THE EVERETT SCANDAL – PART ONE: Republican Candidate Sues Over Alleged Sabotage by Party Leaders

Honolulu, Hawaii – What started as a battle over control of the already weak Hawaii Republican Party quickly exploded into the threatened sabotage of a political campaign and a major new defamation lawsuit demanding three quarters of a million dollars in damages from the party and its past and present leaders.

Waipahu Republican and 2026 state house candidate Christina Everett wanted to become a delegate to the Hawaii GOP’s May 2025 state convention on Kauai, where two opposing factions would be vying for top posts at the state organization in just a few days.  Delegates would choose between a slate headed by then current party chair and failed 2022 state senate candidate Tamara McKay and a rival slate headed by restaurant owner and failed 2022 state senate candidate Art Hannemann.

With Everett finding herself unable to get a response to phone calls and e-mails so she could make travel arrangements knowing whether she could be a convention delegate, Everett complained to party leaders that she was getting the runaround and no straight answers;  probably getting ignored because Everett was going to support Hannemann over McKay.

24 hours later, an executive officer of the party loyal to McKay did something shocking that changed the subject (and the hope for a peaceful resolution) in an instant.

Sheryl Bieler, McKay’s Vice Chair of Coalitions, suddenly inserted herself into the back and forth of a group e-mail between Everett and several dozen party leaders and VIPs.  Bieler shared a screenshot of a newspaper story which revealed Everett’s past criminal history, adding:  “Oooh everyone look what I just found out about Christina Everett.  Anybody else want to know about this?  Christina, I’m sure the news and Social Media would love to get their hands on this as you are a declared candidate for District 35.”

Shared with all those recipients by Bieler was a screenshot of the 2010 story from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin which read:  “A federal judge sentenced a 34-year old woman to six months in prison for trying to import more than 4 tons of illegal aerial fireworks and then lying to federal agents about it.”  The article goes on to identify Christina Everett as the minister who pleaded guilty to fireworks smuggling and that she was sentenced to six months in prison, with federal prosecutors wanting her to serve 15 months.

Interestingly, HIRA News’ review of case records reveals that Samuel P. King Jr., the husband of two-time Republican National Convention delegate and 2010 lieutenant governor candidate Adrienne King, was Everett’s criminal defense attorney in the fireworks smuggling case.  Mr. King requested but was denied a lesser sentence of community service for his client, which would have allowed Everett to keep her minister job at the Salvation Army.  Had Everett avoided prison altogether, Sheryl Bieler might NOT have had the juicy newspaper article to bludgeon her with.  Indeed, Everett might have made it as far as the general election ballot with the endorsements and support of quite a few party insiders, from elected GOP officials in office to VIPs associated with the GOP.

In response to Bieler’s circulation of the unflattering story, Everett filed a new complaint with party leaders demanding an apology for Bieler’s “malicious” attempt to “shame me or weaponize my past to discredit me as a candidate” using what Everett described as “defamatory” content.  Also, Everett wanted to see Bieler – and all party officials who refused to discipline Bieler – censured or even removed from their posts.  Astonishingly, Bieler actually wrote back to Everett saying that, “My intent was not to shame or embarrass you” by sending the embarrassing article exposing Everett’s shameful criminality.  Bieler added, “It was merely a response to your tantrum and threatening the party to let Social media outlets and the news become aware of your victimhood (in the convention delegate matter).  I mean seriously let’s expose it all right?”

Indeed, Christina Everett did take to social media to press her case in the wake of Sheryl Bieler’s “harassment” and the alleged malfeasance by other party officers, as seen in this Facebook post.  But news media outlets in Hawaii didn’t seem interested in this conflict.

Still, the deliberate exposure of her criminal past in the middle of a political campaign clearly bothered state house candidate Everett; with Bieler having disseminated harmful opposition research against Everett in the manner of a political operative looking to take down an opposing candidate.  The escalation of this conflict showed no signs of stopping in the days before the state party’s annual convention.

