Peter Boylan, the high-profile spokesman of embattled Mayor Billy Kenoi, resigned after nine months on the job.
In an email to the Tribune-Herald, Boylan said he no longer was working as the mayor’s executive assistant and that he moved home to Oahu. He did not respond to follow-up emails or phone calls seeking comment about why he left.
Wally Lau, county managing director, said in an email the decision was entirely Boylan’s.
“After serving with us honorably for nine months, Peter returned to be with his family and friends on Oahu,” Lau said. “He was an asset to our administration and to our Hawaii Island community. We wish him well on his future endeavors.”
Lau added no decision has been made about finding a replacement.
Boylan’s departure comes less than three months after Big Island newspapers reported Kenoi used his county purchasing card, or pCard, for personal expenses, including visits to Honolulu hostess bars. Kenoi’s use of the pCard is the focus of an investigation by the Hawaii Department of the Attorney General and an ethics complaint.
Boylan was the chief spokesman for Kenoi after he announced he would no longer be answering reporters’ questions about the pCard case.
A former Honolulu Advertiser newspaper reporter and public relations representative for U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa’s Democratic U.S. Senate campaign, Boylan joined Kenoi’s staff Sept. 16.
At that time, Kenoi said Boylan’s years of legislative experience as deputy chief of staff for the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, would serve the county well.
While some speculated Boylan was brought in to prepare Kenoi for a run for higher office, Kenoi said the addition of high-profile names to his administration, including Boylan and comedian Augie T, were not a sign of future political aspirations, and that he planned to return to his private law practice at the end of his two terms in office.
“I’ve made it clear. I won’t be running for office in two years,” Kenoi told West Hawaii Today in November. “I’m not leaving Hawaii County. This is my home … There’s no other (higher) political office on Hawaii Island. So, I’m done.”
Kenoi currently has three executive assistants, including Charmaine Shigemura, Karen Teshima and Clarysse Nunokawa.
Email Chris D’Angelo at cdangelo@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
