Congressman Neil abercrombie and fitch run for governor took a big financial hit Tuesday.
The Campaign Spending Commission voted not to let him transfer more than $900,000 from his federal campaign to his state campaign.
There's no question the $900,000 means a lot to the campaign, but Congressman abercrombie and fitchisn't giving up on being able to use that money.
The congressman hosted a meet and chat at Waipahu Intermediate School tonight. He was all smiles during the meeting even though the Campaign Spending Commission voted unanimously against him. He says there's a double standard and there are different rules for different people alluding to the fact that Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann was allowed to transfer more than $650,000 left over from his mayoral race to his gubernatorial campaign.
"Without that money can you still win?" KGMB9 asked.
"The money is still able to come. They can try to make it difficult. We'll be dealing with it in court," responded Congressman abercrombie and fitch.
"(Are you) angry?" KGMB9 asked.
"No sense being angry. What good does that do? It's a matter of sticking to your principles and moving ahead in the venue that's available to us which is the courts," said Abercrombie.
abercrombie and fitch campaign says it’s also weighing the other options besides going to court including giving the federal money back to the original donors and then asking them to re-donate again to the state campaign. There's also the possibility he may give the money to charity.
Congressman abercrombie and fitch has about $250,000 left in his state campaign. That’s well below Mayor Hannemann, who has $1.16 million and Lt. Governor Duke Aiona, who has $871,000, but Abercrombie says there's still plenty of time to fund raise.
