Rep Quinlan: Legislators not required to Respond to Constituents

Dear Editor,   Jan 1, 2026

I was encouraged to email the State House Speaker and Vice House Speaker regarding my communication issue with Rep. Nicole Lowen.

She refused to acknowledge my emails for several years. I confronted her about it and she told me it was burdensome to respond and already knew the information I shared with her.

I sent several emails to state house leadership that were ignored until they had House Majority Leader Sean Quinlan called me a few weeks ago.

The conversation didn’t go very well. It felt like I was in a court of law being cross examined. He took her side and told me there are no legislative rules that cover constituent-legislator communications.

The worst part of the conversation was after he told me there are no remedies available to me. I told him I guess my only choice is voting against her next election.

Rep. Quinlan responded by stating “there are a lot of people in my community that don’t like me either.”

Aaron Stene

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Background: Rep Lowen Too Busy to Respond to Constituents