House Speaker Saiki Ousted for Firing Convicted Child Molester?
by Andrew Walden
Akamai readers will remember Leon Rouse. Released in 2003 from a Philippine prison, where he was incarcerated eight years for child molestation, Rouse quickly found himself in the news here in Hawaii. Sen Brian Kanno threatened Norwegian Cruise Lines with imposition of the Hotel Tax after NCL, in 2004, fired Rouse from a cabin boy job and dumped him on the dock in Long Beach, CA, allegedly for sexually harassing his male coworkers.
Inauspicious?
Not!
For Rouse these events launched a years-long legislative staff career in which he “worked for Representatives Rida Cabanilla, Joe Bertram, Karen Awana and Senator Roz Baker.”
Meanwhile, Rouse unsuccessfully litigated and relitigated his 1995 Philippine conviction–including suits active before Hawaii Courts even today—31 years later.
How Rouse Was Arrested in The Philippines
Given all this drama, one might expect that Rouse had an exculpatory story, but even the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a July, 2005 report – a report which Rouse claims proves his innocence – describes the circumstances of Rouse’s 1995 arrest in Laoag City, Ilcos Norte, Philippines, in damning terms:
Around noon on the day of arrest, he [Rouse] arrived at Pichay Lodging House, where he saw Harty Dancel, a former acquaintance, accompanied by two individuals, Pedro Augustin and Godfrey Domingo. The four of them had lunch in a restaurant, where Dancel offered Godfrey to have sex with the author. The author refused, arguing that the latter was too young, even after Dancel insisted and assured him he had reached the age of majority.
Later in the day, the same three persons waited for the author at his hotel. Dancel had them invited to the author’s room. After the author [Rouse] had taken a shower, Dancel and Augustin left the room, leaving him alone with Godfrey. The latter requested to use the bathroom, where he undressed. When there were knocks on the door, the author opened, and police officers entered. At that moment, neither the author nor Godfrey wore clothes.
In the initial Philippine court decision the events are described thus:
On or about the 4th day of October 1995, in the City of Laoag, Philippines, and within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the herein accused did then and there, willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously by using his adult influence and promising to pay 200 pesos ($3.79 US), engage one Godfrey Domingo, a male child who is below 18 years of age, as in fact he is 15 years old, for lascivious acts and committed said acts by masturbating and sucking the penis of the child and inserting his penis into the anus of the child all of which acts were committed by the accused on said child at Room 205 of the Pichay Lodging House at Laoag City, but which acts although already performed by the accused on the child was discontinued due to the intervention of the police who apprehended the accused who was then naked and in the company of Godfrey Domingo who was also naked in Room 205 of the Pichay Lodging House.
Hawai’i Free Press documented Rouse’s career, and those of his legislative benefactors. On May 22, 2015, Rouse sued this reporter (Rouse v Walden) in Oahu’s First Circuit Court, arguing that this 2013 article was libel: Child molester back at work at Hawaii Legislature (Again).
The truth is not libel. Rouse lost on every single claim: First, in Circuit Court, April 11, 2017, and then, on appeal, before the ICA, July 26, 2018. The State Supreme Court, November 16, 2018, refused to hear his appeal, leaving the ICA ruling in place.
Rouse didn’t know it, but for him it was the beginning of the end.
November 2018: The Turning Point
Rouse’s most consistent employer, Cabanilla, had lost her Ewa Beach House seat to Matt LoPresti in 2014. Cabanilla regained it, for just one term, in the November 6, 2018 election—ten days before the Hawaii State Supreme Court ruling on Rouse’s appeal.
Then, according to Rouse, on November 28, 2018, Speaker Scott Saiki denied Cabanilla’s request to hire Rouse as her office manager.
Auspicious?
Not!
Saiki didn’t know it, but for him it was the beginning of the end.
Starting with the first election cycle, after Rouse’s removal, Saiki suddenly found himself targeted for defeat by independently wealthy (Roberts Hawaii) transsexual activist Kim Coco Iwamoto. To run, Iwamoto first had to establish eligibility by moving into a Birch Street rental home the Iwamoto family owned within the district. Iwamoto lost in 2020 and 2022 but eventually beat Saiki in 2024.
