BY JIM DOOLEY – Honolulu mayoral challenger Ben Cayetano is thrashing incumbent Mayor Peter Carlisle in campaign fundraising.
Carlisle’s campaign filed its campaign finance figures Monday – three days ahead of the legal deadline – revealing that it raised $198,000 in donations during the first six months of the year.
Cayetano’s campaign hasn’t filed its six-month report yet but he said in a news conference today that his campaign raised $890,000 in the same period.
Kirk Caldwell, the third candidate in the race — and the man with the most union endorsements and access to traditional sources of campaign money — hasn’t filed his campaign report yet
Campaign spokeswoman Glenna Wong said Caldwell won’t reveal fundraising figures until the report is filed with the Campaign Spending Commission.
The filing deadline is midnight Thursday night.
Carlisle already had $297,000 in his political war chest before January 1, accrued during his successful 2010
mayoral campaign. So the financial spread between the two candidates is not as wide as the 2012 figures indicate.
And Carlisle has traditionally run low-budget campaigns, going back to his previous successful runs for the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney’s post.
The Carlisle campaign reported spending $249,426 from January through June, with a remaining bank balance of $246,095.
Details of Carlisle’s latest campaign report are here.