Pro-rail political action committee Pacific Resource Partnership hit the $500,000 mark this week, according to Civil Beat’s most recent look into who’s buying political TV ads.

PRP, the advocacy arm of the local carpenters union, spent about $100,000 on 308 spots that are set to air this week through July 15 on all the local broadcast stations. As of this week, the group has doled out at least $508,000 airing pro-rail and an anti-Cayetano ad, making it the biggest spender this election season.

Honolulu’s incumbent mayor also kept up his spending.

Mayor Peter Carlisle paid $62,500 for 189 spots on KHON and KITV that are set to air through the primary elections. Last week, he spent $25,250.

As of this week, Carlisle has spent a total of at least $231,000 on ads airing on local broadcast stations and Oceanic Time Warner cable networks.

Civil Beat each week has been dropping by local broadcast stations to look at their political files. Every station is by law required to keep a public file containing documents that show which political candidates have bought ad time and for how much.

So far, those contracts have only been available in paper form at each station. (Only contracts with Oceanic Time Warner are accessible online.) But the federal Office of Management and Budget two weeks ago passed a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) measure that will require the stations to post those documents online.

Other TV Buys Slow Down

The mainland tax-exempt super PAC VoteVets.org keeps buying up time for its ad endorsing 2nd Congressional District Democratic candidate Tulsi Gabbard. The 50 spots, which are airing on KFVE, KGMB and KHNL until Tuesday, cost the group about $20,500. As of this week, VoteVets.org has spent an estimated $232,000 on airtime.

For her part, Gabbard spent only $6,700 on ad time this week. She bought 50 spots — including five that she added to a contract from last week — that have been airing on KITV, KFVE and KHNL this past week. But that’s on top of the $104,000 she’s already spent on ads that are set to air through the Aug. 11 primary.

Mayoral candidates Kirk Caldwell and Ben Cayetano spent about the same on ad purchases this past week.

Caldwell appears to buy spots one week at a time. He paid about $22,000 for 85 spots that have been airing on KHON, KITV, KGMB and KHNL this week.

Cayetano spent a total of $21,500 on ad time this week. He paid $16,500 on 50 spots that have been airing on KHON, KITV, KFVE and KHNL, in addition to $5,000 for 60 spots on cable channels such as CNN and Bravo.

Both Linda Lingle and Mufi Hannemann significantly toned down their airwave purchases this week.

Lingle, running as a Republican to replace Daniel Akaka in the U.S. Senate, spent about $5,900 on 53 spots that will air from mid-July until the primary on KITV and the KITV subsidiary MeTV. One of those spots is a $5,000 web banner ad that will appear on KITV’s website every Saturday starting July 23. (Carlisle also bought a single KITV web banner, but his — a Sunday ad — cost him $2,000.)

She also paid $5,065 for 32 spots on cable networks including USA and TNT, in addition to $2,500 for her cable channel. The $13,500 total Lingle spent this week brings her combined spending to at least $270,000.

Hannemann, another Democratic contender for the 2nd Congressional District seat, paid roughly $10,400 for 80 spots on KHON, KITV, MeTV, KGMB and KHNL that will air through the primary. A deleted contract that this week appeared in KITV’s political file also shows that Hannemann will be refunded for two spots he had bought in June. The spots, which cost him $950 each, had been set to air during the two NBA Finals games that were cancelled.

As of this week, Hannemann has spent a total of about $150,000 on ad time.

Former Rep. Lei Ahu Isa spent $2,100 on seven spots that will air the week of July 23. That’s on top of the $2,100 — also for seven spots — that she spent last month. Isa is running to represent District 26, which includes downtown Honolulu, Kakaako and Ala Moana, in the state House.

Candidates and independent expenditure committees spent $247,000 on ad time this week. Total spending for the election season is at least $2,379,000. Roughly half of that money, or about $1,251,000, was spent by independent expenditure committees.

DISCUSSION: What do you think about what political campaigns and action committees have spent on ad time so far?

Play the new Facebook game, Our Hawaiian Spring, developed in conjunction with the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, and get engaged in this year’s elections. Learn about the candidates and their issues. Have fun. And vote on Aug. 11!

Here are this week’s spending reports. They are organized by candidate and independent expenditure group:

Kirk Caldwell

Peter Carlisle

Ben Cayetano

Tulsi Gabbard

Mufi Hannemann

Lei Ahu Isa

Linda Lingle

Pacific Resource Partnership

VoteVets.org