Super PAC attacks Hee using divorce filings

Former state Sen. Clayton Hee, who recently announced he is running for governor, was accused of verbal and physical abuse by his former wife Lyla Berg in 1989 divorce filings, according to state court records.

Those records have been unearthed and circulated by a super PAC, or political action committee, called Women Against Domestic Violence Hawaii, which loaded almost a dozen of Berg’s decades-old court filings from the divorce case on a website Thursday.

Megan Kelly Kau, chairwoman of the super PAC, formally filed to create it on March 14. Its funding is unclear since the super PAC has not had to file financial reports yet. Its website has no content except the attack on Hee.

Kau, who describes herself as a practicing lawyer and former Honolulu deputy prosecutor, said in an interview she “was just asked to help with a super PAC, and that’s basically what I’m doing.”

On the website Kau wrote, “Given Clayton Hee’s documented history of domestic violence, he is unfit to serve as governor.”

Among the court papers listed on the website is a document filed by Berg’s lawyer in 1989 that described the Hee-Berg relationship as “a short and fundamentally unhappy marriage,” adding, “There was also some degree of physical and verbal abuse.”

Another document dated the same year alleges Hee’s name was added to the title of a property on Kika Street in Kailua “at a time toward the end of the marriage in circumstances of physical and verbal abuse, and during constant disagreements about money.”

Hee and Berg were married in 1982, separated in 1988 and were divorced in 1989, according to court records. In an emailed response to questions, Hee denied he was ever abusive with his former wife.

The court documents do not describe the alleged abuse, and Berg declined to be more specific. Berg is a former teacher and public school principal who also served in the state House from 2004 until she made an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor in 2010.

Berg, 67, said the divorce filings relate to a family situation from 30 years ago. While the #MeToo movement has lately been shining a spotlight on all forms of abuse of women, “I am not part of that at all. If I wanted to say something, I would have said it 30 years ago,” she said.

As for the court filings, “What was written, what’s truth is truth, what’s in black and white is right there. It’s just unfortunate that if this is an effort to discredit Clayton, that a family matter 30 years ago in a traumatic situation for the whole family needs to be brought up,” she said.

Hee said in the email response, “These matters were thoroughly briefed and discussed by both parties before the trial judge. The divorce decree speaks for itself.” The decree makes no reference to the abuse allegations.

“If you, a member of your family, or a friend has gone through a divorce you understand how emotional things can get, and how allegations against each other are thrown around,” Hee wrote. “And that’s what the reported allegations are — allegations never found to be true by anyone including, in this case, the presiding trial judge.”

Hee, 65, has had a long political career including a dozen years as an Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee and 14 years as a state senator representing Windward Oahu. He also served two years in the state House. He said the allegations in the divorce case have never before surfaced as a campaign issue.

The old allegations are coming up now because “At least one opponent believes I will win the election unless negative campaigning by a Super PAC is injected into the governor’s election,” Hee wrote.