Dems pick novice in race
Isaac Choy is chosen by the party to run in the District 24 state House race
Isaac Choy, 54, a CPA with his own practice, has been chosen to represent the Democrats in the unusual 24th District state House race.
Choy has not run for election before, but is the campaign treasurer for Reps. Kirk Caldwell and Calvin Say and Sen. Brian Taniguchi.
"I'm hitting 55 this year and I thought it was about time I did something," Choy said yesterday after being named to the ballot.
State Democratic party members picked Choy to fill the vacancy left when state elections officials ruled that Chrystn Eads was not a valid candidate for office in the 24th state House district of Manoa.
Party officials started meeting Friday afternoon after getting word from Kevin Cronin, chief elections officer, that Eads, an assistant to Mayor Mufi Hannemann, did not have enough signatures on her nomination petition by the required deadline.
Cronin said in a notice to the party that Caldwell withdrew his candidacy for the state House on July 23.
"These events create a vacancy for the state House seat," Cronin said in a letter to the Democrats.
Cronin failed to return phone calls to the Star-Bulletin asking for comment.
Yesterday, Democrats held a rarely called district meeting to pick a replacement. According to state law if there is a vacancy on the ballot after the filing deadline, the party is allowed to name a new candidate.
Democratic party officials said there were five candidates under consideration.
The Republican candidate in the district is Jerilyn Jeffryes, a retired medical services administrator and longtime GOP volunteer.
The confusion was triggered by Rep. Kirk Caldwell's last-minute decision to run against former Councilman Duke Bainum for the Manoa-Moiliili Council seat vacated when Ann Kobayashi decided to challenge Hannemann for mayor.
Caldwell himself has asked for a ruling because he filed his nomination papers at the 4:30 p.m. Tuesday deadline and was still on the ballot to run for his Manoa House seat.
Caldwell says he asked a supporter to file a challenge to clear up whether or not he is legally a candidate for the Council.
Both the Hawaii GOP and Bainum say they are filing challenges to the actions.
