Campaign Cash Flows When Hawaii Lawmakers Are in Session

Flickr:Daveiam

Hawaii lawmakers raised nearly a half million for their reelection campaign treasuries in 2011, often by holding fundraisers while the Legislature was in session. And judging by the number of candidates who held fundraisers during this year's session, it looks like it'll be even more this year.

Nearly twice as many state House and Senate members — 45 of them — held in-session fundraisers this year compared to last. But we won't know how much they raised at those events until July 12, when the next batch of campaign finance reports is due. As a starting point, Civil Beat looked at what happened in the 2011 session.

For a handful of lawmakers, money raised during the session made up the majority of their campaign cash for the year. Two lawmakers raised money exclusively during session.

Civil Beat has been tracking the money flowing to candidates for the 2012 elections in several ways. In-session fundraising raises conflict of interest concerns because votes could appear to have been influenced by donations.

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