When Yuki Lei Sugimura begin her first campaign for public office in 2015, she and her husband Takashi had little direct experience with what the race would involve.

They had worked on campaigns for Sens. Daniel Inouye, Daniel Akaka and Mazie Hirono over the years, but that was just volunteer work.

Fortunately, Takashi Sugimura (he goes by “Tak”) got help from the state Campaign Spending Commission, in particular from staff member Tony Baldomero. With his assistance Yuki Lei complied with all the necessary paperwork and deadlines, alleviating some of the stress as she went on to win the seat to represent Upcountry on the Maui County Council.

Today, 20 years later, Sugimura is in the Nov. 3 runoff against Mayor Richard Bissen. But this race, her husband explained, is of a new “order of magnitude — much more money and much more competitive. There are rules for everything. You need somebody who is a point person rather than specialist in a small area.”

Fortunately, the Sugimuras found that person: Tony Baldomero, who retired as the CSC associate director in December and set up shop as a campaign finance consultant.

But this time they are paying him. His consulting firm Hokupaʻa Strategies received $18,000 from Friends of Yuki Lei Sugimura for its work leading up to the Aug. 8 primary, where the councilwoman finished second in a field of 10 candidates.

“Tony is an amazing guy,” said Tak Sugimura, who is a deputy treasurer for his wife. “He’s very knowledgable because in his previous job he learned every part of CSC. He can explain all the details on reporting and deadlines and law. He’s a one-man point person for Hawaiʻi politics. And he’s a good guy.”

Baldomero is more modest in talking about his services. But he makes clear that he very much wants to help his paying clients get campaign finance laws right.

“I want the candidate’s reports to be true and accurate,” he told me. “If not, you are going to run into false reporting issues or unreported transactions — and both are subject to fines by the commission.”

He continued: “So it’s especially important for someone with those reporting duties, like a campaign treasurer, to be trustworthy. There is an expectation that everything going into a campaign and coming out be reported accurately.”

That expectation has been heightened, he and others in Hawaiʻi political and government circles agree, by two developments.

The first was the indictment in late July of Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, three other former state officials and a fifth person. Charges vary for each but include conspiracy to commit bribery, falsifying candidate committee reports and other crimes. The action came only weeks after the Campaign Spending Commission voted to refer a set of alleged campaign finance violations by Luke and her campaign treasurers to the Attorney General’s Office for possible prosecution.

The second development was the implementation of dozens of campaign finance reform laws over the past 12 years. That effort picked up speed in December 2022 following the bribery convictions of two top legislators and the forming of a special commission that crafted 31 proposals designed to combat corruption, improve ethics and address other problems in politics and government.

Not all the proposals became law, but since that time nearly two dozen did. They include ones prohibiting lobbyists from donating just before, during and just after legislative session; forbidding candidates from holding organized fundraisers during sessions; requiring candidates, political action committees and other organizations to file notice of all fundraisers; forcing a candidate’s legal name to appear on ballots; stopping candidates and PACs from taking advantage of disasters in order to solicit donations; and adding more mandatory reporting deadlines.

Good-government groups have argued the measures, while laudable, do not go far enough. But all have added to the homework and workload of candidates and campaigns.

Baldomero credits passage of much of that legislation to Sen. Karl Rhoads, the former chair of the House Judiciary and Labor Committee and the current chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Rhoads, who is retiring this year, told me that the Baldomero and the Campaign Spending Commission on a few occasions flagged his own campaigns for minor reporting errors, which he promptly fixed.

“I think the attitude you have to have is to get it right,” Rhoads said of campaigns today. “The public understands a scandal better than anything else. You’ve got to do everything perfectly. You have to take this seriously.” 

Digital Transition

Baldomero was born and raised in Waimānalo and still calls the Windward Side home. When he first joined the Campaign Spending Commission in 1993, all candidate filings were done manually.

Two years later, Hawaiʻi became one of the first states to require electronic filing for candidates running for governor, lieutenant governor and county mayors. The system was put online for the 1996 election and other country races were added the following year. By 2008 the state House and Senate were added.

Baldomero was directly involved in that transition beginning under the commission’s then-executive director Bob Watada. Before retiring in December, under current executive director Kristin Izumi-Nitao, Baldomero helped procure and hire a contractor to perform a $2.2 million major upgrade to the filing system that is expected to be operational in time for the 2028 election cycle.

But campaigns still have to make sure that they accurately upload the data and do so on time. And resources on the Campaign Spending Commission’s website guiding them on how to do that are voluminous and detailed.

In addition to the many laws governing campaign finances (this document alone numbers 46 pages), there are two sets of Hawaiʻi administrative rules to follow (one on campaign contributions and expenditures, the other on administrative practices and procedures), separate explainers on contribution limits and fees and penalties, a calendar for reporting deadlines and events, guidebooks for both treasurers and candidate committees, as well as a filing system manual and candidate training slides.

Tak Sugimura said the responsibilities for campaigns are enormous — even with the help of their own personal accountant, Russell Yamane, who is the campaign’s lead treasurer. His wife’s race for mayor has already raised more than $460,000 this year — 10 times larger than her races for council, Sugimura said — and spent nearly all of it.

As is typical for a major campaign, Yuki Lei Sugimura’s has received donations from lobbyists, lawyers, architects, engineers, bankers, lawmakers, developers, real estate brokers and many more professions. Expenses include paying for bank charges, merchant fees, printing, postage, mailing and freight; travel and lodging; contract employees and professional services; advertising, media and collateral materials; food and beverages and much more.

“He does more than answer our questions but actually helps us plan,” Tak Sugimura said of Baldomero, who provides not only compliance and reporting guidance but also education and training, research and analysis, and operational support. “That’s very, very important. You think something is trivial and not worth doing but he tells us why we should.”  

There are many other businesses that provide consulting, professional, compliance and reporting services, but Kailua-based Hokupaʻa Strategies has already attracted notable paying clients in its first year: state Senate President Ron Kouchi, state Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz and lieutenant governor candidate Derek Kawakami. Baldomero also did some work for state Sen. Kurt Fevella and Honolulu City Councilman Tommy Waters.

“If I had a big campaign run for lieutenant governor or governor or raised a lot of money like Donovan, I would totally hire Tony to make sure I cross the T’s and dot the I’s,” said Rhoads.

(Note: State employees are required to adhere to a one-year “cooling off” period after they leave their jobs prohibiting them from appearing before their former agency or doing lobbying work. Baldomero does neither.)

Reporting errors can be costly in terms of penalties. In its 2024-2025 annual report, the Campaign Spending Commission issued dozens of campaign finance violations including for late and unfiled reports, insufficient advertising disclaimers, improper charitable donations and excess contributions.

Gary Hooser, a former state senator and Kauaʻi County Councilman who also ran for lieutenant governor and Congress, said it is not difficult to make mistakes in campaign spending reports.

Perusing recent reports, where Hooser first came across Hokupaʻa Strategies, he said that the news about Sylvia Luke “seems to be causing a lot of consternation and everyone’s rushing to correct their own mistakes, questionable skirting of reporting requirements and sloppiness. There appears to be numerous corrections and refunds of excess contributions and other corrections.”

“If you audit a campaign, you are going to find problems,” he said. “And the Campaign Spending Commission probably needs a significant investment in people and technology to properly analyze money coming in and money going out.”

But they can also call Tony Baldomero at Hokupaʻa Strategies. Its name comes from the Hawaiian name for the North Star that, in Baldomero’s definition, “symbolizes steadfast guidance” for leaders “navigating Hawaiʻi’s civic and political landscape.”

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