Republican candidate for governor state Rep. Andria Tupola has filed for a temporary restraining order against the leader of a Republican splinter group, alleging she has been harassed and cyberbullied.
Tupola claims that social media advertisements and emails from Hawaii Republican Assembly President Eric Ryan sparked death threats from other people. Ryan’s ads ran multiple times on April 5 until early the next day, according to court documents.
“I have been verbally abused and cyberbullied by him for over a year,” said Tupola, who as House minority leader is the highest-ranking elected Republican in the state.
On April 6, Tupola spoke at a gubernatorial forum that was also attended by Ryan, according to her court filing. “His multiple attacks in the thousands the night before the forum literally felt like I got raped over and over again,” Tupola said in the petition. “I had friends and family messaging and calling me asking that it stop.”
In her second court petition, Tupola said she feels “afraid and helpless,” and that Ryan’s Facebook ads and emails cause emotional distress for her, her family and others.
Tupola is pursuing legal action against Facebook to get the company to take Ryan’s ads down, according to the petition.
District Court Judge Michael Tanigawa denied Tupola’s request for a restraining order on April 12, and her second request was also denied on April 16. A hearing is scheduled in District Court on May 1 on Tupola’s second amended petition, which was filed Tuesday.
Ryan said in an interview he wasn’t aware of the petition for a temporary restraining order, and said he has never met Tupola. He said he communicated with her directly through email only once — to congratulate her when she took over as the Republican House minority leader.
“I’m not even surprised she was denied,” Ryan
said of the court proceedings. “I suspect this is done for purely publicity purposes and to buck up her supporters.”
After finding out about the petition, Ryan said in a letter to Tanigawa that he did not attend the April 6 forum, and alleged that Tupola is guilty of perjury for alleging that he did.
HIRA has strongly criticized Tupola in the past, but Ryan said the only Facebook ad currently running is one that compares her to Douglas Chin, the current Democratic lieutenant governor and candidate for U.S. Congress.
“If she can’t take fellow Republicans criticizing her record and she runs to court to get a TRO against the president of HIRA, she’s probably going to be calling 911 every five minutes once she’s up against (Democratic U.S. Rep. Colleen) Hanabusa,” Ryan said. “I think it reveals her to be a thin-skinned lightweight who’s not ready for prime time.”
