Mainland super PAC buys ad time for Lingle

Fund for Freedom Committee, a Washington, D.C.-based super PAC, has reserved television advertising time in Hawaii to help former Gov. Linda Lingle’s Republican campaign for U.S. Senate.

The interest group has reserved ad time worth six figures, local television stations say, and the ads are expected to appear later this week to help Lingle against U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, her Demo­cratic opponent.

Fund for Freedom was formed this year as an independent expenditure committee that intends to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns. The Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010 that the government has no anti-corruption interest in limiting such political spending, which allowed corporations, labor unions and other interest groups to spend freely.

Fund for Freedom’s treasurer is Michael Adams, a partner in the Washington office of the law firm Dinsmore & Shohl LLP of Cincinnati, and general counsel to the Republican Governors Association. Adams could not be reached for comment.

The super PAC reported only a small amount of spending through September, according to the Federal Election Commission, including $5,000 for fundraising services to Kristin Hueter & Associates, an Emeryville, Calif.-based firm. Hueter, who helped Lingle raise money on the mainland for her campaigns for governor, described her activity for Fund for Freedom as minimal.

With Hirono consistently leading Lingle in public opinion polls, the Hawaii Senate campaign has not drawn as much national interest as more competitive Senate races on the mainland. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent more than $1.2 million in Hawaii to help Lingle, while labor and women’s groups have spent several hundred thousand dollars on behalf of Hirono.