Djou quits committee, puts blame on Marshall
City Councilman Charles Djou said he resigned yesterday as chairman of the powerful Zoning Committee under pressure from Council Chairwoman Barbara Marshall.
Djou and Marshall said Councilman Rod Tam will become the new zoning chairman.
"She thinks Rod Tam will be more cooperative than me," Djou said. "She'll have an easier time consolidating her power with Rod than with me."
Marshall said she has tried to make committee and chairmanship assignments "in a way I thought everyone's talents would be used the best."
But she also said there has been "a constant effort to oust me as chair, but more importantly there's been too much energy devoted to those kinds of machinations and not to the people's business."
Members who have consistently supported her during her first four months as Council chairwoman, she said, deserve to get the assignments they want.
"I think (Tam) is a consistent supporter," Marshall said.
Djou said he believes he's being targeted because he has "always been an outspoken elected official and I'm not going to stop."
Djou also says he believes he was ousted because of his support for Council members Ann Kobayashi and Donovan Dela Cruz, both of whom were booted from the Transportation Committee last week.
Dela Cruz and Kobayashi issued statements yesterday supporting Djou. "I would hope we all do what's in the best interest of the public," Dela Cruz said. "Unfortunately, this isn't the case."