I’ve just started browsing through the campaign spending reports filed by noncandidate committees, meaning the corporations, unions, and political action committees that are required to file under Hawaii’s election laws. Just browsing, so far.

The Republican Governor’s Association has set up a Hawaii 2010 PAC and dumped $296,007.20 into it, with $291,921.70 in the bank and ready to spend as of the September 3 reporting deadline. The money was raised in small amounts from donors in other parts of the mainland.

So far, they have contributed $4,085 to Duke Aiona’s campaign. This does not include the costs associated with a series of television and radio ads supporting Aiona but produced independently without being authorized by the candidate, which are not reported here.

The Hawaii Republican Party had only $69,813.40 in the bank on Sept. 3, and had spent $208,023.24 during the first eight months of the year, mostly on its convention and other gatherings, and in transfers to the national party.

The Democratic Governors Association also set up a Hawaii account, which has a total of $12,250 ready to spend.

And the Democratic Party of Hawaii had just $18,131.88 in its coffers as of Sept. 3 after spending $44,330.69 during the Jan. 1-Sept 3 period.

The University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, the UH faculty union, appears to have been the most active during this reporting period, spending a whopping $305,739.85 and still ending with $145,849.49 in the bank.

UHPA contributed a total of $12,700 to candidates during the period, including $4,000 each to Dwight Takamine and Neil Abercrombie. But the bulk of its spending was for independent advertising in support of Abercrombie, including $57,202 for a major radio advertising blitz and thousands more for polls, ad production, mailing costs, and broadcast fees.

UHPA produced several video spots backing Abcrombie, including “Anything can happen“, “Endorsement“, and “Heart“.

From UHPA’s perspective, Abercrombie stands out for not only earning his degrees, including a Ph.D. at the Manoa campus, but also teaching.

Abercrombie, in a stump speech, says he’s the only candidate for governor who has actually worked as a teacher and a union organizer.

The AFL-CIO’s Committee on Political Education spent $89,241, which included $29,986.56 contributed directly to candidates, and had $128,548 in the bank at the end of the period.

The Hawaii Government Employees Association (HGEA) contributed a total of $40,003.73 to candidates in the reporting period ending Sept. 3, including $6,000 to Mufi Hannemann. It did not spend for independent advertising during this reporting period.

The Hawaii Carpenters Political Action Fund contributed $80,230.00 to candidates during the period and ended with $120,181.03 in the bank.

The HSTA Government Relations Committee, the teachers union PAC, spent $173,239.64 but ended the period with a deficit of $68,467.76.

HSTA contributed $56,100 to candidates, including $6,000 each to Neil Abercrombie and Gary Hooser, who got its endorsement for governor and lt. governor respectively. HSTA also did several small mailings, which were not individually identified.

The United Public Workers, which also endorsed Hannemann, spent $117,383.56 so far this year, including $11,824.75 contributed directly to candidates. It’s expenditures included $36,000 in ads that ran during the legislative session, and around $60,000 on endorsement ads and mailers. UPW still had $105,213.67 in the bank as of September 3.

The SHOPO Political Committee, the police union’s PAC, had $269,506.64 ready to spend on September 3. It reported spending $19,786.74 during the period, including $17,225 contributed directly to candidates.

Build-PAC, the political action committee of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii, which has endorsed Hannemann, raised $1,700 from January 1 through Sept. 3 and has $13,903.29 in the bank.

I’ll keep digging through these reports looking for interesting nuggets.

You can easily check the list of committees and do your own sleuthing.