Difficult ends to personal relationships aren’t usually news, but when the couple involved are Sam Slom, the sole Republican in the Hawaii State Senate, and reporter Malia Zimmerman, the high-profile co-founder of Hawaii Reporter who pushed a conservative spin on news for well over a decade, there’s legitimate public interest in what might otherwise be dismissed as simply gossip.

Zimmerman filed a lawsuit in First Circuit Court two months ago accusing Slom of refusing to follow through with a mutually agreed cash settlement reflecting her share of a Hawaii Kai home where the couple lived together for ten years. The lawsuit argues that Zimmerman should be repaid for what she paid to maintain and improve the property, as well as her share of the mortgage, taxes, and similar expenses for the house in which she was a half-owner as well as half of a politically conservative power couple.

Zimmerman filed her lawsuit on July 2, 2015. It was originally filed pro se, without a lawyer, but she is now represented by Maui attorney Matson Kelley.

And through her attorney, Zimmerman has now asked for a jury trial.

According to Zimmerman’s complaint:

• Zimmerman was divorced with custody of her child when she met Slom. She was 30 years old and Slom was 56.

• When Slom’s divorce was finalized in 2002, Zimmerman says he “offered to be in an exclusive relationship…and to live with her for the rest of their lives.”

• The two went house hunting, and in late 2003 their offer on a 2,392 square foot home in Hawaii Kai was accepted.

• Zimmerman alleges that Slom advised that her name should not be on the deed because her post-divorce credit rating might cause problems getting a mortgage. Slom assured Zimmerman “she would be an equal, equitable owner of the home even though her name would not be not the deed.” Further, Slom assured her that she would inherit the house when he died.

• They lived together in the home from 2003 to 2013.

• Based on Slom’s assurances that she was actually a half-owner of the property, Zimmerman “paid a portion of the mortgage, real property taxes, homeowners’ insurance and other costs of ownership,” the complaint alleges.

• Zimmerman says her sister and brother-in-law invested money in improvements and renovations, adding to the value of “our house.”

• Zimmerman says she used her own funds to paint the house, fix the roof, and retile the front of the house and the back yard area.

• She says she paid $440 per month for a cleaning service, and additional sums for regular cleaning of windows and screens.

• In April 2013, according to the complain, Slom, “then 71 years old, allegedly began having an affair with a 26-year old woman.”

• Slom denied the affair, but in early September 2013, Zimmerman confirmed the new relationship by following Slom to the new girlfriend’s apartment one night. Zimmerman then moved out of the house they had shared.

• Zimmerman says Slom agreed to pay her a cash settlement, but that he later refused to sign the agreement after it had been drafted by her attorney.

The lawsuit is seeking reimbursement for her financial contributions to the property, including “the mortgage, real property taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, repairs, improvements,” and so on. It also seeks special and general damages, in an amount to be proved at trial.

The lawsuit asks the court to force a sale of the home and a distribution of the proceeds, after reimbursing Zimmerman for her share of the costs over the decade.

Slom’s response, filed by attorney John S. Carroll, denies Zimmerman’s allegations, and says he should be awarded any amounts that he has to spend on his defense.

The detailed description of the couple’s intertwined finances appears to raise conflict of interest concerns about Zimmerman’s reporting on Slom.

Back in 2008, Darryl Huff, then a reporter for KITV, used his blog (no longer online) to blast the many ties between Zimmerman and Hawaii Reporter, on one side, and Slom and his Small Business Hawaii on the other.

The way it works is like an echo chamber. The politician who can’t sell his point of view in the mainstream media finds an ally who sets up a blog that looks like a real news organization. That blog endorses the politician’s opinions and friends and attacks anyone who disagrees. Organizations affiliated with the politician praise the blog for its courage and journalistic enterprise. The politician uses the blog to affirm his arguments. And so on.

To get the whole picture, I’ll have to track back to the reporting, which never disclosed the extent of the personal and financial relationships between Zimmerman, the journalist and owner of Hawaii Reporter, and Slom.

Or maybe some readers will want to do some of the digging. If so, please share.