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Council shuffles Ann Kobayashi will head the Budget Committee and Councilman Romy Cachola the powerful Zoning Committee in a revamped Honolulu City Council.
key positions
John DeSoto would become
chairman under the new lineupBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.com
Councilman John DeSoto was expected to take over the reins of Council chairman today from Jon Yoshimura, who resigned yesterday in anticipation of being ousted by colleagues.
DeSoto cited Yoshimura's personal problems as a key reason why other Council members wanted him removed. He also promised leadership more independent and critical of Mayor Jeremy Harris.
A disciplinary board of the Hawaii Supreme Court recommended that Yoshimura's license be suspended for six months because he lied following a 1999 hit-and-run accident. Last summer, he agreed to pay a $3,532.06 fine to the Hawaii Election Campaign Fund because of questionable campaign spending practices.
Yoshimura's move yesterday left DeSoto, who has been the vice chairman, to lead today's critical Council meeting. Final votes are scheduled for a restaurant smoking ban and a bill allowing the city to condemn Waikiki properties for an Outrigger Enterprises hotel project.
DeSoto said that resolutions making the new leadership line-up official will be heard at the end of the morning calendar.
Councilman John Henry Felix is expected to be installed as vice chairman while Councilman Gary Okino will get the nod as floor leader.
Felix will chair the Policy Committee, Yoshimura a new Governmental Affairs Committee, Steve Holmes the Parks Committee, Okino the Planning Committee, Rene Mansho a combined Public Works and Economic Development Committee and Duke Bainum the only holdover with the Transportation Committee.
Kobayashi, who was sworn in yesterday, has the daunting task of heading the review of Mayor Jeremy Harris' budget when it is handed to the Council next month.
She said that she has been reluctant to take on the role even though she headed the Ways and Means Committee for several years when she served in the state Senate.
DeSoto, who headed the Council from late 1994 to spring 1998, said he sees the role of Council chairman as that of "a traffic person, to make sure all things a Council person wants introduced gets heard."
DeSoto and others have criticized the leadership of Yoshimura and Holmes, who has been budget chairman, for being too cozy with the Harris administration.
The Council will now be asking hard questions, particularly during the budget season, DeSoto said, "and the administration better be ready to answer them."
Yoshimura pointed to the cordial relations among Council members and the administration as a high point of his leadership. He chastised the media for not demanding that critics of his leadership provide specific examples of soft-peddling the administration.
City & County of Honolulu