by Andrew Walden
It appears that the Kim/Baker Senate Democratic faction has gained ascendancy upon the resignation of Senate President Hanabusa who is heading for Congress.
Clayton Hee has been retuned to make a mess of the Senate Judiciary Committee once again. As an insult to the people, Roz Baker has been appointed to head up Commerce and Consumer Protection after blocking Maui medical consumers from building a second hospital on their island. Kim, chairing the Committee of Investigative Affairs will continue her witch hunt against anybody associated with the Lingle administration in order to drive home the message: Comply.
Hanabusa/Kokubun loyalists Taniguchi and Takamine are left with no committee assignments. Takamine racked up the worst attendance of any Rep and then quit the House in 2008--the last time he was marginalized in this way. That came after he attempted to obey Inouye’s instructions to “shed more blood, not less” of Ed Case’s supporters in the House Democratic caucus at the beginning of 2007. Now, after helping engineer a breakaway Larry Mehau/ILWU faction to endorse Abercrombie over Hannemann, Takamine again comes out on the losing side of a faction fight. So sad. Who will contribute to his campaign committee now?
In addition to Takamine and Taniguchi, Clarence Nishihara, Glenn Wakai, Pohai Ryan, and Hanabusa’s unknown replacement are all left out in the cold.
In a one-party system, all decisions are made in secret. There could be additional changes if Hee is appointed to head Abercrombie’s DHHL or DLNR, in spite of his Sandwich-Isles-Communications-related conflict of interest, in direct contravention of Abercrombie’s promise not to do so. Others may be appointed to cabinet positions as well an a replacement for Hanabusa will be appointed from a list of Democrats.
Apparently some people actually believed that Abercrombie would bring change. Well here it is.
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| President |
Shan Tsutsui |
| Vice President |
Donna Mercado Kim |
| Ways & Means |
David Ige |
| Ways & Means, Vice Chair |
Michelle Kidani |
| Majority Leader |
Brickwood Galuteria |
| Floor Leader |
Les Ihara, Jr. |
| Caucus Leader |
Ron Kouchi |
| Majority Whip |
Suzanne Chun Oakland |
| Majority Whip |
Will Espero |
| Judiciary and Labor |
Clayton Hee |
| Commerce and Consumer Protection |
Rosalyn Baker |
| Agriculture and Housing |
Donovan Dela Cruz |
| Committee of Investigative Affairs |
Donna Mercado Kim |
| Economic Development and Technology |
Carol Fukunaga |
| Education |
Jill Tokuda |
| Energy and Environment |
Mike Gabbard |
| Hawaiian Affairs |
Brickwood Galuteria |
| Health |
Josh Green, M.D. |
| Human Services |
Suzanne Chun Oakland |
| Public Safety and Military Affairs |
Will Espero |
| Tourism |
Donna Mercado Kim |
| Transportation and International Affairs |
J. Kalani English |
| Water and Land |
Russell Kokubun |
Political Radar: Re-org
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