Gonzales prevails in residency complaint

The Hawaii County clerk cleared District 9 County Council candidate Ron Gonzales to continue his challenge against incumbent Kohala Councilwoman Margaret Wille.

Clerk Stewart Maeda, in a four-page decision letter dated Wednesday, said he is satisfied Gonzales’ legal residence is in Waikoloa, and therefore he is properly registered to vote in District 9.

Gonzales said Friday he was glad to hear the decision, but he wasn’t surprised.

“We maintained all along we followed all the laws and met all the deadlines,” Gonzales said. “We look forward to getting this behind us and concentrating on the issues.”

Maeda’s letter was in response to complaints filed by three District 9 residents who contend Gonzales actually lives with his wife and children in Honokaa, not in the district where he’s running for office. A fourth resident had withdrawn a similar complaint but refiled it Thursday.

Alex Achmat of Hawi, one of the complainants, told Stephens Media Hawaii on Friday that he intends to appeal Maeda’s decision. He said Maeda’s investigation relied too much on statements from Gonzales.

“I don’t see any evidence that the clerk had dug anything out,” Achmat said. “He hasn’t added anything new.”

Appeals are handled by the county Board of Registration, a three-member body appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. Hawaii County’s members are Andrew A. Kahili, Philip G. Matlage and Delene K. Osorio.

At issue are Gonzales’ statements that he changed his residency earlier this year to a Waikoloa address where he has been renting a room since 2011, when he and his family moved to Honokaa so his children could attend Honokaa High School, his alma mater.

Gonzales resigned from the Windward Planning Commission, which required a North Hilo/Hamakua residence, on May 1, although he apparently changed his voter registration to his Waikoloa address April 1, according to documents obtained by Stephens Media Hawaii.

Maeda made the decision to affirm the Waikoloa residency after interviewing Gonzales, his wife and a neighbor, visiting the Waikoloa and Honokaa residences and researching documents such as a rental agreement for the Waikoloa address, voter registration forms and driver’s license records, according to his letter.

“Mr. Gonzales stated that although he had rented a room in Waikoloa since 2011, once he made the decision to be a candidate for County Council in District 9, he changed his ‘mind-set’ from living in Honokaa and sometimes staying in Waikoloa, to living in Waikoloa and visiting his family in Honokaa,” Maeda said in the letter. “Mr. Gonzales further stated that if he is elected as a council member, it would be his intention to move his family to Council District 9 at that time.”

The complaints questioned whether Gonzales plans to move permanently to Waikoloa, or is just using the Waikoloa address as a convenience so he can run in District 9 instead of facing off against District 1 incumbent Councilwoman Valerie Poindexter.

Wille secured 1,664 votes, or 48.3 percent, against Gonzales and another challenger, Oliver “Sonny” Shimaoka, in the primary election. She needed more than 50 percent to avoid the Nov. 4 runoff. Gonzales won 968 votes, or 28.1 percent, and Shimaoka gained 812 votes, or 23.6 percent.

Poindexter easily won her second term in the primary, winning 3,091 votes, or 79.7 percent, against challenger Larry Gering’s 785 votes.

The other complaint was filed by Kapaau resident Lanric Hyland.

“HRS Sec. 11-13 says that in order to become your new legal residence, it must not only be your current intention to live there permanently but you must also currently intend to abandon your old address permanently,” Hyland said in his complaint. “What kind of a move would be ‘permanent,’ as the law requires for his new registration to be legal, when he has kept his old mailing address as his permanent mailing address and has left his wife and two children behind at his old legal residence address?”

Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.