Unimpressed by Bieler’s downplaying of her action, Everett shot back with both barrels:  “Sheryl, your response to my email is not only unprofessional—it reveals a level of incompetence that should concern anyone watching. Instead of engaging the actual issue, you’ve chosen mockery, personal attacks, and a dismissive tone that’s completely unbecoming of someone representing the Republican Party.  To those in leadership—who is responsible for monitoring this behavior? Who is holding people like Sheryl accountable?  Is this what the Republican Party stands for now—open disrespect, character attacks, and unchecked hostility?  Your silence is just as damaging as her behavior.  This is no longer a matter of internal disagreement. This is now entering the realm of defamation, and I will be pursuing legal counsel accordingly. You may think it’s acceptable to belittle or slander someone publicly, but I suggest you be very careful who you choose to attack. Not everyone will stay silent or back down.”

Everett soon sent a formal, internal complaint to state chair Tamara McKay, in which she commented, “This is not merely a personal matter. It is a serious concern about how our Party treats candidates with lived experiences, how internal power is used to silence others, and whether we will lead with conviction or corruption,” as she demanded speedy action to address the wrongs she explicitly attributed to vice chair Bieler, state chair McKay, vice chair Teri Savaiinaea, county chair Nolan Chang, and the chairman of her state house district, Enoka-Shayne Bingo, whom she blamed for the initial grievance of delaying and then denying her a seat in House District 35’s delegation to the state convention; the incident leading to the whole brouhaha.

Now that the cat was out of the bag about her criminal history, Everett had already prepared and filed a civil lawsuit against the party and its top officers whom she blamed for conspiring against her using defamation and tortious interference with her political career.  While Everett was ultimately denied a spot as delegate to the state convention, she did obtain a guest pass and used the opportunity of being present in the Kauai convention hall to distribute copies of her newly-filed lawsuit.  Helping Everett to hand out copies of the lawsuit was her close associate Sheila Medeiros, a failed 2024 state house candidate also aligned with the Art Hanneman slate.  Their hamfisted attempt at ‘serving’ the defendants during the convention actually resulted in court delays, since Everett and Medeiros reportedly forgot to provide a court summons along with the lawsuit.  Perhaps this oversight transpired because Everett never retained a lawyer as she threatened, opting instead to represent herself in court.

After a few tumultuous days of wrangling between Everett and party leaders, Everett’s delegate vote for Art Hannemann’s slate turned out to be unnecessary.  When the convention ended, Tamara McKay and her running mates all lost their executive officer positions to Art Hannemann and his allies.  During the few days between Sheryl Bieler’s “I’m sure the news and Social Media would love to get their hands on this” mass e-mail circulating the newspaper story and the drastic change in leadership at the Hawaii GOP, no censures nor expulsions were initiated by the Tamara McKay leadership team.  To this end, it is unknown if the new Art Hannemann team will proceed with investigating or acting upon Everett’s unresolved complaint.

BUT ONE THING IS CERTAIN:  The case is now before the Circuit Court of the First Circuit, with Judge Steven Nichols presiding.  Everett is demanding $750,000 in general, special, and punitive damages from the party and its top officers for reputational harm, emotional distress, and campaign-related losses.  Everett’s specific charges are:  (1) Defamation since Defendants’ statements were false, malicious, and intended to cause political and reputational harm to the Plaintiff and Plaintiff has suffered significant harm to her public reputation, emotional well-being, and campaign efforts, (2) Tortious Interference with prospective economic advantage by interfering with her pursuit of public office whereby defendants knowingly interfered with Plaintiff s political campaign, community support, and credibility, and (3) Civil Conspiracy whereby Defendants acted in concert to discredit Plaintiff and suppress her political campaign through coordinated defamatory actions.  Judge Nichols made it clear that a political career counts as the kind of career which, if wrongfully torpedoed, has value which can be sued over.

A copy of the complaint can be found HERE.  Everett is her own lawyer.  A copy of the defendants’ response is HERE.  The defendants have FOUR attorneys total.

