A term-limited Hawaii County Council member facing a legal challenge to her campaign for the state House District 2 seat being vacated by Rep. Richard Onishi has filed her response.
Councilwoman Sue Lee Loy on Friday submitted a copy of a lease for a shared residence in Hilo’s Waiakea Uka neighborhood to Scott Nago, state elections chief, and Jon Henricks, Hawaii County clerk.
Nago and Henricks on Monday received a petition objecting to Lee Loy’s nomination papers filed for the election, as well as her voter registration in the district. The petitioners’ position is that Lee Loy’s legal residence is 498 Auwae Road, a Hawaiian Home Lands property in Hilo’s Panaewa House and Farm Lots, which is in state House District 3.
A candidate is required by law to have their primary residence in the district they serve.
The only other candidate seeking the District 2 House seat is Tanya Yamanaka Aynessazian. She and Lee Loy are both Democrats.
The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands beneficiary lessee for the Auwae Road property is Ian Lee Loy, a retired Hawaii Police Department detective and Sue Lee Loy’s estranged husband.
Three of the petitioners are Lee Loy’s sisters-in-law: Bridgit Bales, Maureen Namaka Rawlins and Hedwig Nakoolani Warrington, sisters of Ian Lee Loy, who in February filed for divorce from Sue Lee Loy. The others are Eva E. Naniole, Janice Pualani K. Kahoohanohano and Caroline R.P. “Pohai” Montague-Mullins.
The lease, issued by Day Lum Rentals & Management Inc. in Hilo, was signed April 22 by Lee Loy and April 21 by Nancy Cabral, Day-Lum president and principal broker.
The rental period covered by the lease is April 10 to December 31.
In the copy provided to the Tribune-Herald by Sue Lee Loy, the address of the property is redacted.
Lee Loy told the Tribune-Herald on Wednesday she is keeping the address confidential for the purposes of voter registration under Hawaii Revised Statutes 11-14.5, which allows the chief elections officer or county clerk to provide a voter privacy if it is determined that the disclosure of the residential address “would result in an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or expose the person or a member of the person’s family to risk of bodily harm.”
An attached letter by Cabral dated June 12 states that Sue Lee Loy contacted her in March concerning a rental property and that a rental agreement was entered into in April.
“To protect the privacy and safety of our thousands of tenants over the years, we do not provide the residential address of our tenants,” Cabral wrote. “We can verify that she is in compliance with her signed rental contract, and I have recently verified that the property is in Hawaii State House District 2.”
A signed declaration by Ian Lee Loy dated June 13 is also attached, stating he and Sue Lee Loy share legal guardianship for their 19-year-old special-needs son, Luke, who “requires constant supervision and full-time care.”
“I currently reside at another location for personal reasons,” Ian Lee Loy wrote. “I understand that Sue has another residence also. We both agree that address, 498 Auwae Road, Hilo, HI is best suited as the permanent residence for Luke where he can receive uninterrupted routine care and services that provide stability in his life.”
‘Auli‘i Tenn of the state elections office said late Friday afternoon “a decision has not been issued” by Nago in Lee Loy’s case. Henricks was not in his office on Friday.
A decision is expected by 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.