DC808 Got it Wrong

We don’t always get it right. That was the case Wednesday night, when we pointed out that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had donated money to Honolulu City Council member Tulsi Gabbard but not to former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann. 

That seemed significant, especially given that Hannemann is the better known candidate.

But DC808 got it wrong.

The DCCC mission is to “support Democratic House candidates every step of the way.” As the Hannemann campaign explained, that includes giving any Democratic candidate access to office space, telephones or other equipment (which then shows up in campaign finance documents as in-kind donations).

The Hannemann camp explained that these are services made available to all Democratic candidates, and that the DCCC says it doesn’t take sides in races. Bottom line: We should have waited to get the full explanation about how the process works before publishing the original post. 

Here’s that earlier post in its entirety:

[Headline: National Dems Give to Gabbard, Not Hannemann]

Former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann may be the best known candidate in the race for Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District, but Honolulu City Council member Tulsi Gabbard got a donation from a key national group that Hannemann didn’t.

Campaign finance records show that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee gave Gabbard $201 last quarter. Hannemann’s campaign finance filing shows no donation from the group, which is the official campaign arm of the U.S. House. (Curiously, the DCCC doesn’t include any information about Hawaii on its interactive map of 2012 races.)

As Civil Beat pointed out in its analysis of the last fundraising period, Hannemann and Gabbard have pulled away from their other opponents ahead of the Democratic primary. Yet both Hannemann and Gabbard have drawn criticism from naysayers who call them DINOs, or Democrats in name only. 

Hannemann holds more conservative views on issues like gay marriage, while Gabbard says she’s undergone a major shift from her previous more conservative days.