BY NANCY COOK LAUER | WEST HAWAII TODAY
HILO — Seven Hawaii County Council candidates have so far filed declarations of intent to seek public funding as the second election year of the three-election-cycle pilot program begins.
The candidates as of Monday are Gregorr Ilagan and James Weatherford, District 4; Maile David, Brenda Ford and Harry Mcintosh, District 6; Karen Eoff, District 8 and Margaret Wille, District 9, according to Tony Baldomero, associate director of the state Campaign Spending Commission.
Weatherford is an old hand in the procedure, as he qualified for funding in the 2010 election. Wille is a first-time candidate.
Both candidates praised the program for opening elections up to the less-moneyed.
“We should all be really grateful this program exists,” Wille said. “Some people, like me, can ask people for $5, but I would really hate to have to hold fundraisers.”
But both also agreed the process can be confusing. Wille said she had misunderstandings at the beginning, but she thinks she’s got it down. She said people should use the information on the pilot project website, hawaii.gov/campaign/comprehensive/comprehensive-public-funding, rather than the general home page of the spending commission, which describes other public funding programs in addition to the Hawaii County Council one.
Weatherford said many people aren’t aware the program even exists for this election.
“We all wanted it then, and we’ve got it now,” Weatherford said. “More public education is needed.”
The Legislature created the pilot program in 2008. Act 244 takes a maximum of $300,000 from the Hawaii Election Campaign Fund, which is funded by taxpayers through a voluntary check-off on state income tax forms, and distributes it on a first-come, first-served basis to County Council candidates.
Candidates must be certified and collect $5 checks and verified signatures from 200 registered voters within their districts, and they must agree not to take campaign contributions from other sources. The qualifying contributions must be collected between Jan. 3 and June 5.
The amount of money available for campaigns is based on candidate spending for each district in previous elections. District 1 candidates can qualify for $1,226 in the primary campaign, compared to $41,573 for District 6 candidates. Money for the general election campaign ranges from zero in District 3 to $7,320 in District 6.
During the 2010 election, the first year of the program, 16 candidates filed declarations of their intent to take part in the Comprehensive Public Funding program, and eight of them were certified, according to a Campaign Spending Commission report. Incumbents accounted for five of the eight candidates receiving funding.
Candidates in 2010 received from $9,826 to $37,795, according to which district they were in. In all, $140,187 was distributed to candidates.
Candidates are allowed to collect up to $3,000 in seed money contributions before they file their declarations of intent. The money can be used to explore a candidacy, and seed money collected to date must be reported by Jan. 31 and can be used only until the candidate is certified by the commission.
ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com