Panel to review residency charge against Galuteria

Senate President Donna Mercado Kim is assembling a Senate special committee to look into allegations that Sen. Brickwood Galuteria lives outside the district he represents.

The complaint against Galuteria was filed by Richard W. Baker, a campaign worker for Republican Chris Lethem, one of Galuteria’s opponents in last year’s election.

Baker filed a similar complaint with the City Clerk’s Office, but the clerk concluded Galuteria had established his residency in Kakaako. Baker said he has since appealed that decision to the city Board of Registration.

On Feb. 3, Baker also wrote to Kim to ask her to take up his allegations regarding Galuteria. Baker wrote that after filing his complaint with the city clerk in January, "I have since been informed that, in view of your position and authorities as president of the Senate, my complaint should be addressed directly to you."

Galuteria (D, Kakaako-McCully-Waikiki) says he lives in the district he represents, but said members of the public have a right to file grievances, "and I respect this process."

"My colleagues are just doing due diligence as state lawmakers that they have been assigned to do," he said.

Kim tasked the committee of five senators with reviewing documents and evidence related to Baker’s complaint, and recommending to the full Senate whether there is any basis for further action.

"I’ve always served with transparency, so I plan to cooperate fully with the committee and the chair," Galuteria said.

The special committee members will be Senate Judiciary Chairman Gilbert Keith-Agaran (D, Waihee-Wailuku-Kahului); Ways and Means Chairwoman Jill Tokuda (D, Kailua-Kaneohe); Tourism and International Affairs Chairman Gil Kahele (D, Hilo); Sen. Ron Kouchi (D, Kauai-Niihau); and Sen. Sam Slom (R, Diamond Head-Kahala-Hawaii Kai).

Baker said the city clerk concluded that Galuteria lives with his wife and mother in his mother’s apartment at Royal Capitol Plaza on Curtis Street in Kakaako. Baker contends in his complaint that it "defies logic" that the three could be sharing a 548-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment.

Baker’s original complaint also noted Galuteria was claiming an owner-occupant property tax exemption for a home he owns in lower Palolo, which Galuteria said was an oversight. Galuteria said he corrected the error on the tax exemption and repaid the city for back property taxes he owed because of the incorrect exemption.

Keith-Agaran, chairman of the special committee, said he does not believe the Senate has created this type of body before. "There’s no precedent, so the first thing we’ve got to do is decide what kind of process we’re going to follow."

Earlier this session, the House also responded for what members there believe was the first time in its history to a complaint challenging the residency of one of its own.

A special committee of House leaders investigated whether former House Speaker Calvin Say (D, Palolo-St. Louis Heights-Kaimuki) actually resides in the home that he owns with his wife on 10th Avenue in Palolo, and not in a home in Pauoa Valley as some Oahu voters and political rivals have asserted for years.

Say had stated prior to the challenge that he spends time in both places but that his residency is in Palolo.

The six-member committee found in February that Say "is qualified to sit as a member" representing his district, and the House later voted to uphold the panel’s conclusion.

"People can have two houses. I wish I had two houses," state Rep. Karl Rhoads (D, Chinatown-Iwilei-Kalihi), the committee’s chairman, quipped after announcing the group’s findings in February. The way the law is written made it fairly straightforward to side with Say, he added.

"If you read the stuff about residency, you see it’s just not as black-and-white as people would want it to be," Rhoads said. "And even if it was black-and-white … there was nothing even close to compelling to say … that this wasn’t his residence."

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Star-Advertiser reporter Marcel Honoré contributed to this report.