Candidate ineligible to run for state House seat vacated by Andria Tupola

The lone Republican candidate who campaigned for the state House seat being vacated by Rep. Andria Tupola is ineligible to run, which could torpedo the party’s effort to retain one of the last five seats it holds in the state Legislature.

Deputy Attorney General Valri Lei Kunimoto notified Republican candidate Sailau Timoteo in a July 23 letter that it has “come to our attention” that Timoteo is a citizen of American Samoa, which makes her a U.S. national rather than a U.S. citizen.

Timoteo filed to run for the Leeward District 43 seat, which includes the area from Maili to Ewa Villages, but “as a non-U.S. citizen you cannot be a candidate for the House,” Kunimoto wrote. The Attorney General’s Office advised the state Office of Elections that Timoteo’s nomination papers are void.

Timoteo declined to discuss the issue when reached by telephone Wednesday but issued a written statement explaining that “I was born an American,” grew up in Waianae, graduated from Waianae High School, married a “fellow American” and raised her family in Nanakuli.

“I work and pay my taxes in Hawaii, just like all of us. Growing up, I learned about our freedoms and always thought I had the same right to participate in our democracy. I never knew my ethnicity as an American from American Samoa gave me second-class status and denied me rights that so many Americans take for granted on a daily basis,” she said in her statement.

Hawaii Republican Party Chairman Shirlene DelaCruz Ostrov also issued a statement arguing that “all Americans should have equal rights, regardless of where in the United States you are from.”

“Sai Timoteo is a lifelong American with a U.S. passport, but she has been deprived of her basic democratic rights because of discriminatory, colonial-era laws that give her second-class status as an American,” Ostrov said in the statement.

Tupola, who is leaving her House seat in a run for governor, said Timoteo has been an engaged community volunteer. Tupola said she does not know exactly what will happen next, but said Timoteo’s name will appear on the general election ballot because under state law it is too late for her name to be withdrawn.

The case could end up in court, and Tupola said she does not know whether the issue might allow a Democrat to claim the House seat. Currently the GOP holds no seats in the 25-member state Senate and only five seats in the 51-member state House.

Eric Ryan, president of the Hawaii Republican Assembly, said officials in the state Republican Party have known about Timoteo’s citizenship issue since last year, and HIRA finally filed a complaint over the issue.

“They knew the law, they tried to break it, they hoped to get away with it and now they got caught,” and one of the Democrats running for the seat is likely to win it, Ryan said.

Democrats Michael Jesus Juarez and Stacelynn Eli are running for the District 43 seat along with nonpartisan candidate Angela Kaaihue.

Timoteo must be disqualified from running, or HIRA will sue, Ryan said. HIRA has been highly critical of the Republican Party in Hawaii for years, and filed the complaint because it is intent on “cleaning up our crooked party,” he said.

“At HIRA we are completely disgusted with the GOP, which is just a light version of the Democrats and which engages the same corruption and cheating as the Democrats,” Ryan said.

A spokeswoman for the state Office of Elections said Thursday the office is working with the attorney general’s staff to determine the next steps.