It appears the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission could devote some of Wednesday to chewing on the Pacific Resource Partnership, which, because of the money it flings around, is one of our most influential political players.

The PRP’s executive director is John White, the former aide to both Mazie Hirono, when she was in the U.S. House, and the late Councilman Duke Bainum. White ran and lost a City Council race and took over PRP sometime after Bruce Coppa, Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s chief of staff, left the post.

The PRP is so powerful because it directs the political spending of the Hawaii Carpenters Market Recovery Fund. The required 2012 federal report shows the Carpenters fund spending $2,238,900 in direct and indirect political activity.

Many incumbent legislators got a taste of PRP money via the Carpenters fund two years ago, but most of the money went to the vicious and deceptive campaign to stop former Gov. Ben Cayetano from becoming mayor.

PRP and John White organized the campaign that, earlier this year, it had to publicly apologize for in print. The apology was forced on them as the result of a settlement in a defamation lawsuit filed by Cayetano.

So Wednesday, Cayetano is back at it, this time before the Campaign Spending Commission.

At the top of the commission’s agenda for its meeting is a complaint filed by Cayetano against PRP and White for "failure to report expenditures."

In fact, the first four items are all dealing with various concerns about PRP, White, the Carpenters fund or its latest political action committee, Forward Progress.

That latest incarnation is an interesting one because of the money it is spreading around the Maui County and Hawaii County council races.

The two candidates getting the help, Ron Gonzales on the Big Island and Kaala Buenconsejo on Maui, are challenging incumbents who have opposed use of genetically modified organisms in agriculture, according to reports on Hawaii News Now and in West Hawaii Today.

So far more than $100,000 has been spent by Forward Progress, including paying people to canvass voters for the two challengers.

Also the two newcomers, thanks to Forward Progress, are getting help from the same sophisticated campaigners that PRP used in the anti-Cayetano campaign.

If you or your company wanted to give money in a county race, you would be limited to $4,000 — but by forming a political action committee, you can spend an unlimited amount of money to support a candidate as long as there is no coordination with the candidate.

Of course, it is hard to believe that the businesses behind the scenes would be risking hundreds of thousands on the off-chance that their favored candidates would not vote their way, but the links are hard to trace.

If the Campaign Spending Commission is to have any reason for being around in this election, it is time to start shaking the trees, calling up the records and begin the serious investigations to discover the names of the entities funding the Carpenters fund, PRP and Forward Progress.

Wednesday’s meeting would be a good time to serve notice.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.