Senate freshmen
must learn quickly

Four are handed prominent roles

Colleagues respect Calvin Say

By Mike Yuen
Star-Bulletin

The state Senate formally reorganized today, with the chamber's majority Democrats retaining veteran lawmaker Norman Mizuguchi as president.

However, Sen. Brian Kanno was dumped as the Senate's point man on labor issues and was shifted to co-chairman of the Consumer Protection Committee.

Throughout the years, business advocates have criticized Kanno for not heeding their concerns and for being overly sympathetic to labor. Kanno has said he's always attempted to be even-handed.

Heading the Senate's newly created Labor and Environment Committee is Bob Nakata, the former state representative.

He is one of four Senate freshmen who were tabbed for key positions. The others are Jonathan Chun, former Big Island mayor Lorraine Inouye and Colleen Hanabusa.

Senate dissident leader Randy Iwase of Mililani is no longer heading a committee. While Iwase's rebel faction no longer has any committee chairmanships, it does have seats as vice chairs. Iwase, for example, is the No. 2 lawmaker on the Health and Human Services panel.

The Senate's much-criticized committee co-chairmanship system, which is intended to foster power-sharing but made legislating more cumbersome, has been retained in a modified form.

There are still co-chairs for the three most important committees -- Ways and Means, Judiciary and Consumer Protection -- but there has been a return to having a single leader for the other panels.

Democrats, who control 23 of the Senate's 25 seats, have kept 10 committees, but reconfigured them. For example, there is no separate education panel. It has been absorbed into the Education and Technology Committee.

Rod Tam, who headed the old Education Committee, has been shifted to chairing the Government Operations and Housing panel.

The Senate is ready for the new legislative session that begins Jan. 20, Mizuguchi said. "We heard the voters' message that Hawaii's economy is a top priority issue, and (we) will get to work immediately to develop a majority policy program for the Senate," he said.

The Senate, Mizuguchi added, is already pushing major initiatives to stimulate the state's sluggish economy.

Senate organizes Here's the state Senate leadership and committee leadership lineup for the legislative session that begins in January: President: Norman Mizuguchi (D, Aiea) Vice president: Avery Chumbley (D, Kihei) Majority leader: Les Ihara Jr. (D, Kaimuki) Majority floor leader: Jonathan Chun (D, Lihue) Ways and Means Committee: Carol Fukunaga (D, Makiki) and Andrew Levin (D, Volcano), co-chairs Judiciary: Chumbley and Matt Matsunaga (D, Palolo), co-chairs Consumer Protection: Brian Kanno (D, Ewa Beach) and Brian Taniguchi (D, Manoa), co-chairs Economic Development: Lorraine Inouye (D, Hilo), chairwoman Education and Technology: David Ige (D, Pearl City), chairman Labor and Environment: Bob Nakata (D, Kaneohe), chairman Health and Human Services: Suzanne Chun Oakland (D, Liliha), chairwoman Government Operations and Housing: Rod Tam (D, Pauoa), chairman Transportation and Intergovernmental Affairs: Cal Kawamoto (D, Waipahu), chairman Water, Land and Hawaiian Affairs: Colleen Hanabusa (D, Waianae)

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Most House members regard
speaker-elect Say with respect

By Mike Yuen
Star-Bulletin

In 1996, House Finance Chairman Calvin Say and Rep. Dennis Arakaki, then the Hawaiian Affairs Committee chairman, were at loggerheads.

Say, worried about the state's fiscal crisis, wanted Arakaki to move a controversial bill to the Finance Committee that would have suspended for five years payments of royalties to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for the use of ceded lands that once belonged to the Hawaiian monarchy.

But Arakaki killed Say's measure, which would have saved the state about $75 million. Arakaki (D, Kalihi Valley) expected some sort of retribution from the House leadership since Say (D, Palolo) was one of House Speaker Joe Souki's key lieutenants. But it never happened.

"I guess I came away with more respect for Calvin, who honored the process," Arakaki said.

That respect is widespread now throughout the 51-member House, where Democrats control 39 seats. This afternoon, House Democrats were to select Say as the new House speaker. Even Souki (D, Wailuku) saw the inevitability of the ascension of his longtime friend and protege. Yesterday, in a majority caucus meeting, Souki, 65, acknowledged that Say, 46, had the votes to replace him and that he would willingly step aside, House Democrats said.

"When the pupil surpasses the teacher, it is also an accolade to the teacher," said House Majority Floor Leader Marcus Oshiro (D, Wahiawa), who has been mentioned as a possibility for majority leader under Say.

Say, who has declined to comment while the House is undergoing its reorganization, did not seek the House's No. 1 position, said Oshiro and other lawmakers. Rather, House dissidents and disenchanted Souki supporters turned to him, believing that he would be more open and accessible than Souki, who has been branded as "autocratic" by his critics.

In 1976, when Say was a 24-year-old restaurant bus boy when he was first elected to the House, it would have been hard to imagine his colleagues turning to him for leadership. Even as recently as 10 months ago, Say, who now manages his family's import and wholesaling business, chuckled when he recalled his early years as a lawmaker. Back then, he was not held in high regard and many felt he was out of his league, Say remembered.

Since Souki appointed him as finance chairman in 1993, Say has matured as a lawmaker, his colleagues said. He has mentored other lawmakers fresh to the panel, delegated responsibilities by creating taxation and public works subcommittees, shown a willingness to share information and treated people testifying before his panel with civility rather than verbally assaulting them, as several former state senators were known to do, Say's colleagues added.

Earlier this year, Democratic U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye described Say as one of the state's "most knowledgeable legislators regarding financial and business issues" with an "ability to build consensus."

Arakaki added: "I think he's gained a lot of respect because he has come to be known as a straight shooter. He's honest about situations, how he feels and what his analysis is. To a great extent, he's come into his own as a leader because of that."

Unlike Souki, who had a talent for self-effacing one liners and jokes about himself that he used to eliminate tension during majority caucuses, Say is an unassuming, low-key person not given to flamboyant or theatrical gestures.

"He's very straightforward. He's aboveboard on the issues of the day without a lot of fanfare," Oshiro said. "He's not flashy."

Rep. Galen Fox (R, Waikiki) said while Say may bring a more open leadership style that's hailed by members, Say's regime will not be much different from Souki's. Both men, Fox said, have an understanding of the business sector and the need to balance that with labor concerns. They also are prone to take the lead from the administration and work closely with the governor, Fox said.

Moreover, Fox said, Say and Souki "are not particularly innovative in seeking new directions."