Another cloud over Mary Hayashi: she rents condo to aide after he gets big raise

An LA Times story Monday about state lawmakers whose home mortgages are underwater is reverberating in a way that could mean more political trouble for termed-out Assemblywoman (and wanna-be Alameda County supervisor) Mary Hayashi. She and her husband, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Dennis Hayashi, have been renting out their underwater condo in Castro Valley for awhile now (they’ve bought a home in Hayward) while trying, with no success, to sell it.

The problem? In February 2010 they began renting it to one of Mary Hayashi’s aides, Chris Parmon and his husband, Chabot College chancellor Joel Kinnamon—a month after Parmon was given a $7,500 raise. That represented a 10% pay boost, to $82,440.

Now CBS 5 is helping revive the story, just as Hayashi enters the stretch run in her effort to win Nadia Lockyer’s old seat as an Alameda County supervisor. (You can view the piece here). In it, CBS 5 political analyst and San Francisco State professor Joe Tuman questions the ethics of the arrangement.

Mary Hayashi didn’t respond to the station’s request for comment. Then again, she dodged the media for months after her no contest plea to shoplifting at Neiman Marcus last year, before finally consenting to a single interview a few weeks ago.