to Fukunaga is the incumbent’s involvement with City Council Bill 16, which would have required hotel and resort owners to seek more approvals and give more notification before being allowed to convert any of their units to condominiums. Local 5 lobbied heavily for the bill, even holding a rally at City Hall. Fukunaga is chairwoman of the Council Public Safety and Economic Development Committee, which twice shelved the bill on her recommendation.

Tokusato said she chose to run largely because of Fukunaga’s actions, and Watanabe said it was a key reason AiKea is focused on the race.

Fukunaga, meanwhile, said her opposition to the bill was noted only in the last of the six fliers she received. Fukunaga has raised $70,039 during the current election cycle.

Watanabe pointed out that Fukunaga gets much of her campaign contributions from various business and union PACs and developers.

In the Council 8th District (Aiea-Pearl City-Waipahu), incumbent Councilman Breene Harimoto chose not to seek re-election, leaving four relatively unknown candidates vying for the job.

Grunch, who has raised $289 for his campaign, said he’s received four mailers urging people in the district to vote for Elefante, a Harimoto aide who has received his boss’s endorsement.

Grunch, who brought the Forward Progress fliers to the Star-Advertiser’s attention, said the mailers sent by the group on Elefante’s behalf may be legal but that they raise questions about propriety and fairness, especially since little information is available about the group.

Elefante reported receipts of $31,135 for his campaign, including $2,671 from the Hawaii Carpenters Market Recovery Program Fund.

Forward Progress, according to its report filed Wednesday, spent $84,896 in mailers, and an additional $21,000 for "surveys, polls and voter lists," to assist him.

Elefante said he is aware of the fliers but has had no discussions with Forward Progress and has no knowledge of its origins.

State business registration records show Forward Progress is a registered trade name of the Hawaii Carpenters Market Recovery Program Fund. The business registration trademark application for Forward Progress says the organization’s purpose is "promotion of initiatives that support smart growth planning and development in Hawaii." The fund also does business as the Pacific Resource Partnership, according to a lobbyist registration form filed with the state Ethics Commission.

The recovery program fund infused $3.6 million into the PRPPAC intended to sway Oahu voters to reject Ben Cayetano’s 2012 mayoral campaign. A defamation lawsuit filed by Cayetano against the PACwas settled when PRPagreed to issue a published apology and donate $125,000 to two charities chosen by the former governor.

John White, chairman of Forward Progress, was also chairman of PRPPAC, which disbanded in January 2013.

Despite that group’s dissolution, the state Campaign Spending Commission is probing whether the PRPPAC may have committed other violations in connection with the 2012 race.

In response to questions sent regarding Forward Progress, PRPsaid in an email,"Forward Progress is an independent expenditure (organization) formed to help voters understand where candidates stand on the important issues facing Hawaii. Forward Progress supports candidates who have a desire, commitment and plan to make Hawaii the kind of place where residents want to live and can afford to live."

Forward Progress, in a statement, said there is no coordination with PRPor Elefante’s campaign.