Petitioners who sought to disqualify Hawaii County Councilwoman Sue Lee Loy from running for the state House District 2 seat are appealing Hawaii Chief Election Officer Scott Nago’s decision that she is eligible to run.
The appeal was filed June 24 with the state Elections Office and the clerk of the House of Representatives.
The six petitioners, including three of Lee Loy’s sisters-in-law, contend Lee Loy — who is term-limited and can’t run again for the District 3 council seat — still lives at 498 Auwae Road in the Panaewa Hawaiian Homes and Farm Lots, which is in state House District 3.
State law requires a candidate’s main residence be within the district the candidate is seeking to represent.
The petitioners are Bridget Bales, Maureen Namaka Rawlins and Hedwig Nakoolani Warrington — who are sisters of Ian Lee Loy, Sue Lee Loy’s estranged husband — plus Eva E. Naniole, Janice Pualani K. Kahoohanohano and Caroline R.P. “Pohai” Montague-Mullins.
In her appeal, Bales described Nago’s decision as “completely void of any analysis of the evidence presented by petitioners, any discussion of any rebutting evidence that may or may not have been presented by Susan L.K. Lee Loy, or findings of fact and conclusions of law, despite the detailed factual and legal analysis provided by the petitioners in their objection.”
“However, implied within Mr. Nago’s preliminary decision is the unsupported conclusion that Susan L.K. Lee Loy was a resident of District 2 at the time she filed her nomination papers to run for the office of Hawaii State House of Representatives for District 2.”
According to county tax records, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands lessee for the property is Ian Lee Loy, a retired Hawaii Police Department detective who filed for divorce from Sue Lee Loy in February.
In her original complaint to Nago, Bales, who lives at 510 Auwae Rd., submitted a two-page, single-spaced typed list of dates and times for alleged comings and goings of Sue Lee Loy at the 498 Auwae Rd. home between April 1 and May 31. Bales said she has video evidence to back the list.
The list also includes alleged dates and times of Lee Loy mowing the lawn at the Auwae Road home, school bus arrivals to pick up and drop off Lee Loy’s son, and dates of Facebook campaign posts by Lee Loy during trips to Japan and Mariposa, Calif.
In her reply to the original objection by the petitioners, the councilwoman filed a copy of her lease of a shared rental property in Hilo’s Waiakea Uka neighborhood signed in April with Day-Lum Rentals &Management Inc. in Hilo. The copy she sent to the Tribune-Herald had the address redacted, but an attached letter from Nancy Cabral, Day-Lum president and principal broker, said Cabral “recently verified that the property is in Hawaii State House District 2.”
A signed declaration by Ian Lee Loy, 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.”
Because of a mutual restraining order imposed by the court during divorce proceedings, Sue Lee Loy and Ian Lee Loy are not allowed to be at the Auwae Street residence simultaneously.
There is no incumbent for the House District 2 seat, because Rep. Richard Onishi pulled papers to run for a seventh term but didn’t file them. The only other candidate for the House District 2 seat is Tanya Yamanaka Aynessazian, a fellow Democrat.
Aynessazian, who listed a Haili Street address in Hilo on her filed nomination document, also pulled but didn’t file papers using a Pahoa address for the House District 3 seat occupied by incumbent Rep. Chris Todd.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.