Rouse and Iwamoto are both big-name LGBTQ activists. Iwamoto is a former Board member of the national LGBTQ+ Victory Fund. Rouse is credited with pushing through the first gay rights legislation in US history in 1982 Wisconsin with the support of the Catholic Church after discovering Milwaukee Catholic Archbishop Rembert Weakland was a closeted homosexual. (Weakland was eventually forced to resign in 2002 after years of aggressively covering up for molester priests and secretly paying $450K in church money to his ex-boyfriend, but I digress.)
Rouse did not respond to these questions from Hawai’i Free Press:
1) Kim Coco Iwamoto began campaigning for House against Scott Saiki in 2020, which was the first election cycle after you filed a complaint with the HCRC regarding 'discriminatory' employment conditions imposed on you by then-Speaker Saiki. How do you respond to the assertion that Iwamoto's campaign was appurtenant to your retaliation on Saiki?
2) Rida Cabanilla is running for State Senate in 2026. Do you look forward to working in her State Senate office if she is elected?
Saiki Demanded Rouse Stay Away from Children
Rouse tells the story of his termination in a previously confidential July 24, 2019, filing before the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission which contains this key sentence:
“Cabanilla told Plaintiff that she terminated him that day because she knew that if a complaint was filed with Speaker Saiki, Plaintiff had no chance of being treated fairly. She then informed Plaintiff that since he was terminated before a complaint was submitted, he would not have a record at the Capitol and that after Speaker Saiki was no longer in charge Plaintiff could seek employment back at the Capitol.”
Rouse’s complaint was rejected by HCRC on every point, March 4, 2024. So he sued.
(Ironically, Iwamoto had been an HCRC Commissioner from 2012 thru 2016.)
Rouse’s HCRC complaint became public five years later, because, after HCRC rejected every one of his claims, Rouse introduced HCRC documents as exhibits in his subsequent lawsuits:
- May 29, 2024 Rouse v Hawaii (sues Speaker Scott Saiki) -- 1CCV-24-0000707 -- Summary judgment against Rouse May 4, 2026. Rouse appeals to ICA.
- August 20, 2025 Rouse v Hawaii (sues Civil Rights Comm) -- 1CCV-25-0001391 – Dismissed November 28, 2025. Rouse appeals to ICA. ICA summary judgment against Rouse entered May 26, 2026.
This is the story as Rouse tells it--with HCRC responses to each point:
F. (ROUSE) On or around November 28,2018, Hawaii State Representative-Elect Rida Cabanilla hired me as her office manager. She sent a memo to House Chief Clerk, Brian L. Takeshita, and the new House Speaker, Scott Saiki, informing them of her decision.
HCRC Response: A conditional offer of employment was extended to Mr. Rouse on November 28, 2018. …
G. (ROUSE) The same day, I was informed through Cabanilla that the new House administration refused to hire me and barred me from permanent employment because of my arrest and court record.
HCRC Response: The Speaker of the House denied Representative Cabanilla 's request to hire because the Complainant's conviction of child abuse is relevant because the legislature is host to numerous children on school excursions, frequent visits by other children of the public and the presence of a private school across the street. Specifically the legislature is the venue for athletic activities by students from that school. Moreover, the capitol is a large building with many offices and conference rooms many of which are unoccupied and not subject to observation at any given time.
H. (ROUSE) On or around January 2, 2019, I was permitted to work as a committee clerk for $2,950.00 a month, much less then I would have made as office manager and only on a temporary basis (i.e., only as session staff). There were also conditions and restrictions placed on my employment.
HCRC Response: After the Speaker denied her request to hire Complainant as office manager, Representative Cabanilla agreed to hire Complainant as a session employee with the condition that he travel only from the bus to the office and from the office to the bus. After it was discovered that Complainant was moving about the capitol building unsupervised Representative Cabanilla terminated his session employment.
