Public Campaign Funding Played Big Role In Big Isle Elections
Did public campaign funding help Big Island County Council candidates get elected?
The three-election-year pilot project just finished its second year. In all, eight Hawaii County Council candidates received $215,344 in public funds. Most of it was spent on advertising, but there were also some more unusual payments, including for an imu goat and a volcano surface.
The Hawaii Tribune-Herald has this analysis showing that the public funding may have made a difference in race outcomes:
When the new Hawaii County Council is sworn in at noon Dec. 3, it will mark a milestone for the comprehensive public funding campaign pilot program.
A majority of the incoming council members have benefited from public campaign financing. They are Karen Eoff, Brenda Ford, Greggor Ilagan, Margaret Wille and J Yoshimoto.
More significantly, in every County Council race where at least one publicly financed candidate entered, that candidate won.
Flickr image courtesy of seanmcmenemy.
