Wayne’s World: Election Season is Here!
By Wayne Tanaka | Reading time: 4.5min
While voting alone is only a part of a functioning democracy, it is a critical part. And for voting to fulfill this key democratic role, it should be done by voters who are as informed on issues and candidates as possible.
Unfortunately, everything from busy work and life schedules to charming but less-than-informative campaign public relations pieces makes it very difficult for most folks to do their own research, in understanding candidates and deciding how to cast their votes.
To help voters in their consideration of candidates, every election season, Sierra Club volunteers from across the islands volunteer hundreds of hours surveying those running for office, conducting interviews, and deliberating and deciding on a roster who they feel would best represent the environmental interests of our islands. Endorsements are then distributed via a Mālama newsletter to our members - if you are a member, please let us know if you have a hard time finding the endorsement list in this month’s issue.
More information on how our endorsements are made can be found here.
If you are someone that does have the time and inclination to do their own research, a big question that often arises - and that can be difficult to answer - is who is spending money on your candidates’ campaigns. While not always the case, there are reasonable concerns that special interest groups spending millions of dollars on local campaigns may be seeking or expecting favorable consideration in future decisionmaking by the elected officials they supported. Accordingly, knowing how much money is being spent on local races, and by who, may provide you with better insight into the candidates you are considering voting for.
To help get you started on campaign funding research, former Sierra Club Red Hill organizer Madison Owens has put together an explainer on how to research Super PACs operating in Hawaiʻi elections - please check it out below.
Happy voting!
Wayne
Following the Money: Researching PACs and Super PACs in Hawaiʻi
By Madison Owens
Campaign finance records are public information. Hawaiʻi's Campaign Spending Commission maintains an online searchable database that allows anyone to examine how political campaigns and independent expenditure committees (Super PACs) raise and spend money. While the database has some limitations and can take some time to navigate, it provides valuable public records that can help reveal who is financing political activity in Hawai’i for those willing to explore it.
Political Action Committees (PACs) may contribute directly to candidates and political parties within legal limits. Super PACs, officially called Independent Expenditure Committees, may raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate for or against candidates, but they cannot donate or coordinate directly with a candidate, campaign, committee, or party.
Hawaiʻi’s database allows users to track contributions and payments made by Hawaiʻi’s candidates, noncandidate committees, and independent expenditure committees located both within Hawaiʻi and outside Hawaiʻi. This allows users to examine who is funding political activity, and where campaign spending ultimately goes.
Using the Commission's searchable database, users can identify more than $173 million in reported contributions made by noncandidate committees between 2008 and 2026, and more than $140 million incontributions received by candidate committees between 2020 and 2024. Using the database’s search and filtering tools, users can also identify more than $6.3 million in reported out-of-state contributions to Hawai’i noncandidate committees over the past 4 years. These records show that, alongside Hawaiʻi-based contributors, corporations, organizations, and donors from outside Hawaiʻi play a significant role in influencing state political activity.
Online Resource
Hawaiʻi Campaign Spending Commission
https://ags.hawaii.gov/campaign/
The website allows users to search:
Candidates & their committees
Noncandidate committees (including Super PACs)
Contributions received
Contributions made
Independent expenditures
Electioneering communications
Campaign finance reports
Downloadable datasets and dashboards
Candidates
Who is contributing to or supporting candidates?
Open the Campaign Spending Commission website.
Select Candidate Committees.
Click Browse Data
Select Searchable Data
Or select other options listed. The dashboard option provides a user-friendly, interactive way to view the same financial information listed in the searchable data.
Choose from the Data Sets: Contributions Received, Expenditures Made, or others
Select Data
Review Data or Filter Search by:
Committee, contributor, amount, date, vendor, state, etc.
Super PACs
Who is contributing to or supporting Super PACs?
Open the Campaign Spending Commission website.
Select Noncandidate Committees.
Click Browse Data
Select Searchable Data
Or select the other options listed, such as “Independent Expenditure Committees” to view a list of registered Super PACs.
Choose from the Data Sets: Contributions Received, or Expenditures Made
Select Data
Review Data or Filter Search by:
Candidate name, contributor name, date, amount, vendor, state, etc.
What the Data Shows
The Campaign Spending Commission database demonstrates that both candidate and noncandidate committees receive financial support from organizations, corporations, labor unions, PACs, Super PACs, and individuals both within Hawai’i and across the continental United States.
For example:
Between 2022 and 2026, Hawai’i noncandidate committees and Super PACs received more than $6.3 million in contributions from out-of-state donors.
The Commission’s dashboard also highlights Super PACs that have raised unusually large sums. For example, For a Better Tomorrow, formerly Be Change Now, reported millions of dollars in contributions during recent election cycles. Nearly all of the committee’s funding came from a single source–the Hawai’i Carpenters Market Recovery Program Fund, with one additional contribution from the Hawai’i Regional Council of Carpenters Political Action Fund Account. Its largest reported contribution was $7,698,867 in 2024. The 2024 dashboard further illustrates that For A Better Tomorrow and its predecessor, Be Change Now, accounted for approximately 99.6% of all reported independent expenditures that year, while the remaining six Super PACs collectively accounted for just .4%.
Committee records also show where campaign money is spent. For example, expenditure reports indicate that the majority of non-candidate committee payments are made to vendors located outside Hawaiʻi, including firms in New York, Washington, D.C., California, Nevada, Utah, Tennessee, and other states.
Because the database is searchable, users can trace individual contributions, identify recurring donors, examine expenditures, compare activity across election cycles, and better understand who is financing political activity and the interests supporting candidates and campaigns.
These records do not indicate whether a contribution or expenditure is improper; rather, they provide transparency into who is participating financially in Hawaiʻi elections.
Electioneering Communications
The Electioneering Communication database is another valuable public resource on the Campaigns Spending Commission's website, as it provides information on political advertising and communications that refer to clearly identifiable candidates shortly before an election. These filings identify who paid for the communication, the vendor that received the payment, the amount spent, and whether the communication supported or opposed a candidate. Because these reports are filed as electioneering communications occur, they can provide insight into campaign spending before it is reflected in other campaign finance reports.