GOP says House candidate
not a citizen
Two challenges to last week's primary elections filed by yesterday's deadline ask the Hawaii Supreme Court to determine whether candidates for a Maui state House and a Hawaii County Council seat are eligible to run for the offices.
The Hawaii Republican Party filed a complaint yesterday questioning the citizenship of Louis "Cort" Gallup, a Democratic candidate for state House District 11 of South Maui. A candidate for any elected office in Hawaii must be a U.S. citizen.
State GOP Chairman Brennon Morioka said the party filed the challenge after it received information from state Attorney General Mark Bennett suggesting Gallup is not a citizen of the United States.
Gallup, 40, claims dual Canadian and American citizenship because he is a Canadian-born American Indian. He said federal law exempts American Indians born in Canada from immigration restrictions and cited two federal court cases in 1927 and 1974 that reaffirm that interpretation.
But in a letter Bennett received from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Honolulu Special Agent in Charge Wayne Wills writes that American Indians born in Canada are not automatically U.S. citizens. They need to apply and be approved for naturalization. The letter indicated that Gallup has not applied.
Gallup said Republicans are afraid because they saw he received more votes in the primary than the Republican incumbent Chris Halford.
"The Republican Party has proven time and time again that they will use any tactic, no matter how despicable, to win an election," he said.
Gallup received 870 votes. Halford received 847. Both ran unopposed and if the election challenge is rejected, they would meet in the Nov. 2 general election.
State Democratic Party Chairman Brickwood Galuteria said it is up to lawyers to determine Gallup's status.
The other election challenge was filed by Ollie "Ole" Fulks, a candidate in last week's nonpartisan election for the Big Island's District 3 Council seat representing South Hilo. Fulks received 796 votes to incumbent Jimmy Arakaki's 3,104.
But Fulks claims Arakaki's name should not have been on the ballot because he had already served the maximum number of consecutive terms allowed by County Charter.
Arakaki has served on the council since 1990. Big Island voters approved a Charter amendment in 1996 limiting Council members to four consecutive two-year terms.
In July, Fulks and two other Big Isle residents filed a lawsuit in state court in challenging Arakaki's eligibility. Fulks says the amendment took effect in 1996 and Arakaki is therefore not eligible. But county officials say the amendment went into effect in 1998 and Arakaki is running for his fourth term since the amendment.
Circuit Court Judge Glen Hara had scheduled a Friday hearing on Arakaki's eligibility.
