Congressman Kai Kahele is ineligible to receive public campaign funds in his run for governor after vowing to refuse corporate, union and political action committee donations and instead rely on donations of $100 or less.
Kahele and his campaign failed to meet last month’s June deadline to file a mandatory signed and notarized affidavit promising to abide by campaign spending limits of $2.1 million for the Aug. 13 primary in order to receive as much as $208,000 in public funds.
Because he failed to meet the affidavit deadline, Kahele also is ineligible for an additional $208,000 if he had won the primary and moved onto the Nov. 8 general election, said Tony Baldomero, associate director of the state Campaign Spending Commission.
Kahele today did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser about his ineligibility for public campaign funds.
Baldomero spoke to Kahele personally to tell him that his campaign had missed the filing deadline and will not receive any public campaign funding.
Baldomero declined to describe the discussion or Kahele’s response, but said “that was a very difficult call. But the law is the law.”
Kahele’s campaign had received a badly needed endorsement last week from the United Public Workers’ union but its mishandling of the application for public campaign funds likely will erode confidence among potential future donors, who believed their small donations would be matched by state campaign funds, said Colin Moore, director of the University of Hawaii’s Public Policy Center.
When he announced his candidacy, Kahele made it a centerpiece of his campaign that he would not accept corporate, union and political action committee donations as he had in the past.
So it’s particularly shocking that Kahele and his campaign overlooked key details of a cornerstone of his campaign, Moore said.
“It is one of the worst own-goals I’ve seen in local politics,” Moore said. “… What does that say about your ability to run a state?”
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