Rebuffed by the courts, six Palolo voters asked the state House on Monday to determine whether state Rep. Calvin Say lives in the Palolo House district he has represented since 1976.
A circuit judge ruled in September that the House has exclusive power to decide whether Say meets the state constitutional requirement that he be a qualified voter in the district he represents. The Palolo voters have alleged that the former speaker lives with his family in Pauoa Valley, not the 10th Avenue home in Palolo he lists as his residence.
Both Say and the House had argued in court that the House has jurisdiction over the question.
Lance Collins, an attorney for the Palolo voters, has said that he and Keiko Bonk, a Green Party candidate running against Say in November, had asked House Speaker Joseph Souki (D, Waihee-Waiehu-Wailuku) last year to look into Say’s residency but that Souki deferred to the courts.
"Because the House now vigorously asserts it has sole jurisdiction to determine the residency qualifications of its members, these voters demand that the House take up their request made over 18 months ago," Collins said in a statement.
The voters also plan to appeal the court’s ruling.
Carolyn Tanaka, a House spokeswoman, said Collins’ request is under review.
Say (D, Palolo-St. Louis Heights-Kaimuki) declined to comment beyond saying he would "wait and see what the speaker’s office decides to do."
Bonk has sought to make Say’s residency an issue in the election. Say also faces Julia Allen, a Republican. Allen’s husband, conservative activist Mike Palcic, has previously challenged Say’s residency.
A House inquiry into Say’s residency could be politically awkward for House leaders.
Souki and a coalition of dissident Democrats and minority Republicans toppled Say from power last year. While sources say Souki has the votes among Democrats alone to remain speaker, the remnants of Say’s faction, led by Rep. Marcus Oshiro (D, Wahiawa-Whitmore-Poamoho), could use a threat to Say as an organizing tool.