In his complaint to HCRC, Rouse narrates:
Plaintiff received a provisional offer of employment from Representative-elect Rida Cabanilla on or about November 26, 2018. Plaintiff was to be her office manager, a position he had held previously.
Cabanilla sent a memorandum, dated November 28, 2018, to the House Chief Clerk, Brian Takeshita, notifying him of Plaintiff's hire.
Cabanilla then received a call from the Chief Clerk with a request to speak to her in person. Shortly thereafter Cabanilla called Plaintiff and informed him that his provisional offer of employment had been rescinded, by the Saiki Administration, for his failure to pass a criminal background check. She was quite emotional when telling him the news. The message also surprised Plaintiff as he had passed all the previous background checks under the Say and Souki administrations, when he worked for Representatives Rida Cabanilla, Joe Bertram, Karen Awana and Senator Roz Baker.
It was explained to Cabanilla that the reason for the denial came from a recent Intermediate Court of Appeals (ICA) decision, in which Plaintiff had sued Andrew Walden, the owner of the Hawai’i Free Press for liable (sic).
…
In early January 2019, Plaintiff received a call from Cabanilla stating that the Defendant would allow Plaintiff to serve as her committee clerk, which was a temporary position for less money and reduced benefits, with conditions. Plaintiff accepted the post.
On or around January 25, 2019 Cabanilla's office manager handed Plaintiff an e-mail stating that school children would be coming to the Capitol the following day. At the top of the e-mail was a hand written note saying: "We need to speak to Leon about this!"
Later that day Cabanilla came out of her inner office and told Plaintiff, in front of her office manager and community liaison, that she had to prove to the Speaker that she was imposing sanctions on him. Plaintiff was told that he would have to take the following day off without pay, but then change it to comp pay, which meant he could make up the hours on another day.
Plaintiff had worked for Cabanilla as her office manager under the Say administration and was never forced to leave the Capitol when children would be present.
…
On the day Plaintiff was absent from the Capitol, he received a call from Cabanilla's office manager telling him, he had been terminated. A few days later Plaintiff met with Cabanilla. She informed him that the day of his termination she received a call from a fellow legislator requesting her presents (sic). When she entered the Representative's office, she mentioned there were other legislators there.
She proceeded to tell Plaintiff that he had been accused of harassing or bullying a staff member. When Plaintiff asked what Representative was accusing him of harassing or bullying a staff member, Cabanilla said they made her promised not to reveal their name. Plaintiff then asked who was it that he supposedly harassed or bullied, Cabanilla didn't know. Plaintiff then asked how, when and where did he allegedly harass or bully this staff member, Cabanilla didn't know.
When Plaintiff asked Cabanilla why she didn't ask those questions, she said she did, but was told that if Plaintiff was not terminated that day, Cabanilla would get her answers when she read the complaint that was going to be submitted to Speaker Saiki.
Cabanilla told Plaintiff that she terminated him that day because she knew that if a complaint was filed with Speaker Saiki, Plaintiff had no chance of being treated fairly. She then informed Plaintiff that since he was terminated before a complaint was submitted, he would not have a record at the Capitol and that after Speaker Saiki was no longer in charge Plaintiff could seek employment back at the Capitol.
Cabanilla, formerly a Democrat, will be on the Republican Primary ballot for SD20 Ewa Beach, August 8, 2026.
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PDF: ROUSE DOCUMENTS
BACKGROUND:
2006: The Transsexual Agenda for Hawaii Schools
2006: Convicted Sex Offender Employed at the Hawaii State Legislature - Again
2009: Bertram tied to second molester: House Speaker Calvin Say defends
2010: Hawaii Legislators’ favorite child molester claims he is the victim
2012: Netra Halperin: Molester’s Former Underling Running for House, Demands Censorship
2013: Child molester back at work at Hawaii Legislature (Again)
2017: How Hawaii Civil Rights Commission Covers Up Sex Harassment Reports
2025: COVERUP: How Hawaii Civil Rights Commission Buries Sex Harassment and Discrimination Reports