The Center for Public Integrity has compiled a list of the top donors to the groups “pushing and fighting” statewide ballot measures in 2014, and Hawaii was one of those states.
The National Education Association, a labor union based in Washington, D.C., representing public school employees, spent $510,000 to defeat constitutional ballot question No. 4, which called for allowing public funds to be used for private pre-school.
The NEA was successful, as the measure failed by a large margin.
Voting at Manoa Elementary School in 2014.
Brian Tseng/Civil Beat
To determine the 50 “mega-donors” behind the measures, the Center for Pubic Integrity analyzed state campaign finance filings from 85 ballot measure committees nationwide. The NEA was mega-donor No. 34.
Hawaii’s teachers union and David Ige, the winner of the gubernatorial election, also opposed question No. 4.
Also of note: The Omidyar Family Trust gave $350,000 to Good Beginnings Alliance, a PAC that unsuccessfully tried to persuade voters to approve the measure. Pierre Omidyar is the publisher of Civil Beat.
GET IN-DEPTH
REPORTING ON HAWAII’S BIGGEST ISSUES
What it means to support Civil Beat.
Supporting Civil Beat means you’re investing in a newsroom that can devote months to investigate corruption. It means we can cover vulnerable, overlooked communities because those stories matter. And, it means we serve you. And only you.
Donate today and help sustain the kind of journalism Hawaiʻi cannot afford to lose.
About the Author
-
Chad Blair is the politics editor for Civil Beat. You can reach him by email at cblair@civilbeat.org or follow him on X at @chadblairCB.