So, WHAT do the defendants have to say for themselves?  Well, in their motion to dismiss the case, McKay, Bieler and the rest allege that they have endured reputational harm, lack of sleep, loss of work, public humiliation, mental anguish, physical distress, and interference in the election of officers at HRP’s state convention.  So, Team Tamara McKay seems to blame Everett for losing re-election to their party posts rather than their checkered time in office since 2023.  Has anyone told them that lack of sleep, mental anguish, physical distress and occasional humiliation are integral to politics?  Perhaps that’s why the judge rejected the motion to dismiss Everett’s lawsuit.  Still, these defendants believe Everett brought her problems upon herself by going public with a matter which was of limited distribution; arguing that Everett’s lawsuit is legally deficient since the court has nothing serious to rule on, as the information shared about the fireworks conviction was factually true.  As they say, truth is an absolute defense to a claim of defamation.  They add that if anyone has committed harassment, character assassination, defamation and tortious behavior it would be Christina Everett.  To be sure, the defendants have yet to indicate they have any plans to counter-sue Everett.  As of today, they haven’t.

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS OPPOSED BY THE HAWAII GOP AND BY CHRISTINA EVERETT

Ms. Everett and the many defendants from the Hawaii GOP all fought against this story being told.  On the morning of July 16th, one week ago today, HIRA News’ chief correspondent Kai Lorinc attended the first court hearing for this lawsuit with video camera and tripod in hand.  The party’s officers and its candidate stood before the judge and argued unanimously against HIRA News being allowed to film and report on the action in court.  Our own Ms. Lorinc elaborated on the application HIRA News had already submitted to the court, arguing that the issues before the court were in the public interest.  Thanks to Judge Nichols, who supports freedom of the press, HIRA News prevailed and the opponents of freedom of the press failed.

COMING TOMORROW . . .

Advertisement

In tomorrow’s edition of HIRA News, we’ll tell you what happened in court and where the case goes from here.  Then, on Friday, we’ll turn our attention to the many ugly revelations this case has dredged to the surface.

Here’s a telling tidbit.  Neither Art Hannemann nor an attorney for the Hawaii GOP either showed up at court or even sent any kind of written response.  By failing to appear, even though the party has ‘directors and officers’ insurance which can pay for legal representation (and any losses), it seems that Hannemann has decided to let Tamara McKay, Sheryl Bieler and the rest take the fall now that most of the defendants no longer hold leadership positions in the party.  Of course, the party has deep pockets, with more than $500,000 in the party’s bank account.  It is not known if the defendants have the assets to pay the damages.  Moreover, at least two of those defendants, Bieler and Bingo, are NOT represented by lawyers.

Art Hannemann (left) being sworn in along with other newly-elected executive officers at the GOP’s Kauai state convention

Getting hauled into court for defamation and tortious interference and conspiracy largely due to Vice Chair of Coalitions Sheryl Bieler’s childish and unprofessional lashing out at Ms. Everett came at a time when Bieler’s boss Tamara McKay was desperately clinging to power at the very unpowerful Hawaii Republican Party.  Every vote of every delegate at the Kauai state convention seemed to matter, as both competing slates were engaged in paying to fly supportive delegates to Kauai while being engaged in disqualifying each other’s delegates from participating.  Yet while Everett’s criminal record is fair game in determining fitness for public office, it seems that Bieler used this nuclear option to tip the scales and help her boss Tamara McKay to deny Art Hannemann one likely vote by justifying keeping Christina Everett from becoming a delegate.

Parties to lawsuit and their supporters exit the courtroom.

Maybe the stakes really were high.  Since the convention, victorious Art Hannemann is already spending party money like a drunken sailor; hiring his friends and associates with paid party jobs and preparing to have the state party spend a small fortune between now and the end of 2025 with no controls to prevent Hannemann from steering even more money to his friends, since no debate or even questions were allowed during an official meeting called to discuss and approve the party’s million dollar budget.  STORY HERE.  For Sheryl Bieler, stopping Christina Everett was merely collateral damage in a larger fight for control which ended with a clean sweep back in May.

Controversial figure Sheryl Bieler is now flashing the middle finger to HIRA News for telling you this story.  No other news media in Hawaii will report on this lawsuit.  But our own Kai Lorinc was there.  She successfully fought for media access and then documented serious legal action and court proceedings that the public deserves to know about.  In addition, HIRA News uncovered many ugly revelations and dysfunction galore exposed by this scandal.  Stay tuned for more and you’ll see . . .

COMING STORIES:

• TOMORROW: Lots of Ugly Revelations
• FRIDAY: The Candidate Vetting Failures (too many to count)
• NEXT FRIDAY: Back to Court for the Grand Finale