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State Legislature:
Pressure building
for 2002 election

Lawmakers start the new session
mindful of the 2002 free-for-all
when all 76 seats will be
up for grabs

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By Richard Borreca
Star-Bulletin

Forget about WWF wrestling and the remake of the "Survivor" series. The best entertainment next year could be a ticket to the opening of the 2001 state Legislature Jan. 17.

In the state Senate, Democratic factions still battle other Democrats.

In the House, Republican newcomers hunger for the opportunity to change the establishment, while Democrats are hanging onto the status quo.

The Legislature moves into the political spotlight just as the state enters a critical time. House Republicans, only seven votes short of a majority, figure now is the time to spark a 2002 revolution at the polls.

Rep. Galen Fox, newly elected leader of the 19-member GOP caucus, said: "2002 is a very important election. The House may hang in the balance."

The pressure is coming from everywhere.

First, all 76 legislators will be up for re-election. The nine Honolulu City Council members are facing term limits, so their offices will be open, and they will be free to run for another office. Plus, the governor, lieutenant governor and maybe the Honolulu mayor's jobs also will be open.

There is continuing pressure on the state's $12 billion budget. Legislators are not convinced that the state has cleared the nearly decade-long recession, but the public worker unions want big pay raises, and Gov. Ben Cayetano has his own multimillion-dollar construction budget.

THE HOUSE

The House Republicans add to the unpredictable nature of legislative politics this year because the GOP by itself can pull a bill bottled up in committee and force a floor vote, thereby making the Democrats take a public stand on an issue they had hoped to duck, Fox explained.

Besides just embarrassing Democrats, Fox has the chance to move legislation. If his 19 Republicans hold together, Fox needs the agreement of just seven Democrats to pass a bill over the objections of the Democratic majority.

"We are committed to change. We are fed up with an education system that doesn't work, fed up with a economic system that doesn't create jobs," he said.

Eliminating taxes on food and medical supplies and campaign spending reform are issues that House Republicans want to pass.

Organization in the state House was accomplished with little rancor, as Rep. Calvin Say was re-elected as speaker for his second two-year term.

A low-key, self-effacing House veteran who was first elected in his blue-collar, heavily Democratic Palolo Valley district in 1976, Say wants the house to continue with "conservative fiscal policies and compassionate public policies."

But Say was only able to remain speaker by supporting Rep. Dwight Takamine as Finance chairman. So he will be forced to also defend some of Takamine's liberal, pro-union legislation.

"Dwight Takamine is committed to no change," said former Democratic leader and new dissident Rep. Ed Case.

Case, who has not picked up any legislative support, said, "I don't expect to be alone publicly throughout this Legislature."

He figures that just the threat of forming a coalition with the Republicans will push moderate Democrats his way.

"The threat of Republican coalitions is always going to be there, and I certainly intend to follow through on that, if that is what it takes," he said.

"I think much of what Ed Case is saying about the need for government reform resonates very well," Fox said.

But Case hopes he will be able to convince Democrats to act first.

"What exactly is your choice, caucus?" Case asked. "Are you going to fix it as Democrats and act collectively, or are you going to be painted again as the supporter of the status quo and the opponent of change?"

All the attention on dissent will help Case, who is mulling over a campaign either for governor or the U.S. House in two years. Even if that means a tough primary battle, Case said he is ready.

"We have this entire culture in the Democratic Party that says to carefully wait your turn. I am sick of it, and I think other people are sick of it. I think what it has done is kill the party," Case said.

THE SENATE

Over in the Senate, the debate is who is willing to actually change. Seven Democrats, led by Maui Sen. Avery Chumbley, said they were out to change Senate rules and open up the process, but Chumbley's group lost to a coalition formed around Waianae Democrat Sen. Colleen Hanabusa's group of five.

"I expect that we will be very stable because we have organized on issues -- reform and change in structure -- more than on personalities," Hanabusa says.

Although only a two-year veteran of the Legislature, Hanabusa is one of the leaders and organizers in the Senate. She will be vice president and vice chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee, and has expanded the power of both offices.

While the Senate vice president has been a largely ceremonial role, Hanabusa will be in charge of drawing up rules for the chamber's operation and setting policy and budget for the Senate. These largely behind-the-scenes duties will include drafting guidelines for senators' travel and office expenses, powers previously kept by the Senate president.

As vice chairwoman of Ways and Means, Hanabusa said she and Sen. Brian Taniguchi will split up control of the committee. In past sessions the Legislature has gone to a dual-chair system to divvy up the power.

That was scrapped this year, except in the case of the Ways and Means Committee, which Taniguchi and Hanabusa are co-chairing. Senate President Robert Bunda said he did not campaign for the job but was approached by representatives of several Senate factions.

Putting the deal together was done by several groups, he said.

"It is kind of based on a belief system, you have to have 13 (a simple majority in the 25-member Senate) or you can't organize. But if they see a weak link, they may not go with you," Bunda said.

Chumbley, however, sees the organization as a step backward.

"Bobby talks about openness and sharing. It wasn't a process done of inclusiveness, but of being told or slotted in the old style of politics," Chumbley said.

"Our attempt to organize was undermined by politics as usual. They basically cut a deal to organize behind our backs, and we lost a significant opportunity to change the culture of the organization for a long time to come," he said.

Several of the new players in the Legislature are also thinking about running for higher office. As is Case, Hanabusa is thinking about running for Congress.

"I have thought about running for higher office. Quite honestly, it is congressional, not in the state system," she said. "That is probably where I would look, if I do run. Cross my fingers, people will think, 'She is the one we want and the change we want.' "

Hanabusa said she does not have any problems with running against incumbent U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink, agreeing with Case that primary battles are for the good.

"For too long the Democratic Party has been viewed as anointing people. You are supposed to stay in your place. I don't think the public wants to see that. The public wants to see choice and that you are not afraid to go against the establishment," she said.

Finally, Chumbley is also a possible candidate for higher office: mayor of Maui, although right now he refuses to speculate.

"People asked me to run for mayor in 1998. What the future holds is a mystery at this moment," he said.

"Let's say I don't want to get too far out in front of myself, but there are opportunities."

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