Ballot for state House seat includes familiar Cullen name

Residents of several Leeward Oahu communities will soon elect someone to be their third different representative in the state House this year.

The race for state House District 39 — which covers West Loch, some of Waipahu and Royal Kunia where Rep. Ty J.K. Cullen held office for more than a decade until he resigned in February after being charged with bribery — includes five candidates, one of which is Cullen’s sister-in-law Jamaica “Mai” Cullen, who worked for the former lawmaker as a committee clerk during the past four legislative sessions.

Jamaica Cullen, a first-time candidate for political office, is running against two fellow Democrats in the Aug. 13 primary election. Two Republicans also are in the race. All five candidates are vying to succeed Rep. Luella Costales, who was appointed in March by Gov. David Ige to replace Ty Cullen.

Costales, a community and resource strategy manager for the nonprofit Oahu Economic Development Board, sought the House District 39 seat as only a temporary assignment with a commitment not to compete for the position after her current term ends in November.

Because of circumstances with the legislative session starting in January, Costales adopted Ty Cullen’s office staff, which included Jamaica Cullen and another sister-in-law of the former lawmaker, Shanell Cullen, who is office manager.

Employment rules for the state House allow lawmakers to hire family members other than dependent children. Nepotism rules for the state Senate prohibit members from hiring legal dependents and specifically a father, mother, husband, wife, son, daughter, brother, sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law or daughter-in-law.

Costales said she is supporting the candidacy of Jamaica Cullen.

Costales said people in many instances aren’t responsible for actions of relatives, and that is the case with Jamaica Cullen as a member of a family ingrained in the community covered by House District 39.

“It doesn’t start and stop at Ty,” Costales said.

Ty Cullen was first elected to the House in 2010, and at the beginning of this year was vice chair of the House Committee on Finance. He is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court Oct. 20.

Fellow former Hawaii lawmaker J. Kalani English, who resigned from the state Senate last year citing health issues, also pleaded guilty to bribery charges in February and recently was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison. Additionally, English was fined $100,000 and ordered to forfeit $13,305 in bribes excluding $5,000 he previously turned over.

Retired University of Hawaii political science professor Neal Milner said someone with a familiar name and experience working for a lawmaker typically would receive some benefit in an election. In Jamaica Cullen’s situation, Milner said it’s hard to say if that’s the case.

“This is different,” he said.

Regardless of whether voters make any positive or negative associations with Jamaica Cullen working for her brother-in-law at the Legislature, Milner said the candidate has some formidable competition.

The other Democratic candidates are Corey Rosenlee, a James Campbell High School teacher and former president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association union, and Kevin Wilson, who has worked in the state House as an office clerk, researcher and committee clerk during nine legislative sessions.

The two Republican candidates are Austin Maglinti, the director of ministry and homeless shelter outreach at Kupaa Youth Ministry, and Elijah Pierick, an Air Force Reserve officer and a pastor at Encounter Church.

Rosenlee and Wilson, who have not previously held elected public office, applied along with Costales and three other Hawaii Democratic Party members to serve out the remainder of Ty Cullen’s term this year. Officers of the party’s district council for House District 39 picked Costales and two other applicants, Tesha Malama and Richard Oshiro, to be considered by Ige for the appointment.

Jamaica Cullen said she wanted to be considered for the appointment but did not satisfy the application requirements. Now she seeks a two-year term, and maintains that her experience at the Legislature and desire to serve her community make her right for the job.

“I have always been serving others,” she said, explaining that this goes back to being on the student council at Campbell High and also includes teaching at Ewa Elementary School and St. Joseph Parish School in Waipahu.

It was at St. Joseph where Jamaica Cullen met her husband, Sy Cullen, who was a teacher at the school. In 2012 he unsuccessfully ran for a Honolulu City Council seat. The couple married in 2019 and have a daughter who was born this month.

Jamaica Cullen is largely self-financing her campaign. According to reports filed with the state Campaign Spending Commission, she has raised $2,892 through June 30. Of that amount, $1,257 is a loan from herself and $1,000 is a loan from Regina Agustin, a family member.

By comparison, Rosenlee has raised $28,334 in the current election period through June 30, and Wilson has raised $4,200 of which $4,100 he lent to his campaign.

For the Republican candidates, Maglinti reported having $608 in his campaign treasury left from a prior election cycle and raising no money in the current election cycle, while Pierick reported raising $2,629 in the current election cycle through June 30.