Unchallenged Democrats stoking campaign coffers
By Susan Roth
Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Hawai'i Democrats Neil Abercrombie and Patsy Mink don't have much in the way of political challenges to re-election this year, but they have been raising as much money as ever.
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Abercrombie in particular is building his typically robust campaign chest, raising more than $400,000 last year. He said he needs the money to ward off potential challenges, although the six-time congressman for once has no challengers in sight.
U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie said he always assumes an opponent.
"If you don't raise money, people assume that you think you don't have to, and that you're not taking the job seriously," said Abercrombie, who represents urban Honolulu. "That encourages people to run. I always operate on the basis that I'll have a credible opponent. You have to be prepared monetarily and issue-wise. You've got to have a war chest. It's indicative of your ability to conduct a campaign."
In the 1999-2000 election cycle, the congressman raised more than $800,000 to beat Republican Philip Meyers. He is on track to raise the same amount in the current cycle.
Last year, Abercrombie raised more than $411,000, according to the Federal Election Commission. In the first three months of 2002, he raised an additional $88,000 and had $342,000 on hand as of March 31.
Mink raised nearly $350,000 in the 1999-2000 election cycle. In 2001, she raised about $128,000, according to the FEC. In the first quarter of this year, Mink raised $11,000. She had $178,500 in cash on hand March 31.
State Rep. Bob McDermott, R-32nd ('Aiea, Salt Lake, Aliamanu), a legislator known for his efforts to try to repair crumbling public schools in his district, has announced plans to challenge Mink, but complained about a lack of support from the Hawai'i Republican Party.
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Mink, who represents the Neighbor Islands and part of O'ahu, also will seek a seventh consecutive term in Congress and 14th term overall. She said she takes every challenge seriously and figures she needs the same amount of money for this election as in 2000, when she easily beat former National Football League player Russ Francis, who had raised more than $200,000.
U.S. Rep Patsy Mink said there is no pressure to donate extra money.
Even if no one chooses to run against Abercrombie this year, the congressman said he won't give away much of his money to help expected gubernatorial candidate Jeremy Harris or any other Democrats, in keeping with past practice. Both he and Mink said they feel no pressure from the Hawai'i Democratic Party to donate money to other candidates.
"They know how poor we are," Mink said. "They don't have a problem raising money. They have ample assets."
"All you can do is account for yourself," Abercrombie said. "I'll do anything to be of assistance to others, and we'll campaign with them. But that doesn't mean giving people money, as if you can do that for everyone. I don't have that kind of money. But that doesn't mean you can't help other people raise money."
Federal candidates can give money they raise to both individual state candidates and state political parties. Bob Watada, executive director of the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission, said Abercrombie and Mink can give any state candidate as much as $4,000 per election, and can give the Hawaii Democratic Party as much as $25,000 per election cycle.
Most of the money the two lawmakers raise goes into advertising or gets plowed back into fund-raisers.
For instance, Abercrombie spent more than $75,000 last year on consulting fees associated with fund raising. He spent more than $34,000 on catering for fund-raisers, most of it at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and some at Padovani's Bistro.
An additional $2,600 went toward music and entertainment for fund-raisers and $2,400 went for flowers and leis. Abercrombie, who is known for giving away Hawaiian candy, also bought $1,500 worth from Hawaiian Host Inc. for promotions.
Mink, meanwhile, spent most of her $35,000 in operating expenses in 2001 on food, entertainment, invitations and liability insurance for fund-raisers.
"Sometimes it costs more money to put them on than you get," Mink acknowledged with a laugh. That's because Hawaiian campaigns don't usually charge hundreds of dollars a plate, as on the Mainland, while attendees expect a good meal and entertainment.
"But the point of fund-raisers is to gather your supporters together and rev people up, so it has value," Mink said.
Correction: Padovani's Bistro was misspelled in a previous version of this story.
