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Senate prepares
for post-Mizuguchi
leadership changes
Kim, Hanabusa and Taniguchi
are possible candidates to take
over the Senate presidencyAND: DOE's Knudsen will run
By Richard Borreca
for Rep. Stegmaier's seat
Star-BulletinAs Senate President Norman Mizuguchi announced his plans not to run for re-election, the state Senate is poised for a wholesale shift in power.
But senators say that with 14 seats up for election, it is difficult to predict who will emerge as the new Senate president.
Selecting a new top person in the Legislature usually also involves picking new committee chairmen, so a change in Senate president could mean new leaders.
During his press conference yesterday, Mizuguchi, who has served longer than any other member of the Legislature, 26 years, says he is stepping aside to retire.
"I am 99 percent sure my retirement from the Senate will be a retirement from public office," Mizuguchi said.
He will remain in office to preside over a planned Senate special session on Aug. 3 and 4 to handle the expected nomination of state judges to the Intermediate, Circuit and District courts, to fill vacancies. He said it is not likely that the entire Legislature will return for a special session this summer to handle changes to the Senate staggered voting plan for the 2002 elections.
While in office, the Aiea Democrat has been a strong supporter of education and of public unions, particularly the Hawaii Government Employees Association and its director, Russell Okata, a friend from school on the Big Island.
"Democrats are supposed to help working families, and I have been a steady influence for working families," he said.
Gov. Ben Cayetano, who served with Mizuguchi in the House and Senate, said the 61-year-old legislative leader will retire with a good record.
"I know that he feels in his heart the deep conviction to improve education and make life better in this state."
"I think he did what he believed in. And even though we may disagree on things, you have to give him credit for that. I think standing up for what he believes is correct is important," Cayetano said.
But Cayetano also said he hopes that the leadership vacancy gives rise to a major change.
He said he would like a Senate president "who is open to new ideas and willing to tread new ground and move things out of the box if that's required."
Who that would be is far from settled.
City Councilwoman Donna Mercado Kim already said she would run for Mizuguchi's Aiea-Kalihi Senate seat.
"I wish the senator well," she said. "I hope to be a formidable candidate. ... But I don't think he is easily intimidated -- he does what fits him personally."
She said she hopes to persuade the Senate to continue to open up voting procedures and make more information accessible.
"I want to facilitate more action and more crucial urgency for solutions, more open government," she said.
But Kim said she would look for a major leadership role if she is elected to the Senate. She is a Democrat and a former state House member and served 14 years on the City Council.
Meanwhile, Waianae Democrat Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, who leads one Senate faction, says she would like to be Senate president. But Hanabusa is not sure she could secure 13 votes of support without also irritating others.
"No matter what I may want to do, we need the 13 votes," she said. "We are going to have to form coalitions, because it doesn't appear there is one group with 13 now.
"If I have 13 who want me to be president, I would want to be president, but there is a question of how adverse others would feel," she said.
While Hanabusa is serving her first term in the Senate, Sen. Brian Taniguchi, who is completing 20 years in the Legislature, has also been mentioned as a possible Senate president candidate.
But Taniguchi is not committing to a campaign for the position.
DOE’s Knudsen will run
By Crystal Kua
for Rep. Stegmaier’s seat
Star-BulletinThe state House seat in East Honolulu that will be vacated by an advocate of education is being sought by the spokesman for the Department of Education.
Department of Education Communications Director Greg Knudsen has taken out election papers as a Democrat to run for the 15th District seat. The seat is being vacated by Rep. David Stegmaier, who has decided not to seek re-election.
Stegmaier, a Democrat, at one point was chairman of the House Education Committee. He continued to be a member of the committee after he lost the chairmanship in a reorganization in 1998.
Knudsen is one of six people interested in the Kalama Valley-Hawaii Kai-Portlock seat and who have gotten the forms needed to run.
Knudsen said he intends to run and his campaign will focus on education, especially area schools and development issues affecting East Honolulu, including those surrounding the Ka Iwi coastline and Hanauma Bay.
Others who have pulled papers include:
Republican Adrienne King, an attorney who formerly served as a deputy corporation counsel and deputy prosecutor. King ran unsuccessfully for the 15th District House seat in 1994 and 1996 and she lost the Honolulu prosecutor's race in 1980. King has been active with the Ka Iwi Action Council, which opposes development of the coastline.
Knudsen said if he's elected, he intends to resign from his current position.
Knudsen's wife, Karen, is a member of the elected Board of Education.
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