HILO — It’s far too late to have any impact on the 2014 election, but the Hawaii Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments in January over a complaint questioning the residency status of Ron Gonzales, who unsuccessfully challenged Kohala Councilwoman Margaret Wille that year.
The election complaint was filed by Kapaau resident Lanric Hyland, best known for his successful ethics complaint against Mayor Billy Kenoi. Kenoi earlier this month agreed to a stipulated settlement after the Board of Ethics found probable cause his use of his county credit card violated the ethics code.
Hyland had challenged Gonzales’ residency to County Clerk Stewart Maeda. Maeda denied the challenge and Hyland appealed first to the Board of Registration and then to the Intermediate Court of Appeals, which sided with the clerk and Board of Registration.
Hyland, now armed with a Honolulu attorney, contends the county Board of Registration, which hears election issues, incorrectly denied his petition, saying it wasn’t filed on time. He’s suing Gonzales, Maeda and the Board of Registration.
The Supreme Court has set oral arguments for 8:45 a.m. Jan. 19 in Honolulu.
“I’m very happy that this important issue is being addressed by the highest court in the state,” Hyland said Monday.
Hyland’s attorney, Robert H. Thomas, agreed to take the case without charge. He argues Hyland’s appeal to the board was timely because he mailed it to the state Office of Elections in Honolulu within 10 days of receiving the clerk’s rejection of his complaint.
Thomas disagrees that the word “brought” in the statute means the appeal must be received by that date, rather than mailed by then. He asked why Maeda started the clock when he mailed his finding, but the same standard wasn’t used for Hyland.
In addition, he said, going by when opinions and appeals are received, rather than when they are mailed, brings up equal protection and due process issues.
“There is no rational basis for Oahu challengers to have the full ten days, but their neighbor island counterparts who rely on the mail less time,” Thomas said in his brief, filed Friday.
“When read in context of the entire voter registration chapter, section 11-26 cannot be read to give anything less than the full ten days to appellants who choose to bring their appeals that way,” Thomas’ brief continues. “This is especially true for challengers in Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai counties, who cannot personally bring an appeal to their Boards of Registration — whose offices are administered through the Office of Elections on Oahu — unless they board a plane.”
The county Office of the Corporation Counsel, which represents Maeda in the case, disagrees on some of the facts, in addition to the law. Deputy Corporation Counsel Christopher Schlueter, in a July 7, 2015, brief to the Intermediate Court of Appeals, said Maeda did indeed send his decision via certified mail, not regular mail. He said the Board of Registration acted properly when it determined it didn’t have jurisdiction because the appeal was too late.
“In their conclusions of law, the Board of Registration adopted the common understanding of the word, ‘file,’ meaning ‘to deliver a legal document to the court clerk or records custodian for placement into the official record,’” Schlueter said in the brief.
The complaint questioned whether Gonzales planned to move permanently to Waikoloa, or was just using the Waikoloa address as a convenience so he could run in District 9 instead of facing off against District 1 incumbent Councilwoman Valerie Poindexter.
At issue are Gonzales ’ statements that he changed his residency earlier in 2014 to a Waikoloa address where he had 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. Hyland contends Gonzales actually lived with his wife and children in Honokaa, not in the district where he was running for office.
Gonzales resigned from the Windward Planning Commission, which required a North Hilo/Hamakua residence, on May 1, 2014, although he apparently changed his voter registration to his Waikoloa address April 1 of that year, according to documents obtained by West Hawaii Today.