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 contributions of $100 or less.

Kahele and his campaign failed to meet a 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 did not meet the affidavit deadline, Kahele also is ineligible for an additional $208,000 if he wins the primary and moves on to the Nov. 8 general election, said Tony Baldomero, associate director of the state Campaign Spending Commission.

In a statement, Kahele said: “The ineligibility of our campaign to receive a public funding match rests solely on my shoulders. Although we received over 2,000+ individual donations across the State contributing to our grassroots campaign, we missed the affidavit affirming our commitment to the $2 million expenditure limit.

“If getting big money out of politics is our goal, we need to make the State’s partial public funding process easier and more streamlined for all candidates. I know we will need to work twice as hard, and (wife) Maria, our team, and I are looking forward to continuing to build on the incredible energy that we are experiencing towards our vision for Hawai‘i.”

Kahele did file a statement of intent to seek public funding and a separate application, but not the required affidavit promising to stay below spending limits.

Baldomero, who administers the requests for public funding, spoke to Kahele personally to tell him that his campaign had missed the filing deadline and will not receive any public campaign funding either for the primary or general elections.

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.

Kahele told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser last week that, in seeking their endorsement, Kahele told UPW leaders that he would not accept donations from the UPW. But he said he would welcome smaller donations from its members as part of a goal to reform campaign fundraising while strengthening the relationship between union members and their leaders.

So it’s particularly shocking that Kahele and his campaign overlooked key details of a cornerstone of his campaign by failing to submit the required affidavit, 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?”

Kahele had raised $105,000 in small donations, exceeding the $100,000 fundraising threshold through donations of $100 or less to become eligible for public campaign funds.

Kahele had few other options because his donations raised for his federal congressional race cannot be used in a state election.

In a statement June 15, Kahele said he was “the fastest any gubernatorial candidate has reached the $100,000 threshold since public financing’s inception in the 1980s.”

With little over a month to go before the primary and with barely a third of the funding that Kahele expected, Moore said it’s unclear how Kahele can win.

“This is when you have to have that money,” Moore said. “Now, this presents an almost insurmountable challenge.”