Head of House
Judiciary panel
to step down

State Rep. Paul Oshiro
has accepted a job as
government lobbyist for
GTE Hawaiian Tel

By Craig Gima
Star-Bulletin

Longtime state Rep. Paul Oshiro is resigning his Ewa Beach seat to take a job as a lobbyist with GTE Hawaiian Tel. But he won't be able to talk to his colleagues about telecommunications issues until after the next session.

State law prohibits lawmakers from lobbying state government for 12 months after they leave office, Oshiro said.

Oshiro, chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee, says that wanting to spend time on the job and with the family, rather than a potential conflict of interest, led him to resign.

"It was my decision to give it (his new job) my best effort," he said.

Oshiro will be the phone company's manager for government affairs, a job previously held by Sen. David Ige (D, Pearl City). Ige resigned two months ago to take a job with a technology start-up company.

Ige had been criticized over the possible conflict between the lobbying job and his positions in the Senate as Consumer Protection chairman in 1998 and Education and Technology chairman this year. Last year, Ige said he set up his job to avoid a conflict because he only lobbies on federal and county matters, not state issues. In the Senate, Ige said he arranged his committee duties so he would not handle bills involving GTE.

House Speaker Calvin Say said he doesn't believe Oshiro would have had a conflict with his new job if Oshiro continued as a legislator. But Say said he respects Oshiro's decision to spend more time with his family.

Say appointed Judiciary Vice Chairman Eric Hamakawa (D, Hilo) as interim Judiciary Committee chairman. Say said Oshiro will be working with Hamakawa to ensure a smooth transition. Hamakawa's promotion must still be approved by the full House.

Oshiro's resignation is effective Dec. 15. Gov. Ben Cayetano has up to 60 days after that date to appoint someone to fill the remainder of Oshiro's term. Whoever is appointed to the seat will have an advantage in the 2000 elections, should the person decide to run for the House or for a higher office.

Sen. Brian Kanno (D, Makakilo) is also up for re-election next year. Before accepting his new job, Oshiro was considering a run for Kanno's Senate seat.

Now, Oshiro says he has no plans right now to run for office again.

Oshiro grew up in his district and has represented Ewa Beach and parts of Waipahu for the last 15 years. He said his new job presented him with an opportunity to continue to work in government with the private sector.

He said he has been considering the new job for the last two months and decided to resign two weeks ago. He said it was not an easy decision to make.

"Being here in the Legislature was something I wanted to do, that I dreamed about at Campbell High School as student body president."

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