Caldwell war chest at $1.6M

Bolstered by an active fundraising effort since winning the race for Honolulu Hale three years ago, Mayor Kirk Caldwell owns a hefty $1.6 million campaign war chest to draw from as he gears up for a re-election bid.

The mayor has raised three times the funding that City Council Chairman Ernie Martin, who is considering a run for the mayor’s office, has tucked away in his campaign account.

Meanwhile, former Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona, also contemplating a challenge to Caldwell, lagged far behind in new campaign finance reports.

Active Hawaii campaign committees had until 11:59 p.m. Monday to submit six-month financial disclosure reports to the state Campaign Spending Commission.

Caldwell for Mayor reported raising $252,627 from July 1 through Dec. 31. The campaign has held five fundraising events since July 1: four in Honolulu and one in November at the Fairmont Washington hotel in Washington, D.C.

The Hawaii primary election is Aug. 13, and the general election is Nov. 8.

All told, the Caldwell campaign has held 29 fundraisers since the mayor took office in January 2013.

The re-election committee spent $114,495 from July to December.

A Hawaii Poll conducted for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in late December and early January showed that in a three-way race Aiona would collect 43 percent, Caldwell 39 percent, Martin 8 percent and undecided 11 percent.

There was stark contrast between the Martin and Aiona campaigns during the reporting period, with Martin appearing in better position financially than Aiona.

Friends of Ernie Martin reported raising $111,651 from July to December, with a total war chest of $492,510. The campaign held three fundraisers in 2015.

Fundraiser notices are required to include which office a candidate is seeking. Martin’s campaign committee lists office sought as “City Council” despite the fact he was elected to a second consecutive, four-year Council term in 2014 and is ineligible for a third term in 2016.

The committee disbursed $47,268 during the period.

Friends of Duke Aiona has been virtually inactive of late. From July to December the campaign reported a deficit of $1,000 in receipts and a war chest with $18,872. It reported no fundraisers and $3,939 in disbursements during the period.

Angela Kaaihue, who has announced her challenge to Caldwell on her website and Facebook pages, reported no receipts from July to December and a campaign deficit of $1,189. To kick off her run for office, Kaaihue, a first-time candidate, loaned $2,000 to her campaign in June.

Colin Moore, assistant professor of political science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said the Caldwell campaign’s bank account is a healthy sign for the incumbent. “Three times more money, significantly more name recognition — that’s a hard candidate to beat,” Moore said.

Martin’s fundraising to date is “pretty good,” Moore said. “But Caldwell is just, I think, a champion for raising money. He has a real skill for it, and that makes him a formidable candidate.”

Aiona, despite a lack of campaigning activity, could still mount a formidable challenge. “Aiona still has the potential to raise a lot of money,” Moore said. “He can tap into Republican networks that probably would be fairly generous. And he has tremendous name recognition. My guess is that if he decides to really get into the campaign, he could raise quite a bit of money fairly quickly.”

But Moore said the poll numbers showing Aiona ahead may not be a good indication of how the election results could end up in the fall, because it’s early in the political season.

“It’s not as if Caldwell has a commanding lead, so this money is going to end up being very significant for his campaign,” Moore said. “But then again, when you’re comparing him to a well-known, well-liked politician — who, let’s remember, has been out of office for a while and hasn’t been able to do anything to frustrate the voters — I suspect that Aiona is not as strong as that poll reflects.”

Caldwell spent $1.68 million in his successful 2012 mayoral campaign against then-incumbent Mayor Peter Carlisle and former Gov. Ben Cayetano.